Mozia -- Island of Archeological Sites

Mozia Island (read: /motzia/), also known in Greek as Moya or San Pantaleo, is a little tiny island which has diamater 2,5 km long and part of the Stagnone archipelago (Mozia, Lunga Iisola grande) and isola Santa Maria) at Stagnone Lagoon. The islands belongs to the city of Marshala, Trapani Province, Sicily Region, Italy.

The archeological sites were discovered by Giuseppe Whitaker (1850-1336), a rich English wine businessman who interested in archeology. Whitaker bought the island afterwards supposedly to hunt the archeological sites in the island.

The Punics had lived in this island and Mozia had become the city of trade before the glorious Lilybeo (old name before Marsala which means sea port headed to Lybia) around 8th century B.C. (Before Christ) to 397 A.D. However, after the Roman Ancient won to occupy the region from the Punics (known as The Punic Wars), the glorious of this island became faded away.

In Mozia island, until now it is still discovered a lot of the archeological sites during the glorious of the Punics i.e. temples, statues, fortress which is 6 meter tall surroundings the island as well as a tower which twice tall than the fortress, unfortunately, the condition of the fortress had only been ruins. By learning this island, it is known that the Punics were able to built a strong fortress by the method of inserting small stones between the big stones in order to be resistant of the earth quake and become stronger.

One of a famous historical statue which has been discovered was an incredible statue known as Giovane di Mozia (Young man from Mozia) stored inside of the house of Whitaker which finally known as Whitaker Museum. Unfortunately, the 190 cm tall statue is not 100% complete anymore, since the vital parts of his body had been cut off by the enemy of the nation. According to the history that during the war, every statue found which belonged the defeated party must be cut off and threw the vital parts of the body away, for instance hands, feet, nose, ears and his sex. The island of Mozia at present to be reserved as a National Park of Comune di Marsala. __________________________________________________________

Pulau Mozia (Moya – Greek) pulau kecil yang berdiameter 2,5 km2 terletak di gugusan Kepulauan Stagnone di Laguna Stagnone yang terdiri dari 3 (tiga) buah pulau yaitu Mozia, Isola Lunga dan yang terkecil yaitu Pulau Santa Maria. Peninggalan arkeologi di Mozia pada awalnya ditemukan oleh Giuseppe Whitaker (1850 – 1936), seorang industrialis wine bangsa Inggris yang kaya raya yg tertarik dengan arkeologi. Whitaker kemudian membeli pulau yg terletak di seberang kota Marsala itu untuk digunakan sebagai tempat berburu.

Namun rupanya bangsa Punic pernah mendiami pulau ini dan bahkan menjadi kota pusat perdagangan sebelum Lilybeo maju, yaitu antara abad 8 SM hingga th 397 S.M. Setelah kalah oleh Pasukan Romawi Kuno dalam The Punic Wars maka setelah itu sejarah pulau ini tidak terdengar lagi. Pulau Mozia masih banyak diketemukan peninggalan-peninggalan kebudayaan yg tinggi bangsa Punic karena terdapat candi atau tempat pemujaan dewa-dewa dan bekas-bekas benteng yg tingginya sekitar 6 meter yang mengitari laut (akan tetapi kondisinya sekarang tinggal reruntuhannya saja) serta menara pengintai yg tingginya 2 kali lipat dari benteng yaitu sekitar 12 meter (inipun tinggal puing-puingnya saja).

Di pulau ini dapat dilihat bahwa bangsa Punic sudah pandai membuat benteng kuat dengan metode menyelipkan batu-batuan kecil diantara blok batu-batu besar agar tahan terhadap guncangan gempa bumi dan lebih kokoh Salah satu yang peninggalan yang berhasil digali di Pulau tersebut adalah Patung Giovanni di Mozia (Pemuda Mozia) yang sangat menakjubkan disimpan dalam Rumah Whitaker yang selanjutnya dimanfaatkan sebagai Museum Whitaker.

Namun sayang kondisi patung yang tingginya 190 cm ini tidak 100% utuh karena tangannya, kali dan bagian bagian penting lainnya dipangkas. Konon ketika suatu bangsa memenangkan pertempuran maka patung patung yang ditemukan terutama pada bagian bagian pentingnya akan selalu dibabat atau dibuang. Pulau Mozia dan sekitarnya sekarang dijadikan cagar alam dan budaya oleh Comune di Marsala.



Reports by Yenni L. Calvi
Edited & Photography by Pramudya Sulaksono