Lilybaion

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Lilybaion ( ancient Greek Λιλύβαιον , stressed on the second syllable , Latin Lilybaeum , stressed on the third syllable -bae- ) was an important Punic fortress town at Cape Boeo on the western tip of Sicily (near present-day Marsala ) and was considered impregnable.

history

After the capture and destruction of the Carthaginian fortress Motya by Dionysius I of Syracuse in 397 BC. They looked for a more suitable place for a new fortress town and found it about 8 km south of it. There a triangular peninsula protrudes to the west into the Mediterranean , strategically very conveniently located at the narrowest point between Sicily and North Africa . On this peninsula, the Carthaginians built their new fortress Lilybaion, named after the mountains of the same name that loom behind them. From the height, observers with very good eyesight could allegedly count how many ships left the opposite port of Carthage, 140 km away. After the bad experience with Motya, Lilybaion was designed from the start to withstand any siege, even for years. The advantage of this was that the Carthaginians were still in control of the sea and could provide supplies unhindered. On the land side, the city was protected by a ditch about 30 meters wide and 20 meters deep, filled with sea water, and by massive walls and towers, also on the lake side. Significant remains of the moat and the lakeside walls still exist today. The old port was north of the city and is now largely silted up. The remains of a mighty harbor dam are still there. Today's Marsala is just southeast of Lilybaion.

Due to its strong fortifications, the ancient city was the support of the Carthaginians in Sicily and their base of operations on land and sea, which was never lost in battle. She defied 368 BC After the attack of Dionysius, 340/339 it was the starting point of the expedition against Syracuse and Timoleon and after the battle of Krimisos the refuge of the defeated Carthaginians. As Pyrrhos I in 279 BC After conquering all of Sicily in BC, the Carthaginians defended their last base, Lilybaion, with such tenacity that the king had to give up the siege after two months. The operation of the Carthaginians against Messina , which unleashed the First Punic War , started from Lilybaion. It was reinforced by the transplanted there Selinuntier , throughout the war, the base of operations of the Carthaginians and defied the siege art of Romans , the whole nine years (250 to 241) to its end. After the peace treaty of 241 BC When all of Sicily and Lilybaion had been ceded to the Romans, it served them in the same way as the Carthaginians before. Their coup against Lilybaeum in 218 BC. At the beginning of the Second Punic War failed.

Lilybaeum also served as a base for the Romans during the Third Punic War . In the slave war of 102 BC The rebels under Athenion ran into their heads on the city walls. After the end of the Western Roman Empire , the fortress fell into disrepair and was eventually devastated by the Vandals and the Arabs . The latter then founded today's Marsala a little southeast of it. The urban area of ​​ancient Lilybaion has been uninhabited since then. A 35-meter-long Punic warship was salvaged from the port and restored. It is exhibited in the Museo Archeologico Baglio Anselmi .

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