bgr_574727 - SICILY - MOTYA Onkia

SICILY - MOTYA

(5th - 4th century BC)

Moyta was located on an island off the northwest coast of Sicily. Colonized very early by the Carthaginians, it became a prosperous city. The city was surrounded by high walls. It was famous commercially for the exploitation of murex (shell) and its ceramics. Motya became one of the three strategic centers of Carthaginian Sicily with Solus and Panorme at the end of the 5th century BC by becoming a port for the Carthaginian fleet. After the destruction of Selinunte by Hannibal Mago in 409 BC, the city had to face the Greek raids which intensified with the arrival of the Syracusans. The city underwent a devastating siege in 397 BC. The city was taken over by the Carthaginians the following year thanks to Himilcon. The city never regained its importance and finally the site of Lilybea was preferred to it..