cothon

thumb|250px|Carthage Punic Ports|Ancient Carthaginian port, in a 1958 photograph A cothon () is an artificial, protected inner harbour such as that in Carthage during the Punic Wars  200 BC.

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, Mahdia in Tunisia from the 7th century BC, (which measured 72 metres x 56 metres) and one from Kition in Cyprus.