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SICULI

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 37 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SICULI , an See also:

ancient Sicilian tribe, which in See also:historical times occupied the eastern See also:half of the See also:island to which they gave their name. It plays a large though rather shadowy See also:part in the See also:early traditions of pre-See also:Roman See also:Italy. There is abundant See also:evidence that the Siculi once lived in Central Italy See also:east and even See also:north of See also:Rome (e.g. Servius ad Aen. vii. 795; See also:Dion. See also:Hal. i. 9. 22; See also:Thucydides vi. 2). Thence they were dislodged by the Umbro-Safine tribes, and finally crossed to See also:Sicily. Archaeologists are not yet agreed as to the particular stratum of remains in Italy to which the name of the Siculi should be attached (see for instance B. Modestov, Introduction d l'histoire romaine, See also:Paris, 1907, pp.

135 sqq.). They were distinct from the See also:

Sicani (q.v.; Virg. Aen. viii. 328) who inhabited the western half of the island, and who according to Thucydides came from See also:Spain, but whom See also:Virgil seems to recognize in Italy. Both traditions may be true (cf. W. Ridgeway, Who were the See also:Romans? See also:London, 1908, p. 23). Of the See also:language of the Siculi we know a very little from glosses preserved to us by ancient writers, most of which were collected by E. A. See also:Freeman (Sicily, vol. i.

App. See also:

note iv.), and from an inscription upon what is presumably an ornamental earthen-See also:ware See also:wine See also:vessel, which has very much the shape of a See also:tea-pot, preserved and transcribed by R. S. See also:Conway in the Collection of the See also:Grand See also:Duke of See also:Baden at See also:Karlsruhe (Winnefeld, Grossherzogl. vereinigte Sammlungen, 1887, 120), which has been discussed by R. Thurneysen (See also:Kuhn's Zeitschrift, See also:xxxv. 214). The inscription was found at Centuripa, and the See also:alphabet is See also:Greek of the 5th or 6th See also:century B.C. We have not enough evidence to make a See also:translation possible, despite Thurneysen's valiant effort, but the recurrence of the phrase hemiton esti durom in a varied See also:order (durom hemiton esti)—presumably a drinking See also:song or See also:proverb, " half a See also:cup is sorry cheer,' though it is possible that the sign read as m may really denote some See also:kind of s—makes the See also:division of these three words quite certain, and renders it highly probable that we have to do with an Indo-See also:European language. None of the See also:groups of sounds occurring in the See also:rest of the inscription, nor any of the endings of words so far as they may be guessed, See also:present any See also:reason for doubting this See also:hypothesis; and the glosses already mentioned can one and all be easily connected with Greek or Latin words (e.g. µoirov, mutuum); in fact it would be difficult to rebut the contention that they should all be regarded as See also:mere borrowings. (R. S. C.) The towns of the Siculi, like those of the Sicani, formed no See also:political See also:union, but were under See also:independent rulers.

They played an important part in the See also:

history of the island after the arrival of the Greeks (see SICILY). Their agricultural pursuits and the volcanic nature of the island made them worshippers of the gods of the nether See also:world, and they have enriched See also:mythology with some distinctly See also:national figures. The most important of these were the Palici, protectors of See also:agriculture and sailors, who had a See also:lake and See also:temple in the neighbourhood of the See also:river Symaethus, the See also:chief seat of the Siceli; Adranus, See also:father of the Palici, a See also:god akin to See also:Hephaestus, in whose temple a See also:fire was always kept burning; See also:Hybla (or Hyblaea), after whom three towns were named, whose See also:sanctuary was at Hybla Gereatis. The connexion of See also:Demeter and Kore with See also:Henna (the See also:rape of See also:Proserpine) and of See also:Arethusa with See also:Syracuse is due to Greek See also:influence. The chief Sicel towns were: Agyrium (See also:San Filippo d' Argirb); Centuripa (or Centuripae; Centorbi) ; Henna (See also:Castrogiovanni, a corruption of Castrum Herniae through the Arabic Casr-janni); Hybla, three in number, (a) Hybla See also:Major, called Geleatis or Gereatis, on the river Symaethus, probably the Hybla famous for its See also:honey, although according to others this was (b) Hybla See also:Minor, on the E. See also:coast N. of Syracuse, afterwards the site of the Dorian See also:colony of See also:Megara, (c) Hybla Heraea in the S. of the island. For authorities see SICILY.

End of Article: SICULI

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