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AGATHYRNON (Ancient city) SICILY
Agathyrna or Agathyrnum (Agathurna, Polyb. ap. Steph. Byz. Agathurnon,
Ptol.: Agathyrna, Sil. Ital. xiv.259; Liv.; Agathyrnum, Plin.), a city on the
N. coast of Sicily between Tyndaris and Calacte. It was supposed to have derived
its name from Agathyrnus, a son of Aeolus, who is said to have settled in this
part of Sicily (Diod. v. 8). But though it may be inferred from hence that it
was an ancient city, and probably of Sicelian origin, we find no mention of it
in history until after Sicily became a Roman province. During the Second Punic
War it became the head-quarters of a band of robbers and freebooters, who extended
their ravages over the neighbouring country, but were reduced by the consul Laevinus
in B.C. 210, who transported 4000 of them to Rhegium. (Liv. xxvi. 40, xxvii. 12.)
It very probably was deprived on this occasion of the municipal rights conceded
to most of the Sicilian towns, which may account for our finding no notice of
it in Cicero, though it is mentioned by Strabo among the few cities still subsisting
on the N. coast of Sicily, as well as afterwards by Pliny, Ptolemy and the Itineraries.
(Strab. vi. p. 266; Plin. iii. 8; Ptol. iii. 4. § 2; Itin. Ant. p. 92; Tab. Peut.)
Its situation has been much disputed, on account of the great discrepancy between
the authorities just cited. Strabo places it 30 Roman miles from Tyndaris, and
the same distance from Alaesa. The Itinerary gives 28 M. P. from Tyndaris and
20 from Calacte: while the Tabula (of which the numbers seem to be more trustworthy
for this part of Sicily than those of the Itinerary) gives 29 from Tyndaris, and
only 12 from Calacte. If this last measurement be supposed correct it would exactly
coincide with the distance from Caronia (Calacte) to a place near the seacoast
called Acque Dolci below S. Filadelfo (called on recent maps S. Fratello) and
about 2 miles W. of Sta Agata, where Fazello describes ruins of considerable magnitude
as extant in his day: but which he, in common with Cluverius, regarded as the
remains of Aluntium. The latter city may, however, be placed with much more probability
at S. Marco: and the ruins near S. Fratello would thus be those of Agathyrna,
there being no other city of any magnitude that we know of in this part of Sicily.
Two objections, however, remain: 1. that the distance from this site to Tyndaris
is greater than that given by any of the authorities, being certainly not less
than 36 miles: 2. that both Pliny and Ptolemy, from the order of their enumeration,
appear to place Agathyrna between Aluntium and Tyndaris, and therefore if the
former city be correctly fixed at S. Marco, Agathyrna must be looked for to the
E. of that town. Fazello accordingly placed it near Capo Orlando, but admits that
there were scarcely any vestiges visible there. The question is one hardly susceptible
of a satisfactory conclusion, as it is impossible on any view to reconcile the
data of all our authorities, but the arguments in favour of the Acque Dolci seem
on the whole to predominate. Unfortunately the ruins there have not been examined
by any recent traveller, and have very probably disappeared. Captain Smyth, however,
speaks of the remains of a fine Roman bridge as visible in the Fiumara di Rosa
Marina between this place and S. Marco. (Fazell. ix. 4, p. 384, 5. p. 391; Cluver.
Sicil. p. 295; Smyth's Sicily, p. 97.)
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
Archaeological evidence of a habitation center of the Classical period near Capo d'Orlando between S. Martino and Bagnoli has led to speculation that it may be Agathyrnon. Diodoros (5.8) attributes its foundation to Agathyrnos, son of Aiolos, and in 210 B.C. the consul Laevinus transferred to Bruttium 4000 dissidents who had gathered at Agathyrnon (Livy 26.40; Polyb. 9.27). It is unlikely that it should be identified, as has also been suggested, with S. Agata Militello in the territory that was probably "chora" of Halontion.
G.Scibona, 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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