![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Carthage-1958-PortsPuniques.jpg/640px-Carthage-1958-PortsPuniques.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Cothon
Artificial harbour in antiquity / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A cothon (Greek: κώθων, lit. 'drinking vessel') is an artificial, protected inner harbour such as that in Carthage during the Punic Wars c. 200 BC.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Carthage-1958-PortsPuniques.jpg/640px-Carthage-1958-PortsPuniques.jpg)
Cothons were generally found in the Phoenician world. Other examples include Motya in Sicily from the 6th century BC, which performed an uncertain purpose, (measuring 35 metres x 51 metres), although it has been suggested this cothon might even have been closable and drainable to form a dry dock,[1][2] Mahdia in Tunisia from the 7th century BC, (which measured 72 metres x 56 metres) and one from Kition in Cyprus.
In ancient times "cothon" was only used to describe the harbour at Carthage.[3] In modern times, however, archaeologists use the term to refer to similar ancient harbours constructed of a man-made basin connected to the sea by a channel.[4] The name comes from an island in Carthage's harbour.[5]