Sulkis’ Tophet - V: Oldest stelae group.
Female figure framed between two columns with preclassical capitas and supporting a pediment. The woman wears a long tunic and holds on her chest a tambourine used in sacred ceremonies.
The deposition of stelae in Sulcis’ Tophet began after the Carthaginian conquest of Sant’Antioco Island. The lythic production (VI - I century BC) reveals originality as well as the ability to implement and develop the typical Punic-Carthaginian influences, and, later, the distinctive artistic features of the Hellenistic culture.
The votive stelae appear inside the Tophet in a more recent phase, approx. VI – I century BC. The stelae were placed near the cinerary urns, and attest the thanksgiving of the parents of the deceased children to the gods for having received the grace of a new birth.
The study of nearly two thousand examples made it possible to identify four main chronological groups: the oldest includes the simplest representations, mainly stones and some stylized anthropomorphic figure, such as the female figures symbolizing fertility. At this stage, Egyptian style frameworks began to appear: columns and pillars become more elaborate in the second group by inserting pre-classical capital types. The architrave is decorated with astral symbols (winged sun disk and crescent moon) and surmounted by an embellishment of cobra snakes. Around this time, the most common Sulcis Tophet's type appears (250 stelae approximately) in which a female figure dressed in a long tunic and a disc on the chest, probably a tambourine used in sacred ceremonies, is represented.
Funerary stele
Sulkis Tophet
VI - V century BC
Sant’Antioco, Museo Archeologico
Sulkis’ Tophet - V: Oldest stelae group.
Female figure framed between two columns with preclassical capitas and supporting a pediment. The woman wears a long tunic and holds on her chest a tambourine used in sacred ceremonies.
The deposition of stelae in Sulcis’ Tophet began after the Carthaginian conquest of Sant’Antioco Island. The lythic production (VI - I century BC) reveals originality as well as the ability to implement and develop the typical Punic-Carthaginian influences, and, later, the distinctive artistic features of the Hellenistic culture.
The votive stelae appear inside the Tophet in a more recent phase, approx. VI – I century BC. The stelae were placed near the cinerary urns, and attest the thanksgiving of the parents of the deceased children to the gods for having received the grace of a new birth.
The study of nearly two thousand examples made it possible to identify four main chronological groups: the oldest includes the simplest representations, mainly stones and some stylized anthropomorphic figure, such as the female figures symbolizing fertility. At this stage, Egyptian style frameworks began to appear: columns and pillars become more elaborate in the second group by inserting pre-classical capital types. The architrave is decorated with astral symbols (winged sun disk and crescent moon) and surmounted by an embellishment of cobra snakes. Around this time, the most common Sulcis Tophet's type appears (250 stelae approximately) in which a female figure dressed in a long tunic and a disc on the chest, probably a tambourine used in sacred ceremonies, is represented.
Funerary stele
Sulkis Tophet
VI - V century BC
Sant’Antioco, Museo Archeologico