Hippana or Hyppana (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

: ), was an ancient town of

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

. It sat astride the main road from Panormus (modern Palermo) to Agrigentum (modern

Agrigento Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one o ...

) upon Monte dei Cavalli, 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

Prizzi Prizzi is a town and ''comune'' of 5,711 inhabitants in the Italian Metropolitan City of Palermo, on the island of Sicily. It is located south of the city of Palermo at an altitude of 1045 m (3,428 ft) above sea level on a hill in the up ...

. It is an important archaeological site in situated in a central position between the Tyrrhenian coast and the Mediterranean Sea, halfway between Palermo and Agrigentum. It was mentioned by Polybius as being taken by assault 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 the First Punic War, 260 BC.

Diodorus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

, in relating the events of the same campaign, mentions the capture of a town called "Sittana", for which we should in all probability read "Hippana". The correctness of the name found in Polybius is confirmed by Stephanus of Byzantium (''s. v.'') who, however, writes it but cites Polybius as his authority. Some manuscripts of

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 ...

mention the name of ''Ipanenses'' in his list of Sicilian towns where the older editions have ''Ichanenses''. If this reading be adopted, it in all probability refers to the same place as the Hippana of Polybius; but as the reading Ichanenses is also supported by the authority of Stephanus (who notices Ichana as a town of Sicily), the point must be considered doubtful. Excavations in 2007 at Montagna dei Cavalli revealed a Greek theatre, one of the few known in Sicily and Magna Graecia.The theater of Montagna dei Cavalli-Hippana, 2012 DOI:10.1017/CBO9781139032377.011 It dates to the second half of the 4th century BC and was destroyed in 258 BC, the year of the sacking of the city by the Romans in the first Punic war.

References

* {{Archaeological sites in Sicily Ancient cities in Sicily Ruins in Italy Former populated places in Italy Archaeological sites in Sicily