El Santuario de Atargatis en Carthago Novaun complejo escenográfico en el Mediterráneo tardorrepublicano

Abstract

The objective of this work is the study of the sanctuary of Atargatis in Carthago Nova and is structured into an introduction and four chapters. The introductory chapter outlines the sanctuary of Carthago Nova in its context, presenting the city in general, as well as the evolution throughout the history of the Molinete hill, on whose summit the sanctuary complex develops. The first chapter focuses on the sanctuary and presents and analyses all the archival and archaeological documentation recovered, reconstructing the history of the excavations conducted in the sanctuary, the description and interpretation of the found structures, the inventory of materials referable to the pertinent SU, and a proposed periodization of its different phases. The second chapter concentrates on the cult of Atargatis, both through a brief historiographical analysis and through an excursus of the archaeological contexts and related monumental evidence, trying to capture their peculiarities. The third chapter examines the scenographic sanctuary complexes of Hellenistic tradition in the western Mediterranean, and more particularly the examples of this building type in Lazio and the Iberian Peninsula. In the last chapter, some concluding considerations are proposed, in line with what was discussed in the previous chapters, comparing the sanctuary of Atargatis and its monumental specificities with the scenographic complexes and temple typology of the central Italian and Iberian contexts.