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45-504: The area around Palazzolo Acreide has been inhabited since ancient times. In the 10th-11th centuries BC, the Sicels lived here in small villages. The town occupies the site of the ancient Akrai ( Latin Acrae ), founded by Syracuse around 664 BC. The city was important as it controlled the paths of communication between the towns on the southern coast of the island. According to Thucydides ,

90-616: A Sabine. Many of these deities were shared with the Etruscan religion , and were also adopted into the derivative Samnite and ancient Roman religion . Roman author Varro , who was himself of Sabine origin, gives a list of Sabine gods who were adopted by the Romans. Elsewhere, Varro claims Sol Indiges – who had a sacred grove at Lavinium – as Sabine but at the same time equates him with Apollo . Of those listed, he writes, "several names have their roots in both languages, as trees that grow on

135-409: A Sicel city. Greek goods, especially pottery, moved along natural routes, and eventually Hellenistic influences can be observed in regularised Sicel town planning. However, in the middle of the fifth century BC a Sicel leader, Ducetius , was able to create an organised Sicel state as a unitary domain in opposition to Greek Syracusa , including several cities in the central and south of the island. After

180-409: A downward trend to about 8,500 by 2019. The major football club of the comune is A.S.D. S.C. Palazzolo . It replaced A.C. Palazzolo A.S.D. which relocated elsewhere in 2013. Sicels The Sicels ( / ˈ s ɪ k əl z , ˈ s ɪ s əl z / SIK -əlz, SISS -əlz ; Latin : Sicelī or Siculī ) were an Indo-European tribe who inhabited eastern Sicily , their namesake, during

225-681: A faraway place and a faraway people and apparently they were one and the same" for Homer, Robin Lane Fox notes. It is possible that the Sicels and the Sicani of the Iron Age had consisted of an Illyrian population who (as with the Messapians ) had imposed themselves on a native, Pre-Indo-European (" Mediterranean ") population. Thucydides and other classical writers were aware of the traditions according to which

270-556: A few years of independence, in 450 BC, his army was defeated by the Greeks in the Battle of Nomae and he died ten years later. Without his charisma, the movement collapsed and the increasingly Hellenized culture of the Sicels lost its distinctive character. But in the winter of 426/5 Thucydides noted the presence among the allies of Athens in the siege of Syracuse of Sicels who had "previously been allies of Syracuse, but had been harshly governed by

315-619: A member of the Umbrian group of Italic languages of the Indo-European family , while Glottolog classifies it as an Old Sabellic dialect alongside South Picene and Pre-Samnite . Latin -speakers called the Sabines' original territory, straddling the modern regions of Lazio , Umbria , and Abruzzo , Sabinum . To this day , it bears the ancient tribe's name in the Italian form of Sabina . Within

360-558: A mountain tribal state, coming finally to war against Rome for its independence along with all the other Italic tribes. Afterwards, it became assimilated into the Roman Republic . The Sabines derived directly from the ancient Umbrians and belonged to the same ethnic group as the Samnites and the Sabelli , as attested by the common ethnonyms of Safineis (in ancient Greek σαφινείς ) and by

405-454: A population speaking a common language extended over both Samnium and Umbria . Salmon conjectures that it was common Italic and puts forward a date of 600 BC, after which the common language began to separate into dialects. This date does not necessarily correspond to any historical or archaeological evidence; developing a synthetic view of the ethnology of proto-historic Italy is an incomplete and ongoing task. Linguist Julius Pokorny carries

450-403: A property line creep into both fields. Saturn, for instance, can be said to have another origin here, and so too Diana." Varro makes various claims for Sabine origins throughout his works, some more plausible than others, and his list should not be taken at face value. But the importance of the Sabines in the early cultural formation of Rome is evidenced, for instance, by the bride abduction of

495-463: A second-person singular present imperative active exactly cognate with Latin bibe (and Sanskrit piba , etc.). Membership in the Italic branch, perhaps even close to Latino-Faliscan , cannot be ruled out: Varro states that Sicel was strictly allied to Latin as many words sounded almost identical and had the same meaning, such as oncia , lytra , moeton (Lat. mutuum ). Their characteristic cult of

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540-660: A surprise war action starting from Amiternum . Ancient historians debated the specific origins of the Sabines. According to Strabo the Sabines, after a long war with the Umbrians, migrated to the land of the Opici , following the ancient Italic rite of the Ver Sacrum . The Sabines then drove out the Opici and encamped in that region. Zenodotus of Troezen claimed that the Sabines were originally Umbrians that changed their name after being driven from

585-569: Is a corruption of Castrum Hennae through the Arabic Qasr-janni but, since the 1920s, once again called Enna ); and three sites named Hybla: Hybla Major , called Geleatis or Gereatis, on the river Symaethus; Hybla Minor, on the east coast north of Syracuse (possibly pre-dating the Dorian colony of Hyblaean Megara ); and Hybla Heraea in the south of Sicily. With the coming of Greek colonists—both Chalcidians , who maintained good relations with

630-494: Is also cited in a wall relief at Medinet Habu ( Ramses III mortuary temple), with picture and writings describing the second invasion within a 30 years' period by the "sea peoples" in the 8th year of Ramses III 's reign (1177 BC or 1186 BC, historians differ between these two dates). Eric Cline closely relates these two attacks on Egypt to the beginning of the Late Bronze Age collapse . Archaeological evidence points towards

675-459: Is set into action as ritual , it is usual to see a pair of sacrificial children laid in the earth to encourage the green growth. In the temple to Adranus, father of the Palici, the Sicels kept an eternal fire. A god Hybla (or goddess Hyblaea ), after whom three towns were named, had a sanctuary at Hybla Gereatis . The connection of Demeter and Kore with Henna (the rape of Proserpine ) and of

720-585: Is that the Sicels were more recent arrivals, had introduced the use of iron into Bronze Age Sicily and brought the domesticated horse. That would date their arrival on the island to the early 1st millennium BC. However, there is some evidence that the ethnonym may predate the Iron Age, based on the name Shekelesh given to one of the Sea Peoples in the Great Karnak Inscription in the 5th year of Merneptah 's reign ( c. 1207 BC). The name Shekelesh

765-459: Is the necropolis of the Acrocoro della Torre , where many sarcophagi have been found. About 5 miles (8 km) north lies Buscemi , near which a sacred grotto has been discovered; and also a church cut into the rock and surrounded by a cemetery. The economy of Palazzolo Acreide relies mainly on agriculture (cereals) and farming of cattle and sheep. The population in 2009 was approximately 9,000, on

810-557: Is thought that the Sicels did not employ writing until they were influenced by the Greek colonists. Several Sicel inscriptions have been found to date: Mendolito (Adrano), Centuripe, Poira, Paternò‑Civita, Paliké (Rocchicella di Mineo), Montagna di Ramacca, Licodia Eubea, Ragusa Ibla, Sciri Sottano, Monte Casasia, Castiglione di Ragusa, Terravecchia di Grammichele, Morgantina, Montagna di Marzo (Piazza Armerina), and Terravecchia di Cuti. The first inscription discovered, of ninety-nine Greek letters,

855-477: The Anio before the founding of Rome . The Sabines divided into two populations just after the founding of Rome, which is described by Roman legend. The division, however it came about, is not legendary. The population closer to Rome transplanted itself to the new city and united with the preexisting citizenry, beginning a new heritage that descended from the Sabines but was also Latinized . The second population remained

900-498: The Elymian language is generally accepted to have been an Indo-European language, though its exact classification within the family is unclear. Some consider it related to Ligurian , while others to the Italic languages . Of the Sicel language the little that is known is derived from glosses of ancient writers and from a very few inscriptions, not all of which are demonstrably Sicel. It

945-624: The Iron Age . They spoke the Siculian language. After the defeat of the Sicels at the Battle of Nomae in 450 BC and the death of Sicel leader Ducetius in 440 BC, the Sicel state broke down and the Sicel culture merged into Magna Graecia . Archaeological excavation has shown some Mycenean influence on Bronze Age Sicily. The earliest literary mention of Sicels is in the Odyssey . Homer also mentions Sicania , but makes no distinctions: "they were (from)

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990-462: The Palici is influenced by Greek myth in the version that has survived, in which the local nymph Talia bore to Adranus , the volcanic god whom the Greeks identified with Hephaestus , twin sons, who were "twice-born" ( palin "again"; ikein "to come"), born first of their nymph mother, and then of the earth, because of the "jealousy" of Hera , who urged Mother Earth, Gaia , to swallow up the nymph. Then

1035-652: The Syracusans defeated the Athenians here in 413 BC. In the treaty between the Romans and Hiero II of Syracuse in 263 BC it was assigned to the latter. After the Roman conquest, it became a civitas stipendiaria , and was still prospering in the course of the early Christian age. The old city was probably destroyed by the Arabs , in the first half of the 9th century. The new city

1080-665: The Pomentine plains) and some from that colony settled among the Sabines. According to the account, the Sabine habits of belligerence (aggressive or warlike behavior) and frugality (prudence in avoiding waste) were known to have derived from the Spartans. Plutarch also mentions, in the Life of Numa Pompilius, "Sabines, who declare themselves to be a colony of the Lacedaemonians". Plutarch also wrote that

1125-522: The Pythagoras of Sparta, who was Olympic victor in the foot-race, helped Numa arrange the government of the city and many Spartan customs introduced by him to the Numa and the people. Legend says that the Romans abducted Sabine women to populate the newly built Rome. The resultant war ended only by the women throwing themselves and their children between the armies of their fathers and their husbands. The Rape of

1170-608: The Reatine territory by the Pelasgians . Porcius Cato argued that the Sabines were a populace named after Sabus , the son of Sancus (a divinity of the area sometimes called Jupiter Fidius). In another account mentioned in Dionysius's work, a group of Lacedaemonians fled Sparta since they regarded the laws of Lycurgus as too severe. In Italy, they founded the Spartan colony of Foronia (near

1215-457: The Sabine Women became a common motif in art; the women ending the war is a less frequent but still reappearing motif. According to Livy , after the conflict, the Sabine and Roman states merged, and the Sabine king Titus Tatius jointly ruled Rome with Romulus until Tatius' death five years later. Three new centuries of Equites were introduced at Rome, including one named Tatienses, after

1260-533: The Sabine country, but these are given in Latin form. Robert Seymour Conway , in his Italic Dialects , gives approximately 100 words which vary from being well-attested as Sabine to being possibly of Sabine origin. In addition to these he cites place names derived from the Sabine, sometimes giving attempts at reconstructions of the Sabine form. Based on all the evidence, the Linguist List tentatively classifies Sabine as

1305-614: The Sabine king. A variation of the story is recounted in the pseudepigraphal Sefer haYashar (see Jasher 17:1–15 ). Tradition suggests that the population of the early Roman kingdom was the result of a union of Sabines and others. Some of the gentes of the Roman republic were proud of their Sabine heritage, such as the Claudia gens , assuming Sabinus as a cognomen or agnomen . Some specifically Sabine deities and cults were known at Rome: Semo Sancus and Quirinus , and at least one area of

1350-400: The Sabine women by Romulus 's men, and in the Sabine ethnicity of Numa Pompilius , second king of Rome , to whom are attributed many of Rome's religious and legal institutions. Varro, however, says that the altars to most of these gods were established at Rome by King Tatius as the result of a vow ( votum ). During the expansion of ancient Rome , there were a series of conflicts with

1395-545: The Sicels had once lived in Central Italy, east and even north of Rome. Thence they were dislodged by Umbrian and Sabine tribes, and finally crossed into Sicily. Their social organization appears to have been tribal, economically and agriculturally. According to Diodorus Siculus , after a series of conflicts with the Sicani, the river Salso was declared the boundary between their respective territories. The common assumption

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1440-516: The Sicels' arrival on the island between the thirteenth and eleventh century BC . The Sicel necropolis of Pantalica , near Syracuse , is the best known, and the second-largest one is the Necropolis of Cassibile , near Noto . Their elite tombs a forno , or oven-shaped, take the form of beehives. The chief Sicel towns were Agyrium ( Agira ); Centuripa or Centuripae (Centorbi but now once again called Centuripe ); Henna (later Castrogiovanni, which

1485-509: The Sicels, and Dorians , who did not —and the growing influence of Greek civilization, the Sicels were forced out of most of the advantageous port sites and withdrew by degrees into the hinterland. Sixty kilometres (forty miles) from the coast of the Ionian Sea , Sicels and Greeks exceptionally lived side by side in Morgantina to the extent that historians argue whether it was a Greek polis or

1530-467: The Syracusans and had now revolted". (Thucydides 3.103.1) Aside from Thucydides, the Greek literary sources on Sicels and other pre-Hellenic peoples of Sicily are to be found in fragmentary scattered quotes from the lost material of Hellanicus of Lesbos and Antiochus of Syracuse . There is some evidence that the Sicels had several matriarchal customs, which is unattested in other Indo-European groups of

1575-522: The endonym of the Indo-Europeans): Germanic Suebi and Semnones , Suiones ; Celtic Senones ; Slavic Serbs and Sorbs ; Italic Sabelli , Sabini , etc., as well as a large number of kinship terms. There is little record of the Sabine language; however, there are some glosses by ancient commentators, and one or two inscriptions have been tentatively identified as Sabine. There are also personal names in use on Latin inscriptions from

1620-452: The etymology somewhat further back. Conjecturing that the -a- was altered from an -o- during some prehistoric residence in Illyria , he derives the names from an o-grade extension * swo-bho- of an extended e-grade * swe-bho- of the possessive adjective, * s(e)we- , of the reflexive pronoun, * se- , "oneself" (the source of English self ). The result is a set of Indo-European tribal names (if not

1665-501: The modern region of Lazio (or Latium ), Sabina constitutes a sub-region, situated north-east of Rome , around Rieti . The Sabines settled in Sabinum, around the tenth century BC, founding the cities of Reate , Trebula Mutuesca and Cures Sabini. Dionysius of Halicarnassus mentions the Sabines in relation to the Aborigines , from whom they allegedly stole their capital Lista, with

1710-422: The nymph Arethusa with Syracuse is due to Greek influence. Sabine Timeline The Sabines ( US : / ˈ s eɪ b aɪ n z / , SAY -bynes , UK : / ˈ s æ b aɪ n z / , SAB -eyens ; Latin : Sabini  ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina ) of the ancient Italian Peninsula , also inhabiting Latium north of

1755-470: The region. Linguistic studies have suggested that the Sicels may have spoken an Indo-European language and occupied eastern Sicily as well as southernmost Italy whereas the Elymi (Greek Elymoi ) and Sicani (Greek: Sikanoi ) inhabited western and central Sicily, respectively. It is likely that the Sicani spoke a non-Indo-European language, the classification of their language remains uncertain. Conversely,

1800-452: The soil parted, giving birth to the twins, who were venerated in Sicily as patrons of navigation and of agriculture. In the most archaic level of Greek mythology , a titan , Tityos, grew so large that he split his mother's womb and had to be carried to term by Gaia herself. He came to the attention of later Greek mythographers only when he attempted to waylay Leto near Delphi. If such a mytheme

1845-540: The stage remains. Nearby are the ruins of other buildings, which bear, without justification, the names Naumachia , Odeum (perhaps a bath establishment) and Palace of Hiero. The water supply was obtained by subterranean aqueducts. In the cliffs of the Monte Pineta to the south are other burial niches, and curious bas-reliefs called Santoni or Santicelli, carved in the 19th century by a peasant proprietor, which also appear to be related to funeral ceremonies. Also nearby

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1890-590: The toponyms safinim and safina (at the origin of the terms Samnium and Sabinum ). The Indo-European root * Saβeno or * Sabh evolved into the word Safen , which later became Safin . From Safinim , Sabinus , Sabellus and Samnis , an Indo-European root can be extracted, * sabh- , which becomes Sab- in Latino-Faliscan and Saf- in Osco-Umbrian : Sabini and * Safineis . At some point in prehistory,

1935-479: The town, the Quirinale , where the temples to those latter deities were located, had once been a Sabine centre. The extravagant claims of Varro and Cicero that augury , divination by dreams and the worship of Minerva and Mars originated with the Sabines are disputable, as they were general Italic and Latin customs, as well as Etruscan , even though they were espoused by Numa Pompilius , second king of Rome and

1980-401: Was built around a Norman castle, which no longer exists. An earthquake in 1693 destroyed almost the entire city, which was slowly rebuilt in the following centuries. The Ancient City lies on the hill above the modern town, the approach to it being defended by quarries, in which tombs of all periods have been discovered. The auditorium of the small theatre is well-preserved, though nothing of

2025-453: Was found on a spouted jug found in 1824 at Centuripe ; it uses a Greek alphabet of the 6th or 5th century BC. It reads: There have been various attempts at interpreting it (e.g. V. Pisani 1963, G. Radke 1996) with no sure results. Another long Sicel inscription was found in Montagna di Marzo: The best evidence for Sicel having been of Indo-European derivation is the verb form pibe "drink",

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