Naxos - the first Greek settlement in Sicily

All photos unless otherwise stated: Per-Erik Skramstad © Wondersofsicily.com

 

The Archeological Park in Naxos is, I regret to say, not very exciting. The information is in English, the QR code (for further reading) on the tourist info not working.

The first presence of Greeks in Sicily came with the foundation of Naxos (on the heights above Taormina) in c. 734 B.C. The settlers were Chalcidians of Euboea, Greece, under the leadership of Theocles. The Greek "invasion" of Sicily went on the next 150 years. In 403 BC Naxos was destroyed by the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse.

Taormina was founded by the Carthaginian Himilco (after 398 BC); he populated the place with Sicels who lived in Naxos (granted them in 404 by Dionysius). In 392 BC, Taormina was captured and repopulated by Dionysius of Syracuse, who began the process of turning it into a Greek city. (Carratelli p 171)

Taormina was enlarged in 358 under Andromachus, father of the historian Timaeus, who gathered together the survivors of the destruction of Naxos (in 403 BC).

Sources: The Greek World (ed. G.P. Carratelli); J.F. Privitera. Sicily: An Illustrated History; The Blue Guide Sicily

 

Silver tetradrachm: Head of Dionysos / Silenos squatting. Naxos 461-450 BC

Silver tetradrachm: Head of Dionysos / Silenos squatting. Naxos 461-450 BC.

 

Castelmola and Taormina seen from the Archeological Park in Naxos.

 

In his History of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian historian Thucydides (c. 460 – c. 400 BC) offers a detailed account of the earliest Greek settlements in Sicily, tracing their origins, founders, and the sequence of colonization. The following passage, from Book VI, describes the arrival of various Hellenic groups, their interactions with the indigenous Sicels, and the foundation of key cities that would shape the island’s history.

Of the Hellenes, the first to arrive were Chalcidians from Euboea with Thucles, their founder. They founded Naxos and built the altar to Apollo Archegetes, which now stands outside the town, and upon which the deputies for the games sacrifice before sailing from Sicily. Syracuse was founded the year afterwards by Archias, one of the Heraclids from Corinth, who began by driving out the Sicels from the island upon which the inner city now stands, though it is no longer surrounded by water: in process of time the outer town also was taken within the walls and became populous. Meanwhile Thucles and the Chalcidians set out from Naxos in the fifth year after the foundation of Syracuse, and drove out the Sicels by arms and founded Leontini and afterwards Catane; the Catanians themselves choosing Evarchus as their founder.

Thucydides (c. 460 – c. 400 BC) Book 6. 3–5 (Loeb translation)

 

 

 

"Were a man to spend only one day in Sicily and ask, “What must one see?” I would answer him without hesitation, “Taormina.” It is only a landscape, but a landscape where you find everything on earth that seems made to seduce the eyes, the mind and the imagination. […] I have said, in speaking of the theater of Segesta, that the Greeks — those incomparable scenic designers — knew how to select the unique site where the theater should be built, that site made for satisfying the artistic senses. The one in Taormina is so marvellously placed that there cannot be another comparable site in the whole world."
Guy de Maupassant: Sicily

 

 

The Greek Theatre in Taormina anno c. 1907. In the background to the left you see a part of Naxos.
Photo from Charles Diehl: Palerme & Syracuse (1907)

 

Once a hotel just opposite the railway station Taormina-Giardini - now a deserted building. From the railway station you can walk along the sea to Naxos and up to Taormina (bring water!).

 

 

Read more

• Arcipretura di Taormina
• Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden

 

 

Sources

• Joseph F. Privitera: "Sicily: An Illustrated History"
• Sandra Benjamin: Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History
• Jeremy Dummett: Syracuse, City of Legends: A Glory of Sicily
• Jeremy Dummett: Palermo, City of Kings: The Heart of Sicily
• The Greek World (ed. G.P. Carratelli)
• The Blue Guide Sicily
• Goethe: Italian Journey
• Wagneropera.net
• Wikipedia
• More sources and recommended reading here

 

Sicily: Some geographical names in Italian, Sicilian, English, Latin, Arabic and Greek

• Agrigento (Sicilian: Girgenti, Ancient Greek: Akragas (Ἀκράγας), Latin: Agrigentum, Arabic: Kirkent or Jirjent)
• Agrigentum, Latin for Agrigento
• Akragas (Ἀκράγας), Ancient Greek for Agrigento
• Àsaru, Sicilian for Assoro
• Assorus, Latin for Assoro
• Assoros, Greek for Assoro
• Baarìa, Sicilian for Bagheria (also the title of a film by Giuseppe Tornatore)
• Balad al-fīl ("the Village (or Country) of the Elephant"), one of the Arabic names for Catania
• Balarm, Arabic for Palermo
• Butirah, Arabic for Butera (one of the largest cities in Arab Sicily)
• Càccamu Sicilian for Caccamo
• Castrogiovanni (until 1926 Enna was known as Castrogiovanni)
• Castrugiuvanni, Sicilian for Enna
• Cefalù (Sicilian: Cifalù, Greek: Κεφαλοίδιον, Diod., Strabo, or Κεφαλοιδὶς, Ptol.; Latin: Cephaloedium, or Cephaloedis)
• Cephaloedium or Cephaloedis, Latin for Cefalù
• Cifalù, Sicilian for Cefalù
• Egesta, Greek for Segesta
• Enna (Sicilian: Castrugiuvanni; Greek: Ἔννα; Latin: Henna and less frequently Haenna). Until 1926 the town was known as Castrogiovanni.
• Gibilmanna: The name 'Gibilmanna' derives from Arabic 'gebel / jebel' (mountain) and 'manna' (edible substance extracted from the manna ash trees).
• Girgenti, Sicilian for Agrigento
• Henna / Haenna, Latin for Enna
• Hyspicae Fundus, Latin for Ispica
• Ispica (Sicilian: Spaccafurnu, Latin: Hyspicae Fundus)
• Jirjent, Arabic for Agrigento (also: Kirkent)
• Kefaloidion or Kefaloidis (Κεφαλοίδιον / Κεφαλοιδὶς), Greek for Cefalù
• Kentoripa, ancient Greek for Centuripe
• Kirkent, Arabic for Agrigento (also: Jirjent)
• Madīnat al-fīl ("the City of the Elephant"), one of the Arabic names for Catania
• Noto (Sicilian: Notu; Latin: Netum)
• Notu, Sicilian for Noto
• Netum, Latin for Noto
• Palermo (Sicilian: Palermu, Latin: Panormus, from Greek: Πάνορμος, Panormos, Arabic: Balarm, Phoenician: Ziz)
• Palermu, Sicilian for Palermo
• Panormos (Πάνορμος), Greek for Palermo
• Panormus, Latin for Palermo (from Greek: Πάνορμος, Panormos)
• Qaṭāniyyah, allegedly from the Arabic word for the "leguminous plants"
• Sarausa, Sicilian for Siracusa
• Selinous, Greek for Selinunte
• Selinus, Latin for Selinunte
• Siggésta, Sicilian for Segesta
• Siracusa (English: Syracuse, Latin: Syracusæ, Ancient Greek: Syrakousai (Συράκουσαι), Medieval Greek: Συρακοῦσαι, Sicilian: Sarausa)
• Spaccafurnu, Sicilian for Ispica
• Syracuse, English for Siracusa
• Syracusæ, Latin for Siracusa
• Syrakousai (Συράκουσαι), Ancient Greek for Siracusa
• Syrakousai (Συρακοῦσαι), Medieval Greek for Siracusa
• Taormina (Sicilian: Taurmina, Greek: Ταυρομένιον Tauromenion, Latin: Tauromenium)
• Taurmina, Sicilian for Taormina
• Tauromenion (Ταυρομένιον), Greek for Taormina
• Tauromenium, Latin for Taormina
• Terranova is the old name for Gela (the fifth largest town in Sicily)
• Ziz, Phoenician for Palermo