KOSSURA
(Pantelleria) Trapani, Sicily.
A
volcanic island 110 km SW of Sicily and 70 km from
Africa. The island has been inhabited since the Neolithic
period, from which there are remains of a village and of
a fortification wall in the district of Mursia, as well as
dome-like constructions with rubble walls called sesi,
which were used as graves.
Within the historical period, beginning with the earliest
phases of Phoenician colonization within the W Mediterranean, the island was probably reached by Phoenician
traders. Even at a later time (4th c. B.C.) Pseudo-Skylax
(Müller, 1885,
ø 111) mentions the island to relate that
it was one navigation day away from Lilybaion. Until
the middle of the 3d c. B.C. it remained within the Carthaginian sphere. It was occupied for the first time by
the Romans in 254 B.C. (Zonar. 8.14), perhaps only
briefly, but in 217 B.C. the island was seized by the Romans (Polyb. 3.96). However, Punic culture survived
on the island until at least the 2d-1st c. B.C., as attested
by coins bearing a Punic legend. The island was still
fortified as late as the 1st c. A.D. Pliny the Elder (5.7)
describes it as “Cossura cum oppido,” and Roman presence, even if only for strategic reasons, is attested in the
island by remains of structures with mosaic floors datable
to the late Imperial period.
The archaeological remains from the historical period
of the island consist primarily of some stretches of the
wall in the areas of Santa Theresa and San Marco, where
the acropolis was most likely located, but nothing permits
attribution of these walls to the Punic period. There are,
however, some terracotta female heads and busts of
Punic type with a
klaft hairstyle or fillet, which are reported to have been found at Bagno dell'Acqua where
there was once a sanctuary of Punic type. An early Corinthian aryballos was found there, datable to the 6th c.
B.C. A few other items from the Punic period (jewelry,
necklaces, coins) provide archaeological evidence for a
long Phoenician-Punic cultural phase within the island,
but at the same time they strongly suggest that Punic
penetration was somewhat limited.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
P. Orsi, “Pantelleria,”
MonAnt 9
(1889)
MPI; A. Verger, “Pantelleria nell'antichità,”
Oriens Antiquus 5.2 (1966) 249ff
MPI; C. Tozzi, “Relazione
preliminare sulla I e II campagna di scavi effettuate a
Pantelleria,”
Rivista Scienze Preistoriche 23.2 (1968)
3 15ff
I; A. M. Bisi, “In margine ad alcune terrecotte
puniche arcaiche di Pantelleria,”
Sicilia Archeologica 10
(1970) 17ff
I.
V. TUSA
