The ancient city of Bithia stands facing the magnificent sea of Chia.
It was founded by the Phoenicians at the end of the VIII century B.C. The Carthaginians then turned it into one of the most important commercial hubs in the Mediterranean.
The city continued to prosper even in Roman times, until pirate incursion from the start of the IV century A.D. determined its decline.
Most of the remains of the ancient city are hidden underground or submersed by the sea which, every so often, returns some fragments of history to the surface following a coastal storm. To date, it has not been possible to identify with certainty the composition of the urban fabric. That said, different archaeological digs carried out from the first half of the XIX century onwards identified the probable acropolis with Punic buildings and remains of a city wall near the promontory where the Aragonese Tower stands tall. This is a temple dedicated to the god Bes, from where the sandstone statue currently on display at the Archaeological Museum in Cagliari originated from, a vast necropolis with a layering of Phoenician, Punic and Roman burials.
Opposite the promontory, on the island of Su Cardulinu, are the remains of a Phoenician tophet and a Punic temple. Excavation work recently funded by the MiC concentrated on the necropolis of the beach of Campana, where coastal storms in recent years have brought to light some tombs, and in the residential area identified on the hillside near the tower.
