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MESSINA

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 195 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MESSINA , a See also:

city of See also:Sicily, 7 m. S.S.W. of the promontory of See also:Faro (anc. Promontorium Pelorum), which forms the See also:north-eastern See also:angle of the See also:island, the See also:capital of the See also:province of Messina and the seat of an See also:archbishop. Pop. (1850), 97,074; (1881), 126,497; (1901), 149,778; (1905), 158,812. The site of the See also:town curves See also:round the See also:harbour, between it and the strongly fortified hills of Antennamare, the highest point of which is 3707 ft. The straits, which take their name from the town, are here about 3i M. wide, and only a little over 2 M. at the promontory of Faro. The numerous earthquakes from which the city had suffered, notably that in 1783, had See also:left it few remains of antiquity. But it was a flourishing and beautiful city when in 1908 one of the most disastrous earthquakes ever recorded destroyed it totally. The See also:earthquake occurred See also:early in the See also:morning of See also:December 28, , and so far as Messina was concerned the damage was done chiefly by the See also:shock and by the fires which See also:broke out afterwards; the seismic See also:wave which followed was comparatively innocuous. But it did vast damage elsewhere along the strait, notably at Reggio, See also:Calabria,. which was also totally destroyed. Many other smaller towns suffered both in Sicily and in Calabria; the loss of See also:life was appalling and the See also:distress widespread, in spite of the prompt assistance rendered by See also:Italian See also:naval and military forces and by the crews of See also:British, See also:Russian and See also:German warships and other vessels, and the contribution of funds for See also:relief See also:works from every See also:part of the See also:world.

The immediate seismic See also:

focus appeared to be in the straits, but Dr E. See also:Suess pointed out that it was surrounded by a curved See also:line of See also:earth-fracture, following an arc See also:drawn from a centre in the Lipari Islands, from See also:Catanzaro to See also:Etna, and so westward; within this arc he held that the crust of the earth is gradually sinking, and is in an unstable See also:condition. According to an See also:official estimate the earthquake caused the loss of 77,283 lives.' (See also EARTHQUAKE.) The facades of buildings at Messina in See also:great part withstood the earthquake, but even when they did so the See also:remainder of the buildings was destroyed. The See also:cathedral, which was completely wrecked, was begun in Io98 and finished by See also:Roger II. It had a See also:fine See also:Gothic See also:facade: the interior had mosaics in the apses dating from 1330, and the See also:nave contained 26 See also:granite columns, said to have been brought from a See also:temple of See also:Poseidon near Faro, and had a fine wooden roof of 126o. The See also:rest of the edifice was in the See also:baroque See also:style; the high See also:altar (containing the supposed See also:letter of the Virgin See also:Mary to the See also:people of Messina), richly decorated With See also:marbles, lapis lazuli, &c., was begun in 1628 and completed 1726. The importance of Messina was almost entirely due to its I See S. Franchi, " Il Terremoto . . a Messina . . . ," in See also:Boll. R.

Comit. geologico d'Ital., 4th See also:

series, vol. x. (19o9). harbour, a circular See also:basin open on the north only, formed by a See also:strip of See also:land curving round like a sickle, from which it took its See also:original name, Zancle q"ayrckov, or rather SayiXov, the Sicilian See also:equivalent of the See also:Greek bpi ravov,' according to See also:Thucydides, vi. 4). Zancle was first founded, no doubt on the site of an earlier See also:settlement, by pirates from See also:Cumae, and again more regularly settled, after an unknown See also:interval, by settlers from Cumae under Perieres, and from See also:Chalcis under Crataemenes, in the first See also:quarter of the 8th See also:century B.C. Mylae must have been occupied as an outpost very soon afterwards, but the first See also:regular See also:colony of Zancle was See also:Himera, founded in 648 B.C. After the See also:capture of See also:Miletus by the Persians in 494 B.C. Skythes, See also:king of Zancle, invited the See also:Ionians to come and See also:settle at Kaki? 'See also:Altai?, then in the occupation of the Sicels (the See also:modern Marina di Caronia, 25 M. See also:east of See also:Cefalu); but at the invitation of Anaxilas of See also:Regium the Samians proceeded instead to the latter See also:place. About 488 B.C. Anaxilas and the Samians occupied Zancle in the See also:absence of Skythes, and it was then that the name was changed to See also:Messene, as the existence of coins of the Samian type, bearing the new name, proves. About 48o, however, Anaxilas thoroughly established his authority at Messene, and the types of coinage introduced by him persevere down to about 396 B.c.,2 when Anaxilas himself zealously supported his son-in-See also:law Terillus in inviting the Carthaginians' invasion of 48o B.C.

In 426 the Athenians gained the See also:

alliance of Zancle, but soon lost it again, and failed to obtain it in 415. Messina See also:fell into the hands of the Carthaginians during their, See also:wars with See also:Dionysius the See also:elder of See also:Syracuse (397 B.C.). The Carthaginians destroyed the city, but Dionysius recaptured and rebuilt it. During the next fifty years Messina changed masters several times, till See also:Timoleon finally expelled the Carthaginians in 343 B.C. In the wars between See also:Agathocles of Syracuse and See also:Carthage, Messina took the See also:side of the Carthaginians. After Agathocles' See also:death, his mercenaries, the Mamertines, treacherously seized the town about 282 B.C. and held it. They came to See also:war with See also:Hiero II. of Syracuse and appealed for help to See also:Rome, which was granted, and this led to a collision between Rome and Carthage, which ended in the First Punic War. Messina was almost at once taken by Rome. At the See also:close of the war, in 241 B.C., Messina became a See also:free and allied city (civitas foederata), and obtained See also:Roman citizenship before the rest of Sicily, probably from See also:Caesar himself. During the See also:civil wars which followed the death of Caesar, Messina held with Sextus Pompeius; and in 35 B.C. it was sacked by Octavian's troops. After Octavian's See also:proclamation as See also:emperor he founded a colony here; and Messina continued to flourish as a trading See also:port. In the See also:division of the Roman See also:empire it belonged to the emperors of the East; and in A.D.

547 See also:

Belisarius collected his See also:fleet here before See also:crossing into Calabria. The See also:Saracens took the-city in A.D. 831; and in 1o61 it was the first permanent See also:conquest made in Sicily by the See also:Normans. In 1190 See also:Richard I. of See also:England, with his crusaders, passed six months in Messina. He quarrelled with See also:Tancred, the last of the Hauteville See also:dynasty, and sacked the town. In 1194 the city, with the rest of Sicily, passed to the See also:house of See also:Hohenstaufen under the emperor See also:Henry VI., who died there in 1197; and after the fall of the Hohenstaufen was contended for by See also:Peter I., king of See also:Aragon, and See also:Charles I., See also:count of See also:Anjou. At the See also:time of the Sicilian See also:Vespers (1282), which drove the See also:French out of Sicily, Messina bravely defended itself against Charles of Anjou, and repulsed his attack. Peter I., through his See also:commander Ruggiero di Loria, defeated the French off the Faro; and from 1282 to 1713 Messina remained a See also:possession of the See also:Spanish royal house. In 1571 the fleet fitted out by the See also:Holy See also:League against the Turk assembled at Messina, and in the same See also:year its commander, See also:Don See also:John of See also:Austria, celebrated a See also:triumph in the city for his victory at See also:Lepanto. Don John's statue stands in the Piazza dell' Annuziata. For one See also:hundred years, thanks to the favours and ' From this word See also:Trapani derives its name. 2 This See also:account is at variance with the See also:literary See also:evidence and rests on that of the coins, as set forth by I.

H. See also:

Dodd in See also:Journal of Hellenic Studies, See also:xxviii. (1908) 56 sqq.the concessions of Charles V., Messina enjoyed great prosperity. But the See also:internal quarrels between the Merli, or aristocratic See also:faction, and the Malvezzi, or democratic faction, fomented as they were by the Spaniards, helped to ruin the city (1671—r678). The Messinians suspected the Spanish See also:court of a See also:desire to destroy the See also:ancient senatorial constitution of the city, and sent to See also:France to ask the aid of See also:Louis KIV. in their resistance. Louis despatched a fleet into Sicilian See also:waters, and the French occupied the city. The Spaniards replied by appealing to See also:Holland, who sent a fleet under Ruyter into the Mediterranean. In 1676 the French See also:admiral, See also:Abraham See also:Duquesne, defeated the combined fleet of See also:Spain and Holland; but, notwithstanding this victory, the French suddenly abandoned Messina in 1678, and the Spanish occupied the town once more. The See also:senate was suppressed, and Messina lost its privileges. This was fatal to the importance of the city. In 1743 the See also:plague carried off 40,000 inhabitants. The city was partially destroyed by earthquake in 1783.

During the revolution of 1848 against the Bourbons of See also:

Naples, Messina was bombarded for three consecutive days. In 1854 the deaths from See also:cholera numbered about 15,000. See also:Garibaldi landed in •Sicily in 186o, and Messina was the last city in the island taken from the Bourbons and made a part of See also:united' See also:Italy under See also:Victor See also:Emmanuel. Messina was the birthplace of See also:Dicaearchus, the historian (c. 322 B.c.); Aristocles, the Peripatetic; See also:Euhemerus, the rationalist (c. 316 B.c.); Stefano Protonotario, Mazzeo di Ricco and Tommaso di Sasso, poets of the court of See also:Frederick II. (A.n. 1250) ; and Antonello da Messina, the painter (1447-1499), of whose works one is preserved in the museum. During the 15th century the grammarian, See also:Constantine See also:Lascaris, taught in Messina; and See also:Bessarion was for a time See also:archimandrite there. (T.

End of Article: MESSINA

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