View source for Thapsos

{{Short description|Prehistoric village in Sicily}}
{{About|the prehistoric village in Sicily|the medicinal herb|Verbascum thapsus|the North African city|Thapsus}}
{{One source|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox ancient site
  |name = Thapsos
  |native_name = Θάψος {{in lang|el}}
  |alternate_name = 
  |image = Tomb of Thapsos6.JPG
  |alt = 
  |caption = Thapsos had a large necropolis of cave tombs with vertical entrance shafts or dromos entry-corridors.
  |map_type = Italy
  |map_alt = 
  |map_size =
  |coordinates = {{coord|37|09|13|N|15|13|46|E|display=inline,title}}
  |location = [[Priolo Gargallo]], [[Province of Syracuse]], [[Sicily]], [[Italy]]
  |region = 
  |type = Settlement
  |part_of = 
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  |material = 
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  |abandoned = 
  |epochs = <!-- actually displays as "Periods" -->
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  |archaeologists = 
  |condition = Ruined
  |ownership = Public
  |management = Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. di Siracusa
  |public_access = Yes
  |website = [http://www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/museopaoloorsi/parchiENG.htm Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi]
  |notes = 
}}

'''Thapsos''' ({{langx|el|Θάψος}}) was a prehistoric village in [[Sicily]] of the middle [[Bronze Age]]. It was found by the Italian archaeologist [[Paolo Orsi]] on the small peninsula of Magnisi, near [[Priolo Gargallo]]. In its vicinity was born the [[Thapsos culture]], one of the most important prehistoric cultures in Sicily (identified with the people of [[Sicani]]).

==History==
[[File:Tomb of Thapsos5.JPG|thumb|A rock-cut tomb in the necropolis]]
The site is notable for its village – the first known city in Sicily{{Citation needed|date=August 2012}} – and for its rich [[necropolis]]. [[David Abulafia]] writes:<blockquote>A settlement at Thapsos, an offshore island in eastern Sicily, offers evidence of a sophisticated, imported culture, [[Mycenaean Greece|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 of [[Helladic chronology|Late Helladic]] 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, on [[Cyprus]], at [[Enkomi]] near [[Famagusta]]. 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 ware|grey pottery]] in Sicilian styles, indicating that Thapsos contained a mixed population.<ref>David Abulafia, ''The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean'' (Oxford University Press, 2011; {{ISBN|019975263X}}), pp. 34-35.</ref>{{long quote|reason=this should be summarized instead|date=June 2025}}</blockquote>

[[Thucydides]] writes that Thapsos was a colony of [[Megara]] founded by the same people who founded [[Brucoli|Trotilon]] and [[Megara Hyblaea]].<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.perseus-grc1:6.4 Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, 6.4]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Thapsos culture]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* [https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1190/- Piccolo, Salvatore (2018). ''Bronze Age Sicily''. World History Encyclopedia.]
* Tusa, Sebastiano, ''La Sicilia nella Preistoria'', second edition, [[Palermo]] 1992.

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/museopaoloorsi/parchiENG.htm Official website]

{{Archaeological sites in Sicily}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in Sicily]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in the Province of Syracuse]]
[[Category:Megarian colonies]]


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