Listed 41 sub titles with search on: Mythology for wider area of: "SICILY Island ITALY" .
AETNA (Mountain) SICILY
Acis (Akis), according t Ovid (Met. xiii. 750, &c.) a son of Faunus and Symaethis. He was beloved by the nymph Galatea, and Polyphemus the Cyclop, jealous of him, crushed him under a huge rock. His blood gushing forth from under the rock was changed by the nymph into the river Acis or Acinius at the foot of mount Aetna. This story does not occur any where else, and is perhaps no more than a happy fiction suggested by the manner in which the little river springs forth from under a rock.
A Sicilian shepherd, son of Hermes by a nymph, and taught by
Pan to play on the flute. He was regarded as the inventor of bucolic poetry. A
Naiad, to whom he proved faithless, punished him with blindness, whereupon his
father Hermes translated him to heaven.
Daphnis, a Sicilian hero, to whom the invention of bucolic poetry is ascribed. He is called a son of Hermes by a nymph (Diod. iv. 84), or merely the beloved of Hermes. (Aelian, V. H. x. 18.) Ovid (Met. iv. 275) calls him an Idaean shepherd; but it does not follow from this, that Ovid connected him with either tile Phrygian or the Cretan Ida, since Ida signifies any woody mountain. (Etym. Magn. s.v. His story runs as follows: The nymph, his mother, exposed him when an infant in a charming valley in a laurel grove, from which he received his name of Daphnis, and for which he is also called the favourite of Apollo. (Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. x. 26.) He was brought up by nymphs or shepherds, and he himself became a shepherd, avoiding the bustling crowds of nen, and tending his flocks on mount Aetna winter and summer. A Naiad (her name is different in different writers, Echenais, Xenea, Nomia, or Lyce,--Parthen. Erot. 29; Schol. ad Theocrit. i. 65, vii. 73; Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. viii. 68; Phylarg. ad Virg. Eclog. v. 20) fell in love with him, and made him promise never to form a connexion with any other maiden, adding the threat that he should become blind if he violated his vow. For a time the handsome Daphnis resisted all the numerous temptations to which he was exposed, but at last he forgot himself, having been made intoxicated by a princess. The Naiad accordingly punished him with blindness, or, as others relate, changed him into a stone. Previous to this time he had composed bucolic poetry, and with it delighted Artemis during the chase. According to others, Stesichorus made the fate of Daphnis the theme of his bucolic poetry, which was the earliest of its kind. After having become blind, he invoked his father to help him. The god accordingly raised him up to heaven, and caused a well to gush forth on the spot where this happened. The well bore the name of Daphnis, and at it the Sicilians offered an annual sacrifice. (Serv. ad Virg. Ecl. v. 20.) Phylargyrius, on the same passage, states, that Daphnis tried to console himself in his blindness by songs and playing on the flute, but that he did not live long after; and the Scholiast on Theocritus (viii. 93) relates, that Daphnis, while wandering about in his blindness, fell from a steep rock. Somewhat different accounts are contained in Servius (ad Virg. Eclog. viii. 68) and in various parts of the Idyls of Theocritus.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Son of Hermes and a nymph, Daphnes was the inventor of pastoral poetry,
himself being a sheperd on Sicily.
According to various myths, he was the lover of the nymph Piplea or
the shepherdess Chloe.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
AKRAGAS (Ancient city) SICILY
Acragas (Akragas), a son of Zeus and the Oceanid Asterope, to whom the foundation of the town of Acragas (Agrigentum) in Sicily was ascribed. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Akragantes.)
ERYX (Ancient city) SICILY
Eryx (Erux). A son of Butes and Aphrodite, who, relying upon his
strength, challenged all strangers to fight with him in the combat of the caestus.
Heracles accepted his challenge after many had yielded to his superior dexterity,
and Eryx was killed in the combat, and buried on the mountain where he had built
a temple to Aphrodite.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
AGATHYRNON (Ancient city) SICILY
Diodoros (5.8) attributes its foundation to Agathyrnos, son of Aiolos.
EGESTA (Ancient city) SICILY
Acestes (Akestes), a son of the Sicilian river-god Crimisus and of a Trojan woman
of the name of Egesta or Segesta (Virg. Aen. i. 195, 550, v. 36, 711, &c.), who
according to Servius was sent by her father Hippotes or Ipsostratus to Sicily,
that she might not be devoured by the monsters, which infested the territory of
Troy, and which had been sent into the land, because the Trojans had refused to
reward Poseidon and Apollo for having built the walls of their city. When Egesta
arrived in Sicily, the river-god Crimisus in the form of a bear or a dog begot
by her a son Acestes, who was afterwards regarded as the hero who had founded
the town of Segesta (Comp. Schol. ad Lycophr. 951, 963.) The tradition of Acestes
in Dionysius (i. 52), who calls him Aegestus (Aigestos), is different, for according
to him the grandfather of Aegestus quarrelled with Laomedon, who slew him and
gave his daughters to some merchants to convey them to a distant land. A noble
Trojan however embarked with them, and married one of them in Sicily, where she
subsequently gave birth to a son, Aegestus. During the war against Troy Aegestus
obtained permission from Priam to return and take part in the contest, and afterwards
returned to Sicily, where Aeneas on his arrival was hospitably received by him
and Elymus, and built for them the towns of Aegesta and Elyme. The account of
Dionysius seems to be nothing but a rationalistic interpretation of the genuine
legend.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Sep 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
LILYBAEUM (Ancient city) SICILY
A descendant of Amycus, king of the Bebryces. He was one of
the Argonants, and on passing the island of the Sirens leaped overboard in order
to swim to it, but was caught up by Aphrodite, who conveyed him to Lilybaeum in
Sicily. Here she became by him the mother of Eryx. He was renowned as a boxer.
Boutes : Perseus Encyclopedia
ADRANON (Ancient city) SICILY
Adranus Adranos), a Sicilian divinity who was worshipped in all the island, but especially at Adranus, a town near Mount Aetna. (Plut. Timol. 12; Diodor. xiv. 37.) Hesychius (s. v. Palikoi) represents the god as the father of the Palici. According to Aelian (Hist. Anim. xi. 20), about 1000 sacred dogs were kept near his temple. Some modern critics consider this divinity to be of eastern origin, and connect the name Adranus with the Persian Adar (fire), and regard him as the same as the Phoenician Adraimelech, and as a personification of the stun or of fire in general.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Sep 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
AETNA (Mountain) SICILY
Aetnaeus (Aitnaios), an epithet given to several gods and mythical beings connected with Mount Aetna, such as Zeus, of whom there was a statue on mount Aetna, and to whom a festival was celebrated there, called Aetnaea (Schol. ad Pind. Ol. vi. 162), Hephaestus, who had his workshop in the mountain, and a temple near it (Aelian. Hist. An. xi. 3; Spanheim, ad Callim. hymn. in Dian. 56), and the Cyclops. (Virg. Acn. viii. 440, xi. 263, iii. 768; Ov. Ex Pont. ii. 2. 115.)
(Enkelados). Son of Tartarus and Gaea, and one of the hundred-armed giants who made war upon the gods. He was killed by Zeus, who buried him under Mount Aetna.
Enceladus, (Enkelados), a son of Tartarus and Ge, and one of the hundred-armed giants who made war upon the gods. (Hygin Fab. Praef.; Virg Aen. iv. 179; Ov. Ep. ex Pont. ii. 2. 12, Amor. iii. 12. 27.) He was killed, according to some, by Zeus, by a flash of lightning, and buried under mount Aetna (Virg. Aen. iii. 578); and, according to others, lie was killed by the chariot of Athena (Paus. viii. 47.1), or by the spear of Seilenus. (Eurip, Cyclops, 7.) In his flight Athena threw upon him the island of Sicily. (Apollod. i. 6.2.) There are two other fabulous beings of this name. (Apollod. ii. 1.5; Eustath. ad Hom.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ENNA (Ancient city) SICILY
For Perseus Project information on Persephone, see Ades location.
NAXOS (Ancient city) SICILY
Archegetes. A surname of Apollo, under which he was worshipped in several places, as at Naxos in Sicily (Thuc. vi. 3; Pind. Pyth. v.80), and at Megara. (Paus. i. 42. Β§ 5.) The name has reference either to Apollo as the leader and protector of colonies, or as the founderof towns in general, in which case the import of the name is niearly the same as Deos patrooiot
SIKELIA (Ancient Hellenic lands) ITALY
A name given by Ovid to one of the three Cyclopes, called by Vergil Pyracmon, and by other writers Arges.
Libystinus, that is, the Libyan, a surname under which Apollo was worshipped by the Sicilians, because he was believed to have destroyed by a pestilence a Libyan fleet which sailed against Sicily. (Macrob. Sat. i. 17.)
SYRACUSSES (Ancient city) SICILY
Angelos. A surname of Artemis, under which she was worshipped at Syracuse, and according to some accounts the original name of Hecate. (Hesych. s. v.; Schol. ad Theocrit. ii. 12)
ERYX (Ancient city) SICILY
A descendant of Amycus, king of the Bebryces. He was one of the Argonants, and on passing the island of the Sirens leaped overboard in order to swim to it, but was caught up by Aphrodite, who conveyed him to Lilybaeum in Sicily. Here she became by him the mother of Eryx. He was renowned as a boxer.
(Anchises). The son of Capys, of the royal house of Troy by both parents, ruler of Dardanus, on Mount Ida. Aphrodite loved him for his beauty, and bore him a son, Aeneas; but having, in spite of her warnings, boasted of her favour, he was (according to various versions of the story) paralyzed, killed, or struck blind by the lightning of Zeus. Vergil represents the disabled chief as borne out of burning Troy on his son's shoulders, and as sharing his wanderings over the sea, and aiding him with his counsel, till they reach Drepanum, in Sicily, where he dies, and is buried on Mount Eryx.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Echephron, (Echephron), a son of Heracles and Psophis, the daughter of Xanthus or Eryx. He was twin-brother of Promachus, and both had a heroum at Psophis. (Paus. viii. 24.1, 3)
The founder of Psophis, according to some, was Psophis, the son of Arrhon, the son of Erymanthus, the son of Aristas, the son of Parthaon, the son of Periphetes, the son of Nyctimus. Others say that Psophis was the daughter of Xanthus, the son of Erymanthus, the son of Arcas. Such are the Arcadian traditions concerning their kings, but the most accurate version is that Eryx, the despot of Sicania, had a daughter named Psophis, whom Heracles, though he had intercourse with her, refused to take to his home, but left with child in the care of his friend Lycortas, who lived at Phegia, a city called Erymanthus before the reign of Phegeus. Having been brought up here, Echephron and Promachus, the sons of Heracles and the Sicanian woman, changed the name of Phegia to Psophis, the name of their mother.
AETNA (Mountain) SICILY
Aetna (Aitne), a Sicilian nymph, and according to Alcimus (ap. Schol. Theocrit. i. 65), a daughter of Uranus and Gaea, or of Briareus. Simonides said that she had acted as arbitrator between Hephaestus and Demeter respecting the possession of Sicily. By Zeus or Hephaestus she became the mother of the Palici. (Serv. ad Acn. ix. 584.) Mount Aetna in Sicily was believed to have derived its name from her, and under it Zeus buried Typhon, Enceladus, or Briareus. The mountain itself was believed to be the place in which Hephaestus and the Cyclops made the thunderbolts for Zeus. (Eurip. Cycl. 296; Propert. iii. 15. 21 ; Cic. De Divinat. ii. 19.)
YVLA (Ancient city) SICILY
Galeus, (Galeos), that is, "the lizard," a son of Apollo and Themisto, the daughter of the Hyperborean king Zabius. In pursuance of an oracle of the Dodonean Zeus, Galeus emigrated to Sicily, where lie built a sanctuary to his father Apollo. The Galeotae, a family of Sicilian soothsayers, derived their origin from him. (Aelian, V. H. xii. 46; Cic. de Dixin. 1.20; Steph. Byz. s. v. galeotai. The principal seat of the Galeatae was the town of Hybla, which was hence called galeotis, or, as Thucydides (vi. 62.) writes it, geleatis.)
SIKELIA (Ancient Hellenic lands) ITALY
A mythical king of Sicily, the friend of Aeneas (Verg. Aen. v. 757).
Galatea, (Galateia, "the milk-white"). A sea-nymph daughter of Nereus and Doris. According to a Sicilian story, which the poets Philoxenus and Theocritus have made famous, she was pursued by the uncouth monster Polyphemus, being herself in love with the beautiful Acis. The jealous giant crushed Acis with a rock, and the nymph changed her beloved into the Sicilian river which bears his name. The legend of Acis and Galatea has been a favourite theme in English literature. Adaptations of it are to be found in Gay's Acis and Galatea, J. S. Blackie's Galatea, Proctor's Death of Acis, R. Buchanan's Polypheme's Passion, and Austin Dobson's Tale of Polypheme.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
One of the Old Man of the Sea Nereus' fifty daughters, the Nereids (sea-nymphs). She was a cheerful and teasing nymph, and when the cyclop Polyphemus fell in love with her she tormented him with sweet words and mockery. Instead, she fell in love with prince Acis who soon was murdered by the cyclop.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
The sister of Alcithoe, and with her changed into a bat.
SYRACUSSES (Ancient city) SICILY
Arethusa (Arethousa), one of the Nereids (Hygin. Praef.; Virg. Georg. iv. 344), and the nymph
of the famous well Arethusa in the island of Ortygia near Syracuse. Virgil (Eclog.
iv. 1, x. 1) reckons her among the Sicilian nymphs, and as the divinity who inspired
pastoral poetry. The Syracusans represented on many of their coins the head of
Arethusa surrounded by dolphins. One of the Hesperides likewise bore the name
of Arethusa. (Apollod. ii. 5.11)
Alpheias, a name by which Ovid (Met. v. 487) designates the nymph of the Sicilian well Arethusa, because it was believed to have a subterraneous communication with the river Alpheius, in Peloponnesus.
Cyane (Kuane), a Sicilian nymph and playmate of Proserpina, who was changed through grief at the loss of Proserpina into a well. The Syracusans celebrated an annual festival on that spot, which Heracles was said to have instituted. and at which a bull was sunk into the well as a sacrifice (Diod. v. 4; Ov. Met. v. 412, &c.). A daughter of Liparus was likewise called Cyane. (Diod. v. 7)
AKRAGAS (Ancient city) SICILY
Akragas claimed the legendary Daedalus as its founder, but in fact the city seems to have been established by a group of Rhodian and Cretan colonists from the city of Gela at ca. 582 B.C. The settlers named the city after the river along its eastern side.
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