Sarcophagus of Cannita

This is one of the two Sarcophagi of Cannita. In 1695 stone quarry workers by chance discovered a chamber tomb that contained a beautiful anthropoid sarcophagus of Phoenician type. The tomb was discovered in Portella di Mare, a plain that stretches immediately inland of the Phoenician city of Solunto founded on the northwest coast of Sicily and in the vicinity of the small ancient settlement built on Pizzo Cannita, in the lower valley of the Eleuterio river. Only the cover of the sarcophagus was recovered (the case was reconstructed) on which a relief of a female figure with outstretched arms with a band around her head and a smooth long simple dress with short pleated sleeves was carved. Although this is a typically oriental type, the depiction of the face reveals a profound influence of classical Greek art, allowing it to be dated within the first half of the 5* century B.C.The sarcophagus recovered in 1725 in another chamber tomb discovered in the same locality seems instead to be a few decades older. The tomb contained ivory amulets, metal fragments and a black-painted vase which unfortunately went missing. The case was decorated with figurative scenes painted in blue and red, reproduced in an engraving of the Benedictine abbot Michele Del Giudice. Within the frames that bordered the main scene a number of seated female figures were depicted on both sides of the sarcophagus, while on the shorter sides, a male bust and four rearing horses held by a naked youth are portrayed.On the cover it is carved a relief with a female figure in a draped dress, the right arm extended along the side and the left one folded on the chest in the act of embracing an alabastron (ointments jar) in her hand. Probably the cover was painted as well, as demonstrated by the traces of red paint found on the hair at the time of discovery. The coffin was transported by the Prince of Cattolica, Francesco Bonanno to his residence in Misilmeri and was only bought by the Ministry of Education in 1863 and exhibited at the National Museum of Palermo together with the example discovered in 1695.Information about the tombs can be gleaned from the manuscript account of the Benedictine abbot Michele Del Giudice, stored in the Municipal Library of Palermo: these are subterranean rooms carved into the bedrock, quadrangular in shape with a flat roof and an entrance closed by a slab of stone, which is accessed from the east via a corridor (dromos) with steps, a type well known throughout the western Phoenician-Punic world. The two anthropoid sarcophagi, however, are the only specimens found in Sicily to date.此为坎尼塔（Cannita）出土的两件人形石棺之一。1695年，采石工人偶然发现一座墓室，其内出土一件精美腓尼基式人形石棺（anthropoid sarcophagus）。该墓室发现于马雷平原（Portella di Mare），这片平原紧邻建于西西里岛西北海岸的腓尼基城邦索伦托（Solunto）的内陆区域，且毗邻埃莱乌泰里奥河（Eleuterio）下游谷地中坐落于坎尼塔山（Pizzo Cannita）的小型古代定居点。目前仅追回该石棺的棺盖，棺身系后期复原，棺盖之上雕刻有一尊女性形象浮雕：她双臂舒展，头戴束发带，身着简约流畅的长款衣袍，衣袖为短款打褶设计。尽管该石棺属于典型的东方风格，但其面部雕刻却彰显出古典希腊艺术的深远影响，据此可将其年代判定为公元前5世纪上半叶。 1725年，同一区域另一座墓室中出土了另一件石棺，其年代则要早数十年。该墓室出土有象牙护身符、金属残件与一件黑绘陶罐，可惜后者现已遗失。该石棺棺身装饰有蓝红两色绘制的具象场景，该场景被本笃会修道院院长米歇尔·德尔·朱迪切（Michele Del Giudice）的版画复刻留存。在主场景四周的边框内，石棺两侧均雕刻有若干坐姿女性形象；而在棺身的短端，则分别刻画了一尊男性胸像与四匹由裸足青年牵引的昂首奔马。 该石棺的棺盖之上亦雕刻有浮雕：一位身着垂褶衣袍的女性，右臂垂于身侧，左臂屈于胸前，正怀抱着手中的阿拉巴斯通瓶（alabastron，药膏罐）。出土时棺盖表面残留有红色颜料痕迹，由此可推测其原本亦有彩绘装饰。该石棺曾由卡托利卡亲王弗朗切斯科·博南诺（Francesco Bonanno）转运至其位于米西梅尔里（Misilmeri）的宅邸，直至1863年才被教育部收购，与1695年出土的那件石棺一同展出于巴勒莫国家博物馆。 关于这两座墓室的信息可从存于巴勒莫市政图书馆的本笃会修道院院长米歇尔·德尔·朱迪切的手稿记载中获取：此类墓室为凿刻于基岩中的地下空间，呈四边形平面，平顶，入口以石板封堵，东侧设有带阶梯的墓道（dromos）通行，这种形制在西腓尼基-布匿世界中广为流传。目前西西里岛境内仅出土过这两件人形石棺。