Detailed sheets

The tophet

The tophet, the Phoenician sanctuary reserved for infant death (a periodical sacrificial ritual according to some experts, and according to others the burial place for children born prematurely or through miscarriage: but the ritual foresaw a purification sacrifice through fire in any case). The sanctuary, as was traditional in Phoenician towns, stands on the edge of the built-up area (fig. 1).

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Fig. 1 - The settlement of Monte Sirai. Highlighted the position of the tophet (photo Unicity S.p.A.).


The tophet was used between the 4th and 2nd century B.C. (fig. 2), and includes an area below the access steps to the sacellum, where the combusted remains of children in covered urns by plates were buried (about four hundred: fig. 3); A stone stele on the ground, of various types, not for all burials, reproducing Greek, Egyptian or linear tabernacles (fig. 4).

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Fig. 2 - The area of the tophet (GUIRGUIS 2013, fig. 7).
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Figs. 3-4 - Map of the tophet with distribution and types of urns (GUIRGUIS 2013, fig. 7); reproductions of urns and stelae of the tophet at Monte Sirai (photo MANCA DI MORES 2015)

The sacellum is reached from the urns area, going up some steps and a ramp (the scenic monumental steps as reconstructed in the dig site of the 1960s (fig. 5) must be replaced by a more correct arrangement),  of which three small rooms remain where the sacrificial ceremonies and ritual cremation were carried out (figs. 6-7).

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Fig. 5 - The tophet staircase (photo Unicity S.p.A.).
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Figs. 6-7 - Rooms and fireplaces in the tophet sanctuary (photo Unicity S.p.A.).



Bibliografia

  • P. BARTOLONI, Monte Sirai, Sassari.
  • P. BARTOLONI, I Fenici e i Cartaginesi in Sardegna, Sassari.
  • S. F. BONDI, Monte Sirai 1980. Lo scavo nel tofet, in RStudFen, 9, pp. 217-22.
  • S. F. BONDI, Monte Sirai 1981. Lo scavo nel tofet, in RStudFen, 10, pp. 273-81.
  • S. F. BONDI, Monte Sirai 1982. Lo scavo nel tofet, in RStudFen, 11, pp. 193-203.
  • S. F. BONDI, Monte Sirai 1983. Lo scavo nel tofet, in RStudFen, 12, pp. 185-98.
  • M. GUIRGUIS, Monte Sirai 1963-2013 mezzo secolo di indagini archeologiche, Sassari.
  • F. BARRECA, G. GARBINI (a cura di), Monte Sirai - I. Rapporto preliminare della Missione archeologica dell’Università di Roma e della Soprintendenza alle Antichità di Cagliari (Studi Semitici, 11), Roma 1964.
  • M. G. AMADASI GUZZO, Monte Sirai - II. Rapporto preliminare della missione archeologica dell'Università di Roma e della Soprintendenza alle antichità di Cagliari (Studi Semitici, 14), Roma 1965.
  • P. XELLA, Per un ‘modello interpretativo’ del tofet: il tofet come necropoli infantile? in G. Bartoloni et alii, Tiro, Cartagine, Lixus: nuove acquisizioni (Atti del Convegno Internazionale in onore di Maria Giulia Amadasi Guzzo, Roma, 24-25 novembre 2008), Roma 2010, pp. 259-278.

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