Motya

Motya was a Phoenician colony founded in the 8th century BC on San Pantaleo Island off western Sicily, growing to cover the entire 45-hectare island by the 6th century BC. Key structures include a Temple of Baal oriented toward Orion's winter solstice rising, a tophet sanctuary where cremated remains of children were found, and a cothon sacred pool. The city was destroyed in 397 BC by Dionysius I of Syracuse. Rediscovered in 1888 by Joseph Whitaker, the site yielded the famous Motya Charioteer marble statue in 1979, now displayed in the on-site Whitaker Museum.