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(Εὔβοια; Eúboia). [1] Greek island [German version] I. Location The largest Greek island other than Crete extends parallel to the eastern coast of central Greece (Locris, Boeotia and Attica). E. is about 160 km long, about 5.5 to 50 km wide and has an area of 3,580 km2. It is separated by a strait from the mainland which narrows at its centre to a 40-m wide channel, the  Euripus [1]. Since the 5th cent. BC several bridges linked E. at this point to the mainland. Because of its steep cliffs the east coast is almost inaccessible with Cyme a…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Colonization | Phoenicians, Poeni (Μοτύα, Μοτύη; Motýa, Motýē). Phoenician-Carthaginian settlement on an island ( c. 45 ha) in the lagoon 8 km to the north of Marsala, modern Mozia on San Pantaleo. With Solus and Panormus, M. was the last fortress held by the Phoenicians in their retreat from the Greeks in western Sicily (Thuc. 6,2,6; own coins inscribed in Greek and Phoenician in the 5th and 4th cents. BC: HN 157f.) and was conquered and destroyed by Dionys…

[German version] (Νέητον, Νεαίτιον/ Néēton, Neaítion; Latin Netum). City of the Siculi in the southeastern part of Sicilia (Plin. HN 3,91: Netini; Ptol. 3,4,13), modern-day Noto Antica, located on the upper course of the Asinaro on a steep, heart-shaped bluff (420 m high), 16 km to the northwest of Noto. At the beginning of the 1st Punic War in 263 BC N. was awarded by Rome to the kingdom of Syracuse (Diod. 23,4,1: Νεαιτῖνοι; StV 3, No. 479). As part of the Roman province, N. was one of the favoured municipalities ( civitates foederatae) and expressly exempted from providing grain shipments ( cu…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sicily | Theatre | Christianity | | Coloniae | Natural catastrophes (Κατάνη; Katánē, Lat. Catina). City on the east coast of Sicily on the fertile plain south of the volcano Mount  Etna [1], modern Catania; it was founded in 729 BC by Chalcidians who had some years previously settled in Naxos. In the 2nd half of the 6th cent., the lawgiver  Charondas was active in C; the town was visited by  Ibycus and  Xenophanes;  Stesichorus died there. In the 1st half of…

[German version] (Στίελ(λ)α; Stíel(l)a). Fortified city in Sicilia of unknown location (Sophron fr. [1.67]; Philistus FGrH 556 F 20), in the vicinity of Megara according to Steph. Byz. s.v. Στύελλα (corrected to Στιελα based on coins) [3]. In view of the legends STA/STI/ STIA, S. is to be attributed with two series of coins (5th/4th cent. BC) ([2]; a single coin was found in excavations: Francavilla di Sicilia west of Taormina [3]). The relationship with coins from Catane and Leontini suggests that S. was located there ([4; 5]: near Portiere Stella in the plain of Catania). Falco, Giulia (…

[German version] (Κόσσουρα, Κόσ(σ)ουρος; Kóssoura, Kós(s)ouros, Lat. Cossura, Cossyra). Vulcanic island between Sicily and Africa, modern Pantelleria, before the Punic Wars under Carthaginian rule, in the First Punic War temporarily, after 217 BC finally conquered by Rome and attached to the province of Sicilia. The partially Phoenician inscriptions of coins demonstrate that the population was Punic for a considerable time later. Remains from the Prehistoric to Byzantine periods. Falco, Giulia (Athens) Bibliography S. Tusa, La Sicilia nella preistoria, 1983, 274ff. Id., At…

[German version] (Ἔλυμοι; Élymoi). Pre-Greek tribe in western Sicily, thought by Thucydides (6,2,3; cf. Str. 13,1,53) to be descendants of Trojan refugees ( Elymus); according to Hellanicus (FGrH 4 F 79b), they were forced out of southern Italy by the Oinotroi. They were generally allied with the Phoenicians and hostile towards the Greeks. Following their Hellenization in the 5th cent. BC, they are no longer mentioned as a tribe. The names of their towns ( Eryx, Segesta,  Entella) point to Ligurian…

[German version] (Μότυκα, Μότουκα; Mótyka, Mόtouka). City of the Siculi in the southeast of Sicily (Ptol. 3,4,14), modern Módica to the south of Ragusa. Finds from as early as the prehistorical period. Ancient inscriptions from the area (IG XIV 243-253). The ager Mutycensis was the ager decumanus of the Roman province of Sicilia (Cic. Verr. 2,3,101; 120), the Mutycenses were stipendiarii (Plin. HN 3,91). Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Falco, Giulia (Athens) Bibliography K. Ziegler, s.v. M., RE 16, 407  BTCGI 10, 169-177  Morgantina Studies, 5 vols., 1981-1996.

[German version] (Φωκαῖαι/ Phokaîai). Unidentified quarter (χωρίον/ chōríon) of the city of Leontini. Some aristocrats from Leontini, who had gone away and settled in Syracuse (Syracusae) but then left again because of  conflicts, withdrew to Ph. and the nearby fortress of Bricinniae in 422 BC. Many of the democrats previously driven out of Leontini also soon gathered here in order to take up the fight with Syracuse (Thuc. 5,4,4). Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart) Falco, Giulia (Athens) Bibliography E. Manni, Geografia fisica e politica della Sicilia antica, 1981, 218.

[German version] (Γαῦλος, Γαῦδος; Gaûlos, Gaûdos). North-western island of the Malta group (modern Gozo), first mentioned by Hecataeus (FGrH 1 F 341; cf. Str. 6,2,11; Diod. Sic. 5,12,4: located in the open sea with good harbours; Procop. Vand. 1,14; Plin. HN 3,92). Name probably Phoenician: γαῦλος/ gaûlos, ‘round cargo boat’. In the 8th cent. it was colonized by Phoenicians, later in Carthaginian, Greek, and after 220 BC Roman possession. Inland there was a settlement of the same name. Coins with Greek and Punic legends (HN 883). In Ggantij…

[German version] (ἔκνομον; éknomon). Massif in southern Sicily near the mouth of the Salso above Licata. The discovery of remnants from archaic times (chthonic sanctuary, necropolis) in Mollarella and newer studies about the mountain [1], which was bordered by a subsidiary of the ancient Himeras and was located towards the sea, suggest [2] the location of E. west of Monte S. Angelo (Poliscia plateau) and not on its eastern foothills as was previously thought. References: Diod. Sic. 19,108 (fortress…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sicily | Coloniae | Etrusci, Etruria | Colonization (Ἱμέρα; Himéra). The settlers understood the non-Greek place name as ἡμέρα ( hēméra, ‘day’) and made the cock their coat-of-arms (coins), also alluded to by Pind. Ol. 12,13. Apart from  Mylae, H. was the only ancient Greek colony on the north coast of Sicily, pushed way up towards Phoenician territory, founded, starting from Zancle  - 240 years before its destruction in 409, in other words in 649 BC (Diod. Sic. 1…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sicily (Μοργαντίνα, Μοργαντίνη/ Morgantína, Morgantínē; Latin Morgentia, Murgantia). City of the Siculi in Sicily, some 15 km northeast of Piazza Armerina (Serra Orlando). Pottery finds attest to an immigration of Italic settlers in the 11th cent. BC (cf. Str. 6,1,6; 2,4). The development of the city of M. began in about 560 BC with a settlement of Greeks on the modern Cittadella (578 m). In 459 BC Ducetius conquered the city (Diod. 11,78,5) and destr…

[German version] (Μίσκερα/ Mískera). Town in Sicania (Sicani; Theop. FGrH 115 F 198). Location unknown. Falco, Giulia (Athens) Bibliography BTCGI 10, 159f.

[German version] (Μυτίστρατον; Mytístraton/ Lat. Mutustratum). Town of the Siculi in Sicily. According to the distribution of coin finds (from the period of Timoleon, HN 158), probably located near Marianopoli (30 km west of Henna [1] (modern Enna)). At the beginning of the 1st Punic War, M. was besieged for seven months by the Romans without success. The Romans suffered great losses (Diod. Sic. 23,9,3) and only conquered the town in 258 BC. After the withdrawal of the Carthaginian garrison and the c…

[German version] (Φοινικοῦσσα/ Phoinikoûssa, Φοινικώδης/ Phoinikṓdēs, Latin Phoenicusa). The sixth of the Aeoliae Insulae in Plin. HN 3,94, modern Filicudi, between the islands of Aliculi in the west and Salina in the east. The date-palm island (φοῖνιξ/ phoînix, Aristot. Mir. 132; Str. 6,2,11) was used for pasture, but at times was settled: a prehistorical settlement has been discovered on Cape Graziano in the east of P., and also numerous graves of the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Below sea-level there are remains of buildings surviving from various eras. Meister, Klaus (Berlin) F…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sicily | | Colonization | Punic Wars (Καμάρινα; Kamárina, Lat. Camarina, Camerina). Dorian town 60 km west of the southern tip of Sicily on a hillside of about 40 m in height, at the mouth of the Hipparis. The foundation by  Syracusae in 599 BC (Thuc. 6,5,3) marked the end of the Dorian-Syracusan expansion into the south-western hinterland. Its original foundation may have taken place from the sea; however, contact by land must soon have been established,…

(ὁ Ἔρυξ/ ho Éryx, Lat. Eryx, Erucus, Erycus). [German version] [1] Mountain in western Sicily High, isolated mountain in western Sicily (751 m), now Monte San Giuliano. Settled even in prehistoric times, with a famous sanctuary to the probably Phoenician goddess of E., identified as Aphrodite by the Greeks, later (Thuc. 6,2,3) became a polis of the  Elymaeans. The attempt by Dorieus to establish a Greek colony (around 510 BC) ended in his destruction by the Phoenicians and the Elymaeans of Segesta (Hdt. 5,43-4…

[German version] (Μότυον; Mótyon). Fort in the region of  Acragas, occupied by Ducetius in 451 BC, reconquered by Acragas the following year (Diod. 11,91,1; 4). Possible location at modern Vassallaggi. Falco, Giulia (Athens) Bibliography G. Tigano, Vassallaggi: nuove ricerche e nuovi dati, in: P. Melli, G. Cavaleri (eds.), Atti Convegno su Antichità e Storia della bassa Valle dell'Himera, (1987), 1993, 191-204.

[German version] (Ἔγγυον; Énguon). City in the interior of Sicily, supposedly founded by Cretans (Diod. Sic. 4,79; Plut. Marcellus 20), taken by Timoleon from the tyrant Leptines (Diod. Sic. 16,72); in the 2nd Punic War on the side of Carthage and yet treated gently by Marcellus (Plut., ibid.); according to Cic. Verr. 3,103 a civitas decumana, according to Plin. HN 3,91 stipendiarii; the sanctuary of the ‘mothers’ (Plut. ibid.) was famous, in Cic. Verr. 2,4,97 of the Mater Magna, 2,5,186 Mater Idaea, with relics of Meriones and Odysseus. Undoubtedly identical with Troina [1. 13013; 2]. F…