by Gaia Servadio (Author)
Motya is a tiny island, scarcely larger than one kilometre square, the site of one the major cities of the Phoenicians, destroyed by the Greeks after an extended siege in 397 BC. This book is Gaia Servadio's account of how early in the twentieth century the English amateur archaeologist Pip Whitaker became convinced that Motya was the site of the buried city and started excavations which unearthed details of a remarkable lost civilization. It is also a story of how Gaia Servadio herself fell under the island's spell. 'An account of its history and rediscovery, as well as a brave denunciation of the indifference, slovenliness and corruption that have followed attempts to preserve the site' Jewish Chronicle
Format: Paperback
Pages: 254
Edition: New
Publisher: Phoenix
Published: 01 Mar 2001
ISBN 10: 0575402180
ISBN 13: 9780575402188
Book Overview: The fascinating story of a major archaeological discovery Gaia Servadio is a well known, very promotable author with infectious enthusiasm for her subject 'A passionate enquiry into a place and a people; it is also a celebration of those who, during this century, have worked to uncover the truth' The Tablet 'Written with infectious verve, Servadio's book ... provides a fascinating account of the vanished Anglo-Sicilian Marsala merchants ... Motya is a lovely, melancholy book' Independent 'In its richness of detail, anecdote and political intrigue, Motya has something in common with Peter Robb's superb Midnight in Sicily. Both authors are infatuated with the island, its tortuous history, its confusions of light and dark, of beauty and ugliness ... she makes you long to visit Motya, and to look again at the Sicily that she loves' Sunday Times