Lilybaeum
Was founded by the survivors from Mothia after the city had been destroyed
by Dionysius of Syracuse in 397 B.C, though it has been shown that an
inhabited nucleus existed even before that time. The city, which passed
from Carthaginian domination to Roman rule after the naval battle of the
Egadi Islands in 241 A.C.. was referred to as “splendidissima civitas”
and for two years (76-75 A.C) had Cicero as its Quaestor. The city is
rich in archaeological areas, with particular interest attaching to the
mosaics of the so-called insula romana, the necropolis with the hypogeum
of Salva Crispia and the “Punic ditch” with its fortifications.
A large area outside the present city of Marsala is still awaiting excavation
and is eventually to become an archaeological park. Recent finds include
the relic of a Punic ship discovered by Honor Frost at the northern entrance
to the Stagnone Lagoon in 1971. In Internet you will find a bilingual
site about this ship and the museum where it is on view (http/www.waterland.net/navis).
