Listed 34 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "MESSINA Town SICILY" .
ABACAENUM (Ancient city) SICILY
Abacaenum (Abakainon, Diod., Steph. Byz.: AbakaiWa, Ptol.: Eth. Abakaininos:
nr. Tripi,Ru.), a city of Sicily, situated about 4 miles from the N. coast, between
Tyndaris and Mylae, and 8 from the former city. It was a city of the Siculi, and
does not appear to have ever received a Greek colony, though it partook largely
of the influence of Greek art and civilisation. Its territory originally included
that of Tyndaris, which was separated from it by the elder Dionysius when he founded
that city in B.C. 396 (Diod. xiv. 78). From the way in which it is mentioned in
the wars of Dionysius, Agathocles, and Hieron (Diod. xiv. 90, xix. 65, 110, xxii.
Exc. Hoeschel. p. 499), it is clear that it was a place of power and importance:
but from the time of Hieron it disappears from history, and no mention is found
of it in the Verrine orations of Cicero. Its name is, however, found in Ptolemy
(iii. 4. § 12), so that it appears to have still continued to exist in his day.
Its decline was probably owing to the increasing prosperity of the neighbouring
city of Tyndaris.
There can be little doubt that the ruins visible in the time of Fazello,
at the foot of the hill on which the modern town of Tripi is situated, were those
of Abacaenum. He speaks of fragments of masonry, prostrate columns, and the vestiges
of walls, indicating the site of a large city, but which had been destroyed to
its foundations. The locality does not seem to have been examined by any more
recent traveller. (Fazellus, de Reb. Sic. ix. 7; Cluver. Sicil. Ant. p. 386.)
There are found coins of Abacaenum, both in silver and copper. The
boar and acorn, which are the common type of the former, evidently refer to the
great forests of oak which still cover the neigh. bouring mountains, and afford
pasture to large herds of swine.
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
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
APOLLONIA (Ancient city) SICILY
Apollonia (Apollonia: Eth. Apolloniates, Apolloniates, Apollinas,--atis,
Apolloniensis), in Europe. A city of Sicily, which, according to Steph. Byz.,was
situated in the neighbourhood of Aluntium Calacte. Cicero also mentions it (Or.
in Verr. iii. 43) and in conjunction with Haluntium, Capitium, and Enguium, in
a manner that seems to imply that it was situated in the same part of Sicily with
these cities; and we learn from Diodorus (xvi. 72) that it was at one time subject
to Leptines, the tyrant of Enguium, from whose hands it was wrested by Timoleon,
and restored to an independent condition. A little later we find it again mentioned
among the cities reduced by Agathocles, after his return from Africa, B.C. 307
(Diod. xx. 56). But it evidently regained its liberty after the fall of the tyrant,
and in the days of Cicero was still a municipal town of some importance. (Or.
in Verr. iii. 43, v. 33.) From this time it disappears from history, and the name
is not found either in Pliny or Ptolemy.
Its site has been much disputed; but the passages above cited point
distinctly to a position in the north-eastern part of Sicily; and it is probable
that the modern Pollina, a small town on a hill, about 3 miles from the sea-coast,
and 8 or 9 E. from Cefalu, occupies its site. The resemblance of name is certainly
entitled to: much weight; and if Enguium be correctly placed at Gangi, the connexion
between that city and Apollonia is easily explained. It must be admitted that
the words of Stephanus require, in this case, to be construed with considerable
latitude, but little dependence can be placed upon the accuracy of that writer.
The coins which have been published as of this city belong either
to Apollonia, in Illyria, or to Tauromenium (Eckhel, vol. i. p. 198.)
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
MESSINA (Ancient city) SICILY
Messene in almost all Greek authors, but the Doric form Messana, which
is found in Pindar, was universally in use among the citizens themselves, and
was from them adopted by the Romans, who always write the name Messana: Eth. Messenios
and Messanios, Messanensis: Messina.
An important city of Sicily, situated on the strait which divided
that island from Italy, nearly opposite to Rhegium, and only a few miles from
Cape Pelorus, the NE. extremity of the island. It was originally called ZANCLE
(Zankle: Eth. Zanklaios), a name said to be of Siculian origin, derived from Zanklon,
which in the language of that people meant a sickle, and was obviously applied
to the spot from the peculiar configuration of the curved spit or point of sand
which encloses its port. (Thuc. vi. 4; Steph. Byz. s. v. Zankle; Strab. vi. p.
268; Diod. iv, 85.) From this derivation of the name it would appear probable
that there was a Siculian settlement on the spot, before it was occupied by the
Greeks; but no mention of this is found in history, and all ancient writers describe
Zancle as a Chalcidic colony. According to Thucydides it was at first founded
by a band of pirates from the Italian Cumae, itself a colony of Chalcis; but the
advantageous situation of the place soon led to the establishment there of a more
regular colony, consisting of settlers from Chalcis and the other cities of Euboea,
at the head of whom were Perieres of Chalcis and Crataemenes of Cumae, who became
the joint founders or Oekists of the new colony (Thuc. vi. 4). This statement
of Thucydides is confirmed in its leading points by Pausanias; while Scymnus Chius,
as well as Strabo, though agreeing in its Chalcidic origin, represent it as founded
immediately from the Chalcidic colony of Naxos in Sicily. (Paus. iv. 23. § 7;
Scymn. Ch. 284-286; Strab. vi. p. 268.) From this last version we may infer that
it was looked upon as of more recent origin than Naxos, and therefore not founded
till after 735 B.C.; but we have no clue to the precise, or even approximate date,
of its establishment. Of its early history we know scarcely anything; but we may
probably infer that it rose early to a flourishing condition, from the circumstance
that the Zanclaeans were able before the close of the seventh century B.C. to
establish two colonies on the N. coast of the island: Mylae, about 30 miles W.
of Cape Pelorus, and Himera, much further to the W. (Thuc. vi. 5; Scymn. Ch. 288;
Strab. vi. p. 272.) The latter grew up into a great and powerful city, but Mylae
appears to have continued for the most part a mere dependency of Zancle. (Strab.
l. c.)
The Zanclaeans appear to have been still desirous of extending their
colonial system in this direction, and were endeavouring to induce fresh settlers
from the Ionian cities of Asia to co-operate with them in this enterprise, when
the fall of Miletus in B.C. 494 gave a fresh impulse to emigration from that quarter.
A large body of Samians, together with some of the surviving Milesians, were in
consequence induced to accept the invitation of the Zanclaeans, and set out for
Sicily, with the purpose of establishing themselves on the N. coast between Mylae
and Himera, which was commonly known as the Fair Shore (he Kale Akte.) But having
arrived, on their way, at Locri Epizephyrii, they were here persuaded by Anaxilas,
tyrant of Rhegium, to take a treacherous advantage of the absence of the Zanclaean
troops, who were engaged in military operations elsewhere, and surprise the city
of Zancle itself. That city was at this time under the government of a despot
named Scythes, to whom Herodotus gives the title of king. On finding themselves
thus betrayed, the Zanclaeans invoked the assistance of the powerful Hippocrates,
despot of Gela; but that monarch in his turn betrayed them, and instead of aiding
them to recover possession of Zancle, made common cause with the Samians, whom
he confirmed in the possession of the city, while he threw Scythes into prison,
and reduced the greater part of the Zanclaeans into captivity. (Herod. vi. 22-24;
Thuc. vi. 4; Scymn. Ch. 293; Arist. Pol. v. 3.) By this sudden revolution, the
Samians found themselves in undisputed possession of Zancle, but they did not
long enjoy their new acquisition. Not many years afterwards they were in their
turn reduced to subjection by Anaxilas himself, who is said to have expelled them
from the city, which he peopled with a mixed body of colonists, while he gave
to it the name of Messene, in remembrance of the land of that name in Greece,
from which his own ancestors derived their descent. (Thuc. vi. 4; Herod. vii.
164; Strab. vi. p. 268.)
The exact period of this revolution cannot be determined with certainty;
but the first settlement of the Samians at Zancle cannot be carried back further
than B.C. 493, while their subsequent expulsion or subjection by Anaxilas must
have occurred some years prior to his death in B.C. 476. It is certain that at
that period he had been for some time ruler both of Rhegium and Zancle, the latter
of which, according to one account, he had placed under the nominal government
of his son Cleophron or Leophron. (Diod. xi. 48; Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. ii. 34.)
It is certain, also, that before the close of his reign Zancle had assumed the
name of Messene or Messana, by which it has ever since been known. The error of
Pausanias, who carries back the whole settlement, and with it the reign of Anaxilas
to the close of the Second Messenian War, B.C. 668, has been sufficiently refuted
by Bentley (Diss. on Phalaris, pp. 204-224.) It is probable that he confounded
the Second Messenian War with the Third, which was really contemporaneous with
the reign of Anaxilas (Clinton, F. H. vol. i. p. 257); and it is not unlikely
that some fugitives from the latter were among the fresh settlers established
by Anaxilas at the time of the colonisation of Messana. It is probable also that
the Samians were by no means absolutely expelled, as stated by Thucydides, but
continued to inhabit the city together with the new colonists, though deprived
of their exclusive ascendancy. (Herod. vii. 164; Siefert, Zancle-Messana, p. 16.)
The Messanians for some time followed the fortunes of their neighbours
of Rhegium: they passed, after the death of Anaxilas, under the government of
Micythus, and subsequently of the two sons of Anaxilas: but, after the death of
Hieron, and the expulsion of his brother Thrasybulus from Syracuse, they took
the opportunity, in conjunction with the other cities of Sicily, to drive out
their despots and assert their freedom and independence, B.C. 461. (Diod. xi.
59, 66, 76.) A large body of the foreign settlers, who had been introduced into
Sicily by the tyrants, were upon this occasion established in the territory of
Messana, a proof that it was at this period still thinly peopled: but the city
seems to have participated largely in the prosperity which the Sicilian republics
in general enjoyed during the period that followed, B.C. 460-410. The great fertility
of its territory, and the excellence of its port, were natural advantages which
qualified it to become one of the first cities of Sicily: and this appears to
have been the case throughout the period in question. In B.C. 426. their tranquillity
was, how-ever, interrupted by the arrival of the Athenian fleet under Laches,
which established itself at Rhegium, on the opposite side of the straits ; and
from thence made an attack on Mylae, a fortress and dependency of the Messanians,
which, though occupied by a strong garrison, was compelled to surrender. Laches,
with his allies, hereupon marched against Messana itself, which was unable to
resist so large a force, and was compelled to accede to the Athenian alliance.
(Thuc. iii. 86, 90; Diod. xii. 54.) But the next year (B.C. 425) the Messanians
hastened to desert their new alliance, and join that of the Syracusans; and from
thenceforth their port became the chief naval station of the combined Syracusan
and Locrian fleets. (Thuc. iv. 1, 24, 25.) They themselves, also, on one occasion,
took courage to make a vigorous attack on their Chalcidic neighbours of Naxos,
and were able to defeat the Naxians themselves, and shut them up within their
walls; but were in their turn defeated by the Siculians and Leontines, who had
hastened to the relief of Naxos, and who for a short time laid siege, but without
effect, to Messana itself. (Thuc. iv. 25.) The Messanians were included in the
general pacification of Sicily, B.C. 424; but were themselves still divided by
factions, and appear at one time to have for a short period passed under the actual
dominion of the Locrians. (Id. v. 5.) At the time of the Athenian expedition to
Sicily (B.C. 415) they were again independent, and on that occasion they persisted
in maintaining a neutral position, though in vain solicited by the Athenians on
one side, and the Syracusans on the other. An attempt of the former to make themselves
masters of the city by treachery proved wholly ineffectual. (Diod. xiii. 4 ; Thuc.
vi. 48, 74.) A few years later, the Messanians afforded a hospitable refuge to
the fugitives from Himera, when that city was taken by the Carthaginians, B.C.
409 (Diod. xiii. 61), and sent an auxiliary force to assist in the defence of
Agrigentum against the same people. (Id. 86.)
It appears certain that Messana was at this period, one of the most
flourishing and considerable cities in Sicily. Diodorus tells us, that the Messanians
and Rhegians together could equip a fleet of not less than 80 triremes (xiv. 8);
and their combined forces were viewed with respect, if not with apprehension,
even by the powerful Dionysius of Syracuse. (Id. 44.) But though unfavourably
disposed towards that despot, the Messanians did not share in the strong sympathies
of the Rhegians with the Chalcidic cities of Naxos and Catana [Rhegium], and pursued
an uncertain and vacillating policy. (Diod. xiv. 8, 40, 44.) But while they thus
sought to evade the hostility of the Syracusan despot, they were visited by a
more severe calamity. Himilcon, the Carthaginian general, who had landed in Sicily
in B.C. 396, having compelled Dionysius to fall back upon Syracuse, himself advanced
with a large army from Panormus, along the N. coast of the island. Messana was
the immediate object of the campaign, on account of the importance of its port;
and it was so ill prepared for defence, that notwithstanding the spirited resistance
of its citizens, it was taken by Himilcon with little difficulty. Great part of
the inhabitants made their escape to the surrounding country; but the rest were
put to the sword, and not only the walls of the city levelled to the ground, but
all its buildings so studiously destroyed as, according to the expression of Diodorus,
to leave scarcely a trace of where it had formerly stood. (Diod. xiv. 56-58.)
After the defeat and expulsion of the Carthaginans, Dionysius endeavoured
to repeople Messana with the fugitive citizens who survived, to whom he added
fresh colonists from Locri and Medma, together with a small body of Messanian
exiles, but the latter were soon after transferred to the newly founded city of
Tyndaris. (Diod. xiv. 78.) Mean-while, the Rhegians, who viewed with dissatisfaction
the footing thus established by Dionysius on the Sicilian straits, endeavoured
to obtain in their turn an advanced post against the Messanians by fortifying
Mylae, where they established the exiles from Naxos, Catana, and other cities,
who had been driven from their homes by Dionysius. (Id. xiv. 87.) The attempt,
however, proved abortive : the Messanians recovered possession of Mylae, and continued
to support Dionysius in his enterprises against Rhegium. (Id. 87, 103.) After
the death of that despot, we hear but little of Messana, which appears to have
gradually, but slowly, risen again to a flourishing condition. In B.C. 357 the
Messanians [p. 336] are mentioned as sending assistance to Dion against the younger
Dionysius; and after the death of Dion, they repulsed an attempt of Callippus
to make himself master of their city. (Diod. xvi. 9; Plut. Dion, 58.) At a somewhat
later period, however, they fell under the yoke of a tyrant named Hippon, from
whom they were freed by Timoleon, (B.C. 339), and at the same time detached from
the alliance of Carthage, to which they had been for a time compelled to adhere.
(Diod. xvi. 69; Plut. Timol. 20, 34.)
But Messana did not long enjoy her newly recovered freedom. Soon after
the establishment of Agathocles at Syracuse, that monarch turned his arms against
Messana, and, though his first attempts, in B.C. 315, were unsuccessful, and he
was even compelled to restore the fortress of Mylae, of which he had for a time
made himself master, a few years later, B.C. 312, he succeeded in establishing
his power at Messana itself. (Diod. xix. 65, 102.) But the severities which he
exercised against the party which had opposed him completely alienated the minds
of the Messanians, and they readily embraced the opportunity of the defeat of
the tyrant at Ecnomus in the following year, B.C. 311, to throw off his yoke and
declare in favour of the Carthaginian alliance. (Id. xix. 110.) The death of Agathocles,
soon after, brought upon the Messenians even heavier calamities than his enmity
had done. The numerous bands of mercenary troops, chiefly of Campanian, or at
least Oscan, extraction, which the despot had assembled in Sicily, were, after
his death, compelled by the Syracusans, with the support of the Carthaginians,
to quit the island. But, having arrived with that object at Messana, where they
were hospitably received by the citizens, and quartered in their houses, they
suddenly turned against them, massacred the male inhabitants, made themselves
masters of their wives, houses, and property, and thus established themselves
in undisputed possession of the city. (Pol. i. 7; Diod. xxi. 18, Exc. H. p. 493;
Strab. vi. p. 268.) They now assumed the name of MAMERTINI (Mamertinoi), or the
children of Mars, from Mamers, an Oscan name of that deity, which is found also
in old Latin. (Diod. l. c.; Varr. L. L. v. 73.) The city, however, continued to
be called Messana, though they attempted to change its name to Mamertina: Cicero,
indeed, in several instances calls it Mamertina civitas (Cic. Verr. ii. 5, 46,
iii. 6, iv. 10, &c.), but much more frequently Messana, though the in-habitants
were in his time universally called Mamertini. The precise period of the occupation
of Messana by the Mamertines is nowhere stated. Polybius tells us that it occurred
not long before that of Rhegium by the Campanians under Decius, which may be referred
to the year 280 B.C., while it must have taken place some time after the death
of Agathocles in B.C. 289: the year 282 is that commonly assigned, but within
the above limits this is merely conjectural.
The Mamertines now rapidly extended their power over the whole NE.
angle of Sicily, and made themselves masters of several fortresses and towns.
The occupation of Rhegium by the Campanian's, under very similar circumstances,
contributed to strengthen their position, and they became one of the most formidable
powers in Sicily. The arrival of Pyrrhus in the island (B.C. 278) for a time gave
a check to their aggrandisement: they in vain combined with. the Carthaginians
to :prevent his landing; but, though he defeated their forces in a battle and
took several of their fortresses, he did not attack Messana itself; and on his
return to Italy the Mamertines sent a large force across the straits which attacked
the army of the king on its march, and inflicted on him severe losses. (Plut.
Pyrrh. 23, 24; Diod. xxi. 7. p. 495.) The Mamertines, however, soon found a more
formidable enemy in Hieron of Syracuse, who, shortly after the departure of Pyrrhus
from Sicily, established himself in the possession of the chief power in that
city. His efforts were early directed against the Mamertines; and after. the fall
of Rhegium, which was taken by the Romans in B.C. 271, he invaded their territory
with a great army, reduced the fortress of Mylae, and defeated the Mamertines
in a battle on the banks of the river Longanus, with such slaughter that they
were on the point of surrendering Messana itself without a blow; and the city
was saved only by the intervention of a Carthaginian force under Hannibal. (Pol.
i. 8, 9; Diod. xxii. 13. pp. 499, 500.) The events which followed are obscurely
known to us, and their chronology is very uncertain; but the Mamertines seem to
have found that they were no longer able to stand alone against the power of Hieron;
and, while one party was disposed to throw themselves into the arms of the Carthaginians,
another sought protection from the power of Rome. The latter ultimately prevailed,
and an embassy sent by the Mamertines, to invoke the alliance of the Romans, first
gave occasion to the intervention of that people in the affairs of Sicily, and
became the origin of the First Punic War, B.C. 264. (Pol. i. 10; Diod. xxiii.
1; Zonar. viii. 8; Oros. iv. 7; Liv. Epit. xvi.)
Before the arrival of the promised aid from Rome the Carthaginian
party had again prevailed, and the citadel was occupied by a Carthaginian garrison;
but this was expelled by the Mamertines themselves on the arrival of C. Claudius;
and soon after the consul Appius Claudius landed at Messana, and drove off in
succession the Carthaginians and Hieron, who had just before concluded an alliance
against the Mamertines, and laid siege to the city with their combined forces.
(Pol. i. 11, 12; Diod. xxiii. 1, 3 p. 501; Zonar. viii. 8, 9; Dion Cass. Exe.
Vat. 58-60.) Messana was now protected by a Roman garrison, and, during the whole
course of the war which followed, continued to be one of their chief strong-holds
and the principal station of their fleets. The importance of its harbour, as well
as its ready communication with Italy, rendered it a point of vital importance
to the Romans; and the Mamertines either continued steadily faithful or were kept
under by the constant presence of a Roman force. (Pol. i. 21. 25, 38, 52; Diod.
xxiii. 18. p. 505, xxiv. 1. p. 508; Zonar, viii. 10, 12.) At the close of the
war the Mamertines obtained a renewal of their treaty, and continued to enjoy
henceforth the nominal privileges of an allied city (foederata civitas), while
they in reality passed under the dominion of Rome. (Cic. Verr. iii. 6) Even in
the time of Cicero we find them still retaining this privileged condition; and
though this alone would not have sufficed to protect them against the exactions
of Verres, the Mamertines appear to have adopted the safer policy of supporting
the praetor in all his oppressions and conciliating him by bribes, so that they
are represented by the orator as the accomplices, as well as defenders, of all
his iniquities. (Cic. Ib. ii. 5, 46, iv. 8, 67, &c.)
Messana was certainly at this time one of the most. populous and.
flourishing places in Sicily. Cicero calls it a very great and very rich city
( civitas maxima et locupletissima, Verr. v. 17), and extols the advantages of
its situation, its port, and its buildings. (Ib. iv. 2.) Like all other allied
cities, it had its own senate and magistrates, and was legally subject to no other
contributions than the furnishing ships and naval supplies in case of war, and
the contributing a certain proportion of the corn furnished by Sicily to Rome
at a given rate of remuneration. (Ib. v. 17-22.) Nor does Messana appear to have
suffered severely from any of the wars that caused such ravages in Sicily, though
it narrowly escaped being taken and plundered by Athenion during the Servile War,
B.C. 101. (Dion Cass. Fr. Val. p. 534.) In the Civil War, B.C. 48, it was the
station of a part of the fleet of Caesar, which was attacked there by that of
Pompey under Cassius, and the whole of the ships, thirty-five in number, burnt;
but the city itself was protected by the presence of a Roman legion. (Caes. B.C.
iii. 101.) At a somewhat later period it was the head-quarters and chief stronghold
of Sextus Pompeius during his war with Octavian, B.C. 36; and its capacious harbour
became the station of the fleet with which he commanded the coasts of Sicily,
as far as Tauromenium on the one side and Tyndaris on the other. It was from thence
also that Pompeius, after the total defeat of his fleet by Agrippa, made his escape
with a squadron of only seventeen ships. (Appian, B.C. v. 97, 103, 109, 122; Dion
Cass. xlix. 1-12; Strab. vi. p. 268.)
It was in all probability in consequence of this war that Messana
lost the privileged condition it had so long enjoyed; but its inhabitants received
in exchange the Roman franchise, and it was placed in the ordinary position of
a Roman municipium. It still continued to be a flourishing place. Strabo speaks
of it as one of the few cities in Sicily that were in his day well peopled; and
though no subsequent mention of it is found in history under the Roman Empire,
it reappears during the Gothic wars as one of the chief cities and most important
fortresses in the island,-a rank it had undoubtedly held throughout the intervening
period. (Strab. vi. p. 268; Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 9; Mel. ii. 7.
§ 16; Procop. B. G. i. 8, iii. 39.) The wine of the neighbourhood of Messana,
known as Vinum Mamertinum, enjoyed a great reputation in the days of Pliny; it
was first brought into vogue by the dictator Caesar. (Plin. xiv. 6. s. 8.)
Throughout the vicissitudes of the middle ages Messina continued to
be one of the most important cities of Sicily; and still ranks as the second city
in the island. It has, however, but few remains of antiquity. The only vestiges
are some baths and tesselated pavements, and a small old church, supposed to have
formed part of a Roman basilica. (Smyth's Sicily, p. 118.) Another church, called
S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini is believed, but wholly without authority, to occupy
the site of the Sacrarium or family chapel of Heius, from which Verres purloined
a bronze statue of Hercules, attributed to Myron, and one of Cupid, which was
believed to be the work of Praxiteles. (Cic. Verr. iv. 2,3.)
The celebrated port of Messana, to which the city owed its chief importance
in ancient as well as modern times, is formed by a projecting spit or tongue of
sand, which curves round in the form of a crescent or sickle (whence the name
of Zancle was supposed to be derived), and constitutes a natural mole, rendering
the harbour within perfectly secure. This singular bulwark is called by Diodorus
the Acte (Akte), and its construction was attributed by fable to the giant Orion
(Diod. iv. 85), though there can be no doubt of its being of perfectly natural
formation. The harbour within is said by Diodorus to be capable of containing
a fleet of 600 ships (xiv. 56), and has abundant depth of water, even for the
largest ships of modern days. The celebrated whirlpool of the Charybdis is situated
just outside the Acte, nearly opposite the modern lighthouse, but out of the track
of vessels entering the harbour of Messina. (Smyth's Sicily, p. 123.)
Though the city itself is built close to the harbour on level ground,
immediately at the back of it rise steep hills, forming the underfalls of a range
of mountains which extends from the neighbourhood of Cape Pelorus to that of Tauromenium.
This ridge, or at least the part of it next to Cape Pelorus, was known in ancient
times as the Mons Neptunius; but a part of the same range forming one of the underfalls
near Messana is called, both by Diodorus and Polybius, the Chalcidic mount (to
Chalkidikon oros, Pol. i. 11; s lophos ha kaloumenos Chalkidikos, Diod. xxiii.
1), and was the position occupied by Hieron of Syracuse when he laid siege to
Messana, B.C. 264. But neither this, nor the position taken up by the Carthaginians
at the same time at a place called Sunes or Eunes (Suneis, Pol.; Euneis, Diod.),
can be identified with any degree of certainty.
The coins of Messana are numerous and interesting, as illustrating
the historical vicissitudes of the city. There exist:--1. Coins of Zancle, before
the time of Anaxilas, with the name written in old characters DANKAE, a dialectic
form of the name. 2. Coins of Messana, with the Ionic legend MESSENION and types
taken from the coins of Samos. These must be referred to the period of Anaxilas
immediately after his conquest of the city, while the Samian colonists still inhabited
it. 3. Coins of Messana, with the type of a hare, which seems to have been adopted
as the ordinary symbol of the city, because that animal is said to have been first
introduced into Sicily by Anaxilas. (Pollux, Onom. v. 75.) These coins, which
are numerous, and range over a considerable period of time, show the gradual preponderance
of the Doric element in the city; the ruder and earlier ones having the legend
in the Ionic form MESSENION, the latter ones in the Doric form MESSANION or MESSANION.
4. Coins struck by the Mamertines, with the name of MAMEPTINON. These are very
numerous, but in copper only.
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
MYLES (Ancient city) SICILY
Mylae (Mulai: Eth. Mulaites, Steph. B.; Mulaios, Diod.: Milazzo),
a city on the N. coast of Sicily, about 30 miles from Cape Pelorus, and 20 from
Tyndaris, though Strabo calls it 25 miles from each of these points. (Strab. vi.
p. 266.) It was situated on the narrow neck or isthmus of a projecting peninsular
headland, about 5 miles in length, the furthest point of which is only about 15
miles from the island of Hiera or Vulcano, the nearest to Sicily of the Lipari
islands. Mylae was undoubtedly a Greek colony founded by the Zanclaeans, and appears
to have long continued subject to, or dependent on its parent city of Zancle.
(Strab. vi. p. 272, Scym. Ch. 288.) Hence Thucydides speaks of Himera as in his
time the only Greek city on the N. coast of the island, omitting Mylae, because
it was not an independent city or state. (Thuc. vi. 62.) The period of its foundation
is wholly uncertain. Siefert would identify it with the city called Chersonesus
by Eusebius, the foundation of which that author assigns to a period as early
as B.C. 716, but the identification is very questionable. (Euseb. Chron. ad Ol.
161; Siefert, Zankle-Messana, p. 4.) It is certain, however, that it was founded
before Himera, B.C. 648, as, according to Strabo, the Zanclaeans at Mylae took
part in the colonisation of the latter city. (Strab. vi. p. 272.) Mylae itself
does not appear to have ever risen to any great importance; and after the revolution
which changed the name of Zancle to that of Messana, still continued in the same
dependent relation to it as before. It was, however, a strong fortress, with a
good port; and these advantages which it derived from its natural situation, rendered
it a place of importance to the Messanisans as securing their communications with
the N. coast of the island. Scylax speaks of it as a Greek city and port (Scyl.
p. 4. § 13), and its castle or fortress is mentioned by several ancient writers.
The earliest historical notice of the city is found in B.C. 427, when the Athenian
fleet under Laches which was stationed at Rhegium, made an attack upon Mylae.
The place was defended by the Messanians with a strong garrison, but was compelled
to surrender to the Athenians and their allies, who thereupon marched against
Messana itself. (Thuc. iii. 90; Diod. xii. 54.) After the destruction of Messana
by the Carthaginian general Himilcon, Mylae appears to have for a time shaken
off its dependence; and in B.C. 394, the Rhegians, becoming alarmed at the restoration
of Messana by Dionysius, which they regarded as directed against themselves, proceeded
to establish at Mylae the exiles from Naxos and Catana, with a view to create
a countercheck to the rising power of Messana. The scheme, however, failed of
effect; the Rhegians were defeated and the Messanians recovered possession of
Mylae. (Diod. xiv. 87.) That city is again noticed during the war of Timoleon
in Sicily; and in B.C. 315 it was wrested by Agathocles, from the Messanians.
though he was soon after compelled to restore it to them. (Id. xix. 65; Plut.
Timol. 37.) It was in the immediate neighbourhood of Mylae also (en toi Mulaioi
pedioi) that the forces of the Mamertines were defeated in a great battle, by
Hieron of Syraouse, B.C. 270 (Pol. i. 9; Diod. xxii. 13); though the river Longanus,
on the banks of which the action was fought, cannot be identified with certainty.
It is probable that, even after the Roman conquest of Sicily, Mylae
continued to be a dependency of Messana, as long as that city enjoyed its privileged
condition as a foederata civitas: hence no mention is found of its name in the
Verrine orations of Cicero; but in the time of Pliny it had acquired the ordinary
municipal privileges of the Sicilian towns. (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4.
§ 2.) It never, however, seems to have been a place of importance, and was at
this period wholly eclipsed by the neighbouring colony of Tyndaris. But the strength
of its position as a fortress caused it in the middle ages to be an object of
attention to the Norman kings of Sicily, as well as to the emperor Frederic II.;
and though now much neglected, it is still a military position of importtance.
The modern city of Milazzo is a tolerably flourishing place, with about 8000 inhabitants;
it is built for the most part on a low sandy neck of land, connecting the peninsula,
which is bold and rocky, with the mainland. But the old town, which probably occupied
the same site with the ancient city, stood on a rocky hill, forming the first
rise of the rocky ridge that constitutes the peninsula or headland of Capo di
Milazzo. The modern castle on a hill of greater elevation, commanding both the
upper and lower town, is probably the site of the ancient Acropolis. (Thuc. iii.
90; Smyth's Sicily, pp. 103, 104; Hoare's Classical Tour, vol. ii. p. 215.)
The promontory of Mylae, stretching out abruptly into the sea, forms
the western boundary of a bay of considerable extent, affording excellent anchorage.
This bay was memorable in ancient history as the scene of two great naval actions.
The first of these was the victory obtained by the Roman fleet under C. Duillius,
over that of the Carthaginians in the First Punic War, B.C. 260, in which the
Roman consul, by means of the engines called Corvi (then used for the first time),
totally defeated the enemy's fleet, and took fifty of their ships. (Pol. i. 23.)
More than two centuries later, it was in the same bay that Agrippa, who commanded
the fleet of Octavian, defeated that of Sextus Pompeius, B.C. 36. Agrippa advanced
from the island of Hiera, where his fleet had been before stationed, while the
ships of Pompey lined the shores of the bay of Mylae. After their defeat they
took refuge at the mouths of the numerous small rivers, or rather mountain torrents,
which here descend into the sea. After this battle, Agrippa made himself master
of Mylae as well as Tyndaris; and some time afterwards again defeated the fleet
of Pompeius in a second and more decisive action, between Mylae and a place called
Naulochus. The latter name is otherwise unknown, but it seems to have been situated
somewhere in the neighbourhood of Cape Rasoculmo, the Phalacrian promontory of
Ptolemy. (Appian, B.C. v. 195-109, 115-122; Dion Cass. xlix. 2-11; Vell. Pat.
ii. 79; Suet. Aug. 16.)
In the account of this campaign Appian speaks of a small town named
Artemisium, which is noticed also by Dion Cassius, and must have been situated
a little to the E. of Mylae, but is not mentioned by any of the geographers. (Appian,
B.C. v. 116; Dion Cass. xlix. 8.) It is, however, obviously the same place alluded
to by Silius Italicus as the sedes Facelina Dianae (Sil. Ital. xiv. 260), and
called by Lucilius, in a fragment of his satires, Facelitis templa Dianae. (Lucil.
Sat. iii. 13.) Vibius Sequester also mentions a river which he calls Phacelinus,
and describes as juxta Peloridem, confinis temple Dianae. (Vib. Seq. p. 16.) It
is, however, obvious, from Appian, that the temple was not situated in the neighbourhood
of Pelorus, but at a short distance from Mylae, though the precise site cannot
be determined. It was designated by popular tradition as the spot where the sacred
cattle of the Sun had been kept, and were slaughtered by the companions of Ulysses.
(Appian, l. c.; Plin. ii. 98. s. 101.) The Mons Thorax, mentioned by Diodorus
in his account of the battle of the Longanus (Diod. xxii. 13), must have been
one of the underfalls of the Neptunian Mountains, which throughout this part of
Sicily descend close to the sea-shore; but the particular mountain meant is wholly
uncertain.
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
NAXOS (Ancient city) SICILY
Naxus (Nachos: Eth. Nachios: Capo di Schiso). An ancient city of Sicily,
on the E. coast of the island between Catana and Messana. It was situated on a
low point of land at the mouth of the river Acesines (Alcantara), and at the foot
of the hill on which was afterwards built the city of Tauromenium. All ancient
writers agree in representing Naxos as the most ancient of all the Greek colonies
in Sicily; it was founded the year before Syracuse, or B.C. 735, by a body of
colonists from Chalcis in Euboea, with whom there was mingled, according to Ephorus,
a certain number of Ionians. The same writer represented Theocles, or Thucles,
the leader of the colony and founder of the city, as an Athenian by birth; but
Thucydides takes no notice of this, and describes the city as a purely Chalcidic
colony; and it seems certain that in later times it was generally so regarded.
(Thuc. vi. 3; Ephor. ap. Strab. vi. p. 267; Scymn. Ch. 270-277; Diod. xiv. 88.
Concerning the date of its foundation see Clinton, F. H. vol. i. p. 164; Euseb.
Chron. ad 01. 11. 1.) The memory of Naxos as the earliest of all the Greek settlements
in Sicily was preserved by the dedication of an altar outside the town to Apollo
Archegetes, the divine patron under whose authority the colony had sailed; and
it was a custom (still retained long after the destruction of Naxos itself) that
all Theori or envoys proceeding on sacred missions to Greece, or returning from
thence to Sicily, should offer sacrifice on this altar. (Thuc. l. c.; Appian,
B.C. v. 109.) It is singular that none of the writers above cited allude to the
origin of the name of Naxos; but there can be little doubt that this was derived,
as stated by Hellanicus (ap. Steph. B. s. v. Chalkis), from the presence among
the original settlers of a body of colonists from the island of that name.
The new colony must have been speedily joined by fresh settlers from
Greece, as within six years after its first establishment the Chalcidians at Naxos
were able to send out a fresh colony, which founded the city of Leontini, B.C.
730; and this was speedily followed by that of Catana. Theocles himself became
the Oekist, or recognised founder, of the former, and Euarchus, probably a Chalcidic
citizen, of the latter. (Thuc. l. c.; Scymn. Ch. 283-286; Strab. vi. p. 268.)
Strabo and Scymnus Chius both represent Zancle also as a colony from Naxos, but
no allusion to this is found in Thucydides. But, as it was certainly a Chalcidic
colony, it is probable that some settlers from Naxos joined those from the parent
country. (Strab. vi. p. 268; Scymn. Ch. 286; Thuc. vi. 4.) Callipolis also, a
city of uncertain site, and which ceased to exist at an early period, was a colony
of Naxos. (Strab. vi. p. 272; Scymn. Ch. l. c.) But notwithstanding these evidences
of its early prosperity, we have very little information as to the early history
of Naxos; and the first facts transmitted to us concerning it relate to disasters
that it sustained. Thus Herodotus tells us that it was one of the cities which
was besieged and taken by Hippocrates, despot of Gela, about B.C. 498-491 (Herod.
vii. 154); and his expressions would lead us to infer that it was reduced by him
under permanent subjection. It appears to have afterwards successively passed
under the authority of Gelon of Syracuse, and his brother Hieron, as we find it
subject to the latter in B.C. 476. At that time Hieron, with a view to strengthen
his own power, removed the inhabitants of Naxos at the same time with those of
Catana, and settled them together at Leontini, while he repeopled the two cities
with fresh colonists from other quarters (Diod. xi. 49). The name of Naxos is
not specifically mentioned during the revolutions that ensued in Sicily after
the death of Hieron; but there seems no doubt that the city was restored to the
old Chalcidic citizens at the same time as these were reinstated at Catana, B.C.
461 (Id. xi. 76); and hence we find, during the ensuing period, the three Chalcidic
cities, Naxos, Leontini, and Catana, generally united by the bonds of amity, and
maintaining a close alliance, as opposed to Syracuse and the other Doric cities
of Sicily. (Id. xiii. 56, xiv. 14; Thuc. iii. 86, iv. 25.) Thus, in B.C. 427,
when the Leontini were hard pressed by their neighbours of Syracuse, their Chalcidic
brethren afforded them all the assistance in their power (Thuc. iii. 86); and
when the first Athenian expedition arrived in Sicily under Laches and Charoeades,
the Naxians immediately joined their alliance. With them, as well as with the
Rhegians on the opposite side of the straits, it is probable that enmity to their
neighbours at Messana was a strong motive in inducing them to join the Athenians;
and during the hostilities that ensued, the Messanians having on one occasion,
in B.C. 425, made a sudden attack upon Naxos both by land and sea, the Naxians
vigorously repulsed them, and in their turn inflicted heavy loss on the assailants.
(Id. iv. 25.)
On occasion of the great Athenian expedition to Sicily (B.C. 415),
the Naxians from the first espoused their alliance, even while their kindred cities
of Rhegium and Catana held aloof; and not only furnished them with supplies, but
received them freely into their city (Diod. xiii. 4; Thuc. vi. 50). Hence it was
at Naxos that the Athenian fleet first touched after crossing the straits; and
at a later period the Naxians and Catanaeans are enumerated by Thucydides as the
only Greek cities in Sicily which sided with the Athenians. (Thuc. vii. 57.) After
the failure of this expedition the Chalcidic cities were naturally involved for
a time in hostilities with Syracuse; but these were suspended in B.C. 409, by
the danger which seemed to threaten all the Greek cities alike from the Carthaginians.
(Diod. xiii. 56.) Their position on this occasion preserved the Naxians from the
fate which befell Agrigentum, Gela, and Camarina; but they did not long enjoy
this immunity. In B.C. 403, Dionysius of Syracuse, deeming himself secure from
the power of Carthage as well as from domestic sedition, determined to turn his
arms against the Chalcidic cities of Sicily; and having made himself master of
Naxos by the treachery of their general Procles, he sold all the inhabitants as
slaves and destroyed both the walls and buildings of the city, while he bestowed
its territory upon the neighbouring Siculi. (Diod. xiv. 14, 15, 66, 68.)
It is certain that Naxos never recovered this blow, nor rose again
to be a place of any consideration: but it is not easy to trace precisely the
events which followed. It appears, however, that the Siculi, to whom the Naxian
territory was assigned, soon after formed a new settlement on the hill called
Mount Taurus, which rises immediately above the site of Naxos, and that this gradually
grew up into a considerable town, which assumed the name of Tauromenium. (Diod.
xiv. 58, 59.) This took place about B.C. 396; and we find the Siculi still in
possession of this stronghold some years later. (Ib. 88.) Meanwhile the exiled
and fugitive inhabitants of Naxos and Catana formed, as usual in such cases, a
considerable body, who as far as' possible kept together. An attempt was made
in B.C. 394 by the Rhegians to settle them again in a body at Mylae, but without
success; for they were speedily expelled by the Messanians, and from this time
appear to have been dispersed in various parts of Sicily. (Diod. xiv. 87.) At
length, in B.C. 358, Andromachus, the father of the historian Timaeus, is said
to have collected together again the Naxian exiles from all parts of the island,
and established them on the hill of Tauromenium, which thus rose to be a Greek
city, and became the successor of the ancient Naxos. (Diod. xvi. 7.) Hence Pliny
speaks of Tauromenium as having been formerly called Naxos, an expression which
is not strictly correct. (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14.) The site of Naxos itself seems
to have been never again inhabited; but the altar and shrine of Apollo Archegetes
continued to mark the spot where it had stood, and are mentioned in the war between
Octavian and Sextus Pompey in Sicily, B.C. 36. (Appian, B.C. v. 109.)
There are no remains of the ancient city now extant, but the site
is clearly marked. It occupied a low but rocky headland, now called the Capo di
Schiso, formed by an ancient stream of lava, immediately to the N. of the Alcantara,
one of the most considerable streams in this part of Sicily. A small bay to the
N. affords good anchorage, and separates it from the foot of the bold and lofty
hill, still occupied by the town of Taormina; but the situation was not one which
enjoyed any peculiar natural advantages.
The coins of Naxos, which are of fine workmanship, may almost all
be referred to the period from B.C. 460 to B.C. 403, which was probably the most
flourishing in the history of the city.
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
TYNDARIS (Ancient city) SICILY
Tyndaris (Tundaris, Strab.; Tundarion, Ptol.: Eth. Tundarites, Tyndaritanus:
Tindaro), a city on the N. coast of Sicily, between Mylae (Milazzo) and Agathyrna.
It was situated on a bold and lofty hill standing out as a promontory into the
spacious bay bounded by the Punta di Milazzo on the E., and the Capo Calavia on
the W., and was distant according to the Itineraries 36 miles from Messana. (It.
Ant. p. 90; Tab. Peut.) It was a Greek city, and one of the latest of all the
cities in Sicily that could claim a purely Greek origin, having been founded by
the elder Dionysius in B.C. 395. The original settlers were the remains of the
Messenian exiles, who had been driven from Naupactus, Zacynthus, and the Peloponnese
by the Spartans after the close of the Peloponnesian War. These had at first been
established by Dionysius at Messana, when he repeopled that city; but the Spartans
having taken umbrage at this, he transferred them to the site of Tyndaris, which
had previously been included in the territory of Abacaenum. The colonists themselves
gave to their new city the name of Tyndaris, from their native divinities, the
Tyndaridae or Dioscuri, and readily admitting fresh citizens from other quarters,
soon raised their whole population to the number of 5000 citizens. (Diod. xiv.
78.) The new city thus rose at once to be a place of considerable importance.
It is next mentioned in B.C. 344, when it was one of the first cities that declared
in favour of Timoleon after his landing in Sicily. (Id. xvi. 69.) At a later period
we find it mentioned as espousing the cause of Hieron, and supporting him during
his war against the Mamertines, B.C. 269. On that occasion he rested his position
upon Tyndaris on the left, and on Tauromenium on the right. (Diod. xxii. Exc.
H. p. 499.) Indeed the strong position of Tyndaris rendered it in a strategic
point of view as important a post upon the Tyrrhenian, as Tauromenium was upon
the Sicilian sea, and hence we find it frequently mentioned in subsequent wars.
In the First Punic War it was at first dependent upon Carthage; and though the
citizens, alarmed at the progress of the Roman arms, were at one time on the point
of revolting to Rome, they were restrained by the Carthaginians, who carried off
all the chief citizens as hostages. (Diod. xxiii. p. 502.) In B.C. 257, a sea-fight
took place off Tyndaris, between that city and the Liparaean islands, in which
a Roman fleet under C. Atilius obtained some advantage over the Carthaginian fleet,
but without any decisive result. (Poly. i. 25; Zonar. viii. 12.) The Roman fleet
is described on that occasion as touching at the promontory of Tyndaris, but the
city had not yet fallen into their hands, and it was not till after the fall of
Panormus, in B.C. 254, that Tyndaris expelled the Carthaginian garrison and joined
the Roman alliance. (Diod. xxiii. p. 505.) We hear but little of Tyndaris under
the Roman government, but it appears to have been a flourishing and considerable
city. Cicero calls it nobilissima civitas (Verr. iii. 43), and we learn from him
that the inhabitants had displayed their zeal and fidelity towards the Romans
upon many occasions. Among others they supplied naval forces to the armament of
Scipio Africanus the Younger, a service for which he requited them by restoring
them a statue of Mercury which had been carried off by the Carthaginians. and
which continued an object of great veneration in the city, till it was again carried
off by the rapacious Verres. (Cic. Verr. iv. 3. 9-42, v. 47.) Tyndaris was also
one of seventeen cities which had been selected by the Roman senate, apparently
as an honorary distinction, to contribute to certain offerings to the temple of
Venus at Eryx. (Ib. v. 47; Zumpt, ad loc.; Diod. iv. 83.) In other respects it
had no peculiar privileges, and was in the condition of an ordinary municipal
town, with its own magistrates, local senate, &c., but was certainly in the time
of Cicero one of the most considerable places in the island. It, however, suffered
severely from the exactions of Verres (Cic. Verr. ll. cc.), and the inhabitants,
to revenge themselves on their oppressor, publicly demolished his statue as soon
as he had quitted the island. (Ib. ii. 66.)
Tyndaris again bore a considerable part in the war between Sextus
Pompeius and Octavian (B.C. 36). It was one of the points occupied and fortified
by the former, when preparing for the defence of the Sicilian straits, but was
taken by Agrippa after his naval victory at Mylae, and became one of his chief
posts, from which he carried on offensive warfare against Pompey. (Appian, B.C.
v. 105, 109, 116.) Subsequently to this we hear nothing more of Tyndaris in history;
but there is no doubt of its having continued to subsist throughout the period
of the Roman Empire. Strabo speaks of it as one of the places on the N. coast
of Sicily which, in his time, still deserved the name of cities; and Pliny gives
it the title of a Colonia. It is probable that it received a colony under Augustus,
as we find it bearing in an inscription the titles of Colonia Augusta Tyndaritanorum.
(Strab. vi. p. 272; Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 2; Orell. Inscr. 955.)
Pliny indeed mentions a great calamity which the city had sustained, when (he
tells us) half of it was swallowed up by the sea, probably from an earthquake
having caused the fall of part of the hill on which it stands, but we have no
clue to the date of this event; (Plin. ii. 92. s. 94.) The Itineraries attest
the existence of Tyndaris, apparently still as a considerable place, in the fourth
century. (Itin. Ant. pp. 90, 93; Tab. Peat.)
The site of Tyndaris is now wholly deserted, but the name is retained
by a church, which crowns the most elevated point of the hill on which the city
formerly stood, and is still called the Madonna di Tindaro. It is 650 feet above
the sea-level, and forms a conspicuous landmark to sailors. Considerable ruins
of the ancient city, are also visible. It occupied the whole plateau or summit
of the hill, and the remains of the ancient walls may be traced, at intervals,
all round the brow of the cliffs, except in one part, facing the sea, where the
cliff is now quite precipitous. It is not improbable that it is here that a part
of the cliff fell in, in the manner recorded by Pliny (ii. 92. s. 94). Two gates
of the city are also still distinctly to be traced. The chief monuments, of which
the ruins are still extant within the circuit of the walls, are: the theatre,
of which the remains are in imperfect condition, but sufficient to show that it
was not of large size, and apparently of Roman construction, or at least, like
that of Tauromenium, rebuilt in Roman times upon the Greek foundations; a large
edifice with two handsome stone arches, commonly called a Gymnasium, but the real
purpose of which is very difficult to determine; several other edifices of Roman
times, but of wholly uncertain character, a mosaic pavement, and some Roman tombs.
(Serra di Falco, Antichita della Sicilia, vol. v. part vi.; Smyth's Sicily, p.
101; Hoare's Classical Tour, vol. ii. p. 217, &c.) Numerous inscriptions, fragments
of sculpture, and architectural decorations, as well as coins, vases, &c. have
also been discovered on the site.
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
MESSINA (Ancient city) SICILY
The modern Messina; a celebrated town of Sicily, on the strait
separating Italy from this island, which is here about four miles broad. The Romans
called the town Messana, according to its Doric pronunciation, but Messene was
its more usual name among the Greeks. It was originally a town of the Siceli,
and was called Zancle, or a sickle, on account of the shape of its harbour, which
is formed by a singular curve of sand and shells. It was first colonized by Chalcidians,
and was afterwards seized by Samians, who had come to Sicily after the capture
of Miletus by the Persians (B.C. 494). The Samians were shortly afterwards driven
out of Zancle by Anaxilas, who changed the name of the town into Messana or Messene,
both because he was himself a Messenian and because he transferred to the place
a body of Messenians from Rhegium. In B.C. 396 it was taken and destroyed by the
Carthaginians, but was rebuilt by Dionysius. It afterwards fell into the hands
of Agathocles. Among the mercenaries of this tyrant were a number of Mamertini,
an Oscan people from Campania, who had been sent from home, under the protection
of the god Mamers, or Mars, to seek their fortune in other lands. These Mamertini
were quartered in Messana; and after the death of Agathocles (B.C. 282) they made
themselves masters of the town, killed the male inhabitants, and took possession
of their wives, their children, and their property. The town was now called Mamertina,
and the inhabitants Mamertini; but its ancient name of Messana continued to be
in more general use. The new inhabitants could not lay aside their old predatory
habits, and in consequence became involved in a war with Hieron of Syracuse, who
would probably have conquered the town had not the Carthaginians come in to the
aid of the Mamertini, and, under the pretext of assisting them, taken possession
of their citadel. The Mamertini had at the same time applied to the Romans for
help, who gladly availed themselves of the opportunity to obtain a footing in
Sicily. Thus Messana was the immediate cause of the First Punic War, 264. The
Mamertini expelled the Carthaginian garrison, and received the Romans, in whose
power Messana remained till the latest times.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
MYLES (Ancient city) SICILY
(Mulai). A town on the eastern part of the north coast of Sicily, founded by Zancle (Messana), and situated on a promontory running out into the sea. It was off Mylae that C. Duilius won his victory over the Carthaginians in B.C. 260, and that Agrippa defeated the fleet of Sex. Pompeius (B.C. 36).
NAXOS (Ancient city) SICILY
A Greek city on the eastern coast of Sicily, founded B.C. 735
by the Chalcidians of Euboea, and the first Greek colony established in the island.
In B.C. 403 the town was destroyed by Dionysius of Syracuse; but nearly fifty
years afterwards (358) the remaining Naxians scattered over Sicily, were collected
by Andromachus, and a new city was founded on Mount Taurus, to which the name
of Tauromenium was given.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
TAVROMENION (Ancient city) SICILY
Now Taormina; a city on the eastern coast of Sicily, situated on Mount Taurus, from which it derived its name, and founded B.C. 358 by Andromachus with the remains of the inhabitants of Naxos. For the remains of the great stone theatre at this place, see Theatrum.
TYNDARIS (Ancient city) SICILY
Tyndarium (Tundarion). Now Tindaro; a town on the northern coast of Sicily, a little west of Messana, founded by the elder Dionysius, B.C. 396.
AGATHYRNON (Ancient city) SICILY
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.
APOLLONIA (Ancient city) SICILY
An unexplored city on the N coast (Commune of S. Fratello, Province
of Messina) between Halontion and Kalakta (Steph. Byz.). Historical references
to the site are few: around the middle of the 4th c. B.C. it was dominated by
Leptines, tyrant of Engyon; in 342 B.C. Timoleon made the two cities autonomous,
after having defeated the tyrant and exiled him to the Peloponnese (Diod. 16:72).
The site was sacked by Agathokles in 307 B.C. (Diod. 20:56). In the 1st c. B.C.
it was civitas decumana (Cic. Verr. 3.43,103), and it was represented by one ship
in the fleet gathered against the pirates (Cic. Verr. 5.33, 86; 34,90).
The city occupies a vast rocky plateau on the summit of Monte Vecchio,
a foothill of the central Nebrods; from this position it dominates a large stretch
of the coastline from Kephaloidion to Agathyrnon. The ruins of the ancient city
are visible on the mountain peak. On the entire S and W sides one can follow the
line of the fortification walls built with isodomic masonry of local marble; the
remains of at least two buildings, in the same isodomic technique, lie on the
E side of the plateau, to the W and to the NE of the Norman Church (12th c.) of
the Three Saints; on the summit of the mount a large cistern (?) has been cut
into the rock, as well as a kind of altar and a few units at the end of a stairway
climbing from the E.
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.
MYLES (Ancient city) SICILY
A small city in the province of Messina at the isthmus of a narrow
peninsula that extends ca. 6 km toward the Aeolian islands. It was a sub-colony
of Zankle founded in 717-716 B.C., and it probably never enjoyed political autonomy
since its destiny depended on that of Zankle-Messene, of which it was considered
a stronghold. In 426 B.C. the Athenian Laches (Diod. 12:54), and again in 315
B.C. Agathokles (Diod. 19:65), before attacking Messene, occupied Mylai. In 260
B.C. Caius Duilius obtained in its waters the first Roman naval victory against
the Phoenicians; again near Mylai, in 36 B.C., Octavian defeated Sextus Pompey.
Excavations have revealed a continuous series of cemeteries: from the Middle Bronze
Necropolis (15th-13th c. B.C.) in the Sottocastello district to that of the Iron
Age (llth-9th c. B.C.) in Piazza Romana, which is a true urnfield of Villanovan
type, to the Hellenistic cemetery in the S. Giovanni district. No traces remain
of the habitation center, which must surely have occupied the acropolis on which
later rose the mediaeval castle. A Roman mosaic is preserved in the St. Francis'
Monastery. A rare type of Byzantine grave in the shape of an aedicula can be seen
at the entrance to the highway called the Strada Panoramica. Finds and reconstructions
of the cemeteries are at the Museum in Lipari.
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.
NAXOS (Ancient city) SICILY
The first colony founded by the Greeks in Sicily, in 734-33 B.C. according
to Thucydides (6.3). The site, in the district of Giardini, is on a level area
of lava flow from the Moio volcano between the mouth of the Santa Venera stream
(SW) and a small bay NE which was favorable as a landing. The area, closed in
by the ridges of Monte Tauro, where Taormina is situated, is ca. 1 km from the
Alcantara river, which must have constituted the only important means of communication
with the inland areas.
The site appears to have been inhabited from prehistoric times. Remains
of neolithic huts have been isolated as has a flourishing settlement of the Bronze
Age (with pottery in the style of Thapsos). For the period immediately preceding
colonization, traces of the presence of the Sikels have been found who, according
to Strabo, were in the area when the Greeks arrived. The founders of Naxos were
primarily Chalkidians, but Ionians were also involved, and their leader was Thoukles.
Notices regarding life in the colony in the 7th and 6th c. B.C. are
sparse. The only notable episode in this period is the foundation of Kallipolis.
At the beginning of the 5th c. B.C., Naxos, together with other Chalkidian cities,
was attacked by Hippokrates of Gela and the citizens expelled. Only after 460
B.C. did life in the city begin again. In the war between Syracuse and Athens,
Naxos was on the side of Athens. Some years after the defeat of Athens, Dionysios
of Syracuse took the city (404-403 B.C.) through a ruse, according to Polyainos
(5.2.5), destroyed it, and gave its territory to the Sikels, while the citizenry
was dispersed (Diod. 14.87). In the second half of the 4th c. B.C., a new city
arose over the destroyed one and coined its own money. Recently, some of its tombs
have been discovered. A small nucleus of homes must have survived around the bay
down to the Roman and Byzantine periods.
In addition to large sections of the perimeter of the walls, excavations
have brought to light elements of the urban plan from the archaic and Classical
periods. To date, two phases have been recognized: one dating to the 7th-6th c.,
and the second corresponding to the reconstruction of 460 B.C. There is particular
interest in the first phase of the settlement for the study of Greek city planning,
since it is part of a colonial foundation which precedes the work of Hippodamos
of Miletos. Some quarters have been partially explored including the N sector,
a group of dwellings N of the W sacred precinct, and the E sector.
The sacred precinct in the extreme SW corner of the city near the
Santa Venera has been uncovered almost entirely. This is perhaps the temenos epithalassion
of Aphrodite mentioned by our sources (App. Bell. Civ. 5.109). There is also a
trapezoidal enclosure built in two periods (between the end of the 7th c. and
the middle of the 6th c. B.C.). It contains the foundations of two buildings:
Temple A, the oldest (about 600 B.C.) and Temple B (525 B.C.). There are also
a square altar with three steps and two kilns for architectural terracottas and
pottery of the same date as Temple A.
The walls which enclose the temenos are imposing and were constructed
of lava rock of quite accurate polygonal workmanship, comparable to the walls
at Delphi and at Smyrna. They constitute one of the the most interesting examples
of such workmanship in the W Mediterranean area. That technique, in fact, is rarely
encountered in this area in the archaic period (cf. the examples at Velia and
at Lipari).
To the two sacred buildings have been attributed two architectural
terracotta friezes of which numerous examples are extant collected in a storeroom
near the N wall of the temenos (wall E). The most recent series, belonging to
Temple B, is composed of simas and chests with molded and painted decorations.
There is a frieze of lotus and palm leaves, evidently based on Ionic models.
The series of Silenos antefixes must have adorned smaller buildings
and are of various types, from one very old example with a counterpart in Samian
models dating to the second half of the 6th c. to more recent ones from the mid
5th c. B.C. The materials found in the sacred precinct comprise terracotta figurines
(usually standing female figures with a dove or flower on the breast), various
types of pottery, and numerous spear and sword points. These materials were found
deposited in trenches or in thysiai, together with the bones of sacrificed animals,
often near stones which were set upright and used as stelai. These thysiai were
set out around the altar.
The potters' quarter has been extensively explored. It was situated
on the edge of the city, in the N sector in the vicinity of Colle Salluzzo. There
is also a complex of three kilns, two circular and one square, which were active
in the 6th and 5th c. B.C. Remains of buildings have been brought to light which
were used for the working of pottery and as depositories for equipment, among
which the molds for Sileni antefixes and for figurines have been discovered. The
site of the altar of Apollo Archagetes is not known, but it was nearby that the
Greeks united before their expeditions and, according to Thucydides (6.3), it
was outside the city.
In the necropolis a group of tombs dating to the 6th-5th c. B.C. have
been recovered W of the Santa Venera, ca. 600 m from the river, while 4th c. tombs
have come to light in the immediate environs of the river as well as over the
slopes of the hill on which the modern cemetery is located.
The renowned coinage of Naxos (6th-5th c. B.C.) shows consistently
the head of a bearded Dionysos in profile, crowned with ivy and grape clusters
hanging from vine shoots. Later, other subjects were substituted, such as the
crouching Silenos raising a kantharos on high.
Naxos produced pottery of distinctive character particularly in the
8th c. and 7th c. B.C. It is distinguished from the other Sicilian shops (those
at Syracuse and at Megara Hyblaia) by decorative motifs which nearly always recall
the influence of Euboean-Cycladic pottery.
The initial dig in the archaeological zone has already been opened
to the public and the site will, as time goes on, extend over a large part of
the city. Today, it includes the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, the W stretch of the
city walls, and the quarter of the vase makers in the district of Salluzzo. An
Antiquarium situated on Punta di Schiso is now being built.
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 56 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
TAVROMENION (Ancient city) SICILY
A city on the slopes of Mt. Tauro, 250 m above the sea, on the road
from Messina to Katane. Of the early Sikel habitation little is known; only the
necropolis, on the hillside above the city, has been excavated. The Greek city
was founded in 358 B.C. by descendants of the Naxians, whose city on the shore
below had been destroyed by Dionysios of Syracuse in 403.
The Greek agora corresponds roughly to the modern Piazza Vittorio
Emanuele; its W edge may have been delimited by a Doric peristyle temple, one
corner of which can be seen behind the church of S. Caterina. The foundations
of a large building have lately been excavated behind the Caserma of the Carabinieri;
this structure probably defined the N side of the agora. Outside the adjacent
Messina gate are traces of the city wall, which appears to have followed the lines
of the extant mediaeval walls. The nearby church of S. Pancrazio is founded on
the ruins of a temple in antis, probably dedicated to Zeus Serapis. The scanty
remains possibly of a third temple can be seen above and to the E of the theater;
they underlie the upper portico of the theater structure. An important building
of the Greek period has recently come to light in Via Bagnoli Croce below the
theater: situated on a sloping terrace, it has a central peristyle, behind which
are rooms on at least three sides. On the N is a larger room at a higher level;
fragments of inscribed wall plaster suggest that this room was a library. The
entire complex may then be identified as the gymnasium, the existence of which
had been known from inscriptions.
Tauromenion flourished during the Roman domination, especially after
the founding of a colony by Augustus in 30 B.C. The agora was retained as a forum.
Behind the Greek building that delimited the N side of the agora were the municipal
baths, a part of which has recently been excavated. Three large rooms of brick-faced
concrete formed the S exposure of the building; these were heated, two with hypocausts.
Other rooms to the N are incorporated in modern houses; parts of these can be
seen in the extant walls known as the Zecca. Abutting on the temple at the W side
of the forum is a small odeion, dated like the baths to the Imperial period. The
scaena, directly in front of the peristyle temple, was decorated with niches;
the entire structure had a wooden roof. About 100 m E of the forum is the theater,
cut into the slopes of one of the city's acropoleis. It was constructed of brick
and concrete in the 2d c. A.D. An earlier Greek theater was probably on the same
site; to it may belong some inscribed seats and masonry walls, used as foundations
for the Roman stage building. The scaenae frons, inaccurately restored, was articulated
by two superimposed colonnades and pierced by three arches; the latter are open,
representing a concession to the splendid site with its superb view of Aetna and
the sea. The upper cavea was crowned with a vaulted colonnade. At a later period
the theater was transformed into an arena. Below the forum of the city is the
handsome brick wall known as the Naumachia. Decorated with alternating niches
and false windows, this structure had a purely functional role; it formed the
outer wall of a large two-aisled cistern, now mostly destroyed; and it served
to terrace the steep hillside. Other large vaulted cisterns have survived in Vicolo
Floresta and in Contrada Giafari above the town, indicating the existence of a
complex system for the collection and distribution of water. Important local inscriptions,
works of sculpture, mosaics, and other antiquities are kept in the small antiquarium
above the theater, in anticipation of the completion of the Museo della Badia.
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 95 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
TYNDARIS (Ancient city) SICILY
The modern village, built upon the ancient site, is between Cape Calava
and the Cape of Milazzo on the Gulf of Patti, 10 km E of the town of Patti on
the main highway that encircles the island.
Tyndaris began as a colony of Dionysios I in 396 B.C. It remained
faithful to Rome during the Punic wars and prospered under the Empire. Pliny (2.206)
records a landslide of the 1st c. A.D., in which part of the town fell away into
the sea 280 m below the steep cliffs. Tyndaris became a diocese, and its role
in Gnaeco-Roman events ended with the advent of the Arabs.
The site extends ca. 1 km SE-NW. The Greek acropolis is covered by
the modern sanctuary of the black Madonna, and the agora by the village; tests,
however, have been carried out. The ashlar circuit wall with its later accretions
is the most imposing monument datable to the colony's beginnings. The single-nave
Republican basilica marks the SE boundary of the excavations open to the public.
Its restoration is in progress. A walk to the upper decumanus, which leads NW
from its start at the basilica, reveals the museum on the left, and the insulae
of Graeco-Roman houses and a public bath on the right. The two peristyle houses
and the baths nearby show signs of later embellishment. Poor huts of the 4th-5th
c. A.D. lie over the baths. At the end of the decumanus is the Greek theater (remodeled
by the Romans).
H. L. Allen, 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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