Capo Passero or Cape Passaro ( scn, Capu Pàssaru;

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 ...

: ;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

: Pachynus or Pachynum) is a celebrated promontory of

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

, forming the extreme southeastern point of the whole island, and one of the three promontories which were supposed to have given to it the name of "Trinacria." (

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the ...

, ''Fast.'' iv. 479, ''Met.'' xiii. 725; Dionys. Per. 467-72; Scyl. p. 4. § 13; Pol. i. 42; Strabo vi. pp. 265, 272, &c.; Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 8; Mela, ii. 7. § 15.)

Historical significance

All the ancient geographers correctly describe it as extending out towards the south and east so as to be the point of Sicily that was the most nearly opposite to

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...

and the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge whi ...

. It is at the same time the southernmost point of the whole inland. The headland itself is not lofty, but formed by bold projecting rocks (''projecta saxa Puchyni'', Virg. '' Aen.'' iii. 699), and immediately off it lies a small rocky island (the Isola di Capo Passero) of considerable elevation, which appears to have been generally regarded as forming the actual promontory. This explains the expression of

Nonnus Nonnus of Panopolis ( grc-gre, Νόννος ὁ Πανοπολίτης, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century CE) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Theb ...

, who speaks of the island rock of the seagirt Pachynus. (''Dionys.'' xiii. 322.)

Lycophron Lycophron (; grc-gre, Λυκόφρων ὁ Χαλκιδεύς; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, sophist, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely). Life and ...

also has a similar phrase. (''Alex.'' 1181.) According to

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 est ...

, (''Verr.'' v. 34) there was a port in the immediate neighborhood of the promontory to which he gives the name of Portus Pachyni (modern Portopalo di Capo Passero): it was here that the fleet of

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 stationed under his officer Cleomenes, when the news that a squadron of pirates was in the neighbouring Port of Ulysses ( Portus Odysseae) caused that commander to take to flight with precipitation.

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 import ...

gives the name of Promontory of Ulysses (, Ptol. iii. 4. § 7) to a point on the south coast of the island, a little to the west of Cape Pachynus. It is therefore probable that the Portus Pachyni was the one now called Porto di Palo, immediately adjoining the promontory, while the Portus Odysseae may be identified with Pantano Longarini.See, e.g., ) The convenience of this port at the extreme southeast point of the island caused it to be a frequent place of rendezvous and station for fleets approaching Sicily; and on one occasion, during the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...

the Carthaginian commander Bomilcar appears to have taken up his post in the port to the west of the promontory, while the

Roman 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 lett ...

fleet lay immediately to the north of it. (

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

xxiv. 27, xxv. 27, xxxvi. 2.) In 1718, the seas off the promontory were the site of a great naval battle (called the Battle of Cape Passero) between the British and Spanish fleets.

References

* {{Coord, 36.6890, N, 15.1374, E, source:wikidata, display=title Landforms of Sicily Passero

Historical significance

See also

References