Helorus, Heloros, Helorum, or Elorus (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: or , Ptol., Steph. B. or , Scyl.; it, Eloro), was an ancient Greek city of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, situated near the east coast, about 40 km south of Syracuse and on the banks of the river of the same name. It is currently an archaeological site in the modern ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of

Noto Noto ( scn, Notu; la, Netum) is a city and in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy. It is southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains. It lends its name to the surrounding area Val di Noto. In 2002 Noto and i ...

History

We have no account of its origin, but it was probably a colony of Syracuse, of which it appears to have continued always a dependency. The name is first found in

Scylax Scylax of Caryanda ( el, Σκύλαξ ὁ Καρυανδεύς) was a Greek explorer and writer of the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE. His own writings are lost, though occasionally cited or quoted by later Greek and Roman authors. The peri ...

; for, though

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...

repeatedly mentions the road leading to Helorus from Syracuse, which was that followed by the Athenians in their disastrous retreat, he never speaks of the town itself. It was one of the cities which remained the under the government of

Hieron II Hiero II ( el, Ἱέρων Β΄; c. 308 BC – 215 BC) was the Greek tyrant of Syracuse from 275 to 215 BC, and the illegitimate son of a Syracusan noble, Hierocles, who claimed descent from Gelon. He was a former general of Pyrrhus of Epirus and ...

by the treaty concluded with him by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, in 263 BC: and, having during the Second Punic War declared in favour of the

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

, was recovered by

Marcus Claudius Marcellus Marcus Claudius Marcellus (; 270 – 208 BC), five times elected as consul of the Roman Republic, was an important Roman military leader during the Gallic War of 225 BC and the Second Punic War. Marcellus gained the most prestigious award a Roma ...

in 214 BC. Under the Romans it appears to have been dependent on Syracuse, and had perhaps no separate municipal existence, though in a passage of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

it appears to be noticed as a ''civitas.'' Its name is again mentioned by the orator (''Id.'' v. 34) as a maritime town where the squadron fitted out by

Verres Gaius Verres (c. 120–43 BC) was a Roman magistrate, notorious for his misgovernment of Sicily. His extortion of local farmers and plundering of temples led to his prosecution by Cicero, whose accusations were so devastating that his defence adv ...

was attacked by pirates: but it does not occur in

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

's list of the towns of Sicily; though he elsewhere mentions it as a '' castellum'' on the river of the same name: and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

iii. 4. § 15. speaks of a city of Helorus.

The site

Its ruins were still visible in the days of

Fazello Tommaso Fazello (New Latin ''Fazellus'', 1498 – 8 April 1570) was an Italian Dominican friar, historian and antiquarian. He is known as the father of Sicilian history. He is the author of the first printed history of Sicily: ''De Rebus Sicu ...

; a little to the north of the river Helorus, and about a mile from the sea-coast. The most conspicuous of them were the remains of a theatre, called by the country people ''Colisseo'': but great part of the walls and other buildings could be traced. The extent of them was, however, inconsiderable. Today the impressive walls, with square bastions, of large ashlars without mortar are visible in some places. The theatre and agora and several other buildings can be seen. The sanctuary of Demeter and Kore dating from the second half of the 4th c. BC has been excavated on the shore north of the city, just outside city walls. The sanctuary flourished from the archaic to the Hellenistic period as shown by the rich votive offerings.

References

External links

Official website
{{Archaeological sites in Sicily Syracusian colonies Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Italy Archaeological sites in Sicily Former populated places in Italy Noto Buildings and structures in the Province of Syracuse Ancient cities in Sicily

History

The site

See also

References

External links