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Thapsos ( el, Θάψος) was a prehistoric village in
The site is notable for its village - the first known city in Sicily - and for its rich Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, 6.4
/ref>
Piccolo, Salvatore (2018). ''Bronze Age Sicily''. World History Encyclopedia.
* Tusa, Sebastiano, ''La Sicilia nella Preistoria'', second edition,
Official website
Archaeological sites in Sicily Buildings and structures in the Province of Syracuse Mycenaean sites Megarian colonies {{Italy-archaeology-stub
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
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, demographi ...
of the middle Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
. It was found by the Italian archaeologist Paolo Orsi
Paolo Orsi (Rovereto, October 17, 1859 – November 8, 1935) was an Italian archaeologist and classicist.
Life
Orsi was born in Rovereto, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now in the province of Trento in Italy. After studying at a g ...
on the small peninsula of Magnisi, near Priolo Gargallo
Priolo Gargallo ( Sicilian: ''Priolu'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily (southern Italy). It is about southeast of Palermo and about northwest of Syracuse.
The name Priolo Gargallo comes from the nobleman Mar ...
. In its vicinity was born the Thapsos culture
The Thapsos Culture is defined as the civilization in ancient Sicily attested by archaeological findings of a large village located in the peninsula of Magnisi, between Augusta and Syracuse, that the Greeks called Thapsos.
I believe I have demo ...
, one of the most important prehistoric cultures in Sicily (identified with the people of Sicani
The Sicani (Ancient Greek Σῐκᾱνοί ''Sikānoí'') or Sicanians were one of three ancient peoples of Sicily present at the time of Phoenician and Greek colonization. The Sicani dwelt east of the Elymians and west of the Sicels, having, ac ...
).
History
The site is notable for its village - the first known city in Sicily - and for its rich necropolis
A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead".
The term usually im ...
. David Abulafia writes:A settlement at Thapsos, an offshore island in eastern Sicily, offers evidence of a sophisticated, imported culture, Mycenaean in origin. The settlers created a grid-like town with streets up to four metres wide, spacious houses built round courtyards, and tombs full ofLate Helladic Helladic chronology is a relative dating system used in archaeology and art history. It complements the Minoan chronology scheme devised by Sir Arthur Evans for the categorisation of Bronze Age artefacts from the Minoan civilization within a hi ...wares from the Greek lands, suggesting 'a veritable foreign colony on the site'. Indeed, the closest analogy to the layout of the houses in Thapsos is to be found at the other end of the Mycenaean world, onCyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ..., at Enkomi nearFamagusta Famagusta ( , ; el, Αμμόχωστος, Ammóchostos, ; tr, Gazimağusa or ) is a city on the east coast of Geography of Cyprus, Cyprus. It is located east of Nicosia District, Nicosia and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. Duri .... It is almost as if a blueprint for a trading colony had been created and then transformed into reality at both ends of the Mycenaean world. Thapsos has yielded very many small perfume containers of Mycenaean origin. For it was a centre of industry, specializing in the production of perfumed oils for an 'international' market. But Thapsos was not simply an offshoot of Mycenae. It produced plenty of coarse grey pottery in Sicilian styles, indicating that Thapsos contained a mixed population.
Thucydides
Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...
writes that Thapsos was a colony of Megara
Megara (; el, Μέγαρα, ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, befo ...
founded by the same people who founded Trotilon and Megara Hyblaea
Megara Hyblaea ( grc, Μέγαρα Ὑβλαία) – perhaps identical with Hybla Major – is an ancient Greek colony in Sicily, situated near Augusta on the east coast, north-northwest of Syracuse, Italy, on the deep bay formed by the Xip ...
./ref>
See also
*Thapsos culture
The Thapsos Culture is defined as the civilization in ancient Sicily attested by archaeological findings of a large village located in the peninsula of Magnisi, between Augusta and Syracuse, that the Greeks called Thapsos.
I believe I have demo ...
Notes
Bibliography
Piccolo, Salvatore (2018). ''Bronze Age Sicily''. World History Encyclopedia.
* Tusa, Sebastiano, ''La Sicilia nella Preistoria'', second edition,
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
1992.
External links
Official website
Archaeological sites in Sicily Buildings and structures in the Province of Syracuse Mycenaean sites Megarian colonies {{Italy-archaeology-stub