It was an extensive, wealthy, and important town at the time when the
Carthaginians, after the unsuccessful attempt under Gelo, who confined
them to their three factories, Motye, Panormus, and Soloeis, were
expelled from all other parts of the island. But during the unfortunate
Carthaginian war, by means of which Dionysius raised himself, it was the
first town that was captured and destroyed. After that time, it is indeed
still mentioned, and in fact never ceased to exist, but was never again
incorporated with the Greek portion of Sicily. It remained subject to
Carthage, as long as she had any possessions in the island, and then came
into the hands of the Romans, but never acquired any importance.
GELA, likewise an ancient Dorian settlement, was abandoned by its
Greek inhabitants during the Carthaginian war, and destroyed by the
Carthaginians. Even before this, the place had several times changed its
population: in the time of Gelo it was restored, but after the repeated
destructions by its enemies, it recovered only partially. It received
its death-blow shortly after the time of Agathocles, when Phintias,
the tyrant of Agrigentum, transplanted its inhabitants to the town of
Phintias, founded by himself.
CAMARINA experienced the same fate as Gela.
On the southern coast there existed, at different times, several Doric
towns, as _Heraclea_ in the territory of Agrigentum, _Acrae_, and
_Casmenae_, but they are of no importance.
NAXOS, the most ancient among the Chalcidian or Ionian settlements, was
situated between mount Aetna and the Sicilian straits; it was in fact
the earliest Greek colony in Sicily. It is doubtful whether Naxos was
destroyed by Gelo or Hiero. During the great period of Sicilian history
its name is not mentioned.
ZANCLE, afterwards MESSENE or MESSANA; the cause of this change of
name is obscure. The story about Gorgus, the son of Aristomenes, and
Manticlus, is untenable and chronologically impossible. Still, however,
there must have been a mixture of Messenians which gave rise to the
name. Samians, who had fled from their own country, treacherously took
possession of the town in which they had been hospitably received.
More than two hundred years later, their descendants were punished for
the deed by the Campanian mercenaries of Agathocles, who butchered the
inhabitants who had allowed them a passage through their town. After
this time the place was always called Messana, while the inhabitants
bore the name of Mamertines, which was the general designation for Oscan
mercenaries. These Mamertines retained their Italian character, without
becoming hellenised in any way; and even as late as the time of Verres we
find them mentioned with their Oscan names, the praenomen and the nomen
gentilicium. Their coins, however, have inscriptions in Greek characters,
and I have no doubt that in the course of time the Mamertines also became
hellenised. The Roman element in the western countries was powerful in
regard to the Celts, Iberians and others; but it was unable to cope with
the Greeks, against whom the Romans did not gain one inch; no Greek
town ever became Latinised, unless all its inhabitants perished. Among
non-Greek nations, such as the Pannonians, Dardanians, and the other
tribes in those countries, the Latin language became predominant within
an extremely short period. The name Mamertines remained in use until the
time of the Roman emperors, but it then disappears, and the name Messana
is again generally employed.
CATANA, likewise a considerable Chalcidian town, was situated near the
river Simaethus, at the foot of mount Aetna. Hiero I. carried away the
inhabitants, and founded a new town; but after his death everything was
restored. After the time of the Athenian expedition, Catana was nearly
always under the influence of Syracuse.
TAUROMENIUM, in the neighbourhood of Naxos between mount Aetna and
Messana, was founded in the time of Timoleon. It was situated on mount
Tauros, which was quite inaccessible. The derivation of its name ἀπὸ
τῆς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ταύρου μονῆς is strange. With the exception of Phintias, it
was the youngest of the Greek towns in Sicily. These late colonies are
essentially different from the earlier ones: they had no oecistae and
no institutions according to the ancient forms, but being the result
of circumstances they did not observe the traditionary formalities.
Tauromenium was very strong by its situation; and, in consequence of the
nature of its locality, its ruins are more perfectly preserved than those
of any other Greek city in Sicily. The splendid theatre was cut in a
semicircle into the rock, and still exists in its ancient beauty. In the
history of literature, Tauromenium is celebrated as the birth-place of
the historian Timaeus, who, as we have learned only recently, spent the
greater part of his long life of ninety years in exile at Athens, where
in all probability he also died. The fifty years of his exile embrace the
whole reign of Agathocles.
LEONTINI was situated at some distance from the coast. It is a mistake
in translations and other books to call this town Leontium, a name which
does not occur anywhere. Its original name must have been Λεοῦς, although
this form is not found in the extant monuments either. As Messana was
called Mamertini, from its Oscan inhabitants, so also in the case of
Leontini, the name of the people was used as the name of the town. It
was the chief place in the most fertile corn district of Sicily, and
the _campi Leontini_ are often mentioned on this account. The town was
destroyed by the Syracusans at least three times, but always recovered
itself.
HIMERA, on the north coast, was a colony of Chalcidians mixed with
Dorians, but in such a manner that the νόμιμα Χαλκιδικὰ prevailed. In
Olymp. 93, it was destroyed by the Carthaginians. The town itself was
never restored, but around some hot springs in the neighbourhood (θερμὰ
Ἱμεραῖα) a small town of the name of _Therma_, or _Thermae_, arose, whose
inhabitants were called _Thermitani_. This town is remarkable as the
birth-place of Agathocles, who, though a monster, is yet an important
person in history. Himera was one of the genuine ancient Greek colonies.
On the north coast between Himera and Messana, there were several Greek
towns of uncertain origin, which were probably founded by neighbouring
cities, and were afterwards inhabited by Greeks of all kinds. Places of
this kind are _Cephaloedion_, _Mylae_, and _Calacte_; they are not of
great importance, and I cannot here enter into any detail about them.
In the time of Thucydides there existed three Punic towns on the
north-west coast of Sicily, viz., _Soloeis_, _Motye_, and _Panormus_.
Motye was the principal place among them, and stood to Carthage in the
same relation as Utica, Leptis, and others. About thirty years before
the passage of Xerxes into Europe, at the time of the expulsion of
Tarquin, the Carthaginians were already in possession of a province in
Sicily; they then concluded a treaty with Rome, which has been preserved
by Polybius. Ancient Greek history gives us no information about this,
but rather makes it appear as if their attempt in the time of Gelo to
establish themselves in Sicily had been the first; but the treaty with
Rome is indubitable. The statement that the victory of Salamis, and that
of Gelo over the Carthaginians at Himera, took place on the same day, a
coincidence on which Herodotus lays great stress, is likewise untenable,
for it is opposed to the account which we have in the Parian marbles from
Timaeus. The origin of the fiction evidently lies in the desire to have
a parallel. Gelo’s victory must be dated seven or nine years later than
the time to which it is assigned by Diodorus. After that defeat, the
Carthaginians always maintained themselves on the north-western coast,
where no Greek town existed. When, in the course of time, the power of
the Carthaginians had greatly increased, and when they displayed a love
of conquest, the neighbouring town of Egesta threw itself into their
arms. The Greeks in Sicily were, on the one hand, extremely careless, and
on the other fool-hardy in giving provocation, and these circumstances
gave rise to the unfortunate war with Carthage. In the second war with
Dionysius, Motye, which until then, had been the chief place of the
Carthaginians, was destroyed. They now built a new town, Olymp. 100,
of the name of _Lilybaeum_: when it was taken by the Romans, it had
existed about 150 years. It was the seat of the Carthaginian government,
a regular Carthaginian eparchy being established in those parts, which
is always called ἡ Φοινικικὴ ἐπαρχία. Bochart’s etymologies, from the
Semitic languages, are often quite without foundation, but he explains
the name Lilybaeum quite correctly as ללבי, that is, opposite to
Libya. _Soloeis_ was an unimportant place.
PANORMUS became a great town under the dominion of the Carthaginians.
It is strange that both Soloeis and Panormus are Greek names; the money
coined in the latter place at the time of the Carthaginian dominion in
Sicily, is likewise Greek, from which we must infer that Panormus was not
a Punic colony like Lilybaeum. The natural advantages of its situation
are very great: it has an excellent harbour, as even its name intimates,
and its site is in a beautiful fertile plain on the coast, above which
mount Hercte rises at the entrance of the harbour. This mountain was a
very important post during the first Punic war.
LILYBAEUM remained an important place even under the Romans, though
its name is afterwards but rarely mentioned. The Romans, for financial
purposes, divided Sicily into two provinces, viz., Syracuse and
Lilybaeum; they were governed by one praetor, but had different financial
administrations, because the systems of taxation were different in the
two parts. So long as Carthage existed, the Romans kept up Lilybaeum as
a place of arms and a military port; but the place afterwards lost this
importance, because its harbour was gradually filled with sand. It is at
present known only for its excellent vineyards.
DREPANA, the modern Trapani, near Lilybaeum, was another strongly
fortified port town of the Carthaginians, and is still of importance.
All these places act a conspicuous part in the first Punic war.
EGESTA, or SEGESTA, was situated in the neighbourhood of Drepana.
Thucydides says that its inhabitants were Trojans; and the unanimous
voice of antiquity calls the Egestans and the Elymi, there and about
mount Eryx, Trojans. I have explained my opinion on this point in
my Roman History, and shewn that Trojans here means Tyrrhenians or
Pelasgians, like those occupying the coasts of Italy and Sardinia. The
name Trojans, therefore, seems to have been a general Pelasgian name,
which was commonly applied to the Mysian Trojans, because they were
the most important, just as the name Hellenes was commonly given to
the people of Argos. All these nations were connected by religion and
their common sanctuary of Samothrace, the Trojan character of which
is undeniable. The Segestans are called by the Greeks barbarians, and
they were certainly non-Greeks; but when we consider the ruins of their
temples, which are not only grand but splendid, and are in no way
inferior to the most beautiful Greek edifices; and when we see their
coins, which equal the finest specimens made in Greece, we must confess
that the word “barbarian” cannot be understood here in the same sense in
which it is applied to Thracians, Getae, and Macedonians, who were not
even able correctly to imitate the formation of Greek words. Afterwards,
Segesta, like all the rest of the island, became completely hellenised;
Cicero always calls the Siculi Greeks, and the names of the Segestans,
wherever they occur in history, are Greek. Segesta was an unfortunate
place, for it was the occasion of the deplorable expedition of the
Athenians to Sicily, of which we can only lament the final issue. It
would have been fortunate, if the Athenians had been able to carry it
out with energy, for the fate of Greece would have taken a different
direction. The Segestans have much to answer for to Sicily, to Greece,
and to all the world, for they misled the Athenians by their delusive
promises. After the defeat of the Athenians, the Chalcidian towns one
by one concluded peace, and the Segestans, abandoned by every one, were
obliged to throw themselves into the arms of the Carthaginians. Under
their protection, the town was safe and prosperous for a period of about
ninety years, until the time when the power of Agathocles reached its
highest point. But when Agathocles was victorious for a time, it was
taken by the sword, and treated like Magdeburg in the Thirty Years’ war.
Afterwards a population again assembled there; in the first Punic war
Segesta is mentioned again, and submits to the Romans under an appeal to
its Trojan origin.
The towns in the interior of Sicily were originally partly Siculian
and partly Sicanian, though it is now impossible to draw a line of
demarcation between them. In the north, about mount Aetna as far as
Henna, all the towns, such as Henna, Centuripa, Agyrion, Halesa,
Aluntion, and many others, were probably Siculian. The Siculians, even
after the time of Gelo, formed distinct states and had their own kings.
Diodorus compiled his history in a most unsystematic manner: when he is
engaged with the history of a nation, and it occurs to him, that he has
dwelt upon it long enough, and that he has neglected another, he all at
once breaks off and begins to discuss the latter. Such is the case in
his history of Sicily: he is often very minute, relating the events of
a nation year after year, but then he is for a time quite silent about
it. After the time of Gelo and Hiero, we find a Siculian kingdom, under
a prince called Ducetius, which was very dangerous to the Siceliots.[61]
Afterwards we see the Siculians broken up into many small states, some
of which were hellenised at a very early period. The power of the Greek
tyrants often extended very far into the interior; and those of Syracuse
at times ruled almost over the whole island; during such times, Greeks
settled in all parts of it. These things are often mentioned only
accidentally, as for example, in the case of Diodorus himself, who is
called a Siceliot, though he belonged to a Siculian town. At that time
the Siculian and Sicanian languages no longer existed and Greek was
spoken everywhere.
HENNA, situated in the centre of the country, was the most important of
all the Siculian towns. Henna, and not Enna, is the correct spelling,
for so we find it on a very ancient Greek coin; and only later Latin
ones have Enna, whereas all the good Latin MSS., such as the Codex
Puteanus of Livy, as well as the inscriptions, have the H, as in _ordo
populusque Hennensis_; in after-times the pronunciation was modified. I
do not, however, mean to say, that if you find Enna in a poet, you must
at once correct it into Henna, for such things depend upon authority;
the ancients often pronounced a word with an aspiration, which we cannot
accurately imitate, and which, therefore, has disappeared in Italian
and other modern languages. Henna is celebrated as the central seat of
the worship of Demeter and Persephone, which spread thence into Italy,
and was also adopted by the Greeks. It was probably different from the
worship of Demeter at Eleusis; but we cannot speak positively about this
matter, and in my opinion, it is a mere waste of learning and ingenuity
to institute inquiries about it.
CENTURIPA (_Centuripini_, Κεντόριπα), near the slope of mount Aetna, was
the greatest town of the interior at the time of the Romans. In the age
of Cicero, its citizens were the wealthiest in all Sicily. In the first
Punic war, they had been enabled by circumstances, about which we have
no information, to put themselves in an extremely favourable relation
to the Romans; this had been done at a time when the other Siculian
places had allowed themselves to be tempted to rise against Rome; and in
consequence of this, Centuripa was honoured with great privileges. It
derived special advantages from the extensive confiscations which were
often made of whole districts. On such occasions, the Roman equites
speculated to acquire large estates, and the Centuripans undertook as
farmers (_aratores_), or agricultural speculators, the cultivation of
large districts; the existence of such aratores is known from Cicero’s
Verrine orations. Centuripa then remained the centre of Sicilian
agriculture, probably until a very late period. _Agyrion_ was situated in
the neighbourhood of Centuripa.
I have already said in general how Sicily became a desolate country.
When many towns had already been destroyed in the wars of Agathocles,
the first Punic war, which lasted twenty-four years, was extremely
destructive, because it was carried on at the expense of that small
country; the Syracusan kingdom alone, which was in the enjoyment of
order and protection, was exempted. Then followed the second Punic
war, and the senseless insurrection of the Syracusans and of nearly
all the inhabitants of the island. They were punished by the Romans in
such a manner, that all cultivation disappeared from the greater part
of the island; the towns perished and were changed into large estates;
the corn-fields in the interior were changed into pastures, on which
large numbers of cattle and hosts of slaves were kept, while the free
population was almost entirely extirpated. Hence the insurrection of
Eunus, in the year of Rome 620; a war was then carried on with great
exertion for years, and was not brought to a close until several Roman
armies had been defeated. Thirty years later, a second similar Servile
war broke out, which, though it did not last quite as long as the first,
yet completely ruined several towns: the slaves took possession of the
fortified places, and annihilated the free population. As regards the
period of the Roman emperors, we only know that Augustus established
colonies in some places, but the rest of the island was quite desolate,
there being only some large estates and stations for post horses. The
Regestum of pope Gregory the Great, which contains the last accounts of
Sicily before it fell into the hands of barbarians, shows the island
in this wretched condition. The Roman see possesses large estates in
Sicily, and the correspondence with their stewards reveals to us the
condition of the island and the nature of such estates: we see that the
country was in a state of utter decay.
SARDINIA.
Sardinia fully confirms the observation regarding the identity of the
physical character of countries on two sides of the same sea. There does
not exist a more senseless notion than to imagine that rivers form the
natural boundaries between two countries; the same physical features
appear on both sides of a river: rivers are lines of communication, but
mountains separate countries from one another. The Suabian and Bavarian
races are separated by the range of the Vorarlberg. Sardinia, in its
physical structure, belongs to Africa, if not wholly, at least its
southern part as far as the mountains. This character shows itself both
in the vegetation and in the animal life of the country: the _musimon_,
an animal foreign to all the rest of Europe, is not found anywhere out of
Africa except in Sardinia.[62] The character of the population also is
African, whence Cicero, in his speech for Scaurus, says: _Afer aut Sardus
sane, si ita se isti malunt nominari_. The island is not, like Sicily,
traversed by lofty mountains; it is only in the northern part that
the mountains reach any considerable height; the rest is only a hilly
country; many parts of the coast are plains, extensive and low marshy
districts, which may be termed savannahs, whence great quantities of salt
are obtained there. The physical identity with Africa manifests itself
also in another very important point: the opposite coasts of Sardinia and
Africa are celebrated for their banks of coral, while they are not found
near Sicily, Spain, or the Balearian islands.[63]
According to the most ancient tradition, the inhabitants of Sardinia
were Tyrrhenians, who appear in various forms and personifications,
in the story about Aristaeus, in the Iolai, and in many other ways.
If Tyrrhenians did exist there, they can only have been settlers on
the coasts, for a part of the inhabitants, such as the _Noraces_
and _Balari_, were certainly of Iberian origin, and belonged to the
same race as the inhabitants of the Balearian islands. In regard to
others again, it is equally certain that they were of Libyan origin,
for they are stated to have resembled the Berbers in language, in
bodily structure, complexion, and hair. The _Sardi Montani_, perhaps a
mixture of Iberians and Libyans, were in later times confined to the
mountains. These mountains, however, must not be conceived as Alps,
for heights of a less lofty character were sufficient for those people
to maintain themselves in them. The highlands of Scotland also do not
contain any high mountains, they are only inaccessible, and yet the
population has maintained itself there throughout all the changes of
nations. The sea-coast was occupied at an early time by Punic colonies,
which afterwards became masters of the island, with the exception of
the interior, over which they exercised no other influence than that
which a powerful nation on the coast always possesses over the other
inhabitants. In like manner the Dutch did not rule over the interior of
Ceylon, the prince of Candy being sovereign, though he was obliged to
comply with the wishes of the Dutch whenever they insisted upon it. Such
was the condition of Sardinia during the second Punic war, when we meet
with Hampsicora and Hiostus as Sardinian princes. The Punic settlements
consisted for the most part of Carthaginians mixed with Libyans, as the
Carthaginians themselves were a mixed race (Λιβυφοίνικες), or with Greeks
from Sicily and Magna Graecia. The Libyans must not be conceived as
negroes: in their physical features they are not very unlike Europeans,
and scarcely differ at all from southern Europeans, so that the mixture
could take place without any difficulty. The mixture of the Libyphoenices
with the Sardinians is attested by Cicero in an interesting fragment
of his speech for Scaurus. The Punic language accordingly predominated
everywhere on the coast, and all the known names of the Sardinians are
Punic, e.g., _Aris_, genitive _Arinis_, which is nothing else than the
Hebrew Aaron; so also Caralis and others. I said before, that Sardinia,
near the coast, has extensive low grounds, which are, for the most part,
marshy and unhealthy: this peculiarity, (_aër gravis_), which is still
the reason of the scanty population of the island, was known even to the
historians of antiquity; the country was very dangerous to the Roman
soldiers, many of whom died there of fevers. This we see from Tacitus’
annals[64] to have been the case in the time of Tiberius, and such it
continues to be at the present day; in most parts it is impossible to
remove the unhealthy character of the land by cultivation.
There are still many Punic remains in Sardinia; but there also are a
few Cyclopean walls, which can neither be ascribed to the Punians nor
to the Sardinians of the interior, but must be Greek. They are minutely
discussed in Millot’s description of Sardinia, which is a bad book,
but contains valuable information about those Cyclopean walls. Timaeus
spoke of ruins which were referred to the Iolai, the alleged ancient
Greek colonists. Most of the antiquities that have been dug out of the
ground, belong to the Roman period, but some also are Punic and have
Punic inscriptions. Many belong to the rude barbarians of the interior,
especially certain hideous and deformed idols resembling those of the
Wends and American Indians.