Bradanus, or Bradano, the Aciris, or Agri, and the Sybaris, rise in the Apennines, and flow into the Gulf of Tarentum. - South of Lucania are the Bruttii. Near the Mare Tyrrhenum, a little inland, is Consentia, now Consenza. — Quite in the toe of Italy, on the strait which divides it from Sicily, is Rhegium, now Reggio; and on the opposite coast of Italy, on the Ionian sea, is Locri Epi-Zephyrii, so called from the promontory of Zephyrium, a little below it. North of Locri is Caulon, and above it Scylaceum, now Squillaci, and after the shore has bent to the east, is the promontory of Lacinium*, now called Capo della Colonna, from a column of a celebrated temple of Juno Lacinia still remaining. A little north-west is Croto, or Crotona, the birth-place of the famous Olympic victor Milo, and a once flourishing city, and celebrated school of Pythagoreans. Above this is Petilia †, built by Philoctetes, after his return from the Trojan war; and above it Roscianum, now Rosano. The principal Rivers of the Bruttii are, the Crathes, or Crati, which rises in the Apennines, and falls into the Tarentine bay near Sybaris; and the Neæthes, or Neto, which rises in the same vicinity, and falls into the sea near Petilia. Romanum est, cœstron Graii vertere vocantes ; Virg. Georg. III. 146. * Hic sinus Herculei, si vera est fama, Tarenti Virg. Æn. III. 551. See also a beautiful story respecting the painting of Helen, by Zeuxis, in this temple, related by Cicero, De Invent. II. 1. † Parva Philoctetæ subnixa Petelia muro. Virg. Æn. III. 402. CHAPTER III. ITALIAN ISLANDS. A. G. Plates IX. XXIII. SICILIA was antiently called Sicania, from the Sicani, a people of Spain, who possessed the island till they were driven to its western corner by the Siculi, an Italian nation, the original inhabitants of Latium. It was also called Trinacria, from having Tрeis aкpas, three celebrated promontories (the island itself being of a triangular shape): Pelorum at the east, now Cape Faro, adjacent to Italy; Pachynum, now Cape Passaro, at the south; and Lilybæum, now Cape Boëo, at the west. The island was sacred to Ceres*, being very fertile, and forming one of the chief granaries for the supply of Rome. It was colonized by the Greeks and Carthaginians, and came into the possession of the Romans in the second Punic war. South of Pelorum was Messana, more antiently called Zancle, from the curved form of its harbour. The Messenians, who were expelled from the Peloponnese, having taken it from its original possessors, gave it the name of their own city, and retained possession of it until their restoration. It was called also by Cicero, civitas Mamertina, from the Mamertine soldiers having made themselves masters of the town. It is now Messina. * Terra tribus scopulis vastum procurrit in æquor Trinacris; a positu nomen adepta loci; Grata domus Cereri. Ov. Fast. IV. 419. Close to this, on the Sicilian shore, was Charybdis, and above it, on the Italian shore, Scylla *, the two well-known objects of terror to the antient mariners, though now much less formidable. Below Messana is Tauromenium, now Taormino, and below it Catana, which still retains its name, at the foot of Mount Etna, now called Monte Gibello. The most remarkable poetic descriptions of the eruptions of Ætna are in Pindar, Pyth. I. 31., Æschylus, Pr. Vinct. 362., and Virgil, Æn. III. 571. † North of Catana was the little river Acis, for an account of which see Ovid, Met. XIII. 860., and near it the Cyclopum Scopuli, mentioned by Virgil, Æn. I. 201. The plains below the river Simæthus, now the Giaretta, were antiently called the Læstrigonii Campi, from the Læstrigones, a barbarous people, who, as well as the Cyclopes, inhabited Sicily. The wine of this region is celebrated by Horace. ‡ * Dextrum Scylla latus, lævum implacata Charybdis Obsidet, atque imo barathri ter gurgite vastos Sorbet in abruptum fluctus, rursusque sub auras Erigit alternos, et sidera verberat unda. At Scyllam cæcis cohibet spelunca latebris, Ora exsertantem et naves in saxa trahentem. Prima hominis facies, et pulchro pectore virgo Pube tenus: postrema immani corpore pristis Delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum. t Virg. Æn. III. 420. Horrificis juxta tonat Ætna ruinis. Quamquam nec Calabræ mella ferunt apes, Virg. Æn. III. 571. Hor. Od. III. 16. On the coast were the Leontini, now Lentini. West of this were Megara Hyblæa, or Hybla Minor, and the Hyblæi Colles, celebrated for their bees. * Southwards was the river Anapus, and the far-famed city of Syracuse, still called Siracusa. (Pl. XXIII.) It was taken by Marcellus, the Roman Prætor, in the second Punic war, B. C. 212, a. u. c. 542; and was also the scene of the memorable defeat of the Athenians, so finely related by Thucydides, in his seventh book of the Peloponnesian war. The ports of Syracuse lay at the south, below the town. The lesser port was formed by the town and the north side of the little island Ortygia, in which was the fountain Arethusa, and the citadel of Dionysius; the greater port, in which was the mouth of the river Anapus, was formed by the southern side of the island and a bay reaching to the promontory called Plemmyrium, in the recess of which was a castle of the same name. That part of the town called Acradina was nearest the shore, and its southern extremity formed one side of the little port. Here was the Forum, the Amphitheatre, and the Lautomiæ or stone quarries, which were subsequently formed into vast Catacombs. The south-western side of the city, lying towards the Anapus, and separated from it by some marshy ground, was called Neapolis, built after the Athenian invasion, between which and Acradina was Tyche, so called from a temple of Fortune situated there. Above Neapolis was Epipola with the fortress of Euryalus. Between the Anapus and Neapolis was a grove and temple of Apollo, who was hence called Temenites. The whole circuit of Syracuse was 180 stadia, above 22 English miles. This description may be of service in reading Thucydides. Below Syracuse (Pl. IX.) is Helorum, the vestiges of which are called Muri Ucci; the adjacent country was so beautiful, as to be called the Helorian Tempe. The extreme southern point of Sicily is the promontory of Pachynum, now Passaro. * Hyblæis apibus florem depasta salicti. Virg. Ecl. I. 155. Ascending along the southern shore of Sicily is Camarina, antiently called Hyperia, so often celebrated by Pindar; it is still called Camarana: North-west is Gela, near the modern Terra Nova, and the Campi Geloi. The river Himera separated the Syracusan from the Carthaginian dependencies in Sicily. West of the Himera is the city of Agrigentum, or Acragas, as it is called by the Greeks, so often celebrated by Pindar, now called Girgenti. Still west was Selinus, a splendid Syracusan colony. From Selinus the shore bends upwards to the western promontory of Lilybæum, which is nearly opposite Carthage, and still preserves its old name in Boëo; but the city of Lilybæum is now called Marsala. North of Lilybæum is Drepanum, now Trapani, and Mount Eryx, celebrated for its temple of Venus, hence called Erycina.* South-west of Mount Eryx are the Ægades or Ægates Insulæ, celebrated for the famous victory gained by the Romans under Lutatius Catulus over the Carthaginians, which ended the first Punic war, B. C. 242, A. U. C. 512. Proceeding along the northern coast, we find the Trojan colony of Segeste or Egeste, and still east Panormus, now the capital of Sicily, under the name of Palermo. East of it was the city Himera, on another and smaller river of the name afterwards called Thermæ from its warm baths, now Termini. Towards the eastern promontory of Pelorum was the city of Tyndaris, which preserves its name, and Mylæ, now Milazzo, between which place and a station called Naulochus, the fleet of Sextus Pompeius was defeated by that of the Triumvir Octavius, B. C. 36, A. U. C. 718. In the interior of the country, and nearly in its centre, was the celebrated plain of Enna, from which Proserpine was carried away by Pluto to the shades below. (See Ovid, Met. V. 341.) It is now called Castro Janni, or Giovanni. Each of the promontories of Sicily had a celebrated temple. * Sive tu mavis Erycina ridens. Hor. Od. I. 2. |