Il tempio di 'Bes' e i 'devoti sofferenti' di Bitia. Memorie locali e attualità del culto

Between the middle of the 4th and the 1st centuries BCE Sardinia is again a vibrant theatre of cultural interactions. At that time local (Indigenous and Phoenician), Punic, North-African and Italic communities experience deep contacts and interrelations, drawing a new historical panorama. One of the main markers of such a frame is represented by the reach production of small and variegated figurines in terracotta, the several typologies and figurative languages of which show phenomena of cultural meeting, superimposition and preservation of autonomy. Particularly meaningful is the group of the so-called "suffering faithful" (III-I centuries BCE) coming from the temple "of Bes" in Bitia (south-western Sardinia): part of a long Oriental tradition and almost surely connected to cult practices of healing, they belong to a context characterized by the relation between different cultural components since the origins of the Phoenician settlement. This paper aims at the re-reading of the temple history and functions, in order to highlight some new elements of the figurines' meaning and symbolism.