Assorus or Assoros (), or Asserus or Asseros (Ἄσσηρος), also known as Assorium or Assorion (Ἀσσώριον), was a city of the interior of

ancient Sicily The history of Sicily has been influenced by numerous ethnic groups. It has seen Sicily controlled by powers, including Phoenician and Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, Vandal and Ostrogoth, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Aragonese, Spanish, Austria ...

, situated about halfway between Agyrium and Enna. It was a city of the Siculi, and appears never to have received a

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

colony. In 396 BCE it is mentioned by

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

as the only Siculian town which remained faithful to Dionysius of Syracuse, at the time of the great Carthaginian expedition under Himilco. In consequence, we find Dionysius, after the defeat of the Carthaginians, concluding a treaty of alliance with the Assorini, and leaving them in possession of their independence. At this time it would seem to have been a place of some importance; but no subsequent mention of it occurs in ancient writers until the days of

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

, in whose time it appears to have been but a small town, though retaining its municipal independence, and possessing a territory fertile in corn. It suffered severely, in common with the neighbouring towns, from the exactions of

Verres Gaius Verres ( 114 – 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 advo ...

. We learn from

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

, that it continued to exist under the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. and the modern town of Assoro undoubtedly occupies the site, as well as retains, with little alteration, the name of Assorus. According to Tommaso Fazello, the remains of the ancient walls, and one of the gates, were still visible in his time (16th century). It was situated on a lofty hill, at the foot of which flowed the river Chrysas (now called the Dittaino), the tutelary deity of which was worshipped with peculiar reverence by the Assorini, and inhabitants of the neighbouring cities. His temple was situated, as we learn from Cicero, at a short distance from the town, on the road to Enna; and so sacred was it deemed, that even Verres did not venture openly to violate it, but his emissaries made an unsuccessful attempt to carry off the statue of the deity in the night. Fazello asserts that considerable remains of this temple were still extant in his day; but the description he gives of them would lead us to suppose that they must have belonged to an ancient edifice of a different class.Fazell. ''de Reb. Sic.'' 10.2. p. 440. The coins of Assorus bear on the reverse a standing figure, with the name annexed of Chrysas. They are found only of copper, and are evidently of late date, from the fact that the legends are in Latin.

References

{{DGRG, title=Assorus

External links

Assorus located in Ptolemy's Geography, book III
Archaeological sites in Sicily Ancient cities in Sicily Populated places in ancient Sicily