The Jaci or Aci ( or nowiki/>; or ; ; ) was a river 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. ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on the eastern coast of the island, and immediately at the foot of

Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( or ; , or ; ; or ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina, Italy, Messina and Catania. It is located above the Conve ...

History

It rose under a rock of lava, and had a very short course to the sea at

Acireale Acireale (; , locally shortened to ''Jaci'' or ''Aci'') is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the north-east of the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy, at the foot of Mount Etna, on the coast facing the Ionian Sea. It is home to ...

(ancient Acium). It is celebrated on account of the mythological fable connected with its origin, which was ascribed to the blood of the youthful

Acis The 3D ACIS Modeler (ACIS) is a geometric modeling kernel developed by Spatial Corporation (formerly Spatial Technology), part of Dassault Systèmes. ACIS is used by software developers in industries such as computer-aided design, computer-ai ...

, crushed under an enormous rock by his rival

Polyphemus Polyphemus (; , ; ) is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's ''Odyssey''. His name means "abounding in songs and legends", "many-voiced" or "very famous". Polyphemus first ap ...

. It is evidently in allusion to the same story that

Theocritus Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings ...

speaks of the "

sacred waters Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, spring (hydrosphere), springs, Water reservoir, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with th ...

of Acis." From this fable itself we may infer that it was a small stream gushing forth from under a rock; the extreme coldness of its waters noticed by

Solinus __NOTOC__ Gaius Julius Solinus, better known simply as Solinus, was a Latin grammarian, geographer, and compiler who probably flourished in the early 3rd century AD. Historical scholar Theodor Mommsen dates him to the middle of the 3rd century. ...

Solin. 5.17 also points to the same conclusion. There is every appearance that the town of Acium derived its name from the river. The river disappeared during the middle ages due to lava eruptions from Etna.

References

Former rivers Places in Greek mythology Rivers of Italy Rivers of Sicily Rivers of the Metropolitan City of Catania Polyphemus Mount Etna {{italy-river-stub