Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/995

 SICANI. 51; Ov. Amof. i. 14. 49; Venunt. Fort, de Charib. Rege, vi. 4 ; Gregor. Turon. ii. 31 ; Procop. Bell. Goth. i. 12; Lyilus, de Magistr. i. 50, iii. 36; Zeuss, Die Beutschen, p. 83, foil. ; Wilhelni, Germanien, "p. 142, foil.) [L. S.] SICANI. [SicuLi.] SICCA VENERIA (2iK/ca or 2lKa Oufvepla, Ptol. iv. 3. § 30, viii. 2. § 9), a considerable town of Numidia on the river Bagradas, and on the road from Carthago to Hippo Regius, and from Musti to Cirta. (Itin. Ant. pp. 41, 45.) It was built on a hill, and, according to Pliny (v. 3. s. 2), was a Roman colony. We learn from Valerius Maximus (ii. 6. § 15) that it derived its surname from a temple of Venus which existed there, in which, agreeably to a Phoinician custom, the maidens of the town, including even those of good family, publicly prostituted themselves, in order to collect a marriage portion; a circumstance which shows that the town was originally a Phoeni- cian settlement, devoted to the worship of Astarte. (Comp. Sail. Jug. 56; Polyb. i. 66, 67.) Shaw {Traeels, p. 87) takes it to be the modern Keff, where a statue of Venus has been found, and an in- scription, with the words Ordo Siccen.sium. (Comp. Donati, Suppl. Thes. Murat. ii. pp. 266. 6; Orelli, Imcr. no. 3733.) [T. H. D.j SICELLA. [ZiKLAG.] SICHEM. [Neapolis II.] SICI'LIA (SiKsAio: Eth.^iKeXtcirris, Siciliensis: Sicily), one of the largest and most important islands in the Mediterranean. It was indeed gene- rally reckoned the largest of all; though some ancient writers considered Sardinia as exceeding it in size, a view which, according to the researches of modern geographers, turns out to be correct. [Sardinia.] I. General Description. The general form of Sicily is that of a triangle, having its shortest side or base turned to the E., and separated at its NE. angle from the adjoining coast of Italy only by a narrow strait, called in ancient times the Fretum Siculum or Sicilian Strait, but now more commonly known as the Straits of Messina. It was generally believed in antiquity that Sicily had once been joined to the continent of Italy, and severed from it by some natural convul- sion. (Strab. vi. p. 258; Phn. iii. 8. s. 14; Virg. A en. iii. 414.) But though this is probably true in a geological sense, it is certain that the separation must have taken place at a very early period, not only long before the historical age, but before the first dawn of tradition. On the other side, the W. extre- niity of Sicily stretches out far towards the coast of Africa, so that the westernmost point of the island, the headland of Lilybaeum, is separated only by an interval of 80 geogr. miles from the Hermaean Promontory, or Cajie Bon in Africa. The general triangular form of Sicily was early recognised, and is described by all the ancient geo- graphers. The three promontories that may be con- sidered as forming the angles of the triangle, viz. Cape Pelorus to the NE., Cape Pachynus to the SE., and Lilybaeum on the V., were also generally known and received (Pol. i. 42; Strab. vi.^ pp. 265, 266; Plin. iii. 8. s. 14 ; Ptol. iii. 4; Mel. ii. 714). Its dimensions are variously given : Strabo, on the au- thority of Posidonius, estimates the side from Pelo- rus to Lilybaeum, which he reckons the longest, at 1700 stadia (or 170 geogr. miles); and that from Pachynus to Pelorus, the shortest of the three, at 1130 stadia, Pliny on the contrary reckons 186 SICILIA. 975 Ptoman miles (149 geogr.) from Pelorus to Pachy- nus, 200 M.P. (160 geogr. miles) from Pachynus to Lilybaeum, and 170 M.P. (1.36 geogr.) from Lilybaeum to Pelorus: thus making the northern side the shortest instead of the longest. But Strabo's views of the proportion of the three sides are entirely correct; and his distances but little exceed the truth, if some allowance be made for the wind- ings of the coast. Later geographers, from the time of Ptolemy onwards, erroneously conceived the position of Sicily as tending a great deal more to the SW. than it really does, at the same time that they gave it a much more regular triangular form; and this error was perpetuated by modern geographers down to the time of D'Anville, and was indeed not altogether removed till the publication of the va- luable coast survey of the island by Captiin Smyth. (See the map published by Magini in 1620, and that of D'Anville in his Analyse Geographiqiie de ritalie, Paris 1744.) A considerable part of Sicily is of a mountainous character. A range of mountains, which are geolo- gically of the same character as those in the southern portion of Bruttium (the group of Aspromonte), and may be considered almost as a continuation of the same chain, internipted only by the intervening strait, rises near Cape Pelorus, and extends at first in a SW. direction to the neighbourhood of Taor- mina (Tauromenium) from whence it turns nearly due W. and continues to hold this course, running parallel with the N. coast of the island till it rises into the elevated group of the Monte Madonia, a little to the S. of Cefalh (Cephaloedium.) From thence it breaks up into more irregular masses of limestone mountains, which form the central nucleus of the W. portion of the island, while their arms extending down to the sea encircle the Bay of Palermo, as well as the more extensive Gidf of Castellamare, with bold and almost isolated head- lands. The detached mass of Mount Eryx (Monte di S. Giidiano) rises near Trapani almost at the W. extremity of the island, but with this exception the W. and SW. coast round to Sciacca, 20 miles be- yond the site of Selinus, is comparatively low and shelving, and presents no bold features. Another range or mass of mountains branches off from that of the Monte jIadonia near Polizzi, and trends in a SE. direction through the heart of the island, forming the huge hills, rather than mountains, on one of which Enna was built, and which extend from thence to the neighbourhood of Piazza and Aidone. The whole of the SE. corner of the island is occupied by a mass of limestone hills, never rising to the dignity nor assuming the forms of moun- tains, but forming a kind of table-land, with a general but very gradual slope towards the S. and SE. ; broken up, however, when viewed in detail, into very irregular masses, being traversed by deep valleys and ravines, and presenting steep escarpments of limestone rock, so as to constitute a rugged and difficult country. None of the mountains above described attain to any great elevation. The loftiest group, that of the Monte Madonia, docs not exceed 3765 feet, while the average height of the range which extends from thence to Cape Pelorus, is little, if at all, above 3000 feet high. 3Ionte S. Giuliano, the ancient Eryx, erroneously considered in ancient times as the highest mountain in Sicily after Aetna [Eryx], is in reality only 2184 feet in height (Smyth's Sicily, p. 242). The ancient appellations given to thet.e