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Segesta
Segesta (, ''Egesta'', or , ''Ségesta'', or , ''Aígesta''; ) was one of the major cities of the Elymians, one of the three indigenous peoples of Sicily. The other major cities of the Elymians were Eryx and Entella. It is located in the northwestern part of Sicily in Italy, near the modern commune of Calatafimi-Segesta in the province of Trapani. The hellenization of Segesta happened very early and had a profound effect on its people. History Origins The origin and foundation of Segesta are extremely obscure. The tradition current among the Greeks and adopted by Thucydides, ascribed its foundation to a band of Trojan settlers, fugitives from the destruction of their city; and this tradition was readily welcomed by the Romans, who in consequence claimed a kindred origin with the Segestans. Thucydides seems to have considered the Elymians (), a barbarian tribe in the neighborhood of Eryx and Segesta, as descended from the Trojans in question; but another account represen ...
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Calatafimi-Segesta
Calatafimi-Segesta, commonly known as simply Calatafimi, is a ''comune'' in the province of Trapani in the Italian region of Sicily. It has 6,019 inhabitants. The full name of the municipality was created in 1997 and is meant to highlight the presence within its territory of the 5th century BC Doric temple of Segesta, widely regarded as one of the most intact of its type. Adjoining the temple, on a nearby hilltop, there is a 2nd-century Roman amphitheater. History The town developed during the age of the Muslim emirate of Sicily, when it was known as ''Qalʿat Fīmī'' (), referring to the defensive castle overlooking the town, now partially restored from ruins. One hypothesis for the castle's name derives it from – a stronghold protecting the territory of a Roman period nobleman mentioned by Cicero, Diocles Phimes. Another hypothesis derives it from "Castle of Euphemius", possibly referring to the 5th-century Byzantine patriarch by that name or, more likely, to the 9th-centur ...
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Crinisus
Crinisus (in Virgil's ''Aeneid'' and subsequent Roman texts) or Crimisus was the god of the Sicilian river Crinisus in Greek and Roman mythology. According to most versions of the myth, Crinisus fathered Acestes with a Trojan woman while in the form of a dog. Acestes then went on to found Segesta, which he named after his mother. Segestan coins from 475–390 BCE often depict a dog on one side, and a woman's head on the other, which have traditionally been associated with Crinisus and the eponymous Segesta. Myth Lycophron's ''Alexandra'' contains the first known version of this myth. When Troy was under attack from a sea monster, king Laomedon instructed mariners to take the three daughters of Phoenodamas to die of exposure and be devoured by wild beasts. They were taken to Sicily, but survived there, and built a great shrine to Aphrodite in thanks. The River Crimissus, in the likeness of a dog, took one of them (not named by Lycophron) as his bride, and had a son with he ...
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Selinus
Selinunte ( , ; ; ; ) was a rich and extensive ancient Greek city of Magna Graecia on the south-western coast of Sicily in Italy. It was situated between the valleys of the Cottone and Modione rivers. It now lies in the of Castelvetrano, between the of Triscina di Selinunte in the west and Marinella di Selinunte in the east. The archaeological site contains many great temples, the earliest dating from 550 BC, with five centred on an acropolis. At its peak before 409 BC the city may have had 30,000 inhabitants, excluding slaves. It was destroyed and abandoned in 250 BC and never reoccupied. History Selinunte was one of the most important of the Greek colonies in Sicily, situated on the southwest coast of that island, at the mouth of the small river of the same name, and 6.5 km west of the Hypsas river (the modern Belice). It was founded, according to the historian Thucydides, by a colony from the Sicilian city of Megara Hyblaea, under the leadership of a ...
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Elymi
The Elymians () were an ancient tribal people who inhabited the western part of Sicily during the Bronze Age and Classical antiquity. Origins According to Thucydides, the Elymians were refugees coming from the destroyed Troy. Instead for Hellanicus of Lesbos they arrived in Sicily coming from Italy, driven out by the Oenotrians. Furthermore for the Greek historian, the Elymians would also have contributed to the formation of the Sicels. The Elymian language is considered to have been a part of the Indo-European language family. While an ancient tradition that the Elymians came from Troy – and were originally an Anatolian people – is corroborated by archeological data, the more generally supported opinion is that Elymian was an Italic language, with similarities to Latin. Hence an Italic origin for the Elymians is considered to be more likely. Greek historian Philistus refers to the presence of a people of Ligurian origin, although he does not identify it with the Elymi ...
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Elymians
The Elymians () were an ancient tribe, tribal people who inhabited the western part of Sicily during the Bronze Age and Classical antiquity. Origins According to Thucydides, the Elymians were refugees coming from the destroyed Troy. Instead for Hellanicus of Lesbos they arrived in Sicily coming from Italy, driven out by the Oenotrians. Furthermore for the Greek historian, the Elymians would also have contributed to the formation of the Sicels. The Elymian language is considered to have been a part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. While an ancient tradition that the Elymians came from Troy – and were originally an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian people – is corroborated by archeological data, the more generally supported opinion is that Elymian was an Italic language, with similarities to Classical Latin, Latin. Hence an Italic peoples, Italic origin for the Elymians is considered to be more likely. Greek historian Philistus refers to the presenc ...
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Eryx (Sicily)
Eryx (, ''Éryx''; , ) was an ancient city and a mountain of Magna Graecia in the west of Sicily, about 10 km from Drepana (modern Trapani), and 3 km from the sea-coast. It was located at the site of modern Erice. Mount Eryx The mountain, now called Monte Erice, is a wholly isolated peak, rising in the midst of a low undulating tract, which causes its elevation to appear much more considerable than it really is, so that it was regarded in ancient as well as modern times as the most lofty summit in the whole island next to Aetna, though its real elevation does not exceed 2184 English feet. Hence we find Eryx alluded to by Virgil and other Latin poets as a mountain of the first order of magnitude, and associated with Athos, Aetna, etc. On its summit stood a celebrated temple of Venus or Aphrodite, founded, according to the current legend, by Aeneas, whence the goddess derived the surname of Venus Erycina, by which she is often mentioned by Latin writers. Legends Anoth ...
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Acestes
In Roman mythology, Acestes or Egestes () was the son of the Sicilian river-god Crinisus by a Dardanian or Trojan woman named Egesta or Segesta. According to Servius, this woman Egesta or Segesta was sent by her father, Hippotes or Ipsostratus, to Sicily, that she might not be devoured by the monsters which infested the territory of Troy and which had been sent into the land, because the Trojans had refused to reward Poseidon and Apollo for having built the walls of their city. When Egesta arrived in Sicily, the river-god Crinisus in the form of a bear or a dog sired with her a son named Acestes, who was afterwards regarded as the hero who had founded the town of Segesta. The funeral games of Aeneas's father Anchises were held there. Those of Aeneas's folk who wished to voyage no further were allowed to remain behind with Acestes and together with Acestes's people they founded the city of Acesta, that is Segesta. The ''Aeneid'' cites him as giving wine as a farewell gift to Ae ...
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Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia refers to the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, encompassing the modern Regions of Italy, Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were Greek colonisation, extensively settled by Greeks beginning in the 8th century BC. Initially founded by their ''metropoleis'' (mother cities), the settlements evolved into independent and powerful Greek city-states (''poleis''). The settlers brought with them Ancient Greece, Hellenic civilization, which over time developed distinct local forms due to both their distance from Greece and the influence of the indigenous peoples of southern Italy. This interaction left a lasting imprint on Italy, including on Ancient Rome, Roman culture. The Greek settlers also influenced native groups such as the Sicels and the Oenotrians, many of whom adopted Greek culture and became Hellenization, Hellenized. In areas like architecture and urban planning, the colonies sometimes surpassed the achievem ...
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Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4.7 million inhabitants, including 1.2 million in and around the capital city of Palermo, it is both the largest and most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea. Sicily is named after the Sicels, who inhabited the eastern part of the island during the Iron Age. Sicily has a rich and unique culture in #Art and architecture, arts, Music of Sicily, music, #Literature, literature, Sicilian cuisine, cuisine, and Sicilian Baroque, architecture. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world, currently high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate. It is separated from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. It is one of the five Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with s ...
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Entella
Éntella (Greek language, Greek: ), was an ancient city in the interior of Sicily, situated on the left bank of the river Hypsas (modern Belice), and nearly midway between the two seas, being about 40 km from the mouth of the Hypsas, and much about the same distance from the north coast of the island, at the Gulf of Castellamare. History It was apparently of Sicanian origin, though the traditions concerning its foundation connected it with the Elymi and the supposed Troy, Trojan colony. According to some writers it was founded by Acestes, and named after his wife Entella, a tradition to which Silius Italicus alludes, while others ascribed its foundation to Elymus (mythology), Elymus, and Virgil represents Entellus (evidently the eponymous hero of the city) as a friend and comrade of Acestes. It was, together with Erice and Segesta, among the most important centres of the Elymians. Thucydides, however, says Eryx (Sicily), Eryx and Segesta, Egesta were the only two cities o ...
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Province Of Trapani
The province of Trapani (; ; officially ''libero consorzio comunale di Trapani'') is a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous island region of Sicily, Italy. Following the suppression of the Sicilian provinces, it was replaced in 2015 by the free municipal consortium of Trapani (Italian: ''libero consorzio comunale di Trapani''). Its capital is the city of Trapani. It has an area of and a total population of 411,396 as of 2025. There are 25 ''comuni'' (: ''comune'') in the province (see List of municipalities of the Province of Trapani, ''comuni'' of the province of Trapani). History The area now covered by the province was occupied successively by the Punic people, Carthaginians, Ancient Greece, Greeks and latterly by the Roman Empire, Romans. The port of Trapani, first known as Drepana, then Drepanon, was inhabited by the Sicani and the Elymians, Elymi becoming a prosperous Phoenicia, Phoenician trading centre by the 8th century BC. It was taken by the Carthaginians in ...
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Sicanians
The Sicani or Sicanians were one of three ancient peoples of Sicily present at the time of Phoenician and Greek colonization. The Sicani dwelt east of the Elymians and west of the Sicels, having, according to Diodorus Siculus, the boundary with the last in the ancient Himera river (Salso) after a series of battles between these tribes. History The Sicani are the oldest inhabitants of Sicily with a recorded name. In the 5th century BCE, the Greek historian Thucydides, claims that the Sicani originated on the Iberian Peninsula, from around a river they called "Sicanus" and had migrated to Sicily following an invasion by the Ligurians. (The name Sicanus has been linked to the river known in modern Spanish as the Júcar.) Thucydides' source is unknown, although he often draws on the Sicilian historian Antiochus of Syracuse. Conversely, Timaeus of Tauromenium (writing c. 300 BCE) considers the Sicani to be indigenous to Sicily. A third theory, put forward by some modern scholars, ...
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