The foundation consists of piles driven into the sand, and placed very close together; but the superstructure is a stone wall thirty-five feet thick, and still rising to a height of ten feet above the surface of the water.[5105] It is probable that there were many other early Phoenician settlements on the North African seaboard; but those already described were certainly the most important.

The fertile coast tract between Hippo Regius and the straits is likely to have been occupied at various points from an early period.

But none of these small trading settlements attained to any celebrity; and thus it is unnecessary to go into particulars respecting them.
In Sicily the permanent Phoenician settlements were chiefly towards the west and the north-west.

They included Motya, Eryx, Panormus (Palermo), and Soloeis.

That the Phoenicians founded Motya, Panormus, and Soloeis is distinctly stated by Thucydides;[5106] while Eryx is proved to have been Phoenician by its remains.