Tophet of Mozia

Tophet of Mozia

The Tophet, as the Bible says, was a sacred area used by the Eastern peoples. Even the island of Mozia has one, the only one in Sicily.

The Tophet of Mozia, a fence in the open almost triangular m. 48 x 32, was the place where Phoenicians practiced rites: sacrificed to the divinities of their pantheon Baal Hammon and Astarte the first born son. At the end of rite, the bones were deposited inside a jar and stuck in the ground. As evidence of the deceased, in the direction of the vessel, it was placed a stele (plaque), or a stone.

Often, the stele records of inscriptions with dedications to the gods to whom the sacrifice was offered. In the Mothia thopet, about 700 stelees were found in different layers of deposition VII-IV sec. B.C. Inside the tophet it was found a group of terracotta masks, typical of the Punic world, in which there are recognizable, along with a certain Greek influence, the characteristic elements of Punic figurative language.