Imachara (

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 ...

: or , Ptol.), was an ancient city of

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. ...

repeatedly mentioned by

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 ...

among the municipal towns of the island. There is great discrepancy in regard to the form of the name, which is written in many manuscripts ''Macarēnsis'' or ''Macharēnsis''; and the same uncertainty is found in those of Pliny, who also notices the town among those of the interior of Sicily. The precise location of Imachara is not known but has been and remains the subject of much scholarly debate. Even though Mirabella Imbaccari is still named in Sicilian as ''Màcara'' and its inhabitants are called ''macarisi'', both deriving incontrovertibly from their corrispective Latin ascendants.

History and location

From the manner in which it is spoken of by Cicero, it would seem to have been a town of some consideration, with a territory fertile in corn. That writer associates it with Herbita, Assorus, Agyrium (modern

Agira Agira (; ; ) is a town and municipality (''comune'') in the province of Enna in the region of Sicily in Italy. It is located in the mid-valley of the River Salso, from Enna. Until 1861 it was called San Filippo d'Argiriò, in honour of its sa ...

), and other towns of the interior, in a manner that would lead us to suppose it situated in the same region of Sicily; and this inference is confirmed by

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 ...

, who places ''Hemichara'' or ''Himichara'' (evidently the same place) in the northeast of Sicily, between Capitium (modern Capizzi) and Centuripa (modern

Centuripe Centuripe (Latin: Centuripae; Sicilian: Centorbi) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Enna (Sicily, southern Italy). The city is from Enna in the hill country between the Rivers Dittaìno and Salso. The economy is mostly based on agric ...

). Hence Cluverius conjectured that it may have occupied the site of Traina, but this is wholly uncertain.

Fazello Tommaso Fazello (Neo-Latin ''Fazellus'', 1498 – 8 April 1570) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican Dominican friar, friar, historian and antiquarian. He is known as the father of Sicilian history. He is the author of the first printed h ...

and other Sicilian writers have supposed the ruins of an ancient city, which are still visible on the coast about 15 km north of Cape Pachynum, near the Porto Vindicari, in the ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' of

Noto Noto (; ) 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 its church were decl ...

, to be those of Imachara; but though the name of Macaresa, still borne by an adjoining headland, gives some color to this opinion, it is wholly opposed to the data furnished us by ancient authors, who all agree in placing Imachara in the interior of the island. The ruins in question, which indicate the site of a considerable town, are regarded by Cluverius (but equally without authority) as those of Ichana.Cluver. ''Sicil.'' p. 356; Tommaso Fazello ''de Reb. Sic.'' iv. 2, p. 217; Amico, ''Not. ad Fazell.'' pp. 417, 447; Richard Hoare, ''Classical Tour'', vol. ii. p. 301. Modern scholars still debate the location of the city. The editors of the

Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World The ''Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World'' is a large-format English language atlas of ancient Europe, Asia, and North Africa, edited by Richard Talbert, Richard J. A. Talbert. The time period depicted is roughly from Archaic Greece, ...

tentatively place Imachara at the ''

località A ''località'' is an inhabited place in Italy that is not accorded a more significant distinction in administrative law, such as a '' frazione'', ''comune'', '' municipio'', '' circoscrizione'', or ''quartiere''. The word is cognate to English ' ...

'' of Vaccarra di Nicosia in the ''comune'' of

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

References

* * {{Authority control Ancient cities in Sicily Lost ancient cities and towns Roman towns and cities in Italy Former populated places in Italy