Tra tradizione punica e interpretatio romana: nota sui culti al Capo Boeo in età tardo-repubblicana

Starting from the appellation of civitas splendidissima given by Cicero to Lilybaeum and from its relation with the juridical status of the Punic city after the Roman conquest, the aim of this paper is to reconstruct the topography of the town, with particular reference to the religious landscape. The most part of the data, as well as the information coming from epigraphy and numismatics concern the 2nd Century BC or, according with th common interpretation, the years in which Lilybaeum was under the control of Sextus Pompeus. Depicting an image of the “ciceronian city” implies an analysis of all the data, literary sources included, in order to establish which elements were still surviving at the time of Cicero’s quaestorship and what part of the latter topography of the town was alrady existing at that time. Religious cults are particularly significant at this purpose. This paper proposes a new interpretation of the cults of Venus equestris and of Hercule Nuritanus, attested by two inscriptions of the second half of th 1st Century BC. The previous lectures of the cult of Venus are fully rejected, in therms of significance, chronology and implications on the topography of the town. This study also puts forward the hypothesis that the second inscription, apart from the appellation of Nuritanus given to Hercules, refers to a larger cult of this deity, dating from the time of the foundation of the town. The same consideration can be applied to the sanctuary of Aesculapius, wrongly related to the Isis cult, dating from the 2nd Centuray AD, but already existing in the hellenistic period. Infact, Hercules and Aesculapius correspond to two of the main cults of Carthage: Melqart and Eshmun. Lilybaeum, along with the foundation rituals, reproduced the religious landscape of its mother city. It is more than probable that Cicero knew these cults, even if in a new, Roman, form when the Punic heritage of the town was almost disappeared.