After years of excavation, head of goddess Astarte found on the island of Mothia, near a temple dedicated to her

During the latest excavation campaign conducted on the island of Mothia by Rome’s “La Sapienza” University coordinated by Professor Lorenzo Nigro, a head of the goddess Astarte/Aphrodite, companion of Baal of Kothon, lord of the sea and underground waters, was found.

The terracotta face emerged in the southern part of the island, which was an important Phoenician colony, where a temple dedicated to the goddess once stood.

“After so many years of excavation,” Nigro comments, “the continuity of archaeological research has borne fruit. The goddess has thus shown herself to us, in all her splendor, ten years after her temple had been excavated and it was understood, first from the findings, then from two inscriptions, that it was dedicated precisely to Astarte/Aphrodite. A celestial, astral and marine Astarte, mistress of life, reproduction, love, but also of the sea and navigation, of fresh and sea waters, which the Phoenicians crossed to unite the cultures of the Mediterranean peoples. ”Precisely from this unusual monument,“ the archaeologist added, ”it was decided to resume investigations in the 2021 campaign. Exactly in front of the anchor, a stipe was discovered, about a meter in diameter, bordered by red mud bricks. In the center of the stipe was laid, upturned on the layer of ochre, a female terracotta protome depicting the face of the goddess Astarte/Aphrodite: resplendent, luminous, as defined by the epithet Aglaia found inscribed on the bottom of a vase offered in the temple and as the expert hand of master restorer Salvatore Tricoli showed it to our eyes a few days ago, with the painted decoration shining white in the complexion, flaming red in the curls of the hair and golden in the wide divine diadem."

After years of excavation, head of goddess Astarte found on the island of Mothia, near a temple dedicated to her

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