Erice Venus Castle

Greg and I have been to Erice (pronounced Er i che) four times. The castle is on top of a mountain above Trapani. It was so cold and foggy that we could not find the castle the day we visited with Yotam. The best photos were taken by Chris and Jean.

Venus castle has been a sacred space through history. In ancient times the Elymian and Carthaginian city built the Phoenician temple to the fertility goddess, Astarte (later worshipped by Romans as Venus). The open air sanctuary of the cult of Venus brought people from around the Mediterranean.  According to Diodorus of Sicily, Erice, son of Bute and Aphrodite erected the temple dedicated to her mother. In "themenos" passing sailors joined the goddess through intercourse with the priestesses of the temple. 

The legends suggest that this was the location of the ritual baths of Venus cult. In the last phase of its use it was a cistern to collect water that ran down the flat top of the rock where the temple stood.

Down the slope is a small thermal Roman bath that was excavaed in the 1930's. Part of the calidarium (raised floor for moving heated water or steam) was still there when it was uncovered. West of  this was a small room with white tiles and to the east, the prefurnium where the fire was generated to heat the water.

The Castle was once connected by drawbridge, which is mentioned by the Arab geographer Ibn-Giubayr (XII) with the Torri del Balio.