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GELA (Ancient city) SICILY
Gela: Eth. Geloos, Gelensis: Terranova. One of the most important
Greek cities of Sicily, situated on the S. coast of the island, between Agrigentum
and Camarina, and at the mouth of the river of the same name. It was founded,
as we learn from Thucydides, forty-four years after the foundation of Syracuse,
or B.C. 690, by a joint colony of Cretans and Rhodians under the guidance of Antiphemus
of Rhodes and Entimus of Crete. The Rhodian colonists came, for the most part,
from Lindus; hence the spot on which the new city was first built obtained the
name of Lindii, by which it continued to be known in the days of Thucydides, though
the city itself acquired that of Gela, from the river of that name on the banks
of which it was situated. (Thuc. vi. 4; Herod. vii. 153; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. ii.
16; Diod. [p. 984] viii. 25. Exc. Vat. p. 11; Callim. ap. Schol. Pind. l. c.;
Virg. Aen. iii. 702; Sil. Ital. xiv. 218.) Like most of the Greek colonies in
Sicily, we have very little information as to its history for nearly two centuries
after its foundation. Some obscure notices of its struggles with the barbarians
of the interior (Paus. viii. 46. § 2; Schol. Pind. l. c.), and of internal dissensions
between conflicting factions, in one of which Telines, the ancestor of Gelon,
bore a conspicuous part (Herod. vii. 153), are all that we hear of it during this
period. But the fact that in B.C. 582 the Geloans were able to found the powerful
colony of Agrigentum, may be taken as a proof that they themselves, at that period,
were in a flourishing condition. The new colony, indeed, rapidly outstripped its
parent city, and rose for a time, under Phalaris, to be the most powerful state
in Sicily: but Gela subsequently obtained its turn of prosperity, if not of supremacy,
under the rule of Hippocrates. The form of government at Gela had at first been
oligarchical, as was the case with most of the Greek cities in Sicily (Arist.
Pol. v. 12); and this constitution continued till it was subverted by Cleander,
who raised himself to de. spotic power. We have scarcely any information concerning
the circumstances of his reign; but we know that he ruled seven years (B.C. 505-498),
and transmitted the sovereign power, without opposition, to his brother Hippocrates,
who, during a reign of about the same duration (B.C. 498-491), raised Gela to
a pitch of power and prosperity far surpassing what it had previously attained,
and even extended his dominion over a great part of Sicily. He successively reduced
Leontini, Callipolis, and Naxos under his yoke, took the city of Zancle, which
he made over to the Samians, and waged successful war against the Syracusans themselves,
who were compelled to purchase peace by the cession of Camarina. (Herod. vii.
153, 154.) At the death of Hippocrates (B.C. 491) Gelon succeeded to the sovereign
power, and rapidly followed in the same career of successful aggrandisement; till,
in B.C. 485, he succeeded in making himself master of Syracuse itself. But this
event, which seemed likely to raise Gela to the position of the first city in
Sicily, became, on the contrary, the cause of its decline. Gelon from this time
despised his native city, and directed all his efforts to the aggrandisement of
his new capital, with which object he even compelled half of the inhabitants of
Gela to migrate to Syracuse. (Herod. vii. 156.) His successor Hieron also appears
to have driven a large number of the citizens of Gela into exile: but after the
expulsion of Thrasybulus (B.C. 466) all these returned to their native city, and
Gela not only became itself repeopled; but was able to settle a fresh colony at
Camarina, which had been rendered desolate by Gelon. (Diod. xi. 76.) The period
which followed, from the restoration of its liberty to the Carthaginian invasion
(B.C. 466-406), seems to have been one of great prosperity for Gela, as well as
for the rest of Sicily. The Geloans appear to have adhered uniformly to the same
line of policy with the other Doric cities in the island: and hence they were
among the first to promise their support to the Syracusans on the approach of
the Athenian expedition (B.C. 415). Immediately after the arrival of Gylippus,
the Geloans sent a small body of troops to his support, and, after the first successes
of the Syracusan arms, they furnished a more considerable force of 600 troops,
with a squadron of five ships. (Thuc. vii. 33, 58; Diod. xiii. 4, 12.)
A few years later the great Carthaginian invasion brought destruction
on Gela, as it had previously done on Himera, Selinus, and Agrigentum. After the
capture of the last city (B.C. 406), the Geloans afforded a temporary refuge to
its inhabitants, and treated them with the utmost kindness: at the same time they
urgently applied to the Syracusans for assistance; but Dionysius, who was at that
time just rising to power, though he visited Gela, and brought about a democratic
revolution in the city, took no further steps for its protection. (Diod. xiii.
89, 93.) The next spring (B.C. 405) the Carthaginians appeared before Gela, and
laid siege to the city, which was a place of no natural strength, and not well
fortified; notwithstanding which, the inhabitants made a gallant resistance, and
were able to repulse all the attacks of the enemy till the arrival of Dionysius
at the head of a large army to their relief. But that general, having been defeated
in his first attack on the Carthaginian camp, renounced all further efforts, and
compelled the Geloans to follow the example of the Agrigentines, and abandon their
city with their wives and families. The unhappy exiles withdrew to Leontini, while
Gela itself was plundered and laid waste by the Carthaginians. (Diod. xiii. 108-111,
113.)
By the peace which Dionysius soon after concluded with Himilco, the
Geloans were permitted to return to their own city, on condition of not restoring
its fortifications, and of paying tribute to Carthage (Diod. xiii. 114), and there
is no doubt that they availed themselves of these terms; but Gela, though repeopled,
never rose again to its former prosperity. In B.C. 397 the citizens gladly declared
themselves free from the Carthaginian yoke, and joined Dionysius in his expedition
against the western cities of Sicily (Id. xiv. 47): and, notwithstanding the various
vicissitudes of fortune that marked the wars between the Syracusan despot and
the Carthaginians, they sueceeded in maintaining their independence of the latter
people, which was secured to them by the treaty of B.C. 383 (Id. xv. 17). Of their
subsequent fortunes we hear nothing for some time; but they are mentioned as among
the first to join the standard of Dion, when he landed in Sicily, B.C. 357 (Plut.
Dion. 26), and, after the victory of Timoleon (B.C. 338), Gela, which was at that
time in a very decayed state, was replenished with a fresh body of colonists,
composed in part of her old inhabitants, with the addition of new settlers from
the island of Ceos. (Plut. Timol. 35.) This colony appears, for a time, to have
restored Gela to a tolerable degree of prosperity; and it figures in the wars
of Agathocles as an independent city, possessing considerable resources. But a
severe blow was again inflicted on it by that tyrant, who, in B.C. 311, being
apprehensive of its defection to the Carthaginians, contrived to introduce a body
of troops into the city, and massacred above 4000 of the principal citizens. (Diod.
xix. 71, 107.) By this means he established his power there for the time, and
after his great defeat at Ecnomus he took refuge with the remains of his army
at Gela, where he was able to defy the arms of the Carthaginians. (Id. xix. 110.)
But in B.C. 309, when the Agrigentines, under Xenodicus, raised the standard of
independence, and proclaimed the freedom of the separate cities, the Geloans were
the first to join them, and took an active part in their enterprise. (Id. xx.
31.) Gela appears to have, at this time, recovered a considerable degree of power
and prosperity, but we hear nothing more of it during the time of Agathocles,
and when its name next occurs we find it subject to the rule of Phintias, the
despot of Agrigentum, who, with the view of augmenting the city that he had lately
founded near the mouth of the Himera and called after his own name, not only removed
thither the inhabitants of Gela, but demolished the walls and houses of the older,
city. (Diod, xxii. 2. Exc. Hoesch. p. 495.)
It is evident that Gela. never recovered from this blow: we find,
indeed, incidental mention of its being gain, devastated soon after by the Mamertines
(Diod. xxiii. 1. Exc. H. p. 501); but in the First Punic War no notice occurs
of the city, though the territory is mentioned on one occasion in connection with
Phintias (Diod. xxiv. 1. Exc. H. p. 508). Under the Roman rule, however, the Gelenses
certainly existed as a separate community (Cic. Verr. iii. 4. 3), and the statement
of Cicero, that after the capture of Carthage Scipio restored to them the statues
that had been carried off from their city (Verr. iv. 33), would seem to prove
that the latter was then still in existence. Strabo, indeed, tells us that Gela
was in his day uninhabited (vi. p. 272), and associates its fame with those of
Callipolis and Naxos, as cities that had wholly disappeared; but his expressions
must not be construed too literally, and the name is still found both in Pliny
and Ptolemy. (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 15.) But it was probably at
this period a. poor and decayed place, and no subsequent trace of it is found.
The site of Gela has been the subject of much controversy in modern
times, many local writers contending for its position at the modern Alicata, at
the mouth. of the river Salso, while Cluverius, who has been generally followed
by the most recent authorities, places it at Terranova, about 18 miles further
E., and at the mouth of the river now known as the Fiume di Terranova. All arguments
derived from the statements of ancient writers are in favour of the latter view,
which may, indeed, be considered as clearly established: the only evidence in
favour of Alicata is the fact (in general, certainly a strong one) that an honorary
inscription with the name of the Geloans has been found there. But as the ruins
still visible near Alicata are in all probability those of Phintias, a city which
was peopled with the inhabitants of Gela, it is easy to understand how such an
inscription (which is of small dimensions) may have been transported thither.
No doubt exists that Terranova occupies an ancient site; we learn from a. writer
of the 13th century, that it was founded by the Emperor Frederic II., super ruinis
deletae atque obrutae urbis (Guido Columna, cited by Fazello): and the remains
of an ancient temple are still visible. there, of which the massive basement was
preserved in the days of Fazello; and one column remained standing as late as
the visit of D'Orville (1727), but is now fallen and half buried in the sand.
Numerous coins and painted vases have been brought to light by excavations on
the site.
The situation of Terranova, on a slight eminence, a little more than
a mile from the sea, precisely corresponds with the. account given by. Diodorus
of the operations of Dionysius' when he attacked the Carthaginian camp, from which
it is evident that, although situated near the sea-coast, it was sufficiently
distant. from it to admit of the passage of one division of the army between.,
the. walls and the sea; (Diod. xiii. 109, 110.) No importance can be attached
to the circumstance that Ptolemy reckons Gela among the inland towns of Sicily,
as he includes in the. same category Phintias and Camarina, both of which were
situated almost close to the coast.
The position of the city of Gela being ascertained, that of the river
follows it. This can be no other than the one now called Fiume di Terranova, from
its flowing by the walls of that town, which rises in the neighbourhood of Piazza,
about 25 miles N. of Terranova. It still retains the character of a violent and
impetuous torrent, alluded to by Ovid (Fast. iv. 470); but has little water in
the dry season. Ancient grammarians derive, the name of the river (from which
that of the city was taken) from a Siculian word, psela, signifying cold or frost,
evidently connected with the Latin gelu. (Steph. B. s. v.; Suid. s. v.; Etym.
Magn. s. v.) An absurd story is, however, related by the same authorities, which,
would derive the name of the city from pselao. The river-god Gelas is represented
on most of the coins of the city, under the usual form of a bull with a human
head: on one of them he bears the title of Sosipoais, a strong instance of that
veneration for rivers which appears to have particularly characterised the Greeks
of Sicily.
To the west of Gela extended a broad tract of plain, between the mountains
and the sea, but separated from the last by an intervening range of hills. This
is the Geloon pedion of Diodorus and the Campi Geloi of Virgil Aen. iii. 701).
It is still, as in ancient times, one of the most fertile corngrowing tracts in
the whole of Sicily; whence Gela is termed, by the author of an ancient epigram,
puruphoros, the wheat-bearing (Epigr. ap. Anon. Vit. Aesch.). According to an
earlier writer (Amphis, ap. Athen. ii. p. 67), it was renowned for the excellence
of its lentils (phake). We learn also from Pliny (xxxi. 7. s. 39, 41), that its
territory produced abundance of salt.
Gela was the birth-place of Apollodorus, a comic poet of some note,
who is frequently confounded with his more celebrated namesake of Carystus. (Suid.
s. v. Apollodoros; Athen. iii. p. 125.) It was also the place to which Aeschylus
retired when driven from Athens, and where he was soon after killed by a singular
accident (B.C. 456). The Geloans paid great respect to his memory, and his tomb
was still visible there in after-ages. We learn from Pausanias that they had a
treasury at Olympia, in which they dedicated valuable offerings. (Paus. vi. 19.
§ 15.) The same author alludes to some statues, the reputed work of Daedalus,
which had formerly existed at Gela, but had disappeared in the time of the historian.
(Id. ix. 40. § 4.) A colossal statue of Apollo, which stood outside the town,
was carried off by the Carthaginians, in B.C. 405, and sent to Tyre, where it
still remained when that city was taken by Alexander the Great. (Diod. xiii. 108.)
It is certain that Gela, in the days of its power and prosperity,
possessed an extensive territory; though we have no means of fixing its exact
limits. It was probably separated from that of Agrigenturn on the W. by the river
Himera: of its extent towards the interior we have no account; but the name of
a station given in the Itineraries as Gelasium Philosophianis, seems to prove
that this point (which apparently coincided with the modern town of Piazza, about
24 miles from Terranova) must have been comprised in the territory of Gela.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
City of southern Sicily.
Gela was founded around 680 by settlers coming from Rhodes
and the neighboring island of Telos,
and also from Crete.
About a century later, around 580, Gela and Rhodes
founded the city of Acragas,
about 40 miles west of Gela. Toward the end of the VIth century, Cleandrus became
tyrant of Gela. He was assassinated in 498 and succeeded by his brother Hippocrates.
Hippocrates conquered several cities of Sicily,
including Naxos, Zancle
(the future Messina) and Leontini,
but couldn't submit Syracuse,
who received help from Corinth,
her mother city. When he died in 485, Gelon, the chief of his cavalry, took power
and submitted Syracuse, of
which he became tyrant, leaving Gela to his brother Hieron. At the death of Gelon
in 478, Hieron succeeded him in Syracuse.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This extract is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
A Greek city founded in 689 B.C. by colonists from Rhodes and Crete
led by Antiphemos and Entimos. It occupied part of a long and low sandy hill parallel
to the seashore, which was already inhabited by Early Bronze Age Sikanian villagers
during the second millennium B.C. The city acropolis developed near the source
of the river Gelas after which the new colony was named. After long struggles
against the indigenous populations to secure possession of the fertile inland
plain, the Geloans began a policy of commercial and political penetration along
the coast and toward the interior of the island. In 582 B.C. they founded Akragas
and extended their domination to a large part of central and S Sicily. Under the
tyrant Hippokrates, at the beginning of the 5th c. B.C., Gela's power reached
also into E Sicily, up to the straits of Messina. Hippokrates was succeeded by
Gelon, who moved to Syracuse in 483 B.C. and defeated the Carthaginian army in
the battle of Himera in 480 B.C. Under the rule of Gelon's successors, the Deinomenids,
Gela's political importance declined although it remained an artistic and cultural
center. The tragic poet Aeschylos spent his last years in Gela, dying there in
456 B.C. And in 424 B.C. was convened there the peace congress in which the Syracusan
Hermokrates, in the face of the threatening Athenian power, proclaimed the autonomy
of the Sicilian colonies. In 405 B.C., despite the help of Dionysios of Syracuse,
Gela was conquered and completely destroyed by the Carthaginian army led by Himilco.
The city remained uninhabited for many years. It was rebuilt and repopulated with
new colonists after 338 B.C. by the Corinthian Timoleon, who restored peace and
democracy in Sicily. After a period of prosperous tranquility Gela was again conquered
by the new tyrant of Syracuse, Agathokles, who in 311-310 B.C. used Gela as his
military base against the Carthaginians. After 310 B.C. the city shrank to the
W part of the hill, and at an undetermined date between 285 and 282 B.C. was destroyed
by the Akragan tyrant Phintias, who transferred its population into the new city
of Phintias (Licata). The hill of Gela remained deserted until 1233, when Frederik
II of Swabia built on the ancient ruins the fortified city that was first called
Herakleia and later Terranova until 1927, when the original name was restored.
Excavations in 1900 brought to light large sections of the Greek necropoleis
and the remains of two temples on the acropolis. In 1948 the accidental discovery
of fortifications in the area of Capo Soprano inspired a new series of systematic
excavations still in progress.
A section of the archaic and Classical acropolis antedating the destruction
of 405 B.C. has been uncovered on the modern hill of Molino a Vento where, according
to Thucydides, were built the first fortifications, which the colonists called
Lindioi. On the S side of the acropolis one can see the foundations of the archaic
Temple of Athena, famous for its architectural terracottas (at present in the
Syracuse Museum), and the foundations of a second Doric temple of the 5th c. B.C.,
of which remain some blocks for the underpinning of the cella and one of the columns
of the opisthodomos. On the N side excavation has uncovered a section of living
quarters of the 4th c. B.C. (the age of Timoleon), with ruins of houses and shops
on terraces built over the remains of the earlier sanctuaries and the archaic
fortifications destroyed by the Carthaginians. The area of the ancient town to
the W of the acropolis is now totally occupied by the modern city. But architectural,
votive, and domestic finds of great importance and aesthetic appeal have been
made almost everywhere, and a Sanctuary of Hera has been identified in the area
of the present City Hall. Numerous sanctuaries outside the town have been excavated
around the hill; most of them were dedicated to Demeter and Kore. The Sanctuary
of Demeter Thesmophoros on the small Bitalemi hill, at the mouth of the river
Gelas, has yielded thousands of votive objects perfectly stratified. Another sanctuary,
near the present railway station, contained a splendid hoard of over a thousand
archaic silver coins.
Before 405 B.C. the polis ended at the level of the present Pasqualello
valley, where the necropoleis began, and filled the entire W section of the hill.
When Gela was rebuilt by Timoleon shortly after 338 B.C., habitation expanded
over the necropolis area; and the entire hill, over 4 km long, was enclosed by
a new circuit of walls. The Capo Soprano walls, excavated and restored between
1948 and 1954, represent the W end of these fortifications and are among the most
perfect examples of Greek walls. They were built in two media, the lower part
of elegant ashlar blocks of sandstone, the upper part of unbaked mud bricks, by
use of a technique widely diffused in the Graeco-Oriental world. In the preserved
section one should note a postern gate with a false pointed arch, a gate for wheeled
traffic, remains of towers and stairways. These fortifications were soon covered
by sand and the Geloans were forced to raise them at least twice in 50 years,
probably at the time of Agathokles and again when they were finally conquered
by Phintias. These superimposed layers are clearly visible in the best-preserved
section of the walls which, through these additions, reach at some points a height
of 8 m. In order to protect the unbaked mud bricks, an expensive covering with
tempered glass panes and plastic roofing has been devised. Inside the walls test
excavations have uncovered houses and military quarters of the time of Agathokles;
the structures, built of unbaked bricks, have been temporarily covered over.
Throughout the W section of the city, foundations of houses and shops
were found with evident traces of destruction and fire. These are the houses that,
according to Diodorus Siculus, the Akragan tyrant Phintias razed to the ground
together with the walls. Among the preserved monuments of this last period (338-282
B.C.) one should note public baths, with two groups of tubs and the furnaces for
heating the water. It is the oldest public bath found in Italy thus far. It was
originally built with terracotta tubs which were in the process of being replaced
with cement troughs at the time of the final destruction.
All the archaeological finds from the new excavations are now in the
National Museum, next to the acropolis area. They are displayed with the material
coming from excavations and soundings in the interior (Manfria, Butera, Monte
Bubbonia, Sofiana, etc.). The Museum also houses a local collection of Greek vases,
especially Attic (Navarra collection). The material from the 1900-6 excavation
is in the National Museum of Syracuse.
P. Orlandini, 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 20 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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