The Sicels (; la, Siculi; grc, Σικελοί ''Sikeloi'') were an Italic tribe who inhabited eastern

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

during the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. Their neighbours to the west were the Sicani. The Sicels gave

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

the name it has held since antiquity, but they rapidly fused into the culture of

Magna Graecia Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; the ...

History

Archaeological excavation has shown some Mycenean influence on

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

Sicily. The earliest literary mention of Sicels is in the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

''.

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...

also mentions Sicania, but makes no distinctions: "they were (from) a faraway place and a faraway people and apparently they were one and the same" for Homer, Robin Lane Fox notes. It is possible that the Sicels and the Sicani of the Iron Age had consisted of an Illyrian population who (as with the Messapians) had imposed themselves on a native, Pre-Indo-European ("

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

") population.

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scient ...

and other classical writers were aware of the traditions according to which the Sicels had once lived in Central Italy, east and even north of Rome. Thence they were dislodged by Umbrian and Sabine tribes, and finally crossed into Sicily. Their social organization appears to have been tribal, economically and agriculturally. According to

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

, after a series of conflicts with the Sicani, the river Salso was declared the boundary between their respective territories. The common assumption is that the Sicels were more recent arrivals, had introduced the use of iron into

Sicily and brought the domesticated horse. That would date their arrival on the island to the early 1st millennium BC. However, there is some evidence that the ethnonym may predate the Iron Age, based on the name ''Shekelesh'' given to one of the

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the F ...

in the Great Karnak Inscription in the 5th year of Merneptah's reign ( 1207 BC). The name ''Shekelesh'' is also cited in a wall relief at

Medinet Habu Medinet Habu ( ar, مدينة هابو; Egyptian: ''Tjamet'' or ''Djamet''; cop, ''Djeme'' or ''Djemi'') is an archaeological locality situated near the foot of the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the River Nile opposite the modern city of Lux ...

( Ramses III mortuary temple), with picture and writings describing the second invasion within a 30 years' period by the "sea peoples" in the 8th year of Ramses III's reign (1177 BC or 1186 BC, historians differ between these two dates). Eric Cline closely relates these two attacks on Egypt to the beginning of the Late Bronze Age collapse. Archaeological evidence points towards the Sicels' arrival on the island between the thirteenth and

eleventh century BC The 11th century BC comprises all years from 1100 BC to 1001 BC. Although many human societies were literate in this period, some of the individuals mentioned below may be apocryphal rather than historically accurate. The world in the 11th ce ...

. The Sicel necropolis of Pantalica, near Syracuse, is the best known, and the second-largest one is the

Necropolis of Cassibile The Necropolis of Cassibile is a large archaeological site in the Province of Syracuse, near the towns of Avola and Cassibile. The site contains a very large graves system situated inside several ravines; the largest of them is called "Cavagrand ...

, near Noto. Their elite tombs ''a forno'', or oven-shaped, take the form of beehives. The chief Sicel towns were Agyrium ( Agira); Centuripa or Centuripae (Centorbi but now once again called Centuripe); Henna (later Castrogiovanni, which is a corruption of ''Castrum Hennae'' through the Arabic ''Qasr-janni'' but, since the 1920s, once again called Enna); and three sites named Hybla: Hybla Major, called Geleatis or Gereatis, on the river Symaethus; Hybla Minor, on the east coast north of Syracuse (possibly pre-dating the

Dorian Dorian may refer to: Ancient Greece * Dorians, one of the main ethnic divisions of ancient Greeks * Doric Greek, or Dorian, the dialect spoken by the Dorians Art and entertainment Films * ''Dorian'' (film), the Canadian title of the 2004 film ' ...

colony of Hyblaean Megara); and Hybla Heraea in the south of Sicily. With the coming of Greek colonists—both Chalcidians, who maintained good relations with the Sicels, and

Dorians The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ionians) ...

, who did not—and the growing influence of Greek civilization, the Sicels were forced out of most of the advantageous port sites and withdrew by degrees into the hinterland. Sixty kilometres (forty miles) from the coast of the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including ...

, Sicels and Greeks exceptionally lived side by side in Morgantina to the extent that historians argue whether it was a Greek ''

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

'' or a Sicel city. Greek goods, especially pottery, moved along natural routes, and eventually Hellenistic influences can be observed in regularised Sicel town planning. However, in the middle of the fifth century BC a Sicel leader, Ducetius, was able to create an organised Sicel state as a unitary domain in opposition to Greek Syracusa, including several cities in the central and south of the island. After a few years of independence, his army was defeated by the Greeks at Nomae in 450 BC, and he died ten years later. Without his charisma, the movement collapsed and the increasingly Hellenized culture of the Sicels lost its distinctive character. But in the winter of 426/5 Thucydides noted the presence among the allies of Athens in the siege of Syracuse of Sicels who had "previously been allies of Syracuse, but had been harshly governed by the Syracusans and had now revolted". (Thucydides 3.103.1) Aside from Thucydides, the Greek literary sources on Sicels and other pre-Hellenic peoples of Sicily are to be found in fragmentary scattered quotes from the lost material of Hellanicus of Lesbos and Antiochus of Syracuse. There is some evidence that the Sicels had several matriarchal customs, which is unattested in other Indo-European groups of the region.

Language

Linguistic studies have suggested that the Sicels may have spoken an

Indo-European language The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, D ...

and occupied eastern Sicily as well as southernmost Italy whereas the

Elymi The Elymians ( grc-gre, Ἔλυμοι, ''Élymoi''; Latin: ''Elymi'') were an ancient tribal people who inhabited the western part of Sicily during the Bronze Age and Classical antiquity. Origins According to Hellanicus of Lesbos, the Elymians ...

(Greek ''Elymoi'') and Sicani (Greek: ''Sikanoi'') inhabited central and western Sicily. It is likely that the Sicani spoke a non-Indo-European language, the classification of their language remains uncertain. Conversely, the

Elymian language Elymian is the extinct language of the ancient Elymian people of western Sicily. Its characteristics are little known because of the extremely limited and fragmentary nature of the surviving texts. The origins of Elymian and its exact relations ...

is generally accepted to have been an Indo-European language, though its exact classification within the family is unclear. Some consider it related to Ligurian, while others to the Italic languages. Of the Sicel language the little that is known is derived from glosses of ancient writers and from a very few inscriptions, not all of which are demonstrably Sicel. It is thought that the Sicels did not employ writing until they were influenced by the Greek colonists. Several Sicel inscriptions have been found to date: Mendolito (Adrano), Centuripe, Poira, Paternò‑Civita, Paliké (Rocchicella di Mineo), Montagna di Ramacca, Licodia Eubea, Ragusa Ibla, Sciri Sottano, Monte Casasia, Castiglione di Ragusa, Terravecchia di Grammichele, Morgantina, Montagna di Marzo (Piazza Armerina), and Terravecchia di Cuti. The first inscription discovered, of ninety-nine Greek letters, was found on a spouted jug found in 1824 at Centuripe; it uses a Greek alphabet of the 6th or 5th century BC. It reads: :"nunustentimimarustainamiemitomestiduromnanepos duromiemtomestiveliomnedemponitantomeredesuino brtome…" There have been various attempts at interpreting it (e.g. V. Pisani 1963, G. Radke 1996) with no sure results. Another long Sicel inscription was found in Montagna di Marzo: :"tamuraabesakedqoiaveseurumakesagepipokedlutimbe levopomanatesemaidarnakeibureitamomiaetiurela" The best evidence for Sicel having been of Indo-European derivation is the verb form ''pibe'' "drink", a second-person singular present imperative active exactly cognate with Latin ''bibe'' (and Sanskrit ''piba'', etc.). Membership in the Italic branch, perhaps even close to Latino-Faliscan, cannot be ruled out: Varro states that Sicel was strictly allied to Latin as many words sounded almost identical and had the same meaning, such as ''oncia'', ''lytra'', ''moeton'' (Lat. ''mutuum'').Varro, ''De Lingua Latina'' V, 105 and 179.

Religion

Their characteristic cult of the Palici is influenced by Greek myth in the version that has survived, in which the local nymph Talia bore to Adranus, the volcanic god whom the Greeks identified with

Hephaestus Hephaestus (; eight spellings; grc-gre, Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes.Walter ...

, twin sons, who were "twice-born" (''palin'' "again"; ''ikein'' "to come"), born first of their nymph mother, and then of the earth, because of the "jealousy" of

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...

, who urged Mother Earth,

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthe ...

, to swallow up the nymph. Then the soil parted, giving birth to the twins, who were venerated in Sicily as patrons of navigation and of agriculture. In the most archaic level of

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

, a

titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

, Tityos, grew so large that he split his mother's womb and had to be carried to term by Gaia herself. He came to the attention of later Greek mythographers only when he attempted to waylay Leto near Delphi. If such a mytheme is set into action as

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...

, it is usual to see a pair of sacrificial children laid in the earth to encourage the green growth. In the temple to Adranus, father of the Palici, the Sicels kept an eternal fire. A god Hybla (or goddess Hyblaea), after whom three towns were named, had a sanctuary at Hybla Gereatis. The connection of Demeter and Kore with Henna (the rape of Proserpine) and of the nymph Arethusa with Syracuse is due to Greek influence.

Notes

Sources

, vi.2 and vi.4.6 *Price, Glanville ''Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe'' s.v. "Sicel (Siculan)"

External links

Archaic Italy:
the Siculi (URL Checked 2006-03-26) * ''Sicilian Peoples: The Sicels'' by Vincenzo Salern

{{Italic languages Ancient peoples of Sicily Ancient peoples Unclassified languages of Europe Unclassified Indo-European languages