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Map of the Roman Empire - Sicilia
Sicilia
I-6 on the Map
Ancient Sicilia - A large island in the Mediterranean Sea, off the southern coast of Italy. It was also a very important island in the history of the Roman Empire. The modern name of the island is Sicily, from the ancient tribes of Siceli. To the ancient Greeks it was called Thrinacia (three cornered) and the Romans called it Triquetra.
Sicily (Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia, [siˈtʃiːlja]) is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, comprising an autonomous region of Italy. Minor islands around it, such as the Aegadian Islands, Aeolian Islands, Pantelleria, Lampedusa are part of Sicily. Its official name is Regione Autonoma Siciliana (English: Sicilian Autonomous Region).
Ancient History. Greece began to make peace with the Roman Republic in 262 BC and the Romans sought to annex Sicily as its empire's first province. Rome intervened in the First Punic War, crushing Carthage so that by 242 BC Sicily had become the first Roman province outside of the Italian Peninsula. The Second Punic War, in which Archimedes was murdered, saw Carthage trying to take Sicily from the Roman Empire. They failed and this time Rome was even more unrelenting in the annihilation of the invaders; during 210 BC the Roman consul M. Valerian, told the Roman Senate that "no Carthaginian remains in Sicily". Sicily served a level of high importance for the Romans as it acted as the empire's granary, it was divided into two quaestorships in the form of Syracuse to the east and Lilybaeum to the west. Although under Augustus some attempt was made to introduce the Latin language to the island, Sicily was allowed to remain largely Greek in a cultural sense, rather than a complete cultural Romanisation. When Verres became governor of Sicily, the once prosperous and contented people were put into sharp decline, in 70 BC noted figure Cicero condemned the misgovernment of Verres in his oration In Verrem. The island was used as a base of power numerous times, being occupied by slave insurgents during the First and Second Servile Wars, and by Sextus Pompey during the Sicilian revolt. Christianity first appeared in Sicily during the years following AD 200; between this time and AD 313 when Constantine the Great finally lifted the prohibition on Christianity, a significant number of Sicilians became martyrs such as Agatha, Christina, Lucy, Euplius and many more. Christianity grew rapidly in Sicily during the next two centuries. The period of history where Sicily was a Roman province lasted for around 700 years in total. - Wikipedia
Sicilia (Sicania, Trinacria) ins., an isl. of Italy, in the Mediterranean, bet. Italy and Africa. Named Sicilia from the Siculi, Sicania from the Sicani, and Trinacria from the three great promontories marking its triangular outline. By some writers it is considered to be the Thrinakria of Homer. Sicily. - Classical Gazetteer
Sicilia
(S??e??a). Sicily; a large island in the Mediterranean Sea, off the southern
coast of Italy. It was anciently identified with the Thrinacia (T???a??a) of
Homer, and is styled Trinacria and Trinacris, names supposed to mean
“three-cornered,” whence the Romans likewise styled the island Triquetra (cf.
Lucret. i. 717). The names Sicilia and Sicania come from that of its early
inhabitants—the Siceli or Sicani. It is separated from Italy by the narrow
channel called Fretum Siculum or simply Fretum (????µ??), also Scyllaeum Fretum,
now the Strait of Messina. The part of the Mediterranean lying to the east and
south of the island was called Maré Siculum. Sicily is in the shape of a
triangle, the north and south sides of which are about 175 miles long exclusive
of the windings of the coast; the eastern side has a length of 115 miles. The
northwestern point was the Promontorium Lilybaeum; the northeastern point,
Promontorium Pelorus, and the southeastern point, Promontorium Pachynus. Sicily
was originally a part of Italy, and was torn from it by some great convulsion of
nature. A mountain range (Nebrodi Montes) extends through it as a continuation
of the Apennines. Of this range the most important offshoots are Mount Aetna on
the east of the island, Mount Eryx (S. Giuliano) on the west, and the Heraei
Montes (Monti Sori) in the south. A number of small rivers have their sources in
the mountains, but most of them are dry, or nearly so, in the summer. The soil
of Sicily was very fertile, and produced in antiquity an immense quantity of
wheat, on which the population of Rome relied to a great extent for their
subsistence. So celebrated was it even in early times on account of its corn
that it was represented as sacred to Demeter, and as the favourite abode of this
goddess. Hence it was in this island that her daughter Persephoné was carried
away by Pluto. Besides corn, the island produced excellent wine, saffron, honey,
almonds, and the other Southern fruits.
The earliest inhabitants of Sicily are said to have been the savage Cyclopes and
Laestrygones; but these are fabulous beings, and the first inhabitants mentioned
in history are the Sicani (S??a???) or Siculi (S??e???), who crossed over into
the island from Italy. Some writers, indeed, regard the Sicani and Siculi as two
distinct tribes, supposing the latter only to have migrated from Italy, and the
former to have been the aboriginal inhabitants of the country; but there is no
good reason for making any distinction between them. They appear to have been a
Keltic people. According to Thucydides, their original settlement was on the
river Sicanus in Iberia; but as Thucydides extends Iberia as far as the Rhône,
it is probable that Sicanus was a river of Gaul, and it may have been the
Sequana, as some modern writers suppose. The ancient writers relate that these
Sicani, being hard pressed by the Ligyes (Ligures), crossed the Alps and settled
in Latium; that, being driven out of this country by the Aborigines with the
help of Pelasgians, they migrated to the south of the peninsnla, where they
lived for a considerable time along with the Oenotrians, but finally crossed
over into Sicily, to which they gave their name. They soon spread over the
greater part of the island, but in later times were found chiefly in the
interior and in the northern part; some of the most important towns belonging to
them were Herbita, Agyrium, Adranum, and Enna. The next immigrants into the
island were Cretans, who are said to have come to Sicily under their king, Minos,
in pursuit of Daedalus, and to have settled on the southern coast in the
neighbourhood of Agrigentum, where they founded Minoa (afterwards Heraclea
Minoa). Then came the Elymaei, a small band of fugitive Trojans, who are said to
have built Entella, Eryx, and Egesta. These Cretans and Elymaei, however, if
indeed they ever visited Sicily, soon became incorporated with the Siculi. The
Phœnicians likewise at an early period formed settlements, for the purposes of
commerce, on all the coasts of Sicily, but more especially on the northern and
northwestern parts. They were subsequently obliged to retire from the greater
part of their settlements before the increasing power of the Greeks, and to
confine themselves to Motya, Solus, and Panormus. But the most important of all
the immigrants into Sicily were the Greeks. The first body of Greeks who landed
in the island were Chalcidians from Euboea, and Megarians led by the Athenian
Thucles. These Greek colonists built the town of Naxos, B.C. 735. They were soon
followed by other Greeks, who founded a number of very flourishing cities, such
as Syracuse in 734, Leontini and Catana in 730, Megara Hybla in 726, Gela in
690, Selinus in 626, Agrigentum in 579, etc. The Greeks soon became the ruling
race in the island, and received the name of Siceliotae (S??e???ta?) to
distinguish them from the earlier inhabitants.
At a later time the Carthaginians obtained a firm footing in Sicily. Their first
attempt was made in 480; but they were defeated by Gelon of Syracuse, and
obliged to retire with great loss. Their second invasion in 409 was more
successful. They took Selinus in this year, and four years afterwards (B.C. 405)
the powerful city of Agrigentum. They now became the permanent masters of the
western part of the island, and were engaged in frequent wars with Syracuse and
the other Greek cities. (For the Athenian invasion of Sicily, see Syracusae.)
The struggle between the Carthaginians and Greeks continued, with a few
interruptions, down to the First Punic War; at the close of which (B.C. 241) the
Carthaginians were obliged to evacuate the island, the western part of which now
passed into the hands of the Romans, and was made a Roman province. The eastern
part still continued under the rule of Hieron of Syracuse as an ally of Rome;
but after the revolt of Syracuse in the Second Punic War, and the conquest of
that city by Marcellus, the whole island was made a Roman province, and was
administered by a praetor. Under the Roman dominion more attention was paid to
agriculture than to commerce; and consequently the Greek cities on the coast
gradually declined in prosperity and wealth. The inhabitants of the province
received the ius Latii from Iulius Caesar; and Antony conferred upon them, in
accordance, as it was said, with Caesar's will, the full Roman franchise.
Augustus, after his conquest of Sextus Pompey, who had held the island for
several years, founded colonies at Messana, Tauromenium, Catana, Syracuse,
Thermae, and Panormus. On the downfall of the Roman Empire, Sicily formed part
of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths; but it was taken from them by Belisarius in
A.D. 536, and annexed to the Byzantine Empire. It continued a province of this
Empire till 828, when it was conquered by the Saracens.
Literature and the arts were cultivated with great success in the Greek cities
of Sicily, especially at the time of the first Hiero (q.v.) of Syracuse (B.C.
478-467), and of Dionysius the elder, the friend of Plato. Sicily was the
birthplace of the philosophers Empedocles, Epicharmus, and Dicaearchus; of the
mathematician Archimedes; of the physicians Herodicus and Acron; of the
historians Diodorus, Antiochus, Philistus, and Timaeus; of the rhetorician
Gorgias; and of the poets Stesichorus, Theocritus, and Moschus.
Good histories of ancient Sicily are those of Holm, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1870-74);
Lloyd (1872); Freeman, vols. i.-iii. (1891-92); id. a short history in the
“Story of the Nations Series” (1892). On the earliest inhabitants of Sicily, see
the monograph by Costanzi, De Siciliae Gentibus Antiquissimis (1893); and on the
Greek colonies that of Frömter (1886), and of Brunet de Presle, Les
Établissements des Grecs en Sicile (Paris, 1845). See also Hoffweiler, Sicilien
in Wort und Bild (Leipzig, 1870), and the articles Agrigentum; Carthago;
Dionysius; Gelon; Leontini; Punic Wars; Selinus; Syracusae. For a map of Sicily,
see Italia. - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary
of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.
Sicilia
SICI´LIA (Σικελία: Eth. Σικελιώτης, Ath. Σικελικός, Siciliensis: Sicily), one of
the largest and most important islands in the Mediterranean. It was indeed
generally reckoned the largest of all; though some ancient writers considered
Sardinia as exceeding it in size, a view which, according to the researches of
modern geographers, turns out to be correct. [SARDINIA]
I. GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
The general form of Sicily is that of a triangle, having its shortest side or
base turned to the E., and separated at its NE. angle from the adjoining coast
of Italy only by a narrow strait, called in ancient times the FRETUM SICULUM or
Sicilian Strait, but now more commonly known as the Straits of Messina. It was
generally believed in antiquity that Sicily had once been joined to the
continent of Italy, and severed from it by some natural convulsion. (Strab. vi.
p.258; Plin. Nat. 3.8. s. 14; Verg. A. 3.414.) But though this is probably true
in a geological sense, it is certain that the separation must have taken place
at a very early period, not only long before the historical age, but before the
first dawn of tradition. On the other side, the W. extremity of Sicily stretches
out far towards the coast of Africa, so that the westernmost point of the
island, the headland of Lilybaeum, is separated only by an interval of 80 geogr.
miles from the Hermaean Promontory, or Cape Bon in Africa.
The general triangular form of Sicily was early recognised, and is described by
all the ancient geographers. The three promontories that may be considered as
forming the angles of the triangle, viz. Cape Pelorus to the NE., Cape Pachynus
to the SE., and Lilybaeum on the W., were also generally known and received
(Pol. 1.42; Strab. vi. pp. 265, 266; Plin. Nat. 3.8. s. 14; Ptol. 3.4; Mel.
2.714). Its dimensions are variously given: Strabo, on the authority of
Posidonius, estimates the side from Pelorus to Lilybaeum, which he reckons the
longest, at 1700 stadia (or 170 geogr. miles); and that from Pachynus to Pelorus,
the shortest of the three, at 1130 stadia. Pliny on the contrary reckons 186
Roman miles (149 geogr.) from Pelorus to Pachynus, 200 M.P. (160 geogr. miles)
from Pachynus to Lilybaeum, and 170 M.P. (136 geogr.) from Lilybaeum to Pelorus:
thus making the northern side the shortest instead of the longest. But Strabo's
views of the proportion of the three sides are entirely correct; and his
distances but little exceed the truth, if some allowance be made for the
windings of the coast. Later geographers, from the time of Ptolemy onwards,
erroneously conceived the position of Sicily as tending a great deal more to the
SW. than it really does, at the same time that they gave it a much more regular
triangular form; and this error was perpetuated by modern geographers down to
the time of D'Anville, and was indeed not altogether removed till the
publication of the valuable coast survey of the island by Captain Smyth. (See
the map published by Magini in 1620, and that of D'Anville in his Analyse
Géographique de l'Italie, Paris 1744.)
A considerable part of Sicily is of a mountainous character. A range of
mountains, which are geologically of the same character as those in the southern
portion of Bruttium (the group of Aspromonte), and may be considered almost as a
continuation of the same chain, interrupted only by the intervening strait,
rises near Cape Pelorus, and extends at first in a SW. direction to the
neighbourhood of Taormina (Tauromenium) from whence it turns nearly due W. and
continues to hold this course, running parallel with the N. coast of the island
till it rises into the elevated group of the Monte Madonia, a little to the S.
of Cefalù (Cephaloedium.) From thence it breaks up into more irregular masses of
limestone mountains, which form the central nucleus of the W. portion of the
island, while their arms extending down to the sea encircle the Bay of Palermo,
as well as the more extensive Gulf of Castellamare, with bold and almost
isolated headlands. The detached mass of MOUNT ERYX (Monte di S. Giuliano) rises
near Trapani almost at the W. extremity of the island, but with this exception
the W. and SW. coast round to Sciacca, 20 miles beyond the site of Selinus, is
comparatively low and shelving, and presents no bold features. Another range or
mass of mountains branches off from that of the Monte Madonia near Polizzi, and
trends in a SE. direction through the heart of the island, forming the huge
hills, rather than mountains, on one of which Enna was built, and which extend
from thence to the neighbourhood of Piazza and Aidone. The whole of the SE.
corner of the island is occupied by a mass of limestone hills, never rising to
the dignity nor assuming the forms of mountains, but forming a kind of
table-land, with a general but very gradual slope towards the S. and SE.; broken
up, however, when viewed in detail, into very irregular masses, being traversed
by deep valleys and ravines, and presenting steep escarpments of limestone rock,
so as to constitute a rugged and difficult country.
None of the mountains above described attain to any great elevation. The
loftiest group, that of the Monte Madonia, does not exceed 3765 feet, while the
average height of the range which extends from thence to Cape Pelorus, is
little, if at all, above 3000 feet high. Monte S. Giuliano, the ancient Eryx,
erroneously considered in ancient times as the highest mountain in Sicily after
Aetna [ERYX], is in reality only 2184 feet in height. (Smyth's Sicily, p. 242).
The ancient appellations given to these [p. 2.976]mountains seem to have been
somewhat vague and fluctuating; but we may assign the mame of NEPTUNIUS MONS to
the chain which rises at Cape Pelorus, and extends from thence to the
neighbourhood of Tauromenium; while that of MONS NEBRODES seems to have been
applied in a more general sense to the whole northerly range extending from near
Tauromenium to the neighbourhood of Panormus; and the HERAEI MONTES of Diodorus
can be no others than a part of the same range. (See the respective articles.)
But incomparably the most important of the mountains of Sicily, and the most
striking physical feature of the whole island, is the great volcanic mountain of
AETNA which rises on the E. coast of the island, and attains an elevation of
10.874 feet, while its base is not less than 90 miles in circumference. It is
wholly detached from the mountains and hills which surround it, being bounded on
the N. by the river Acesines or Alcantara, and the valley through which it
flows, and on the W. and S. by the Symaethus, while on the E. its streams of
lava descend completely into the sea, and constitute the line of coast for a
distance of near 30 miles. The rivers already mentioned constitute (with
trifling exceptions) the limits of the volcanic district of Aetna, but volcanic
formations of older date, including beds of lava, scoriae, &c., are scattered
over a considerable extent of the SE. portion of the island, extending from the
neighbourhood of Palagonia to that of Palazzolo, and even to Syracuse. These
indeed belong to a much more ancient epoch of volcanic action, and can never
have been in operation since the existence of man upon the island. The extensive
action of volcanic fires upon Sicily was, however, observed by the ancients, and
is noticed by several writers. The apparent connection between Aetna and the
volcanoes of the Aeolian Islands is mentioned by Strabo, and the same author
justly appeals to the craters of the Palici, and to the numerous thermal springs
throughout the island, as proofs that the subterranean agencies were widely
diffused beneath its surface (Strab. vi. pp. 274, 275).
Few countries in Europe surpass Sicily in general productiveness and fertility.
Its advantages in this respect are extolled by many ancient writers. Strabo
tells us (vi. p. 273) that it was not inferior to Italy in any kind of produce,
and even surpassed it in many. It was generally believed to be the native
country of wheat (Diod. 5.2), and it is certain that it was not surpassed by any
country either in the abundance or quality of this production. It was equally
celebrated for the excellence of its honey and its saffron, both of which were
extensively exported to Rome; as well as for its sheep and cattle, and excellent
breeds of horses, among which those of Agrigentum seem to have been the most
celebrated (Strab. l.c.; Sil. Ital. 14.23; Verg. A. 3.704). There were indeed no
extensive plains, like those of Campania or Cisalpine Gaul; the largest being
that now called the Piano di Catania, extending along the banks of the Symaethus,
and known in ancient times as the LEONTINUS or LAESTRYGONIUS CAMPUS. But the
whole island was intersected by numerous streams, and beautiful valleys; and
though a considerable part of its surface (as already observed) was occupied
either by mountains or rocky hills, the slopes and underfalls of these abounded
in scenery of the most charming description, and were adapted for the growth of
vines, olives, and fruits of every description.
The climate of Sicily may be considered as intermediate between those of
Southern Italy and Africa. The northern part of the island, indeed, closely
resembles the portion of Italy with which it is more immediately in contact; but
the southern and southwestern parts present strong indications of their more
southerly latitude, and have a parched and arid appearance (at least to the eyes
of northern travellers), except in winter and spring. The abundance also of the
dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis Linn.), a plant unknown to other parts of Europe,
tends to give a peculiar aspect to these districts of Sicily. The climate of the
island in general was certainly not considered unhealthy in ancient times; and
though at the present day many districts of it suffer severely from malaria,
there is good reason to believe that this would be greatly diminished by an
increased population and more extensive cultivation. It is remarkable, indeed,
in Sicily, as in the south of Italy, that frequently the very sites which are
now considered the most unhealthy were in ancient times occupied by flourishing
and populous cities. In many cases the malaria is undoubtedly owing to local
causes, which might be readily obviated by draining marshes or affording a free
outlet to stagnant waters.
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II. HISTORY.
The accounts of the early population of Sicily are more rational and consistent
than is generally the case with such traditions. Its name was obviously derived
from that of the people who continued in historical times to be its chief
inhabitants, the SICULI or SICELS (Σικελοί); and the tradition universally
received represented these as crossing over from the mainland, where they had
formerly dwelt, in the extreme southern portion of Italy. The traditions and
notices of this people in other parts of Italy, and of their previous wanderings
and migrations, are, indeed, extremely obscure, and will be discussed elsewhere
[SICULI]; but the fact that they were at one time settled in the Bruttian
peninsula, and from thence passed over into Sicily, may be safely received as
historical. There is every probability also that they were not a people distinct
in their origin from the races whom we subsequently find in that part of Italy,
but were closely connected with the Oenotrians and their kindred tribes. Indeed,
the names of Σικελός and Ἰταλός are considered by many philologers as of common
origin. There seems, therefore, little doubt that the Sicels, or Siculi, may be
regarded as one of the branches of the great Pelasgic race, which we find in the
earliest times occupying the southern portion of Italy: and this kindred origin
will account for the facility with which we find the Sicels subsequently
adopting the language and civilisation of the Greek colonists in the island, at
the same time that there remain abundant traces of their common descent with the
people of Italy.
But the Sicels, who occupied in the historical period the greater part of the
interior of the island, were not, according to the Greek writers, its earliest
inhabitants. Thucydides indeed assigns their immigration to a period only three
centuries before the settlement of the first Greek colonies (Thuc. 6.2); and
Diodorus, without assigning any date, agrees in representing them as the latest
comers among the native population of the island (Diod. 5.6). The first notices
of Sicily allude to the existence of races of gigantic men, of savage manners,
under the [p. 2.977]names of Laestrygones and Cyclopes; but these fabulous
tales, preserved only by the early poets in a manner that renders it impossible
to separate truth from falsehood, are justly discarded by Thucydides as unworthy
of serious consideration (Thuc. 6.2). It may suffice to remark, that Homer (of
course, the earliest authority on the subject) says nothing directly to prove
that he conceived either the Cyclopes or Laestrygones as dwelling in Sicily; and
this is in both cases a mere inference of later writers, or of some tradition
now unknown to us. Homer indeed, in one passage, mentions (but not in connection
with either of these savage races), “the island of Thrinakia” (Odyss. 12.127),
and this was generally identified with Sicily, though there is certainly nothing
in the Odyssey that would naturally lead to such a conclusion. But it was a
tradition generally received that Sicily had previously been called TRINACRIA
from its triangular form and the three promontories that formed its extremities
(Thuc. 6.2; Diod. 5.2; Strab. vi. p.265), and this name was connected with the
Homeric Thrinakia. It is obvious that such a name could only have been given by
Greek navigators, and argues a considerable amount of acquaintance with the
configuration of its shores. It could not, therefore, have been (as supposed
even by Thucydides) the original or native name of the island, nor could it have
been in use even among the Greeks at a very early period. But we cannot discard
the general testimony of ancient writers, that this was the earliest appellation
by which Sicily was known to the Greeks.
Another people whom Thucydides, apparently with good reason, regards as more
ancient than the Sicels, were the SICANI whom we find in historical times
occupying the western and north-western parts of the island, whither, according
to their own tradition, they had been driven by the invading Sicels, when these
crossed the straits, though another tradition ascribed their removal to the
terror and devastation caused by the eruptions of Aetna (Thuc. 6.2; Diod. 5.6).
The Sicanians claimed the honour of being autochthons, or the original
inhabitants of the island, and this view was followed by Timaeus; but
Thucydides, as well as Philistus, adopted another tradition, according to which
they were of Iberian extraction (Thuc. l.c.; Diod. l.c.). What the arguments
were which he regards as conclusive, we are unfortunately wholly ignorant; but
the view is in itself probable enough, and notwithstanding the close resemblance
of name, it is certain that throughout the historical period the Sicani and
Siculi are uniformly treated as distinct races. Hence it is improbable that they
were merely tribes of a kindred origin, as we should otherwise have been led to
infer from the fact that the two names are evidently only two forms of the same
appellation.
A third race which is found in Sicily within the historical period, and which is
regarded by ancient writers as distinct from the two preceding ones, is that of
ELYMI who inhabited the extreme north-western corner of the island, about Eryx
and Segesta. Tradition ascribed to them a Trojan origin (Thuc. 6.2; Dionys. A.
R. 1.52), and though this story is probably worth no more than the numerous
similar tales of Trojan settlements on the coast of Italy, there must probably
have been some foundation for regarding them as a distinct people from their
neighbours, the Sicani. Both Thucydides and Scylax specially mention them as
such (Thuc. l.c.; Scyl. p. 4.13): but at a later period, they seem to have
gradually disappeared or been merged into the surrounding tribes, and their name
is not again found in history.
Such were the indigenous races by which Sicily was peopled when its coasts were
first visited, and colonies established there, by the Phoenicians and the
Greeks. Of the colonies of the former people we have little information, but we
are told in general by Thucydides that they occupied numerous points around the
coasts of the island, establishing themselves in preference, as was their wont,
on projecting headlands or small islands adjoining the shore. (Thuc. 6.2). But
these settlements were apparently, for the most part, mere trading stations, and
as the Greeks came to establish themselves permanently and in still increasing
numbers in Sicily, the Phoenicians gradually withdrew to the NW. corner of the
island, where they retained three permanent settlements, Motya, Panormus, and
Soloeis or Soluntum. Here they were supported by the alliance of the
neighbouring Elymi, and had also the advantage of the proximity of Carthage,
upon which they all became eventually dependent. (Thuc. l.c.)
The settlement of the Greek colonies in Sicily began about the middle of the
eighth century B.C., and was continued for above a century and a half. Their
dates and origin are known to us with much more certainty than those which took
place during the corresponding period in the south of Italy. The earliest were
established on the E. coast of the island, where the Chalcidic colony of NAXOS
was founded in B.C. 735, and that of SYRACUSE the following year (B.C. 734), by
a body of Corinthian settlers under Archias. Thus the division between the
Chalcidic and Doric colonies in Sicily, which bears so prominent a part in their
political history, became marked from the very outset. The Chalcidians were the
first to extend their settlements, having founded within a few years of the
parent colony (about B.C. 730) the two cities of LEONTINI and CATANA both of
them destined to bear an important part in the affairs of Sicily. About the same
time, or shortly after (probably about B.C. 728), a fresh body of colonists from
Megara founded the city of the same name, called, for distinction's sake, MEGARA
HYBLAEA, on the E. coast, between Syracuse and Catana. The first colony on the
S. coast of the island was that of GELA founded in B.C. 690, by a body of
emigrants from Rhodes and Crete; it was, therefore, a Doric colony. On the other
hand, the Chalcidians founded, at what precise period we know not, the colony of
ZANCLE (afterwards called MESSANA), in a position of the utmost importance, as
commanding the Sicilian Straits. The rapid rise and prosperity of these first
settlements are shown by their having become in their turn the parents of other
cities, which soon vied with them, and, in some cases, surpassed them in
importance. Thus we find Syracuse extending its power by establishing in
succession the colonies of ACRAE in B.C. 664, CASMENAE in B.C. 644, and CAMARINA
in B.C. 599. Of these, the last alone rose to be a flourishing city and the
rival of the neighbouring Gela. The latter city in its turn founded the colony
of AGRIGENTUM in B.C. 580, which, though one of the latest of the Greek colonies
in the island, was destined to become one of the most powerful and flourishing
of them all. Still further to the W., the colony of SELINUS planted as early as
B.C. 628, by a body of settlers from the Hyblaean Megara, reinforced with
emigrants from the parent city in Greece, rose to a state of power [p. 2.978]and
prosperity far surpassing that of either of its mother cities. Selinus was the
most westerly of the Greek colonies, and immediately bordered on the territory
of the Elymi and the Phoenician or Carthaginian settlements. On the N. coast of
the island, the only independent Greek colony was HIMERA founded about B.C. 648
by the Zanclaeans; MYLAE another colony of the same people, having apparently
continued, from its, proximity, to be a mere dependency of Zancle. To the above
list of Greek colonies must be added CALLIPOLIS and Euboea, both of them
colonies of Naxos, but which never seem to have attained to consideration, and
disappear from history at an early period.1
Our accounts of the early history of these numerous Greek colonies in Sicily are
unfortunately very scanty and fragmentary. We learn indeed in general terms that
they rose to considerable power and importance, and enjoyed a high degree of
wealth and prosperity, owing *as well to the fertility and natural advantages of
the island, as to their foreign commerce. It is evident also that at an early
period they extended their dominion over a considerable part of the adjoining
country, so that each city had its district or territory, often of considerable
extent, and comprising a subject population of native origin. At the same time
the Sicels of the interior, in the central and northern parts of the island, and
the Sicanians and Elymi in the W., maintained their independence, though they
seem to have given but little trouble to their Greek neighbours. During the
sixth century B.C. the two most powerful cities in the island appear to have
been Agrigentum and Gela, Syracuse not having yet attained to that predominance
which it subsequently enjoyed. Agrigentum, though one of the latest of the Greek
colonies in Sicily, seems to have risen rapidly to prosperity, and under the
able, though tyrannical government of the despot Phalaris (B.C. 570--554) became
apparently for a time the most powerful city in the island. But we know very
little about his real history, and with the exception of a few scattered and
isolated notices we have hardly any account of the affairs of the Greek cities
before B.C. 500. At or before that period we find that a political change had
taken place in most of these communities, and that their governments, which had
originally been oligarchical, had passed into the hands of despots or tyrants,
who ruled with uncontrolled power. Such were Panaetius at Leontini, Cleaner at
Gela, Terillus at Himera, and Scythes at Zancle (Arist. Pol. 5.12; Hdt. 6.23,
7.154). Of these Cleander seems to have been the most able, and laid the
foundation of a power which enabled his, brother and successor Hippocrates to
extend his dominion over a great part of the island. Callipolis, Leontini,
Naxos, Zancle, and Camarina successively fell under the arms of Hippocrates, and
Syracuse itself only escaped subjection by the intervention of the Corinthians (Hdt.
7.154). But what Hippocrates had failed to effect was accomplished by Gelon, who
succeeded him as despot of Gela, and by interposing in the civil dissensions of
the Syracusans ultimately succeeded in making himself master of that city also,
B.C. 485. From this time Gelon neglected his former government of Gela, and
directed all his efforts to the aggrandizement of his new acquisition. He>
destroyed Camarina, and removed all the inhabitants to Syracuse, together with a
large part of those of Gela itself, and all the principal citizens of Megara
Hyblaea and Euboea (Hdt. 7.156).
Syracuse was thus raised to the rank of the first city in Sicily, which it
retained for many centuries. afterwards. A few years before (B.C. 488), Theron
had established himself in the possession of the sovereign power at Agrigentum,
and subsequently extended his dominion over Himera also, from whence he expelled
Terillus, B.C. 481. About the same time also Anaxilaus, despot of Rhegium, on
the other side of the straits, had established a footing in Sicily, where he
became master of Zancle, to which he gave the name of Messana, by which it was
ever afterwards known [MESSANA]. All three rulers appear to have been men of
ability and enlightened and liberal views, and the cities under their immediate
government apparently made great progress in power and prosperity. Gelon
especially undoubtedly possessed at this period an amount of power of which no
other Greek state could boast, as was sufficiently shown by the embassy sent to
him from Sparta and Athens to invoke his assistance against the threatened
invasion of Xerxes (Hdt. 7.145, 157). But his attention was called off to a
danger more immediately at hand. Terillus, the expelled despot of Himera, had
called in the assistance of the Carthaginians, and that people sent a vast fleet
and army under a general named Hamilcar, who laid siege to Himera, B.C. 480.
Theron, however, was able to maintain possession of that city until the arrival
of Gelon with an army of 50,000 foot and 5000 horse to his relief, with which,
though vastly inferior to the Carthaginian forces, he attacked and totally
defeated the army of Hamilcar. This great victory, which was contemporaneous
with the battle of Salamis, raised Gelon to the highest pitch of reputation, and
became not less celebrated among the Sicilian Greeks than those of Salamis and
Plataea among their continental brethren. The vast number of prisoners taken at
Himera and distributed as slaves among the cities of Sicily added greatly to
their wealth and resources, and the opportunity was taken by many of them to
erect great public works, which continued to adorn them down to a late period (Diod.
11.25).
Gelon did not long survive his great victory at Himera: but he transmitted his
power unimpaired to his brother Hieron. The latter, indeed, though greatly
inferior to Gelon in character, was in some respects even superior to him in
power: and the great naval victory by which he relieved the Cumaeans in Italy
from the attacks of the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians (B.C. 474) earned him a
well-merited reputation throughout the Grecian world. At the same time the rule
of Hieron was extremely oppressive to the Chalcidic cities of Sicily, the power
of which he broke by expelling all the citizens of Naxos and Catana, whom he
compelled to remove to Leontini, while he repeopled Catana with a large body of
new inhabitants, at the same time that he changed its name to Aetna. Theron had
continued to reign at Agrigentum until his death in B.C. 472, but his son
Thrasydaeus, who succeeded him, quickly incurred the enmity of the citizens, who
were enabled by the assistance of Hieron to expel him, [p. 2.979]and were thus
restored to at least nominal freedom. A similar revolution occurred a few years
later at Syracuse, where, on the death of Hieron (B.C. 467), the power passed
into the hands of Thrasybulus, whose violent and tyrannical proceedings quickly
excited an insurrection among the Syracusans. This became the signal for a
general revolt of all the cities of Sicily, who united their forces with those
of the Syracusans, and succeeded in expelling Thrasybulus from his strongholds
of Ortygia and Achradina (Diod. 11.67, 68), and thus driving him from Sicily.
The fall of the Gelonian dynasty at Syracuse (B.C. 466) became for a time the
occasion of violent internal dissensions in most of the Sicilian cities, which
in many cases broke out into actual warfare. But after a few years these were
terminated by a general congress and compromise, B.C. 461; the exiles were
allowed to return to their respective cities: Camarina, which had been destroyed
by Gelon, was repeopled and became once more a flourishing city; while Catana
was restored to its original Chalcidic citizens, and resumed its ancient name (Diod.
11.76). The tranquillity thus re-established was of unusual permanence and
duration; and the half century that followed was a period of the greatest
prosperity for all the Greek cities in the island, and was doubtless that when
they attained (with the exception of Syracuse) their highest degree of opulence
and power. This is distinctly stated by Diodorus (l.c.) and is remarkably
confirmed by the still existing monuments,--all the greatest architectural works
being referable to this period. Of the form of government established in the
Sicilian cities at this time we have little information, but it seems certain
that a democratic constitution was in almost all instances substituted for the
original oligarchies.
But prosperous as this period (B.C. 461--409) undoubtedly was, it was by no
means one of unbroken tranquillity. It was disturbed in the first instance by
the ambitious schemes of Ducetius, a Siculian chief, who endeavoured to organise
all the Sicels of the interior into one confederacy, which should be able to
make head against the Greek cities. He at the same time founded a new city, to
which he gave the name of Palice, near the sacred fountain of the Palici. But
these attempts of Ducetius, remarkable as the only instance in the whole history
of the island in which we find the Sicels attempting to establish a political
power of their own, were frustrated by his defeat and banishment by the
Syracusans in B.C. 451; and though he once more returned to Sicily and
endeavoured to establish himself on the N. coast of the island, his projects
were interrupted by his death, B.C. 445. (Diod. 11.88, 90--92, 12.8, 29.) He
found no successor; and the Sicels of the interior ceased to be formidable to
the Greek cities. Many of their towns were actually reduced to subjection by the
Syracusans, while others retained their independent position; but the operation
of Hellenic influences was gradually diffusing itself throughout the whole
island.
The next important event in the history of Sicily is the great Athenian
expedition in B.C. 415. Already, at an earlier period, soon after the outbreak
of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians had interfered in the affairs of Sicily,
and, in B.C. 427, had sent a squadron under Laches and Charoeades to support the
Ionic or Chalcidic cities in the island, which were threatened by their more
powerful Doric neighbours. But the operations of these commanders, as well as of
Eurymedon and Sophocles, who followed them in B.C. 425 with a large force, were
of an unimportant character, and in B.C. 424 a general pacification of the Greek
cities in Sicily was brought about by a congress held at Gela (Thuc. 4.58, 65).
But the peace thus concluded did not remain long unbroken. The Syracusans took
advantage of the intestine dissensions at Leontini to expel the democratic party
from that city: while the Selinuntines were engaged in war with their
non-Hellenic neighbours the Segestans, whom they pressed so hard that the latter
were forced to apply for assistance to Athens. The Leontine exiles also sued for
aid in the same quarter, and the Athenians, who were at this time at the height
of their power, sent out an expedition on the largest scale, nominally for the
protection of their allies in Sicily, but in reality, as Thucydides observes, in
hopes of making themselves masters of the whole island (Thuc. 6.6). It is
impossible here to relate in detail the proceedings of that celebrated
expedition, which will be more fully noticed in the article SYRACUSAE and are
admirably related in Grote's History of Greece, vol. viii. ch. 58--60. Its
failure may be attributed in great measure to the delays and inactivity of
Nicias, who lingered at Catana, instead of proceeding at once to besiege
Syracuse itself, and thus gave the Syracusans time to strengthen and enlarge
their fortifications, at the same time that they revived the courage of their
allies. The siege of Syracuse was not actually commenced till the spring of 414
B.C., and it was continued till the month of September, 413 B.C., with the most
unremitting exertions on both sides. The Syracusans were supported by the chief
Dorian cities in the island, with the exception of Agrigentum, which stood aloof
from the contest, as well as by a portion of the Sicel tribes: but the greater
part of those barbarians, as well as the Chalcidic cities of Naxos and Catana
and the Segestans, furnished assistance to the Athenians (Thuc. 7.57, 58).
The total defeat of the Athenian armament (by far the most formidable that had
been seen in Sicily since that of the Carthaginians under Hamilcar), seemed to
give an irresistible predominance to the Dorian cities in the island, and to
Syracuse especially. But it was not long before they again found themselves
threatened by a still more powerful invader. The Selinuntines immediately took
advantage of the failure of the Athenians to renew their attacks upon their
neighbours of Segesta, and the latter, feeling their inability to cope with
them, now applied for protection to Carthage. It is remarkable that we hear
nothing of Carthaginian intervention in the affairs of Sicily from the time of
the battle of Himera until this occasion, and they seem to have abandoned all
ambitious projects connected with the island, though they still maintained a
footing there by means of their subject or dependent towns of Panormus, Motya,
and Soluntum. But they now determined to avail themselves of the opportunity
offered them, and sent an armament to Sicily, which seemed like that of the
Athenians, calculated not so much for the relief of Segesta as for the conquest
of the whole island. Hannibal, the grandson of Hamilcar who had been slain at
Himera, landed at Lilybaeum, in B.C. 409, with an army estimated at 100,000 men,
and marching straight upon Selinus, laid siege at once to the city. Selinus was
at this [p. 2.980]time, next to Agrigentum and Syracuse, probably the most
flourishing city in Sicily, but it was wholly unprepared for defence, and was
taken after a siege of only a few days, the inhabitants put to the sword or made
prisoners, and the walls and public buildings razed to the ground (Diod.
13.54-58). From thence Hannibal turned his arms against Himera, which was able
to protract its resistance some what longer, but eventually fell also into his
power, when in order to avenge himself for his grandfather's defeat, he put the
whole male population to the sword, and so utterly destroyed the city that it
was never again inhabited (Id. 13.59--62).
After these exploits Hannibal returned to Carthage with his fleet and army. But
his successes had now awakened the ambition of the Carthaginian people, who
determined upon a second invasion of Sicily, and in B.C. 406 sent thither an
army still larger than the preceding, under the command of Hannibal. Agrigentum,
at this time at the very highest point of its power and opulence, was on this
occasion the first object of the Carthaginian arms, and though the citizens had
made every preparation for defence, and in fact were enabled to prolong their
resistance for a period of eight months they were at length compelled by famine
to surrender. The greater part of the inhabitants evacuated the city, which
shared the fate of Selinus and Himera (Diod. 13.81, 91).
Three of the principal Greek cities in Sicily had thus already fallen, and in
the spring of B.C. 405, Himilco, who had succeeded Hannibal in the command,
advanced to the attack of Gela. Meanwhile the power of Syracuse, upon which the
other cities had in a great degree relied for their protection, had been in
great measure paralysed by internal dissensions: and Dionysius now availed
himself of these to raise himself to the possession of despotic power. But his
first operations were not more successful than those of the generals he
replaced, and after an ineffectual attempt to relieve Gela, he abandoned both
that city and Camarina to their fate, the inhabitants of both emigrating to
Leontini. Dionysius was able to fortify himself in the supreme power at
Syracuse, and hastened to conclude peace with Himilco upon terms which left the
Carthaginians undisputed masters of nearly half of Sicily. In addition to their
former possessions, Selinus, Himera, and Agrigentum were to be subject to
Carthage, while the inhabitants of Gela and Camarina were to be allowed to
return to their native cities on condition of becoming tributary to Carthage (Diod.
13.114.)
From this time Dionysius reigned with undisputed authority at Syracuse for a
period of 38 years (B.C. 405--367), and was able at his death to transmit his
power unimpaired to his son. But though he raised Syracuse to a state of great
power and prosperity, and extended his dominion over a large part of Sicily, as
well as of the adjoining part of Italy, his reign was marked by great and sudden
changes of fortune. Though he had dexterously availed himself of the
Carthaginian invasion to establish his power at Syracuse, he had no sooner
consolidated his own authority than he began to turn his thoughts to the
expulsion of the Carthaginians from the island. His arms were, however, directed
in the first instance against the Chalcidic cities of Sicily, Naxos, Catana, and
Leontini, all of which successively fell into his> power, while he extended his
dominions over a great part of the Sicel communities of the interior. It was not
till he had effected these conquests, as well as made vast preparations for war,
by enlarging and strengthening the fortifications of Syracuse and building an
enormous fleet, that he proceeded to declare war against Carthage, B.C. 397. His
first successes were rapid and sudden: almost all the cities that had recently
been added to the Carthaginian dominion declared in his favour, and he carried
his victorious arms to the extreme W. point of Sicily, where Motya, one of the
chief strongholds of the Carthaginian power, fell into his hands after a long
siege. But the next year (B.C. 396) the state of affairs changed. Himilco, who
landed in Sicily with a large army, not only recovered Motya and other towns
that had been taken by Dionysius, but advanced along the N. coast of the island
to Messana, which he took by assault and utterly destroyed. Dionysius was even
compelled to shut himself up within the walls of Syracuse, where he was closely
besieged by Himilco, but a sudden pestilence that broke out in the Carthaginian
camp reduced them in their turn to such straits that Himilco was glad to
conclude a secret capitulation and retire to Africa (Diod. 14.47-76).
Hostilities with Carthage were renewed in B.C. 393, but with no very decisive
result, and the peace concluded in the following year (B.C. 392) seems to have
left matters in much the same state as before. In B.C. 383 war again broke out
between Dionysius and the Carthaginians, but after two great battles, with
alternate success on both sides, a fresh treaty was concluded by which the river
Halycus was established as the boundary between the two powers. The limit thus
fixed, though often infringed, continued to be recognised by several successive
treaties, and may be considered as forming from henceforth the permanent line of
demarcation between the Carthaginian and the Greek power in Sicily (Diod.
15.17).
(For a more detailed account of the reign of Dionysius and his wars with the
Carthaginians, see the article DIONYSIUS in the Biogr. Dict. Vol. I. p. 1033.
The same events are fully narrated by Mr. Grote, vol. x. ch. 81, 82, and vol.
xi. ch. 83.)
Several important towns in Sicily derived their origin from the reign of the
elder Dionysius and the revolutions which then took place in the island. Among
these were TAUROMENIUM which arose in the place and not far from the site of the
ancient Naxos, which had been finally destroyed by Dionysius: TYNDARIS founded
by the Syracusan despot on the N. coast of the island, with a body of colonists
principally of Messenian origin; ALAESA in the same part of Sicily, founded by
the Sicel chief Archonides; and LILYBAEUM which grew up adjoining the port and
promontory of that name, a few miles S. of Motya, the place of which it took as
one of the principal Carthaginian ports and strongholds in the island.
The power of Syracuse over the whole of the eastern half of Sicily appeared to
be effectually consolidated by the elder Dionysius, but it was soon broken up by
the feeble and incompetent government, of his son. Only ten years after the
death of the father (B.C. 357), Dion landed in Sicily at the head of only a few
hundred mercenary troops, and raised the standard of revolt; all the dependent
subjects of Syracuse soon flocked around it, and Dion was welcomed into the city
itself by the acclamations of the citizens. Dionysius himself was absent at the
time, but the island-citadel of Ortygia was held by [p. 2.981]his garrison, and
still secured him> a footing in Sicily. It was not till after a long blockade
that his son Apollocrates was compelled to surrender it into the hands of Dion,
who thus became master of Syracuse, B.C. 356. But the success of Dion was far
from restoring liberty to Sicily, or even to the Syracusans: the despotic
proceedings of Dion excited universal discontent, and he was at length
assassinated by Callippus, one of his own officers, B.C. 353. The period that
followed was one of great confusion, but with which we are very imperfectly
acquainted. Successive revolutions occurred at Syracuse, during which the
younger Dionysius found means to effect his return, and became once more master
of Ortygia. But the rest of the city was still held by a leader named Hicetas,
who called in the assistance of the Carthaginians. Ortygia was now besieged both
by sea and land by a Carthaginan fleet and army. It was in this state of things
that a party at Syracuse, equally opposed to Hicetas and Dionysius, had recourse
to the parent city of Corinth, and a small force of 1200 soldiers was sent to
their assistance under Timoleon, B.C. 344. His successes were rapid and
brilliant; and within less than two months from his landing in Sicily, he found
himself unexpectedly in the possession of Ortygia, which was voluntarily
surrendered to him by Dionysius. Hicetas and the Carthaginians were, however,
still masters of the rest of the city; but mistrust and disunion enfeebled their
defence: the Carthaginian general Magon suddenly withdrew his forces, and
Timoleon easily wrested the city from the> hands of Hicetas, B.C. 343.
Syracuse was now restored to liberty and a democratic form of government; and
the same change was quickly extended to the other Greek cities of Sicily. These
had thrown off the yoke of Syracuse during the disturbed period through which
they had recently passed, but had, with few exceptions, fallen into the hands of
local despots, who had established themselves in the possession of absolute
power. Such were, Hicetas himself at Leontini, Mamercus at Catana, and Hippon at
Messana, while minor despots, also of Greek origin, had obtained in like manner
the chief power in the Siculian cities of Apollonia, Centuripa and Agyrium.
Timoleon now turned his arms in succession against all these petty rulers, and
overthrew them one after another, restoring the city in each case to the
possession of independent and free self-government. Meanwhile the Greeks had
been threatened with a more general danger from a fresh Carthaginian invasion;
but the total defeat of their generals Hasdrubal and Hamilcar at the river
Crimisus (B.C. 340), one of the most brilliant and decisive victories ever
gained by the Greeks over the Carthaginians, put an end to all fears from that
quarter: and the peace that followed once more established the Halycus as the
boundary between the two nations (Diod. 15.17).
The restoration of the Sicilian Greeks to liberty by Timoleon, was followed by a
period of great prosperity. Many of the cities had suffered severely, either
from the exactions of their despotic rulers, or from the troubles and
revolutions that had taken place, but these were now recruited with fresh
colonists from Corinth, and other cities of Greece, who poured into the island
in vast numbers; the exiles were everywhere restored, and a fresh impulse seemed
to be given to the development of Hellenic influences in the island.
Unfortunately this period of reviving prosperity was of short duration. Only
twenty three years after the battle of the Crimisus, a despotism was again
established at Syracuse by Agathocles (B.C. 317), an adventurer who raised
himself to power by very much the same means as the elder Dionysius, whom he
resembled in energy and ability, while he even surpassed him in sanguinary and
unsparing severity. The reign of Agathocles (B.C. 317--289) was undoubtedly a
period that exercised the most disastrous influence over Sicily; it was occupied
in great part with internal dissensions and civil wars, as well as by long
continued struggles between the Greeks and Carthaginians. Like Dionysius,
Agathocles had, in the first instance, made use of Carthaginian support, to
establish himself in the possession of despotic power, but as he gradually
extended his aggressions, and reduced one Greek city after another under his
authority, he in his turn came into fresh collision with Carthage. In B.C. 310,
he was defeated at the river Himera, near the hill of Ecnomus, by the
Carthaginian general Hamilcar, in so decisive a battle that it seemed to
extinguish all his hopes: his allies and dependent cities quickly threw off his
yoke, and Syracuse itself was once more blockaded by a Carthaginian fleet. In
this extremity Agathocles adopted the daring resolution of transporting his army
to Africa, and carrying on the war at the very gates of Carthage. During his
absence (which was protracted for nearly four years, B.C. 310--307) Hamilcar had
brought a large part of Sicily under the dominion of Carthage, but was foiled in
all his attempts upon Syracuse, and at length was himself taken prisoner in a
night attack, and put to death. The Agrigentines, whose name had been scarcely
mentioned for a long period, but whose city appears to have been revived under
Timoleon, and now again appears as one of the most considerable in Sicily, made
a fruitless attempt to raise the banner of freedom and independence, while the
Syracusan exile Deinocrates, at the head of a large army of exiles and
mercenaries, maintained a sort of independent position, aloof from all parties.
But Agathocles, on his return from Africa, concluded peace with Carthage, and
entered into a compromise with Deinocrates, while he established his own power
at Syracuse by a fearful massacre of all that were opposed to him. For the last
twelve years of his reign (B.C. 301--289), his dominion seems to have been
firmly established over Syracuse and a great part of Sicily, so that he was at
liberty to follow out his ambitious schemes in the south of Italy and elsewhere.
After the death of Agathocles (B.C. 289), Sicily seems to have fallen into a
state of great confusion; Syracuse apparently still retained its predominant
position among the Greek cities, under a despot named Hicetas: but Agrigentum,
which had also fallen into the hands of a despot named Phintias, was raised to a
position that almost enabled it to dispute the supremacy. Phintias extended his
dominion over several other cities, and having made himself master of Gela,
utterly destroyed it, in order to found and people a new city at the mouth of
the river Himera, to which he gave the name of Phintias. This was the last Greek
city founded in Sicily. Meanwhile the Carthaginians were becoming more and more
preponderant in the island, and the Greeks were at length led to invoke the
assistance of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who was at this time carrying on war in
Italy against the Romans. He readily listened to their overtures, and landed in
[p. 2.982]the island in the autumn of B.C. 278. Phintias was at this time dead,
and Hicetas had not long before been expelled from Syracuse. Pyrrhus therefore
had no Greek adversaries to contend with, and was able to turn all his efforts
against the Carthaginians. His successes were at first rapid and decisive: he
wrested one town after another from the dominion of Carthage, took Panormus,
which had long been the metropolis of their Sicilian possessions, and had never
before fallen into the hands of a Greek invader, and carried by assault the
strong fortresses of Ercte and Eryx: but he was foiled in an attack on Lilybaeum;
jealousies and dissensions now arose between him and his Sicilian allies, and
after little more than two years he was fain to return to Italy (B.C. 276),
abandoning all his projects upon Sicily (Diod. Exc. Hoesch. 22.10, pp.
497--499).
The departure of Pyrrhus left the Sicilian Greeks without a leader, but Hieron,
who was chosen general by the Syracusans, proved himself worthy of the occasion.
Meanwhile a new and formidable enemy had arisen in the Mamertines, a band of
Campanian mercenaries, who had possessed themselves by treachery of the
important city of Messana, and from thence carried their arms over a
considerable part of Sicily, and conquered or plundered many of its principal
towns. Hieron waged war with them for a considerable period, and at length
obtained so decisive a victory over them, in the immediate neighbourhood of
Messana, that the city itself must have fallen, had it not been saved by the
intervention of the Carthaginian general Hannibal. Hieron was now raised to the
supreme power at Syracuse, and even assumed the title of king, B.C. 270. A few
years after this we find him joining his arms with the Carthaginians, to effect
the expulsion of the Mamertines, an object which they would doubtless have
accomplished had not that people appealed to the protection of Rome. The Romans,
who had recently completed the conquest of Italy, gladly seized the pretext for
interfering in the affairs of Sicily, and espoused the cause of the Mamertines.
Thus began the First Punic War, B.C. 264.
It is impossible here to relate in detail the events of that long-protracted
struggle, during which Sicily became for twenty-three years the field of battle
between the Romans and Carthaginians. Hieron, who had found himself at the
beginning engaged in active hostilities with Rome, after sustaining several
defeats, and losing many of his subject towns, wisely withdrew from the contest,
and concluded in B.C. 263 a separate peace with Rome, by which he retained
possession in full sovereignty of Syracuse and its territory, including the
dependent towns of Acrae, Helorus, Netum, Megara, and Leontini, together with
Tauromenium (Diod. xxiii. Exc. H. p. 502). From this time to the day of his
death Hieron remained the faithful ally of the Romans, and retained the
sovereign power at Syracuse undisturbed. In the rest of Sicily all trace of
independent action on the part of the several Greek cities disappears:
Agrigentum was indeed the only one of these cities in the island which appears
to have retained any considerable importance: it was not taken by the Roman
consuls till after a long and obstinate siege, B.C. 262, and was severely
punished for its protracted resistance, the inhabitants being sold as slaves.
Agrigentum indeed at a later period fell again into the hands of the
Carthaginians, B.C. 255, but on the other hand the Romans made themselves'
masters of Panormus, for a long time the capital of the Carthaginian dominion in
the island, which was thenceforth occupied by a strong Roman garrison, and never
again fell into the hands of its former masters. For several years before the
conclusion of the war, the possessions of the Carthaginians in Sicily were
confined to the mountain of Eryx, occupied by Hamilcar Barca, and to the two
strongly fortified seaports of Lilybaeum and Drepanum, the former of which
defied all the attacks of the Romans, as it had previously done those of
Pyrrhus. The siege, or rather blockade, of Lilybaeum was continued for nearly
ten years, until the destruction of the Carthaginian fleet off the islands of
the Aegates, B.C. 241, compelled that people to purchase peace by the surrender
of all their remaining possessions in Sicily.
The whole island was now reduced into the condition of a Roman province, with
the exception of the territory still governed by Hieron as an allied, but
independent sovereign. The province thus constituted was the first that had ever
borne that name (Cic. Ver. 2.1): it was placed under the government of a
praetor, who was sent annually from Rome (Appian, App. Sic. 2). On the first
outbreak of the Second Punic War (B.C. 218), the consul Sempronius was at first
sent to Sicily as his province, to guard against any threatened invasion from
Africa; but he was soon recalled to oppose Hannibal in Italy, and for some years
Sicily bore but an unimportant part in the war. A great change, however,
occurred in the fourth year of the war (B.C. 215), in consequence of the
defection of Hieronymus, the grandson and successor of Hieron at Syracuse, who
abandoned the alliance of Rome to which Hieron had continued constant throughout
his long reign, and espoused the Carthaginian cause. Hieronymus indeed was soon
after assassinated, but the Carthaginian party at Syracuse, headed by
Hippocrates and Epicydes, still maintained the ascendency, and Marcellus, who
had been sent in haste to Sicily to put down the threatened revolt, was
compelled to form the siege of Syracuse, B.C. 214. But so vigorous was the
resistance offered to him that he soon found himself obliged to convert the
siege into a blockade, nor was it till the autumn of B.C. 212 that the city
finally fell into his hands. Meanwhile the war had extended itself to all parts
of Sicily: many cities of the Roman province had followed the example of
Syracuse, and joined the alliance of Carthage, while that power spared no
exertions for their support. Even after the fall of Syracuse, the war was still
continued: the Carthaginian general Mutines, who had made himself master of
Agrigentum, carried on a desultory warfare from thence, and extended his ravages
over the whole island. It was not till Mutines had been induced to desert the
Carthaginian cause, and betray Agrigentum into the hands of the Romans, that the
consul Laevinus was able to reduce the revolted cities to submission, and thus
accomplished the final conquest of Sicily, B.C. 210 (Liv. 26.40; 27.5).
From this time the whole of Sicily became united as a Roman province, and its
administration was in most respects similar to that of the other provinces. But
its lot was anything but a fortunate one. Its great natural fertility, and
especially its productiveness in corn, caused it, indeed, to be a possession of
the utmost importance to Rome; but these very circumstances seem to have made it
a favourite field for [p. 2.983]speculators, who bought up large tracts of land,
which they cultivated solely by means of slaves, so that the free population of
the island became materially diminished. The more mountainous portions of the
island were given up to shepherds and herdsmen, all likewise slaves, and
accustomed to habits of rapine and plunder, in which they were encouraged by
their masters. At the same time the number of wealthy proprietors, and the
extensive export trade of some of the towns, maintained a delusive appearance of
prosperity. It was not till the outbreak of the Servile War in B.C. 135 that the
full extent of these evils became apparent, but the frightful state of things
then revealed sufficiently shows that the causes which had produced it must have
been long at work. That great outbreak, which commenced with a local
insurrection of the slaves of a great proprietor at Enna, named Damophilus, and
was headed by a Syrian slave of the name of Eunus, quickly spread throughout the
whole island, so that the slaves are said to have mustered 200,000 armed men.
With this formidable force they defeated in succession the armies of several
Roman praetors, so that in B.C. 134, it was thought necessary to send against
them the consul Fulvius Flaccus, and it was not till the year B.C. 132 that
their strongholds of Tauromenium and Enna were taken by the consul P. Rupilius.
(Diod. xxxiv. Exc. Phot., Exc. Vales.) The insurrection was now finally quelled,
but the state of Sicily had undergone a severe shock, and the settlement of its
affairs was confided to P. Rupilius, together with ten commissioners, who laid
down a code of laws and rules for its internal government which continued to be
observed in the days of Cicero (Cic. Ver. 2.16).
But the outbreak of the second Servile War, under Salvius and Athenion, less
than thirty years after the termination of the former one (B.C. 103), and the
fact that the slaves were again able to maintain the contest against three
successive consuls till they were finally vanquished by M. Aquilius, in B.C.
100, sufficiently proves that the evils in the state of society had been but
imperfectly remedied by Rupilius; nor can we believe that the condition of the
island was in reality altogether so flourishing as it is represented by Cicero
during the interval which elapsed between this Servile War and the praetorship
of Verres, B.C. 73. But the great natural resources of Sicily and its important
position as the granary of Rome undoubtedly enabled it to recover with rapidity
from all its disasters. The elder Cato had called it the store-room (cella
penaria) of the Roman state, and Cicero observes that in the great Social War
(B.C. 90--88) it supplied the Roman armies not only with food, but with clothing
and arms also (Cic. Ver. 2.2). But the praetorship of Verres (B.C. 73--70)
inflicted a calamity upon Sicily scarcely inferior to the Servile wars that had
so recently devastated it. The rhetorical expressions of Cicero must not indeed
be always understood literally; but with every allowance for exaggeration, there
can no doubt that the evils resulting from such a government as that of Verres
were enormous; and Sicily was just in such a state as to suffer from them most
severely.
The orations of Cicero against Verres convey to us much curious and valuable
information as to the condition of Sicily under the Roman republic as well as to
the administration and system of government of the Roman provinces generally.
Sicily at that time formed but one province, under the government of a praetor
or pro-praetor, but it had always two quaestors, one of whom resided at
Syracuse, the other at Lilybaeum. This anomaly (for such it appears to have
been) probably arose from the different parts of the island having been reduced
into the form of a province at different periods. The island contained in all
above sixty towns which enjoyed municipal rights: of these, three only, Messana,
Tauromenium, and Netum, were allied cities (civitates foederatae), and thus
enjoyed a position of nominal independence; five were exempt from all fiscal
burdens and from the ordinary jurisdiction of the Roman magistrates (civitates
immunes et liberae): the rest were in the ordinary position of provincial towns,
but retained their own magistrates and municipal rights, as well as the
possession of their respective territories, subject to the payment of a tenth of
their produce to the Roman state. These tenths, which were paid in kind, were
habitually farmed out, according to principles and regulations laid down in the
first instance by Hieron, king of Syracuse, and which therefore continued to be
known as the Lex Hieronica. For judicial purposes, the island appears to have
been divided into districts or conventus, but the number of them is not stated;
those of Syracuse, Agrigentum, Lilybaeum, and Panormus are the only ones
mentioned.
Sicily took little part in the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey. It was at
first held by M. Cato on behalf of the latter, but abandoned by him when Pompey
himself had quitted Italy, and was then occupied by Curio, as pro-praetor, with
four legions (Caes. B.C. 1.30, 31). Caesar himself visited it previous to his
African war, and it was from Lilybaeum that he crossed over with his army into
Africa (Hirt. B. Afr. 1.) After the death of Caesar, it fell into the hands of
Sextus Pompeius, whose powerful fleet enabled him to defy all the efforts of
Octavian to recover it, and was at length secured to him by the peace of Misenum,
B.C. 39, together with Sardinia and Corsica. But Octavian soon renewed his
attempts to dispossess him, and though he sustained repeated defeats at sea, and
lost a great part of his fleet by a storm, the energy and ability of Agrippa
enabled him to triumph over all obstacles; and the final defeat of his fleet at
Naulochus compelled Pompeius to abandon Sicily, and take refuge in the east
(Appian, App. BC 5.77-122; D. C. 49.1-17). There seems no doubt that the island
suffered severely from this contest, and from the rapacity or exactions of
Sextus Pompeius: Strabo distinctly ascribes its decayed condition in his time
principally to this cause (Strab. vi. pp. 270, 272). Augustus made some attempts
to relieve it by sending colonies to a few cities, among which were Tauromenium,
Catana, Syracuse, Thermae, and Tyndaris (Strab. vi. p.272; Plin. Nat. 3.8. s.
14); but the effect thus produced was comparatively small, and Strabo describes
the whole island as in his time, with few exceptions, in a state of decay, many
of its ancient cities having altogether disappeared, while others were in a
declining condition, and the interior was for the most part given up to
pasturage, and inhabited only by herdsmen (Strab. l.c.)
Augustus appears to have greatly remodelled the internal administration of
Sicily: so that the condition of most of the towns had undergone a change
between the time of Cicero and that of Pliny. Caesar had indeed proposed to give
Latin rights to all the Sicilians, and M. Antonius even brought [p.
2.984]forward a law to admit them without distinction to the Roman franchise (Cic.
Att. 14.2), but neither of these measures was accomplished; and we learn from
Pliny that Messana was in his day the only city in the island of which the
inhabitants possessed the Roman citizenship: three others, Centuripa, Netum, and
Segesta enjoyed the Jus Latii, while all the others (except the colonies already
mentioned) were in the ordinary condition of “civitates stipendiariae” (Plin.
Nat. 3.8. s. 14). We hear very little of Sicily under the Empire; but it is
probable that it never really recovered from the state of decay into which it
had fallen in Strabo's time. Almost the only mention of it in history is that of
an outbreak of slaves and banditti in the reign of Gallienus which seems to have
resembled on a smaller scale the Servile wars that had formerly devastated it (Treb.
Poll. Gallien, 4). The increasing importance of the supply of corn from Africa
and Egypt renders it probable that that from Sicily had fallen off, and the
small number of remains of the imperial period still existing in the island,
though so many are preserved from a much earlier date, seems to prove that it
could not then have been very flourishing. At a late period of the Empire, also,
we find very few names of towns in the Itineraries, the lines of road being
carried through stations or “mansiones” otherwise wholly unknown, a sufficient
proof that the neighbouring towns had fallen into decay. (Itin. Ant. pp.
86--98.) In the division of the provinces under Augustus, Sicily was assigned to
the senate, and was governed by a proconsul; at a later period it was considered
as a part of Italy, and was governed by a magistrate named a Consularis, subject
to the authority of the Vicarius Urbis Romae. (Notit. Dign. ii. p. 64; and
Böcking, ad loc.)
Its insular position must have for a considerable time preserved Sicily from the
ravages of the barbarians who devastated Italy towards the close of the Western
Empire. Alaric indeed attempted to cross over the straits, but was foiled by a
tempest. (Hist. Miscell. xiii. p. 535.) But Genseric, being master of a powerful
fleet, made himself master of the whole island, which was held by the Vandals
for a time, but subsequently passed into the hands of the Goths, and continued
attached to the Gothic kingdom of Italy till it was conquered by Belisarius in
A.D. 535. It was then united to the Eastern Empire, and continued to be governed
as a dependency by the Byzantine emperors till the ninth century, when it fell
into the hands of the Saracens or Arabs. That people first landed at Mazara, in
the W. of the island in A.D. 827, and made themselves masters of Agrigentum; but
their progress was vigorously opposed. They took Messana in 831, and Panormus in
835, but it was not till 878 that Syracuse, the last fortress in the island,
fell into their hands. The island continued in the possession of the Saracens
till the middle of the eleventh century, when it was partially recovered by the
Byzantine emperors with the assistance of the Normans. But in 1061 the Norman
Roger Guiscard invaded Sicily on his own account, and, after a long struggle,
wholly reduced the island under his dominion. It has since remained attached,
with brief exceptions, to the crown of Naples, the monarch of which bears the
title of King of the Two Sicilies.
The extant remains of antiquity in Sicily fully confirm the inference which we
should draw from the statements of ancient historians, as to the prosperity and
opulence of the island under the Greeks, and its comparatively decayed condition
under the Romans. The ruins of the latter period are few, and for the most part
unimportant, the exceptions being confined to the three or four cities which we
know to have received Roman colonies: while the temples, theatres, and other
edifices from the Greek period are numerous and of the most striking character.
No city of Greece, with the exception of Athens, can produce structures that vie
with those of which the remains are still visible at Agrigentum, Selinus and
Segesta. At the same time the existing relics of antiquity, especially coins and
inscriptions, strongly confirm the fact that almost the whole population of the
island had been gradually Hellenised. It is evident that the strong line of
demarcation which existed in the days of Thucydides between the Greek cities and
those of non-Hellenic or barbarian origin had been to a great degree effaced
before the island passed under the dominion of Rome. The names of Sicilian
citizens mentioned by Cicero in his Verrine orations are as purely Greek where
they belong to cities of Siculian origin, such as Centuripa and Agyrium, or even
to Carthaginian cities like Panormus and Lilybaeum, as are those of Syracuse or
Agrigentum. In like manner we find coins with Greek legends struck by numerous
cities which undoubtedly never received a Greek colony, such as Alaesa, Menaenum,
and many others. It is probable indeed that during the Roman Republic the
language of the whole island (at least the written and cultivated language) was
Greek, which must, however, have gradually given way to Latin under the Empire,
as the Sicilian dialect of the present day is one of purely Latin origin, and
differs but slightly from that of the south of Italy. Of the language of the
ancient Sicels we have no trace at all, and it is highly probable that it was
never used as a written language.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. TOPOGRAPHY.
The general description of the physical features of Sicily has been already
given. But it will be necessary here to describe its coasts in somewhat more
detail. The E. coast extending from Cape Pelorus to Pachynus, consists of three
portions of a very different character. From Pelorus to Tauromenium, a distance
of about 40 miles, it is closely bordered by the chain of mountains called the
Mons Neptunius, the slopes of which descend steeply to the sea, forming a very
uniform line of coast, furrowed by numerous small torrents. Two of the small
headlands between these valleys appear to have borne the names of Drepanum (Plin.)
and Argennum (Ptol.), but their identification is quite uncertain. S. of
Tauromenium, from the mouth of the Acesines to that of the Symaethus, the whole
coast is formed by beds of lava and other volcanic matters, which have flowed
down from Aetna Off this coast, about midway between Acium and Catana are some
rocky islets of volcanic origin, called by Pliny the Cyclopum Scopuli: the name
of Portus Ulyssis is given by the same author to a port in this neighbourhood,
but it is impossible so say which of the many small sheltered coves on this line
of coast he means to designate. S. of the Symaethus the coast is much varied,
being indented by several deep bays and inlets, separated by projecting rocky
headlands. The principal of these is the bay of Megara (Sinus Megarensis) so
called from the Greek city of that name; it was bounded on the N. by the
Xiphonian [p. 2.985]promontory, now Capo di Sta Croce (Ξιφωνίας ἀκρωτήριον,
Strab. vi. p.267), within which was the XIPHONIAN PORT (Ξιφώνειος, Scyl. p. 4),
evidently the harbour of Augusta, one of the finest natural harbours in the
island. Between this and Syracuse is the remarkable peninsular promontory of
THAPSUS (Magnisi), while immediately S. of Syracuse occurs the remarkable
landlocked bay called the Great Harbour of that city, and the rocky headland of
PLEMMYRIUM which bounds it on the S. From this point to Cape Pachynus no ancient
names have been preserved to us of the headlands or harbours. From Cape Pachynus
to the site of Gela the coast is low but rocky. Along this line must be placed
the port of Ulysses (Portus Odysseae) mentioned by Cicero, and the promontory of
Ulysses of Ptolemy, both apparently in the immediate neighbourhood of Cape
Pachynus [PACHYNUS] The Bucra promontory (Βούκρα ἄκρα) of Ptolemy, which he
places further W., is wholly unknown, as is also the port of Caucana of the same
author (Καυκάνα λιμήν, Ptol. 3.4.7). The remainder of the S. coast of Sicily
from Gela to Lilybaeum presents on the whole a very uniform character; it has
few or no natural ports, and no remarkable headlands. It is bounded for the most
part by hills of clay or soft limestone, generally sloping gradually to the sea,
but sometimes forming cliffs of no great elevation. The celebrated promontory of
LILYBAEUM is a low rocky point, and its famous port, though secure, is of small
extent. N. of Lilybaeum was the promontory of AEGITHALLUS with the adjacent low
islands, on one of which the city MOTYA was built; while the more considerable
islands of the AEGATES lay a few miles further to the W., and the promontory of
DREPANUM adjoining the city of the same name formed the NW. point of Sicily. It
is remarkable that no ancient name is preserved to us for the deep gulf of
Castellamare which occurs on the coast between Trapani and Palermo, though it is
one of the most remarkable features of the N. coast of Sicily; nor are the two
striking headlands that bound the Bay of Palermo itself known to us by their
ancient names. The bold and insulated hill of Monte Sta Rosalia is, however, the
ancient ERCTE. The northern coast of Sicily is bold and varied, formed by
offshoots and ridges of the northern chain of mountains descending abruptly to
the sea; hence it was always a rugged and difficult line of communication. But
none of the rocky headlands that interrupt it are mentioned to us by their
ancient names, till we come to that of Mylae adjoining the town of the same name
(Milazzo), and the PHALACRIAN PROMONTORY (Ptol. 3.4.2), apparently the Capo di
Rasocolmo within a few miles of Cape Pelorus.
From the triangular form of Sicily and the configuration of the mountain chains
which traverse it, it is evident that it could not have any rivers of
importance. Most of them indeed are little more than mere mountain torrents,
swelling with great rapidity after violent storms or during the winter rains,
but nearly, if not wholly, dry during the summer months. The most important
rivers of the island are: 1. The SYMAETHUS (Simeto or Giarretta), which rises in
the northern chain of mountains (the Mons Nebrodes), and flows to the S. and SE.
round the foot of Aetna, falling into the sea about 6 miles S. of Catania. It
receives several tributaries, of which the Dittaino is certainly the ancient
CHRYSAS that flowed near the city of Assorus, while the ADRANUS of Stephanus can
be no other than the northern or main branch of the Symaethus itself. The
Cyamosorus (Κναμόσωρος) of Polybius, which appears to have been in the
neighbourhood of Centuripa, must probably be the branch now called Fiume Salso,
which joins the Simeto just below Centorbi. 2. The ACESINES or ASINES (F.
Cantara), which rises very near the Symaethus, but flows along the northern foot
of Aetna, and falls into the sea just below Tauromenium. 3. The HIMERA (F. Salso),
the most considerable of two rivers which bore the same name, rising in the
Monte Madonia (Mons Nebrodes) only about 15 miles from the N. coast, and flowing
due S.; so that it traverses nearly the whole breadth of Sicily, and falls into
the sea at Alicata (Phintias). 4. The HALYCUS (Platani), so long the boundary
between the Carthaginian and Greek territories in the island, is also a
considerable stream; it rises not far from the Himera, but flows to the SW., and
enters the sea between Agrigentum and Selinus, close to the site of Heraclea
Minoa. 5. The HYPSAS (Belici), falling into the sea on the S. coast, a few miles
E. of Selinus; and 6, the ANAPUS (Anapo), which flows under the walls of
Syracuse and falls into the great harbour of that city. It is unlike most of the
rivers of Sicily, being a full clear stream, supplied from subterranean sources.
The same character belongs still more strongly to its tributary the CYANE which
has a considerable volume of water, though its whole course does not exceed two
miles in length.
The minor rivers of Sicily which are mentioned either in history or by the
geographers are numerous, but in many cases are very difficult to identify.
Beginning at Cape Pachynus and proceeding along the coast westward, we find: 1,
the Motychanus (Μοτύχανος, Ptol. 3.4.7), evidently so called from its flowing
near Motyca, and therefore probably the stream now called Fiume di Scicli; 2,
the Hirminius of Pliny, probably the Flume di Ragusa, very near the preceding;
3, the HIPPARIS; and 4, the OANUS two small streams which flowed under the walls
of Camarina, now called the F. di Camarana and Frascolari; 5, the GELA or GELAS,
which gave name to the city of Gelas and must therefore be the Fiume di
Terranova; 6, the ACRAGAS a small stream flowing under the walls of Agrigentum,
to which it gave name, and receiving a tributary called the HYPSAS (Drago),
which must not be confounded with the more important river of the same name
already mentioned; 7, the CAMICUS probably the Fiume delle Canne, about 10 miles
W. of Girgenti; 8, the SELINUS flowing by the city of that name, now the Madiuni;
9, the MAZARA or MAZARUS, flowing by the town of the same name, and still called
Fiume di Mazzara. Besides these Ptolemy mentions the Isburus and Sosias or
Sossius, two names otherwise wholly unknown, and which cannot be placed with any
approach to certainty. Equally uncertain is the more noted river ACHATES which
is placed by Pliny in the same part of Sicily with the Mazara and Hypsas; but
there is great confusion in his enumeration as well as that of Ptolemy. It is
generally identified with the Dirillo, but this is situated in quite a different
part of Sicily. The Acithius of Ptolemy, which he places between Lilybaeum and
Selinus, may be the Fiume di Marsala.
Along the N. coast, proceeding from Lilybaeum to Cape Pelorus, we meet with a
number of small streams, having for the most part a short torrent-like [p.
2.986]course, from the mountains to the sea. Their identification is for the
most part very obscure and uncertain. Thus we find three rivers mentioned in
connection with Segesta, and all of them probably flowing through its territory,
the Porpax, Telmessus, and CRIMESSUS or CRIMISUS The last of these is probably
the Fiume di S. Bartolomeo, about 5 miles E. of Segesta: the other two, which
are mentioned only by Aelian (Ael. VH 2.33), cannot be identified, though one of
them is probably the Fiume Gaggera, which flows beneath Segesta itself, and
falls into the F. di S. Bartolomeo near its mouth. But, to complicate the
question still more, we are told that the names of Scamander and Simois were
given by the Trojan colonists to two rivers near Segesta; and the former name at
least seems to have been really in use. (Strab. xiii. p.608; Diod. 20.71.)
Proceeding eastward we find: 1, the Orethus (Vib. Sequest. p. 15), still called
the Oreto, a small stream flowing under the walls of Panormus; 2, the Eleutherus
(Ἐλεύθερος, Ptol. 3.4.3), placed by Ptolemy between Panormus and Soluntum, and
which must therefore be the Fiume di Bagaria; 3, the northern HIMERA commonly
identified with the Fiume di S. Leonardo, near Termini, but more probably the
Fiume Grande, about 8 miles further E. [HIMERA]; 4, the Monalus (Μόναλος, Ptol.),
between Cephaloedium and Alaesa, now the Pollina; 5, the Halesus or Alaesus,
flowing beneath the city of Alaesa, now the Pettineo; 6, the Chydas (Χύδας, Ptol.),
between Alaesa and Aluntium; 7, the Timethus (Γίμηθος, Id.), between Agathyrna
and Tyndaris; 8, the Helicon (Ἑλικών, Id.), between Tyndaris and Mylae; 9, the
Phacelinus (Vib. Sequest.), which was near Mylae, or between that city and
Messana (the nearer determination of these four last is wholly uncertain); 10,
the Melas of Ovid (Ov. Fast. 4.476) is generally placed in the same
neighbourhood, though without any obvious reason.
Along the E. coast the names may be more clearly identified. 1. The ONOBALAS of
Appian (App. BC 5.109) is probably identical with the Acesines already noticed;
2, the ACIS a very small stream, is the Fiume di Jaci; 3, the AMENANUS flowing
through the city of Catana, is the Giudicello; 4, the TERIAS is the Fiume di S.
Leonardo, which flows from the Lake of Lentini; 5, the PANTAGIAS is the Porcari;
6, the ALABUS is the Cantaro, a small stream flowing into the bay of Augusta.
The Anapus and its confluent the Cyane have been already mentioned. S. of
Syracuse occur three small rivers, memorable in the retreat of the Athenians:
these are, 1, the CACYPARIS (Cassibili); 2, the ERINEUS (Fiume di Avola); and 3,
the ASINARUS (Falconara). A few miles S. of this was the HELORUS now called the
Abisso, flowing by the city of the same name. No other stream occurs between
this and Cape Pachynum.
Sicily contains no lakes that deserve the name; but there are a few pools or
marshy lagoons, of which the names have been preserved to us. Of the latter
description were the LYSIMELIA PALUS near Syracuse, and the CAMARINA PALUS
adjoining the city of the same name. The LACUS PALICORUM, on the contrary, was a
deep pool or basin of volcanic origin: while the small lake called by the poets
Pergus or Pergusa is still extant in the neighbourhood of Enna. The Lago di
Lentini, though much the most considerable accumulation of waters in Sicily, is
not mentioned by any ancient author.
The towns and cities of Sicily were very numerous. The Greek colonies and their
offshoots or dependencies have been already mentioned in relating the history of
their settlement; but the names of all the towns so far as they can be
ascertained will be here enumerated in geographical order, without reference to
their origin, omitting only the places mentioned in the Itineraries, which were
probably mere villages or stations. 1. Beginning from Cape Pelorus and
proceeding along the E. coast towards Cape Pachynus, were: MESSANA, TAUROMENIUM,
NAXOS, ACIUM, CATANA and SYRACUSE. TROTILUM, destroyed at an early period, as
well as MEGARA HYBLAEA, were situated between Catana and Syracuse. The Chalcidic
colonies of CALLIPOLIS and EUBOEA both of which disappeared at an early period,
must have been situated on or near the E. coast of the island, and to the N. of
Syracuse, but we have no further clue to their situation. S. of Syracuse,
between it and Cape Pachynus, was HELORUS at the mouth of the river of the same
name. 2. W. of Cape Pachynus, proceeding along the S. coast, were CAMARINA,
GELA, PHINTIAS, AGRIGENTUM, HERACLEA MINOA, THERMAE SELINUNTIAE, SELINUS, MAZARA,
and LILYBAEUM Besides these the more obscure towns of CAMICUS, CAENA, and INYCUM
the two former dependencies of Agrigentum, the latter of Selinus, must be placed
on or near the S. coast of the island. 3. N. of Lilybaeum was MOTYA which ceased
to exist at a comparatively early period, and DREPANUM (Trapani) at the NW.
angle of the island. Between this and Panormus, were ERYX at the foot of the
mountain of the same name, and a short distance from the coast, the Emporium of
Segesta, HYCCARA and CETARIA Proceeding eastward from PANORMUS along the N.
coast of the island, were SOLUNTUM, THERMAE, HIMERA, CEPHALOEDIUM, ALAESA,
CALACTA, AGATHYRNA, ALUNTIUM, TYNDARIS, and MYLAE
The towns in the interior are more difficult to enumerate: with regard to some
of them indeed we are at a loss to determine, even in what region of the island
they were situated. For the purpose of enumeration it will be convenient to
divide the island into three portions; the first comprising the western half of
Sicily as far as the river Himera, and a line drawn from its sources to the N.
coast: the other two, the NE. and SE. portions, being separated by the course of
the river Dittaino and that of the Symaethus to the sea. 1. In the western
district were SEGESTA and HALICYAE the most westerly of the inland cities;
ENTELLA on the river Hypsas, about midway between the two seas; IAETA and
MACELLA both of which may probably be placed in the mountainous district between
Entella and Panormus; TRIOCALA near Calatabellotta, in the mountains inland from
the Thermae Selinuntiae; SCHERA, of very uncertain site, but probably situated
in the same part of Sicily; HERBESSUS in the neighbourhood of Agrigentum; PETRA
near the sources of the W. branch of the Himera in the Madonia mountains; and
ENGYUM (Gangi), at the head of the Fiume Grande, the E. branch of the same
river. PAROPUS must apparently be placed on the northern declivity of the same
mountains, but further to the W.
A little to the E. of the Himera and as nearly as possible in the centre of the
island, was situated the fortress of ENNA (Castro Giovanni), so that the
boundary line between the NE. and NW. regions may be conveniently drawn from
thence. 2. In the NE. region were: ASSORUS and AGYRIUM [p. 2.987]NE. of Enna,
but W. of the valley of the Symaethus; CENTURIPA (Centorbi), nearly due E. of
Enna; ADRANUM (Adernò), on the E. bank of the Symaethus, at the foot of Mount
Aetna; HYBLA MAJOR (which must not be confounded with the city of the same name
near Syracuse), and AETNA previously called INESSA both situated on the southern
slope of the same mountain. N. of Agyrium, on the southern slopes of the Mons
Nebrodes were situated HERBITA, CAPITIUM, and probably also GALARIA: while on
the northern declivities of the same mountains, fronting the sea, but at some
distance inland, were placed APOLLONIA (probably Pollina), AMESTRATUS (Mistretta),
ABACAENUM a few miles inland from Tyndaris, and NOAE probably Noara. Three other
towns, IMACHARA, ICHANA, and TISSA may probably be assigned to this same region
of Sicily, though their exact position cannot be determined. 3. In the SE.
portion of Sicily, S. of the Symaethus and its tributary the Chrysas or Dittaino,
were situated ERGETIUM, MORGANTIA, LEONTINI, and HYBLA: as well as MENAENUM and
HERBESSUS: but of all these names Leontini (Lentini) and Menaenum (Mineo) are
the only ones that can be identified with anything like certainty. In the hills
W. of Syracuse were ACRAE (Palazzolo), BIDIS (S. Gio. di Bidino), and CACYRUM (Cassaro);
and W. of these again, in the direction towards Gela, must be placed the Heraean
HYBLA as well as ECHETLA in the neighbourhood of Gran Michele. SW. of Syracuse,
in the interior, were NETUM or NEETUM (Noto Vecchio), and MOTYCA (Modica), both
of which are well known. The Syracusan colony of CASMENAE must probably have
been situated in the same district but its site has never been identified.
After going through this long list of Sicilian towns, there remain the
following, noticed either by Cicero or Pliny, as municipal towns, to the
position of which we have no means of even approximating. The ACHERINI (Cic.),
TYRACINI (Cic.; Tyracienses, Plin.), Acestaei (Plin.), Etini (Id.), Herbulenses
(Id.), Semellitani (Id.), Talarenses (Id.). Many of the above names are probably
corrupt and merely false readings, but we are at a loss what to substitute. On
the other hand, the existence of a town called MUTISTRATUM or Mytistratum is
attested by both Cicero and Pliny, and there seems no sufficient reason for
rejecting it as identical with Amestratus, as has been done by many modern
geographers, though its site is wholly uncertain. Equally unknown are the
following names given by Ptolemy among the inland towns of the island: Aleta (Ἄλητα),
Hydra or Lydia (Ὕδρα or Λυδία), Patyorus (Πατίωρος), Coturga or Cortuga (Κότυργα
or Κόρτυγα), Legum or Letum (Λῆγον or Λῆτον), Ancrina (Ἄγκρινα), Ina or Ena (Ἴνα
or Ἤνα), and Elcethium (Ἐλκέθιον). It would be a waste of time to discuss these
names, most of which are probably in their present form corrupt, and are all of
them otherwise wholly unknown. On the other hand the existence of NACONA
mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium, but not noticed by any other writer, is
confirmed by coins.
The topography of Sicily is still very imperfectly known. The ruins of its more
celebrated cities are indeed well known, and have been often described;
especially in the valuable work of the Duke of Serra di Falco (Antichità della
Sicilia, 5 vols. fol. Palermo, 1834--1839), as well as in the well-known travels
of Swinburne, Sir R. Hoare, &c. (Swinburne's Travels in the Two Sicilies, 2
vols. 4to. Lond. 1783; Sir R. Hoare's Classical Tour through Italy and Sicily, 2
vols. 8vo. Lond. 1819; St. Non, Voyage Pittoresque de Naples et de la Sicile, 5
vols. fol. Paris, 1781; Biscari, Principe di, Viaggio per le Antichità della
Sicilia, 8vo. Palermo, 1817, &c.): but the island has never been thoroughly
explored by an antiquarian traveller, like those to whom we are indebted for our
knowledge of Greece and Asia Minor. The valuable work of Cluverius (Sicilia
Antiqua, fol. Lugd. Bat. 1619) must here, as well as for Italy, be made the
foundation of all subsequent researches. But much valuable information is found
in the more ancient work of Fazello, a Sicilian monk of the sixteenth century,
as well as of his commentator Amico, and in the Topographical Dictionary of the
latter author. (Thomae Fazelli de Rebus Siculis Decades Duo, first edit. in fol.
Panormi, 1558, republished with copious notes by Amico, 3 vols. fol. Catanae,
1749--1753; Amico, Lexicon Topographicum Siculum, 3 vols. 4to. Catanae, 1759).
Much, however, still remains to be done. Many localities indicated by Fazello in
the sixteenth century as presenting ancient remains have never (so far as we are
aware) been visited by any modern traveller: no good map of the island exists,
which can be trusted for topographical details, and there can be little doubt
that a minute and careful examination of the whole country, such as has been
made of the neighbouring island of Sardinia by the Chev. De la Marmora, would
well reward the labours of the explorer. Even the ruins described by Sir R.
Hoare as existing in the neighbourhood of Sta Croce, or those situated near
Vindicari, a few miles N. of Cape Pachynus and commonly ascribed to Imachara,
have never been examined in detail, nor has any clue been obtained to their
identification.
The Itineraries give several lines of route through the island, but many of the
stations mentioned are wholly uncertain, and were probably never more than
obscure villages or mere solitary posthouses. The first line of route (Itin.
Ant. pp. 86--89) proceeds from Messana along the E. coast by Tauromenium and
Acium to Catana, and from thence strikes inland across the centre of the island
to Agrigentum; the course of this inland route is wholly uncertain and the names
of the three stations upon it, Capitoniana, Gelasium Philosophiana and Petiliana,
are entirely unknown. From Agrigentum it followed the line of coast to Lilybaeum;
the stations given are Cena [CAENA], Allava, Ad Aquas (i. e. the Aquae Labodes
or Thermae Selinuntiae), Ad fluvium Lanarium, and Mazara; all except the 3rd and
5th of very uncertain site. A second route (Itin. Ant. pp. 89, 90) proceeds in
the inverse direction from Lilybaeum to Agrigentum, and thence by a more
southerly line, through Calvisiana, Hybla, and Acrae (Palazzolo) to Syracuse,
and from thence as before along the E. coast to Messana. A third line follows
the N. coast of the island from Lilybaeum by Panormus to Messana. The stations
on this line are better known and can for the most part be determined: they are,
Drepana, Aquae Segestanae (near Segesta), Parthenium (Partinico); Hyccara (Muro
di Carini), Panormus, Soluntum, Thermae, Cephaloedium, Halesus (Alaesa), Calacte,
Agatinnum, (Agathyrnum), Tyndaris, and Messana. A fourth route (Itin. Ant. p.
93) crossed the interior of the island from Thermae, where it branched off from
the preceding, passing through Enna, Agyrium, Centuripa and Aetna to Catana. A
fifth gives us a line [p. 2.988]of strictly maritime route around the southern
extremity of the island from Agrigentum to Syracuse; but with the exception of
Pintis, which is probably Phintias (Alicata), none of the stations can be
identified. Lastly, a line of road was in use which crossed the island from
Agrigentum direct to Panormus (Itin. Ant. p. 96), but none of its stations are
known, and we are therefore unable to determine even its general course. The
other routes given in the Itinerary of Antoninus are only unimportant variations
of the preceding ones. The Tabula gives only the one general line around the
island (crossing, however, from Calvisiana on the S. coast direct to Syracuse),
and the cross line already mentioned from Thermae to Catana. All discussion of
distances along the above routes must be rejected as useless, until the routes
themselves can be more accurately determined, which is extremely difficult in so
hilly and broken a country as the greater part of the interior of Sicily. The
similarity of names, which in Italy is so often a sure guide where all other
indications are wanting, is of far less assistance in Sicily, where the long
period of Arabic dominion has thrown the nomenclature of the island into great
confusion.
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.