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ADRANON (Ancient city) SICILY
Adranum or Hadranum (Adranon, Diod. Steph. B. Haitranum, Sil. Ital.:
Eth. Adranites, Hadranitanus: Aderno), a city of the interior of Sicily, situated
at the foot of the western slope of Mt. Aetna above the valley of the Simeto,
and about 7 miles from Centuripi. We learn from Diodorus (xiv. 37) that there
existed here from very ancient times a temple of a local deity named Adranus,
whose worship was extensively spread through Sicily, and appears to have been
connected with that of the Palici. (Hesych. s. v. Palikoi.) But there was no city
of the name until the year 400 B.C. when it was founded by the elder Dionysius,
with a view to extend his power and influence in the interior of the island. (Diod.
l. c.) It probably continued to be a dependency of Syracuse; but in 345 B.C. it
fell into the hands of Timoleon. (Id. xvi. 68; Plut. Timol. 12.) It was one of
the cities taken by the Romans at the commencement of the First Punic War (Diod.
xxiii. Exc. Hoesch. p. 501), and probably on this account continued afterwards
in a relation to Rome inferior to that of most other Sicilian cities. This may
perhaps account for the circumstance that its name is not once mentioned by Cicero
(see Zumpt ad Cic. Verr. iii. 6, p. 437); but we learn from Pliny that it was
in his time included in the class of the stipendiariae civitates of Sicily. (H.
N. iii. 8.)
Both Diodorus and Plutarch speak of it as a small town owing its importance
chiefly to the sanctity of its temple; but existing remains prove that it must
have been at one time a place of some consideration. These consist of portions
of the ancient walls and towers, built in a massive style of large squared blocks
of lava; of massive substructions, supposed to have been those of the temple of
Adranus; and the ruins of a large building which appears to have belonged to Roman
Thermae. Numerous sepulchres also have been discovered and excavated in the immediate
neighbourhood. The modem town of Aderno retains the ancient site as well as name:
it is a considerable place, with above 6000 inhabitants. (Biscari, Viaggio in
Sicilia, pp. 57-60; Ortolani, Diz. Geogr. della Sicilia, p. 13; Bull. dell. Inst.
Arch. 1843, p. 129.)
Stephanus Byzantinus speaks of the city as situated on a river of
the same name: this was evidently no other than the northern branch of the Simeto
(Symaethus) which is still often called the Finme d'Aderno.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
AETNA (Mountain) SICILY
Aetna (Aitne: Eth. Aitnaioi, Aetnensis), a city of Sicily, situated
at the foot of the mountain of the same name, on its southern declivity. It was
originally a Sicelian city, and was called Inessa or Inessum (*+inedda, Thuc.
Strab.; +Ineddon, Steph. Byz. v. Aitne; Diodorus has the corrupt form Ennedhia):
but after the death of Hieron I. and the expulsion of the colonists whom he had
established at Catana, the latter withdrew to Inessa, a place of great natural
strength, which they occupied, and transferred to it the name of Aetna, previously
given by Hieron to his new colony at Catana. In consequence of this they continued
to regard Hieron as their oekist or founder. (Diod. xi. 76; Strab. vi. p. 268.)
The new name, however, appears not to have been universally adopted, and we find
Thucydides at a later period still employing the old appellation of Inessa. It
seems to have fallen into the power of the Syracusans, and was occupied by them
with a strong garrison; and in B.C. 426 we find the Athenians under Laches in
vain attempting to wrest it from their hands. (Thuc. iii. 103.) During the great
Athenian expedition, Inessa, as well as the neighbouring city of Hybla, continued
steadfast in the alliance of Syracuse, on which account their lands were ravaged
by the Athenians. (Id. vi. 96.) At a subsequent period the strength of its position
as a fortress, rendered it a place of importance in the civil dissensions of Sicily,
and it became the refuge of the Syracusan knights who had opposed the elevation
of Dionysius. But in B.C. 403, that despot made himself master of Aetna, where
he soon after established a body of Campanian mercenaries, who had previously
been settled at Catana. These continued faithful to Dionysius, notwithstanding
the general defection of his allies, during the Carthaginian invasion in B.C.
396, and retained possession of the city till B.C. 339, when it was taken by Timoleon,
and its Campanian occupants put to the sword. (Diod. xiii. 113, xiv. 7, 8, 9,
14, 58, 61, xvi. 67, 82.) We find no mention of it from this time till the days
of Cicero, who repeatedly speaks of it as a municipal town of considerable importance;
its territory being one of the most fertile in corn of all Sicily. Its citizens
suffered severely from the exactions of Verres and his agents. (Cic. Verr. iii.
2. 3, 44, 45, iv. 51.) The Aetnenses are also mentioned by Pliny among the populi
stipendiarii of Sicily; and the name of the city is found both in Ptolemy and
the Itineraries, but its subsequent history and the period of its destruction
are unknown.
Great doubt exists as to the site of Aetna. Strabo tells us (vi. p.
273) that it was near Centuripi, and was the place from whence travellers usually
ascended the mountain. But in another passage (ib. p. 268) he expressly says that
it was only 80 stadia from Catana. The Itin. Ant. places it at 12 M. P. from Catana,
and the same distance from Centuripi; its position between these two cities is
further confirmed by Thucydides (vi. 96). But notwithstanding these unusually
precise data, its exact situation cannot be fixed with certainty. Sicilian antiquaries
generally place it at Sta Maria di Licodia, which agrees well with the strong
position of the city, but is certainly too distant from Catana. On the other hand
S. Nicolo dell' Arena, a convent just above Nicolosi, which is regarded by Cluverius
as the site, is too high up the mountain to have ever been on the high road from
Catana to Centuripi. Manner, however, speaks of ruins at a place called Castro,
about 2 1/2 miles N. E. from Paterno, on a hill projecting from the foot of the
mountain, which he regards as the site of Aetna, and which would certainly agree
well with the requisite conditions. He does not cite his authority, and the spot
is not described by any recent traveller. (Cluver. Sicil. p. 123; Amic. Lex. Topogr.
Sic. vol. iii. p. 50; Mannert, Ital. vol. ii. p. 293.)
There exist coins of Aetna in considerable numbers, but principally
of copper; they bear the name of the people at full, Aitnaion. Those of silver,
which are very rare, are similar to some of Catana, but bear only the abbreviated
legend Aitn.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Aetna (Aitne), a celebrated volcanic mountain of Sicily, situated
in the NE. part of the island, adjoining the sea-coast between Tauromenium and
Catana. It is now called by the peasantry of Sicily Mongibello, a name compounded
of the Italian Monte, and the Arabic Jibel, a mountain; but is still well-known
by the name of Etna. It is by far the loftiest mountain in Sicily, rising to a
height of 10,874 feet above the level of the sea, while its base is not less than
90 miles in circumference. Like most volcanic mountains it forms a distinct and
isolated mass, having no real connection with the mountain groups to the N. of
it, from which it is separated by the valley of the Acesines, or Alcantara; while
its limits on the W. and S. are defined by the river Symaethus (the Simeto or
Giarretta), and on the E. by the sea. The volcanic phenomena which it presents
on a far greater scale than is seen elsewhere in Europe, early attracted the attention
of the ancients, and there is scarcely any object of physical geography of which
we find more numerous and ample notices.
It is certain from geological considerations, that the first eruptions
of Aetna must have long preceded the historical era; and if any reliance could
be placed on the fact recorded by Diodorus (v. 6), that the Sicanians were compelled
to abandon their original settlements in the E. part of the island in consequence
of the frequency and violence of these outbursts, we should have sufficient evidence
that it was in a state of active operation at the earliest period at which Sicily
was inhabited. It is difficult, however, to believe that any such tradition was
really preserved; and it is far more probable, as related by Thucydides (vi. 2),
that the Sicanians were driven to the W. portion of the island by the invasion
of the Sicelians, or Siculi: on the other hand, the silence of Homer concerning
Aetna has been frequently urged as a proof that the mountain was not then in a
state of volcanic activity, and though it would be absurd to infer from thence
(as has been done by some authors) that there had been no previous eruptions,
it may fairly be assumed that these phenomena were not very frequent or violent
in the days of the poet, otherwise some vague rumour of them must have reached
him among the other marvels of the far west. But the name at least of Aetna, and
probably its volcanic character, was known to Hesiod (Eratosth. ap. Strab. i.
p. 23), and from the time of the Greek settlements in Sicily, it attracted general
attention. Pindar describes the phenomena of the mountain in a manner equally
accurate and poetical--the streams of fire that were vomited forth from its inmost
recesses, and the rivers (of lava) that gave forth only smoke in the daytime,
but in the darkness assumed the appearance of sheets of crimson fire rolling down
into the deep sea. (Pyth. i. 40.) Aeschylus also alludes distinctly to the rivers
of fire, devouring with their fierce jaws the smooth fields of the fertile Sicily.
(Prom. V. 368.) Great eruptions, accompanied with streams of lava, were not, however,
frequent. We learn from Thucydides (iii. 116) that the one which he records in
the sixth year of the Peloponnesian war (B.C. 425) was only the third which had
taken place since the establishment of the Greeks in the island. The date of the
earliest is not mentioned; the second (which is evidently the one more particularly
referred to by Pindar and Aeschylus) took place, according to Thucydides, 50 years
before the above date, or B.C. 475; but it is placed by the Parian Chronicle in
the same year with the battle of Plataea, B.C. 479. (Marm.Par.68, ed. C. Muller.)
The next after that of B.C. 425 is the one recorded by Diodorus in B.C. 396, as
having occurred shortly before that date, which had laid waste so considerable
a part of the tract between Tauromenium and Catana, as to render it impossible
for the Carthaginian general Mago to advance with his army along the coast. (Diod.
xiv. 59; the same eruption is noticed by Orosius, ii. 18.) From this time we have
no account of any great outbreak till B.C. 140, when the mountain seems to have
suddenly assumed a condition of extraordinary activity, and we find no less than
four violent eruptions recorded within 20 years, viz. in B.C. 140, 135, 126, 121;
the last of which inflicted the most serious damage, not only on the territory
but the city of Catana. (Oros. v. 6, 10, 13; Jul. Obseq. 82, 85, 89.) Other eruptions
are also mentioned as accompanying the outbreak of the civil war between Pompey
and Caesar, B.C. 49, and immediately preceding the death of the latter, B.C. 44
(Virg. G. i. 471; Liv. ap. Serv. ad Virg. l. c.; Petron. de B.C. 135; Lucan i.545),
and these successive outbursts appear to have so completely devastated the whole
tract on the eastern side of the mountain, as to have rendered it uninhabitable
and almost impassable from want of water. (Appian, B.C. v. 114.) Again, in B.C.
38, the volcano appears to have been in at least a partial state of eruption (Id.
v. 117), and 6 years afterwards, just before the outbreak of the civil war between
Octavian and Antony, Dion Cassius records a more serious outburst, accompanied
with a stream of lava which did great damage to the adjoining country. (Dion Cass.
l. 8.) But from this time forth the volcanic agency appears to have been comparatively
quiescent; the smoke and noises which terrified the emperor Caligula (Suet. Cal.
51) were probably nothing very extraordinary, and with this exception we hear
only of two eruptions during the period of the Roman empire, one in the reign
of Vespasian, A.D. 70, and the other in that of Decius, A.D. 251, neither of which
is noticed by contemporary writers, and may therefore be presumed to have been
of no very formidable character. Orosius, writing in the beginning of the fifth
century, speaks of Aetna as having then become harmless, and only smoking enough
to give credit to the stories of its past violence. (Idat. Chron. ad ann. 70;
Vita St. Agathae, ap. Cluver. Sicil. p. 106; Oros. ii. 14.)
From these accounts it is evident that the volcanic action of Aetna
was in ancient, as it still continues in modern times, of a very irregular and
intermittent character, and that no dependence can be placed upon those passages,
whether of poets or prose writers, which apparently describe it as in constant
and active operation. But with every allowance for exaggeration, it seems probable
that the ordinary volcanic phenomena which it exhibited were more striking and
conspicuous in the age of Strabo and Pliny than at the present day. The expressions,
however, of the latter writer, that its noise was heard in the more distant parts
of Sicily, and that its ashes were carried not only to Tauromenium and Catana,
but to a distance of 150 miles, of course refer only to times of violent eruption.
Livy also records that in the year B.C. 44, the hot sand and ashes were carried
as far as Rhegium. (Plin. H. N. ii. 103. 106, iii. 8. 14; Liv. ap. Serv. ad Geory.
i. 471.) It is unnecessary to do more than allude to the well-known description
of the eruptions of Aetna in Virgil, which has been imitated both by Silius Italicus
and Claudian. (Virg. Aen. iii. 570--577; Sil. Ital. xiv. 58--69; Claudian de Rapt.
Proserp. i. 161.)
The general appearance of the mountain is well described by Strabo,
who tells us that the upper parts were bare and covered with ashes, but with snow
in the winter, while the lower slopes were clothed with forests, and with planted
grounds, the volcanic ashes, which were at first so destructive, ultimately producing
a soil of great fertility, especially adapted for the growth of vines. The summit
of the mountain, as described to him by those who had lately ascended it, was
a level plain of about 20 stadia in circumference, surrounded by a brow or ridge
like a wall. In the midst of this plain, which consisted of deep and hot sand,
rose a small hillock of similar aspect, over which hung a cloud of smoke rising
to a height of about 200 feet. He, however, justly adds, that these appearances
were subject to constant variations, and that there was sometimes only one crater,
sometimes more. (Strab. vi. pp. 269, 273, 274.) It is evident from this account
that the ascent of the mountain was in his time a common enterprise. Lucilius
also speaks of it as not unusual for people to ascend to the very edge of the
crater, and offer incense to the tutelary gods of the mountain (Lucil. Aetna,
336; see also Seneca, Ep. 79), and we are told that the emperor Hadrian, when
he visited Sicily, made the ascent for the purpose of seeing the sun rise from
thence. (Spart. Hadr. 13.) It is therefore a strange mistake in Claudian (de Rapt.
Proserp. i. 158) to represent the summit as inaccessible. At a distance of less
than 1400 feet from the highest point are some remains of a brick building, clearly
of Roman work, commonly known by the name of the Torre del Filosofo, from a vulgar
tradition connecting it with Empedocles: this has been supposed, with far more
plausibility, to derive its origin from the visit of Hadrian. (Smyth's Sicily,
p. 149; Ferrara, Descriz. dell' Etna, p. 28.)
Many ancient writers describe the upper part of Aetna as clothed with
perpetual snow. Pindar calls it the nurse of the keen snow all the year long (Pyth.
i. 36), and the apparent contradiction of its perpetual fires and everlasting
snows is a favourite subject of declamation with the rhetorical poets and prose
writers of a later period. (Sil. Ital. xiv. 58--69; Claudian. de Rapt. Pros. i.
164; Solin. 5. § 9.) Strabo and Pliny more reasonably state that it was covered
with snow in the winter; and there is no reason to believe that its condition
in early ages differed from its present state in this respect. The highest parts
of the mountain are still covered with snow for seven or eight months in the year,
and occasionally patches of it will lie in hollows and rifts throughout the whole
summer. The forests which clothe the middle regions of the mountain are alluded
to by many writers (Strab. vi. p. 273; Claud. l. c. 159); and Diodorus tells us
that Dionysius of Syracuse derived from thence great part of the materials for
the construction of his fleet in B.C. 399. (Diod. xiv. 42.)
It was natural that speculations should early be directed to the causes
of the remarkable phenomena exhibited by Aetna. A mythological fable, adopted
by almost all the poets from Pindar downwards, ascribed them to the struggle of
the giant Typhoeus (or Enceladus according to others), who had been buried under
the lofty pile by Zeus after the defeat of the giants. (Pind. Pyth. i. 35; Aesch.
Prom. 365; Virg. Aen. iii. 578; Ovid. Met. v. 346; Claud. l.c. 152; Lucil. Aetna,
41--71.) Others assigned it as the workshop of Vulcan, though this was placed
by the more ordinary tradition in the Aeolian islands. Later and more philosophical
writers ascribed the eruptions to the violence of the winds, pent up in subteranean
caverns, abounding with sulphur and other inflammable substances; while others
conceived them to originate from the action of the waters of the sea upon the
same materials. Both these theories are discussed and developed by Lucretius,
but at much greater length by the author of a separate poem entitled Aetna, which
was for a long time ascribed to Cornelius Severus, but has been attributed by
its more recent editors, Wernsdorf and Jacob, to the younger Lucilius, the friend
and contemporary of Seneca.2 It contains some powerful passages, but is disfigured
by obscurity, and adds little to our [p. 63] knowledge of the history or phenomena
of the mountain. (Lucret. vi. 640--703; Lucil. Aetna, 92, et seq; Justin, iv.
1; Seneca, Epist. 79; Claudian, l. c. 169--176.) The connection of these volcanic
phenomena with the earthquakes by which the island was frequently agitated, was
too obvious to escape notice, and was indeed implied in the popular tradition.
Some writers also asserted that there was a subterranean communication between
Aetna and the Aeolian islands, and that the eruptions of the former were observed
to alternate with those of Hiera and Strongyle. (Diod. v. 7.)
The name of Aetna was evidently derived from its fiery character,
and has the same root as aitho, to burn. But in later times a mythological origin
was found for it, and the mountain was supposed to have received its name from
a nymph, Aetna, the daughter of Uranus and Gaea, or, according to others, of Briareus.
(Schol. ad Theocr. Id. i. 65.) The mountain itself is spoken of by Pindar (Pyth.
i. 57) as consecrated to Zeus; but at a later period Solinus calls it sacred to
Vulcan; and we learn that there existed on it a temple of that deity. This was
not, however, as supposed by some writers, near the summit of the mountain, but
in the middle or forest region, as we are told that it was surrounded by a grove
of sacred trees. (Solin. 5. § 9; Aelian, H. A. xi. 3.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
CATANI (Ancient city) SICILY
Catana or Catina (Katane: Eth. Katanaios, Catanensis or Catinensis:
Catania), a city on the E. coast of Sicily, situated about midway between Tauromenium
and Syracuse, and almost immediately at the foot of Mt. Aetna. All authors agree
in representing it as a Greek colony, of Chalcidic origin, but founded immediately
from the neighbouring city of Naxos, under the guidance of a leader named Euarchus.
The exact date of its foundation is not recorded, but it appears from Thucydides
to have followed shortly after that of Leontini, which he places in the fifth
year after Syracuse, or 730 B.C. (Thuc. vi. 3; Strab. vi. p. 268; Scymn. Ch. 286;
Scyl. § 13; Steph. B. s. v.) The only event of its early history which has been
transmitted to us is the legislation of Charondas, and even of this the date is
wholly uncertain. (See Dict. of Biogr. art. Charondas.) But from the fact that
his legislation was extended to the other Chalcidic cities, not only of Sicily,
but of Magna Graecia also, as well as to his own country (Arist, Pol. ii. 9),
it is evident that Catana continued in intimate relations with these kindred cities.
It seems to have retained its independence till the time of Hieron of Syracuse,
but that despot, in B.C. 476, expelled all the original inhabitants, whom he established
at Leontini, while he repeopled the city with a new body of colonists, amounting,
it is said, to not less than 10,000 in number, and consisting partly of Syracusans,
partly of Peloponnesians. He at the same time changed its name to Aetna, and caused
himself to be proclaimed the Oekist or founder of the new city. As such he was
celebrated by Pindar, and after his death obtained heroic honours from the citizens
of his new colony. (Diod. xi. 49, in 66; Strab. l.c.; Pind. Pyth. i., and Schol.
ad loc.) But this state of things was of brief duration, and a few years after
the death of Hieron and the expulsion of Thrasybulus, the Syracusans combined
with Ducetius, king of the Siculi, to expel the newly settled inhabitants of Catana,
who were compelled to retire to the fortress of Inessa (to which they gave the
name of Aetna), while the old Chalcidic citizens were reinstated in the possession
of Catana, B.C. 461. (Diod. xi. 76; Strab. l. c.)
The period which followed the settlement of affairs at this epoch,
appears to have been one of great prosperity for Catana, as well as for the Sicilian
cities in general: but we have no details of its history till the great Athenian
expedition to Sicily. On that occasion the Catanaeans, notwithstanding their Chalcidic
connections, at first refused to receive the Athenians into their city: but the
latter having effected an entrance, they found themselves compelled to espouse
the alliance of the invaders, and Catana became in consequence the headquarters
of the Athenian armament throughout the first year of the expedition, and the
base of their subsequent operations against Syracuse. (Thuc. vi. 50-52, 63, 71,
89; Diod. xiii. 4, 6, 7; Plut. Nic. 15, 16.) We have no information as to the
fate of Catana after the close of this expedition: it is next mentioned in B.C.
403, when it fell into the power of Dionysius of Syracuse, who sold the inhabitants
as slaves, and gave up the city to plunder; after which he established there a
body of Campanian mercenaries. These, however, quitted it again in B.C. 396, and
retired to Aetna, on the approach of the great Carthaginian armament under Himilco
and Mago. The great sea-fight in which the latter defeated Leptines, the brother
of Dionysius, was fought immediately off Catana, and that city apparently fell,
in consequence, into the hands of the Carthaginians. (Diod. xiv. 15, 58, 60.)
But we have no account of its subsequent fortunes, nor does it appear who constituted
its new population; it is only certain that it continued to exist. Callippus,
the assassin of Dion, when he was expelled from Syracuse, for a time held possession
of Catana (Plut. Dion. 58); and when Timoleon landed in Sicily we find it subject
to a despot named Mamercus, who at first joined the Corinthian leader but afterwards
abandoned his alliance for that of the Carthaginians, and was in consequence attacked
and expelled by Timoleon. (Diod. xvi. 69; Plut. Timol. 13, 30-34.) Catania was
now restored to liberty, and appears to have continued to retain its independence;
during the wars of Agathocles with the Carthaginians, it sided at one time with
the former, at others with the latter; and when Pyrrhus landed in Sicily, was
the first to open its gates to him, and received him with the greatest magnificence.
(Diod. xix. 110, xxii. 8, Exc. Hoesch. p. 496.)
In the first Punic War, Catana was one of the first among the cities
of Sicily, which made their submission to the Romans, after the first successes
of their arms in B.C. 263. (Eutrop. ii. 19.) The expression of Pliny (vii. 60)
who represents it as having been taken by Valerius Messala, is certainly a mistake.
It appears to have continued afterwards steadily to maintain its friendly relations
with Rome, and though it did not enjoy the advantages of a confederate city (foederata
civitas), like its neighbours Tauromenium and Messana, it rose to a position of
great prosperity under the Roman rule. Cicero repeatedly mentions it as, in his
time, a wealthy and flourishing city; it retained its ancient municipal institutions,
its chief magistrate bearing the title of Proagorus; and appears to have been
one of the principal ports of Sicily for the export of corn. (Cic. Verr. iii.
4. 3, 83, iv. 23, 45; Liv. xxvii. 8.) It subsequently suffered severely from the
ravages of Sextus Pompeius, and was in consequence one of the cities to which
a colony was sent by Augustus; a measure that appears to have in a great degree
restored its prosperity, so that in Strabo's time it was one of the few cities
in the island that was in a flourishing condition. (Strab. vi. pp. 268, 270, 272;
Dion Cass. iv. 7.) It retained its colonial rank, as well as its prosperity, throughout
the period of the Roman empire; so that in the fourth century Ausonius in his
Ordo Nobilium Urbium, notices Catana and Syracuse alone among the cities of Sicily.
In B.C. 535, it was recovered by Belisarius from the Goths, and became again,
under the rule of the Byzantine empire, one of the most important cities of the
island. (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 9; Itin. Ant. pp. 87,90, 93, 94;
Procop. B. G. i. 5.) At the present day Catania still ranks as the third city
of Sicily, and is little inferior to Messina in population.
The position of Catana at the foot of Mount Aetna was the source,
as Strabo remarks, both of benefits and evils to the city. For on the one hand,
the violent outbursts of the volcano from time to time desolated great parts of
its territory; on the other, the volcanic ashes produced a soil of great fertility,
adapted especially for the growth of vines. (Strab. vi. p. 269.) One of the most
serious calamities of the former class, was the eruption of B.C. 121, when great
part of its territory was overwhelmed by streams of lava, and the hot ashes fell
in such quantities in the city itself, as to break in the roofs of the houses.
Catana was in consequence exempted, for 10 years, from its usual contributions
to the Roman state. (Oros. v. 13.) The greater part of the broad tract of plain
to the SW. of Catana (now called the Piano di Catania, a district of great fertility),
appears to have belonged, in ancient times, to Leontini or Centuripa, but that
portion of it between Catana itself and the mouth of the Symaethus, was annexed
to the territory of the latter city, and must have furnished abundant supplies
of corn. The port of Catana also, which is now a very small and confined one (having
been in great part filled up by the eruption of 1669), appears to have been in
ancient times much frequented, and was the chief place of export for the corn
of the rich neighbouring plains. The little river Amenanus, or Amenas, which flowed
through the city, was a very small stream, and could never have been navigable.
Catana was the birth-place of the philosopher and legislator Charondas,
already alluded to; it was also the place of residence of the poet Stesichorus,
who died there, and was buried in a magnificent sepulchre outside one of the gates,
which derived from thence the nam of Porta Stesichoreia. (Suid. s. v. Stesichoros.)
Xenophanes, the philosopher of Elea, also spent the latter years of his life there
(Diog. Laert. ix. 2. § 1), so that it was evidently, at an early period, a place
of cultivation and refinement. The first introduction of dancing to accompany
the flute, was also ascribed to Andron, a citizen of Catana (Athen. i. p. 22,
c.); and the first sun dial that was set up in the Roman forum was carried thither
by Valerius Messala from Catana, B.C. 263. (Varr. ap. Plin. vii. 60.) But few
associations connected with Catana were more celebrated in ancient times than
the legend of the Pii Fratres, Amphinomus and Anapias, who, on occasion of a great
eruption of Aetna, abandoned all their property, and carried off their aged parents
on their shoulders, the stream of lava itself was said to have parted, and flowed
aside so as not to harm them. Statues were erected to their honour, and the place
of their burial was known as the Campus Piorum; the Catanaeans even introduced
the figures of the youths on their coins, and the legend became a favourite subject
of allusion and declamation among the Latin poets, of whom the younger Lucilius
and Claudian have dwelt upon it at considerable length. The occurrence is referred
by Hyginus to the first eruption of Aetna, that took place after the settlement
of Catana. (Strab. vi. p. 269; Paus. x. 28. § 4; Conon, Narr. 43; Philostr. Vit,
Apoll. v. 17; Solin. 5. § 15; Hygin. 254; Val. Max. v. 4. Ext. § 4; Lucil. Aetn.
602-640; Claudian. Idyll. 7; Sil. Ital. xiv. 196; Auson. Ordo Nob. Urb. 11.)
The remains of the ancient city, still visible at Catania, are numerous
and important; but it is remarkable that they belong exclusively to the Roman
period, the edifices of the Greek city having probably been destroyed by some
of the earthquakes to which it has been in all ages subject, or so damaged as
to be entirely rebuilt. The most important of these ruins are those of a theatre
of large size and massive construction, the architecture of which is so similar
to that of the amphitheatre, at no great distance from it, as to leave no doubt
that they were erected at the same period, probably not long after the establishment
of the colony by Augustus. The ruin of the latter edifice dates from the time
of Theodoric, who, in A.D. 498, gave permission to the citizens of Catana to make
use of its massive materials for the repair of their walls and public buildings
(Cassiod. Varr. iii. 49); the theatre, on the contrary, continued almost perfect
till the 11th century, when it was in great part pulled down by the Norman Count
Roger, is order to adorn his new cathedral. Nearly adjoining the large theatre
was a smaller one, designed apparently for an odeium or music theatre. Besides
these, there are numerous remains of thermae or baths, all of Roman construction,
and some massive sepulchral monuments of the same period. A few fragments only
remain of a magnificent aqueduct, which was destroyed by the great eruption of
Aetna in 1669. The antiquities of Catania are fully described by the Principe
di Biscari (Viaggio per le Antichita della Sicilia, chap. 5) and the Duca di Serra
di Falco. (Ant. della Sicilia, vol. v. pp. 3-30.)
The coins of Catana are numerous, and many of them of very fine workmanship;
some of them bear the head of the river-god Amenanus, but that of Apollo is the
most frequent. We learn from Cicero that the worship of Ceres was of great antiquity
here, and that she had a temple of peculiar sanctity, which was notwithstanding
profaned by Verres. (Cic. Verr. iv. 4. 5)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ECHETLA (Ancient city) SICILY
Echetla (Echetla: Eth. Echetlates, Steph. B.), a city or fortress
of Sicily, on the confines of the Syracusan territory. It is first mentioned by
Diodorus, who tells us that it was occupied in B.C. 309 (during the absence of
Agathocles in Africa) by a body of troops in the Syracusan service, who from thence
laid waste the territories of Leontini and Camarina. But it was soon after reduced,
notwithstanding the strength of its position, by Xenodicus of Agrigentum, who
restored it to liberty. (Diod. xx. 32.) It is again mentioned by Polybius (i.
15) as a place situated on the confines of the Syracusan territory (as this existed
under Hieron II.), and that of the Carthaginians: it was besieged by the Romans
at the outset of the First Punic War. These are the only notices found of Echetla,
and the name is not mentioned by Cicero or the Geographers. But the above data
point to a situation in the interior of the island, somewhere W. of Syracuse;
hence Fazello and Cluver are probably correct in identifying it with a place called
Occhiala or Occhula, about 2 miles from the modern town of Gran Michele, and 6
miles E. of Caltagirone, where, according to Fazello, considerable ruins were
still visible in his time. The town occupied the summit of a lofty and precipitous
hill (thus agreeing with the expressions of Diodorus of the strong position of
Echetla), and continued tinned to be inhabited till. 1693, when it suffered severely
from an earthquake; and the inhabitants consequently migrated to the plain below,
where they founded the town of Gran Michele. (Fazell. x. 2, pp. 446, 450; Amic.
Lex. Topog. Sic. vol. ii. p. 150; Cluver. Sicil. p. 360. )
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
VRICINIE (Ancient fortress) SICILY
Bricinniae (Brikinniai), a small town of Sicily, mentioned by Thucydides,
who calls it a fortress or stronghold (eruma) in the territory of Leontini. It
was occupied in B.C. 422 by a body of exiles from Leontini, who held it against
the Syracusans. (Thuc. v. 4.) But no subsequent mention of the name occurs, except
in Stephanus of Byzantium, who probably took it from Thucydides. It was evidently
but a small place, and its site cannot now be determined with precision.
ADRANON (Ancient city) SICILY
(Hadranon). A town of Sicily, near Mount Aetna, having in its vicinity a river of the name of Hadranus. It was founded by Dionysius.
A volcanic mountain in the northeast of Sicily between Tauromenium and Catana. It is said to have derived its name from Aetna, a Sicilian nymph, a daughter of Heaven and Earth. Zeus buried under it Typhon or Enceladus; and in its interior Hephaestus and the Cyclops forged the thunderbolts for Zeus. There were several eruptions of Mount Aetna in antiquity. One occurred in B.C. 475, to which Aeschylus and Pindar probably allude, and another in B.C. 425, which Thucydides says was the third on record since the Greeks had settled in Sicily.
This extract is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
CATANI (Ancient city) SICILY
A city of Sicily, on the eastern coast, at the base of Aetna,
and a short distance below the river Acis and the Cyclopum Scopuli. It was founded
by a colony from Chalcis in Euboea, in B.C. 730, five years after the settlement
of Syracuse. Catana, like all the other colonies of Grecian origin, soon became
independent of any foreign control, and, in consequence of the fertility of the
surrounding country, attained to a considerable degree of prosperity. It does
not appear, however, to have been at any time a populous city; and hence Hiero
of Syracuse was enabled without difficulty to transfer the inhabitants to Leontini.
A new colony of Peloponnesians and Syracusans was established here by him, and
the place called Aetna, from its proximity to the mountain.
After the death of Hiero, the new colonists were driven out
by the Siculi, and the old inhabitants from Leontini then came, and, recovering
possession of the place, changed its name again to Catana. We find Catana after
this possessed for a short time by the Athenians, and subsequently falling into
the hands of Dionysius of Syracuse. This tyrant, according to Diodorus Siculus,
sold the inhabitants as slaves, and gave the city to his mercenary troops, the
Campani, to dwell in. It is probable, however, that he only sold those who were
taken with arms in their hands, and that many of the old population remained,
since Dionysius afterwards persuaded these same Campani to migrate to the city
of Aetna. Catana fell into the power of the Romans during the First Punic War.
The modern name is Catania, and the distance from it to the summit of Aetna is
given as thirty miles.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
YVLA (Ancient city) SICILY
Maior (he megale), on the southern slope of Mount Aetna and on the river Symaethus, was originally a town of the Siculi.
ADRANON (Ancient city) SICILY
A city on the SW slopes of Mt. Aetna near the Simeto river, ca. 28
km NW of Catania. It was founded by Dionysios of Syracuse ca. 400 B.C., near the
sanctuary of the ancient Sikel deity Adranos, who was connected with volcanic
phenomena and was therefore traditionally assimilated to the Greek Hephaistos
(Plut. Vit. Tim. 12; Ael. NA 2.3). The city was conquered by Timoleon in 343-342
B.C. and fell under Rome in 263 B.C. Pliny includes it in his list of stipendiary
cities.
The site was explored at the beginning of this century, but the first
excavation was carried out in 1959. The perimeter of the wall circuit is known
for long stretches. It delimits the urban area on the E and W sides. On the S
side, along the Simeto, defense was provided by a steep ravine; the N side has
almost entirely disappeared under modern buildings. The walls were built of isodomic
blocks of lava stone and are particularly well preserved on the E side (Cartalemi
district); at the NE end a rectangular tower has been incorporated into the Church
of San Francesco.
Excavation has brought to light some houses of the 4th c. containing
Italiote pottery and an interesting hoard of contemporary coins. No other monument
of the city is as yet known, not even the site of the Sanctuary of Adranos. The
city minted coins during the time of Timoleon (among the types appears Adranos
as river deity). Two excavation campaigns have investigated the wall circuit as
well as part of the archaic necropolis which stretches SE of the city (Sciare
Manganelli). The graves are of a type unusual in Sicily: small and crude circular
structures in lava stone which vaguely recall the Mycenean tholoi.
The finds, among which are archaic small bronzes of considerable interest,
are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum located within the Norman Castle of
Adrano.
P. Pelagatti, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
AETNA (Mountain) SICILY
A Sikel settlement between Catania and Centuripe (Thuc. 6:94.3); it
was later occupied by Aitneans who changed its name into Aitna (Strab. Geog. 6.2).
The identification with the district Civitli, between Paterno and S. Maria di
Licodia, has been suggested by some scholars, but has been disproved by recent
excavations in that district. As a result, it has been proposed that Inessa was
in the Poira district, on the right bank of the river Simeto, halfway between
Paterno and Centuripe; this location would be in agreement with the sources as
well as with the Antonine Itinerary and the Peutinger Table, which place the site
19 km from Catania.
In the area one can see remains of ancient walls from houses and fortifications.
Recently some rock-cut chainber tombs have been discovered; they are rather irregular
in shape and contain material of the 6th and 5th c. B.C., soon to be published.
C. Buscemi Indelicato, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
CALTAGIRONE (Town) SICILY
A Hellenized settlement in the Heraian hills W of Syracuse; the ancient
name is unknown. The site had strategic importance, for it controlled the pass
between the plain of Gela to the S and the valleys of the Caltagirone and Symaithos
to the NE. The earliest settlement belongs to the neolithic Stentinello culture
and was located on the hill of S. Ippolito, to the NE of the modern city. During
the Late Bronze Age Caltagirone was of major importance; a large necropolis of
as many as 1500 chamber tombs occupied the slopes of the hill known as La Montagna
to the N of town. It belongs to the Pantalica culture (ca. 1250-1000 B.C.); some
of the burials are in the form of tholos tombs, suggesting Mycenaean influence,
also seen in ceramic shapes. Less is known about the Early Iron Age. Greeks arrived
in the early 6th c. and settled on the hill of S. Luigi, under the modern town.
Only a few graves have been excavated, mostly of the 5th c. and later; the burial
types are Geloan, perhaps indicating Geloan control of the site in the early 5th
c. Excellent red-figure pottery of the 4th c. is also known. An archaic stele
and most of the pottery from the site are in the fine local museum.
M. Bell, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
CATANI (Ancient city) SICILY
A Greek colony founded by the Chalkidians of Naxos during the second
half of the 8th c. B.C. (ca. 729). During the archaic period the city enjoyed
complete autonomy and lived intensely both politically and intellectually. At
the beginning of the 6th c. B.C. it adopted a law code drafted by Charondas.
From the early 5th century B.C. the city was under Syracusan control;
in 475 B.C. Hieron invaded it, expelled the Chalkidians, and repeopled the city
with 10,000 Donans; the name of the town was changed to Aitne. The Chalkidians
returned there in 461 B.C. During the Sicilian expedition the city favored the
Athenians. It was occupied by Dionysios in 403 and remained within the sphere
of Syracusan politics. It was conquered by the Romans in 263 B.C. Throughout the
2d and 1st c. B.C. it was civitas decumana; it became a Roman colony under Octavian
and progressively gained an importance that it retained until the Byzantine period.
At the beginning of the war against the Goths it was invaded by Belisarius. The
Emperor Maurice Tiberius (582-602) established a mint there which functioned for
ca. 50 years. It was one of the earliest and most important Christian communities
in Sicily, as attested by rich and interesting epigraphic material.
The first Greek colony must have settled on the hill that always remained
the city's acropolis, presently occupied by the Benedictine monastery. The area
has yielded proto-Corinthian sherds slightly later than the foundation date. In
1959 a chance find led to the fortunate discovery of a rich votive deposit (6th-4th
c. B.C.) at the foot of the S side of the acropolis, in the Piazza di San Francesco;
the deposit was probably connected with a sanctuary of Demeter.
During the Roman period the city must have expanded considerably toward
S and E into the plain. The major civic monuments belong to this phase. The theater,
which together with the nearby odeion rests against the S slope of the acropolis
hill, has been recently cleared of the modern structures that crowded over the
cavea and the area of the stage building. Of the original Greek construction only
a large wall remains under the level of the cavea; the extant portions of the
building date from the Roman period. The cavea was divided into nine cunei by
means of eight stairways, and its lower section rests against the slope of the
hill, while the upper section is supported by three concentric corridors which
give access to the seats; the uppermost corridor opens outwards into a portico
with piers. In the interior, a colonnaded portico crowned the cavea; orchestra
and seats were revetted with white marble, while the euripos and the stairways
were built of lava.
The odeion was joined to the W side of the theater, and its orchestra
opened toward the S at the same level as the theater's uppermost corridor. The
cavea, built in small blocks of lava, was supported by a structure resting on
18 radial walls sloping toward the interior of the building and connected to one
another by a series of barrel vaults; two stairways divide the auditorium into
three cunei. The radial walls formed 17 units opening outwards. The building,
revetted by lava blocks, was crowned by a simple cornice.
On the NE slope of the hill of the acropolis and separated from it
by a narrow passage was the amphitheater; its N end is partly visible in Piazza
Stesicoro, while to the S its corridors lie under the foundations of modern buildings.
The preserved portion of the amphitheater is built on two concentric corridors
connected by radial passageways.
There are numerous remains of baths. Under the cathedral some units
of the Achellian Baths are still visible, their vaults finely decorated with stucco
reliefs; a large square hall supported by four pilasters and flanked by a corridor
is still preserved; the building continues under the level of present Piazza Duomo.
Not far from there other baths (Terme dell'Indirizzo) in the Piazza Curro, with
ca. 15 units, both large and small, are preserved up to their original height
including their vaulted ceilings. On the acropolis hill, to the N of the theater,
one can see the Rotunda Baths, so called because of a large circular hall that
was later transformed into a Christian church. To a bath complex belong the ruins
of seven rooms in Piazza Dante, opposite the Benedictine monastery. Remains of
many other buildings of this type have been identified within the city area.
Under the level of the Via V. Emanuele, where it meets the Via Transito,
lies a large rectangular podium delimited by two steps and a fine molding, which
local tradition calls the Arch of Marcellus. There are numerous remains of a large
aqueduct which brought the waters from S. Maria di Licodia.
The NE border of the city must have coincided with the edges of the
acropolis, and with the approximate course of the Via Plebescito and the Via Etnea
(S of the Piazza Stesicoro). This is shown by the fact that within this line only
structures of a civic nature have been found, while outside of it lie several
funerary buildings and cemetery areas.
In the N section, a large rectangular tomb of the Roman period is
preserved near the Via Ipogeo, while another is to be found in the Modica estate,
along the Viale Regina Margherita. To the NE of the amphitheater, within the present
caserina Lucchese-Palli, is the so-called Tomb of Stesichoros, a funerary structure
probably belonging to the Classical period. A group of graves of Roman date is
preserved in the basement of the Rinascente store, and represents a portion of
the cemetery complex uncovered in the Via S. Euplio and extending up to the area
presently occupied by the Post Office building. A subterranean tomb with remains
of inhumation and cremation can also be seen in Via Antico Corso, where it is
incorporated into one room of the building erected by the Istituto delle Case
Popolari.
The most important group of graves has been uncovered along the Via
Androne and in the area crossed by Via Dottor Consoli. The continuity of this
burial ground is attested from the Hellenistic into the late Roman period, and
offers a good example of a pagan necropolis which slowly became transformed into
a Christian cemetery. It contains numerous mausolea, cist graves, hypogaean (underground)
chambers; a grave with wall paintings and barrel vault is preserved under the
level of Via Dottor Consoli. In some places the graves were contained within precincts
surrounded by low walls and interconnected: these were mostly graves characterized
by an abundance of Christian inscriptions; in some precincts the graves were built
above ground level in several stories.
In the largest precinct yet discovered, along the Via Dottor Consoli,
an Early Christian funerary basilica was found superimposed on the level of the
graves; a large polychrome mosaic with figured scenes covered the floor. The mosaic
(20 x 10 m), which is at present in the Museo Comunale, can be dated to the middle
of the 6th c. A.D., and is to be attributed to an Oriental workshop. Of the basilica
only the apse is preserved, and can be seen under the Lombardo dwelling.
To the same period can be attributed a large trichora uncovered and
preserved under Via S. Barbara, and the small Basilica of Nesima.
The finds from excavations and accidental discoveries within the city
of Catania are housed in the Museum of Castello Ursino, where are also gathered
the collections once in the Museo Biscari, the Benedictine Museum, and the Antiquarium
Comunale.
G. Rizza, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ECHETLA (Ancient city) SICILY
Ca. 6.4 km NW of Grammichele in the Terravecchia district are the
remains of a substantial town of the 6th-3d c. B.C. The settlement lies at the
very edge of the Heraian hills on four defensible hilltops, overlooking the valley
of the river Caltagirone where the town's fields must have been. Early Iron Age
habitation is indicated by a necropolis in the Madonna del Piano district, an
elevated plateau at the foot of the four hills. The settlement belongs to an early
phase of the Cassibile culture (ca. 1000-850 B.C.) and is associated with the
Ausonian habitation at Lipari and Milazzo by the unusual burials (both pithos
and fossa graves). The tombs contain some of the earliest iron yet found in Sicily,
in the form of finger rings. Later, chamber tombs were cut into the slopes. Greek
occupation of the hilltops began about 600 B.C.; the earliest remains are architectural
terracottas. No buildings have been excavated. In the upper slopes of the easternmost
hill (Poggio dell'Aquila) were found favissae of a Sanctuary of Persephone; they
include a fine series of Severe Style terracotta busts. Another earlier favissa
at Madonna del Piano contained a seated terracotta goddess and a fragmentary kouros.
These finds indicate a Greek population, perhaps of Chalkidian origin; Leontinoi
is the closest city. An indigenous substratum is indicated by Sikel pottery in
contemporary tombs. The site has been identified on tenuous evidence as Echetla
(Diod. 20.32.1; Polyb. 1.15.10); it was inhabited until 1693, when the town, called
Occhiola, was destroyed by earthquake. The finds are mostly in Syracuse; the recently
excavated Iron Age material is at present in Lentini.
M. Bell, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
VRICINIE (Ancient fortress) SICILY
A fortified hilltop above the modern town of Scordia, controlling
the junction of the plain of Leontinoi and the valley of Katane. The site was
first occupied by a village of the Castelluccio culture (ca. 1800-1400 B.C.);
oval huts have been excavated. Later Sikel occupation is indicated by rock-cut
tombs. In the early 5th c. the hilltop was fortified by Greeks, probably from
Leontinoi across the plain; stretches of the wall and a handsome stone cistern
survive. A necropolis of the 4th-3d c. B.C. occupied the E slope; one tomb contained
a bronze cuirass, weapons, and a Sikeliote amphora of ca. 340 B.C. The site (also
called Monte Casale and Monte San Basilio) has been plausibly identified with
the Brikinniai held by Leontinoi in 424 B.C. (Thuc. 5.4).
M. Bell, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
YVLA (Ancient city) SICILY
The site lies on the slopes of a volcanic hill containing the remains
of different periods, ranging from the Bronze Age to the Greek, Hellenistic-Roman,
Byzantine, and Early Mediaeval periods. The identification with modern Paterno
was suggested after the discovery of an altar with a dedication to Venus "Victrici
Hyblensi" (CIL 10,2,7013), at present in the Museo Comunale of Catania. The
altar has been connected with the sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Hyblaia mentioned
by Thucydides (6.94.2). The finds were published in the first decade of this century.
Other finds have been made in the cemetery discovered in the district of Castrogiacomo,
to the SW of the hill of Paterno; they consist of vases, lamps, and terracottas,
datable between the 5th and the 3d c. B.C. These finds, at present in the Siracusa
Museum, will soon be displayed in the antiquarium which is being prepared within
the old Norman Castle.
C. Buskemi Indelicato, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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