Description of the attraction
Lilybey is an ancient city on the west coast of Sicily, on the site of which Marsala is today. Once Lilybey, located on the Cape of Capo Boeo, was one of the most important Carthaginian settlements on the island - on three sides it was surrounded by the sea, and on the fourth it was protected by powerful fortifications of walls and towers. It housed a large Carthaginian fleet, and it was here during the First Punic War that one of the theaters of military operations in Sicily was located. After the war, the city passed into the possession of the Roman Empire, and it housed the residence of one of the two quaestors of Sicily - the Roman masters. During this period, Lilybey was the largest and most important settlement in the western part of the island.
The name of the city probably comes from the Greek word "lilybayon", which means "the one that guards Libya" - the Greeks called the entire northern coast of Africa Libya. According to another version, the source was called Lilibey, now absorbed by the church of San Giovanni al Boeo.
The ruins of ancient Lilibey can be seen today right in the center of Marsala - together with the ruins of the nearby island of Mozia, they are a real gem of the Phoenician-Punic archeology of western Sicily. Since 2002, a project has been under way to create the Marsala Archaeological Park, and teams of archaeologists make important scientific discoveries almost every day. The entire territory of Lilibey was abandoned in the Middle Ages, and today, walking in the place of the ancient city, it is impossible not to stumble over terracotta shards or not to notice the city walls growing out of the ground. In 1939, the foundations of a huge building with spacious rooms located around a four-column atrium were discovered at the site. Later, in the early 1970s, it became clear that construction in Lilybaea was carried out in two stages: the oldest structures date back to 2-1 centuries BC, and the later ones - to the end of 2-3 centuries AD.
Excavations in 2000 brought to light a part of the pavement lined with marble, jewelry in the form of brooches, coins and a very significant find - a marble statue of Venus Kallipigus of the 2nd century AD. The latter is exhibited today at the Batlló Anselmi Archaeological Museum.
Also, the ruins of a residential building with a mosaic floor and rooms that served as thermal baths, Carthaginian fortifications and a huge necropolis have survived to this day. A unique legacy of that era is the Crispia of Salvia dungeon - an underground chamber dedicated to the husband of his deceased wife and dated to the 2nd century AD. The walls of the dungeon are decorated with various scenes - here you can see a flutist with dancers, funerals, baskets with fruits and flowers.
Finally, during excavations in 2008, archaeologists removed from the ground a statue of the goddess Isis, which they could identify by the characteristic location of the hand on the chest. The ruins of the alleged Temple of Hercules were also discovered there.
