Lilybaeum
Lilybaeum, located at the western tip of Sicily, was a significant ancient city known for its strategic harbor and fortifications. Originally an attempt at Greek settlement by colonists from Cnidus around 580 BC, the area instead became a key outpost for the Carthaginians. It served as their main Sicilian port following the destruction of Motya, and it successfully withstood multiple attacks, including those by Dionysius I of Syracuse and Pyrrhus of Epirus, before eventually succumbing to Roman forces at the end of the First Punic War in 241 BC. Under Roman rule, Lilybaeum became a municipium and later a colony, distinguished for its financial governance and artistic heritage. Excavations in the area have revealed a mix of Carthaginian and Roman architecture, including extensive defensive structures and luxurious residential complexes. The site also features notable artifacts, such as painted tombs and mosaics, though much of the ancient city remains buried beneath its modern successor. Additionally, local legends, like that of the Sibyl's Cave, add a layer of cultural significance to its historical narrative.
Subject Terms
Lilybaeum
Lilybaion (Marsala)
A city at the western extremity of Sicily, flanked on two sides by the sea and on the land side by a ditch or canal, and equipped with three harbors. An attempt at Greek settlement by colonists from Cnidus (Reşadiye) in Caria (southwestern Asia Minor), under the leadership of Pentathlus (c 580 BC), proved unsuccessful, and the place instead became a principal outpost of the Carthaginians in the island. Its significance increased when they made it their principal Sicilian port in place of Motya (Mozia), sacked by Dionysius I of Syracuse (397/6). Subsequently Dionysius made a less successful attack on Lilybaeum (368/7), and Pyrrhus of Epirus, too, during his invasion of Sicily, failed to capture the city (277/6). But at the end of the First Punic War it fell to the Romans (241), after resisting their siege for nine years.
Thereafter Lilybaeum formed part of the Roman province of Sicily, and was the seat of one of its two financial officials (quaestors), a post held by Cicero (76–75) who described it as an impressive city (splendidissima)—from which the predatory governor Verres was able to steal many works of art. During the fifties and forties a series of at least eight other officials, probably (in most cases) occupying the same quaestorial office, issued bronze coinage at Lilybaeum with Latin inscriptions, and a Greek piece was minted by Lucius Sempronius Atratinus, Antony's admiral who brought a squadron to the assistance of Octavian against Sextus Pompeius (the son of Pompey the Great) in 36. Augustus subsequently gave Lilybaeum the rank of a citizen community (municipium), an occasion for which it minted its last monetary issue. Retaining significance as the principal Sicilian port for Africa, it was made a Roman colony by Pertinax (AD 193) or Septimius Severus (193–211), with the title of Colonia Helvia Augusta. An earthquake caused destruction in 365 and the city was burned by Vandal invaders in 440.
Excavation has been limited because part of the ancient town is covered by its modern successor. But Carthaginian and later graves (including painted and stuccoed shrine-like tombs of the first and second centuries AD) have been explored. Massive defences of the fourth century BC—restored during the civil war between Octavian and Sextus Pompeius—can also be traced, and recently parts of two Carthaginian or Greek warships of the later third century BC have been located in the Stagnone, a lagoon north of the city, and recovered for reconstruction. Traces of the Carthaginian town buildings (Via delle Ninfe) and cemetery (of the later fourth to third century BC) have also now been found, and remains of Roman edifices of the early second century AD. Mosaics extending over a wide period have also come to light; some of the later examples belong to a luxurious residential complex at the western extremity of the city (Cape Boeo), including a bathing establishment with numerous rooms, which indicates that some rebuilding took place after the earthquake in 365. One of the city's wells, at the Sibyl's Cave (so-called owing to a legend that the Cumaean prophetess with that title was buried there), was believed to confer divine powers on those who drank its waters.