North Gate (Mozia)
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North Gate (Mozia) (Mozia)

The entrance to the city (North Gate) was articulated through three successive gates, about 22 m from each other, each of which consisted of two side-by-side openings separated by a central wall. The best preserved structures are related to the outermost door, to which the sculptural group of two felines biting a bull, preserved in the museum, perhaps belonged as a crowning frieze. In the area between the gate and the coast, excavations have identified three road levels, the last of which is visible, with an extension of the roadway to about 10 m in width, paved with large slabs of limestone on which the furrows of the wagons are visible. The side areas paved with cobblestones are perhaps interpretable as pedestrian walkways. Inside the door this more recent pavement was preceded by four levels paved with cobblestones. On the sides of the road there are two small complexes: the western one consists of a central building with a rectangular plan, of which only the foundations are preserved, enclosed to the east and south by a fence with the lower part in carefully squared stone blocks and raised in raw bricks . At about 1,50 m to the east, there is an almost square structure, smaller (the side measures about 2 meters), of which only the stone base remains. The main building has two phases: in 6th century BC a rectangular chapel was built (2,52 x 4,11 m), prostyle o in antis with north facade. A fragment of wayside Shrine Doric di limestone coated with stucco, comparable with those of temple F of Selinunte, and a fragment of a limestone relief with a battle scene, preserved in the museum. In a second phase of the first half of the 5th century BC the oldest chapel was replaced by a square building (3,93 x 4,11 m), to which some fragments of corner capitals of the foliate type, of oriental inspiration, now exhibited in the open space in front of the museum belong. The chapel was therefore probably destroyed during the siege Syracusan of the 397 BC At the shrines, the road appears to be interrupted and a row of boulders, perhaps a barrier erected during the siege.

The eastern complex, much ruined, consists of a rectangular area (about 5 x 7 meters) bounded to the east and to the west by rough stone walls and to the south by a square block wall at the first phase of the main shrine in the 6th century BC Also in this second building there are traces of an early renovation 5th century BC Three were found in the area amphorae stuck in the sand, the function of which is not yet clear. The layers referable to the last phase of the plant, numerous fragments of bowls and small plates probably used for worship. The sanctuary, both for the architectural forms and for the characteristics of the votive deposits, seems to refer to a cult Greco-Punic.

 

Source: wikipedia, web

Photo: Di Davide Mauro - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7541020

Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero

Information contributions: Web, Region of Sicily

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