Читать книгу Walking in Sicily онлайн

6 страница из 69

J.W. von Goethe, Italian Journey (1786–1788)

Background

The early history of Sicily (Sicilia in Italian) is enveloped in misty legends, with credit for first settling the island going to a motley band of giants. Invincible offspring attributed to Zeus, they enjoyed but a short-lived sojourn as they were punished for challenging the ruling gods. The handful of survivors were bound in chains and banished to underworld forges beneath the island’s volcanoes to fashion arms for the gods, such as thunderbolts for Zeus. To this day they struggle and moan, attempting to break free and shake off the weight of the immense mountains. Ancient sources, in fact, refer to the discovery of huge skeletons in caves, though they were assumed to be marine animal remains washed up by the Flood! The mythical one-eyed Cyclops followed, bloodthirsty cannibals who played havoc with passing sailors, including Ulysses on his epic voyage.

Archaeological evidence places prehistoric inhabitants around 13,000 years BC. Sicily’s strategic crossroads location in the Mediterranean ensured the arrival of settlers, plunderers, conquerors and visitors from all directions, resulting in a fascinating melting pot of cultures. Major colonisers in the 13th–11th century BC were the immigrant Elymian, Sicel and Sican populations, who lent their name to the island. Subsequently there were Phoenician settlements, prior to a landmark Greek take-over (8th–6th centuries BC) and widespread Hellenisation of language and civilisation, not to mention a name change to Trinacria, for the island’s three-pointed shape. Impressive extant temple and city ruins illustrate this period. In the 3rd century BC Sicily became the first province of Rome – the island’s fertile land later earning it the denomination ‘granary’ of the empire.