Strabo, Geography, Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator), 6.2.3

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[3] The first of the cities which at present remain on the aforesaid side is Messana, built at the head of the gulf of Pelorias, which is curved very considerably towards the east, and forms a bay. The passage across to Rhegium¹ is 60 stadia, but the distance to the Columna Rheginorum is much less. It was from a colony of the Messenians of the Peloponnesus that it was named Messana, having been originally called Zanole, on account of the great inequality of the coast (for anything irregular was termed ξάγκλιον.² It was originally founded by the people of Naxos near Catana. Afterwards the Mamertini, a tribe of Campanians, took possession of it.³ The Romans, in the war in Sicily against the Carthaginians, used it as an arsenal.⁴ Still more recently,⁵ Sextus Pompeius assembled his fleet in it, to contend against Augustus Caesar; and when he relinquished the island, he took ship from thence.⁶ Charybdis⁷ is pointed out at a short distance from the city in the Strait, an immense gulf, into which the back currents of the Strait frequently impel ships, carrying them down with a whirl and the violence of the eddy. When they are swallowed down and shattered, the wrecks are cast by the stream on the shore of Tauromenia,⁸ which they call, on account of this kind of accumulation, the dunghill.⁹ So greatly have the Mamertini prevailed over the Messenians, that they have by degrees wrested the city from them. The inhabitants generally are rather called Mamertini than Messenians. The district abounds in wine, which we do not call Messenian, but Mamertinian: it vies with the best produced in Italy.¹⁰ The city is well peopled, but Catana is more populous, which has been colonized by the Romans.¹¹ Tauromenium is less populous than either. Catana was founded by people from Naxos, and Tauromenium by the Zanclaens of Hybla,¹² but Catana was deprived of its original inhabitants when Hiero, the tyrant of Syracuse, introduced others, and called it by the name of Aetna instead of Catana. It is of this that Pindar says he was the founder, when he sings,

Thou understandest what I say, O father, that bearest the same name with the splendid holy sacrifices, thou founder of Aetna.¹³

But on the death of Hiero,¹⁴ the Catanaeans returned and expelled the new inhabitants, and demolished the mausoleum of the tyrant. The Aetnaeans, compelled to retire,¹⁵ established themselves on a hilly district of Aetna, called Innesa,¹⁶ and called the place Aetna. It is distant from Catana about 80 stadia. They still acknowledged Hiero as their founder.

Aetna lies the highest of any part of Catana, and participates the most in the inconveniences occasioned by the mouths of the volcano, for the streams of lava flowing down in Catanaea¹⁷ pass through it first. It was here that Amphinomus and Anapias set the example of filial piety so greatly celebrated, for they, seizing their parents, carried them on their shoulders¹⁸ to a place of safety from the impending ruin; for whenever, as Posidonius relates, there is an eruption of the mountain the fields of the Catanaeans are buried to a great depth. However, after the burning ashes have occasioned a temporary damage, they fertilize the country for future seasons, and render the soil good for the vine and very strong for other produce, the neighbouring districts not being equally adapted to the produce of wine. They say that the roots which the districts covered with these ashes produce, are so good for fattening sheep, that they are sometimes suffocated, wherefore they bleed them in the ear every four or five days,¹⁹ in the same way as we have related a like practice at Erythia. When the stream of lava cools²⁰ it covers the surface of the earth with stone to a considerable depth, so that those who wish to uncover the original surface are obliged to hew away the stone as in a quarry. For the stone is liquefied in the craters and then thrown up. That which is cast forth from the top is like a black moist clay and flows down the hill-sides, then congealing it becomes mill-stone, preserving the same colour it had while fluid. The ashes of the stones which are burnt are like what would be produced by wood, and as rue thrives on wood ashes, so there is probably some quality in the ashes of Aetna which is appropriate to the vine.

Geography. Strabo. Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator). London. 1854-1857.

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Current edition Perseus

Geography (English) (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 1-3. Hamilton, Hans Claude, translator; Falconer, William, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854-1857.)

Editions (1)

Γεωγραφικά Perseus (Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.) — 6.2.3 focus

[3] τῶν δὲ συμμενουσῶν κατὰ τὸ λεχθὲν πλευρὸν πόλεων ἡ μὲν Μεσσήνη τῆς Πελωριάδος ἐν κόλπῳ κεῖται, καμπτομένης ἐπὶ πολὺ πρὸς ἕω καὶ μασχάλην τινὰ ποιούσης· ἀπέχει δὲ τοῦ μὲν Ῥηγίου δίαρμα ἑξηκονταστάδιον, τῆς δὲ στυλίδος πολὺ ἔλαττον. κτίσμα δʼ ἐστὶ Μεσσηνίων τῶν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ, παρʼ ὧν τοὔνομα μετήλλαξε καλουμένη Ζάγκλη πρότερον διὰ τὴν σκολιότητα τῶν τόπων (ζάγκλον γὰρ ἐκαλεῖτο τὸ σκολιόν), Ναξίων οὖσα πρότερον κτίσμα τῶν πρὸς Κατάνην· ἐπῴκησαν δʼ ὕστερον Μαμερτῖνοι Καμπανῶν τι φῦλον. ἐχρήσαντο δʼ ὁρμητηρίῳ Ῥωμαῖοι πρὸς τὸν Σικελικὸν πόλεμον τὸν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Πομπήιος ὁ Σέξτος ἐνταῦθα συνεῖχε τὸ ναυτικὸν πολεμῶν πρὸς τὸν Σεβαστὸν Καίσαρα· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ καὶ τὴν φυγὴν ἐποιήσατο ἐκπεσὼν ἐκ τῆς νήσου. δείκνυται δὲ καὶ ἡ Χάρυβδις μικρὸν πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐν τῷ πόρῳ, βάθος ἐξαίσιον, εἰς ὃ αἱ παλίρροιαι τοῦ πορθμοῦ κατάγουσι φυσικῶς τὰ σκάφη τραχηλιζόμενα μετὰ συστροφῆς καὶ δίνης μεγάλης· καταποθέντων δὲ καὶ διαλυθέντων τὰ ναυάγια παρασύρεται πρὸς ᾐόνα τῆς Ταυρομενίας, ἣν καλοῦσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ συμπτώματος τούτου Κοπρίαν. τοσοῦτον δʼ ἐπεκράτησαν οἱ Μαμερτῖνοι παρὰ τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις ὥστʼ ἐπʼ ἐκείνοις ὑπῆρξεν ἡ πόλις, καλοῦσί τε Μαμερτίνους μᾶλλον ἅπαντες αὐτοὺς ἢ Μεσσηνίους, εὐοίνου τε σφόδρα τῆς χώρας οὔσης οὐ Μεσσήνιον καλοῦσι τὸν οἶνον ἀλλὰ Μαμερτῖνον, τοῖς ἀρίστοις ἐνάμιλλον ὄντα τῶν Ἰταλικῶν. οἰκεῖται δʼ ἱκανῶς ἡ πόλις, μᾶλλον δὲ Κατάνη· καὶ γὰρ οἰκήτορας δέδεκται Ῥωμαίους· ἧττον δʼ ἀμφοῖν τὸ Ταυρομένιον. καὶ Κατάνη δʼ ἐστὶ Ναξίων τῶν αὐτῶν κτίσμα, Ταυρομένιον δὲ τῶν ἐν Ὕβλῃ Ζαγκλαίων· ἀπέβαλε δὲ τοὺς οἰκήτορας τοὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡ Κατάνη, κατοικίσαντος ἑτέρους Ἱέρωνος τοῦ Συρακουσσίων τυράννου καὶ προσαγορεύσαντος αὐτὴν Αἴτνην ἀντὶ Κατάνης. ταύτης δὲ καὶ Πίνδαρος κτίστορα λέγει αὐτὸν ὅταν φῇ

ξύνες ὅ τοι λέγω, ζαθέων ἱερῶν

ὁμώνυμε πάτερ, κτίστορ Αἴτνας.

¹ μετὰ δὲ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ Ἱέρωνος κατελθόντες οἱ Καταναῖοι τούς τε ἐνοίκους ἐξέβαλον καὶ τὸν τάφον ἀνέσκαψαν τοῦ τυράννου. οἱ δὲ Αἰτναῖοι παραχωρήσαντες τὴν Ἴννησαν καλουμένην τῆς Αἴτνης ὀρεινὴν ᾤκησαν καὶ προσηγόρευσαν τὸ χωρίον Αἴτνην διέχον τῆς Κατάνης σταδίους ὀγδοήκοντα, καὶ τὸν Ἱέρωνα οἰκιστὴν ἀπέφηναν. ὑπέρκειται δὲ μάλιστα τῆς Κατάνης ἡ Αἴτνη καὶ τῶν περὶ τοὺς κρατῆρας παθῶν πλεῖστον κοινωνεῖ· καὶ γὰρ οἱ ῥύακες εἰς τὴν Καταναίαν ἐγγυτάτω καταφέρονται, καὶ τὰ περὶ τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς ἐκεῖ τεθρύληται τὸν Ἀμφίνομον καὶ τὸν Ἀναπίαν, οἳ τοὺς γονέας ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων ἀράμενοι διέσωσαν ἐπιφερομένου τοῦ κακοῦ. ὅταν δʼ, ὁ Ποσειδώνι ός φ ησι, γίνηται τὰ περὶ τὸ ὄρος, κατατεφροῦται πολλῷ βάθει τὰ Καταναίων χωρία· ἡ μὲν οὖν σποδὸς λυπήσασα πρὸς καιρὸν εὐεργετεῖ τὴν χώραν χρόνοις ὕστερον· εὐάμπελον γὰρ παρέχεται καὶ χρηστόκαρπον, τῆς ἄλλης οὐχ ὁμοίως οὔσης εὐοίνου· τάς τε ῥίζας, ἃς ἐκφέρει τὰ κατατεφρωθέντα χωρία, πιαίνειν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον τὰ πρόβατά φασιν ὥστε πνίγεσθαι· διόπερ ἐκ τῶν ὤτων ἀφαιροῦσιν αἷμα διʼ ἡμερῶν τεττάρων ἢ πέντε, καθάπερ τοῦτο καὶ κατὰ τὴν Ἐρύθειαν συμβαῖνον εἰρήκαμεν. ὁ δὲ ῥύαξ εἰς πῆξιν μεταβάλλων ἀπολιθοῖ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς γῆς ἐφʼ ἱκανὸν βάθος, ὥστε λατομίας εἶναι χρείαν τοῖς ἀνακαλύψαι βουλομένοις τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπιφάνειαν. τακείσης γὰρ ἐν τοῖς κρατῆρσι τῆς πέτρας, εἶτʼ ἀναβληθείσης, τὸ ὑπερχυθὲν τῆς κορυφῆς ὑγρὸν πηλός ἐστι μέλας ῥέων κατὰ τῆς ὀρεινῆς· εἶτα πῆξιν λαβὼν γίνεται λίθος μυλίας τὴν αὐτὴν φυλάττων χρόαν ἣν ῥέων εἶχε. καὶ ἡ σποδὸς δὲ καιομένων τῶν λίθων ὡς ἀπὸ τῶν ξύλων γίνεται· καθάπερ οὖν τὸ πήγανον τῇ ξυλίνῃ σποδῷ τρέφεται, τοιοῦτον ἔχειν τι οἰκείωμα πρὸς τὴν ἄμπελον εἰκὸς τὴν Αἰτναίαν σποδόν.

Translations (1)

Geography (Books 6-14) Perseus (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 3-6. Jones, Horace Leonard, translator. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1924-1929 (printing).) — 6.2.3 focus

[3] As for the cities that still endure along the aforementioned side: Messene is situated in a gulf of Pelorias, which bends considerably towards the east and forms an armpit, so to speak; but though the distance across to Messene from Rhegium is only sixty stadia, it is much less from Columna. Messene was founded by the Messenians of the Peloponnesus, who named it after themselves, changing its name; for formerly it was called Zancle , on account of the crookedness of the coast (anything crooked was called “zanclion”),¹ having been founded formerly by the Naxians who lived near Catana . But the Mamertini, a tribe of the Campani, joined the colony later on. Now the Romans used it as a base of operations for their Sicilian war against the Carthaginians; and afterwards Pompeius Sextus,when at war with Augustus Caesar, kept his fleet together there, and when ejected from the island also made his escape thence. And in the ship-channel, only a short distance off the city, is to be seem Charybdis,² a monstrous deep, into which the ships are easily drawn by the refluent currents of the strait and plunged prow-foremost along with a mighty eddying of the whirlpool; and when the ships are gulped down and broken to pieces, the wreckage is swept along to the Tauromenian shore, which, from this occurrence, is called Copria.³ The Mamertini prevailed to such an extent among the Messenii that they got control of the city; and the people are by all called mamertini rather than Messenii; and further, since the country is exceedingly productive of wine, the wine is called, not Messenian, but Mamertine, and it rivals the best of the Italian wines. The city is fairly populous, though Catana is still more so, and in fact has received Romans as inhabitants; but Tauromenium is less populous than either. Catana , moreover, was founded by the same Naxians, whereas Tauromenium was founded by the Zanclaeans of Hybla; but Catana lost its original inhabitants when Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse , established a different set of colonists there and called it Aetna instead of Catana .⁴ And Pindar too calls him the founder of Aetna when he say: “Attend to what I say to thee, O Father, whose name is that of the holy sacrifices,⁵ founder of Aetna .” But at the death of Hiero⁶ the Catanaeans came back, ejected the inhabitants, and demolished the tomb of the tyrant.⁷ And the Aetnaeans, on withdrawing, took up their abode in a hilly district of Aetna called Innesa, and called the place, which is eighty stadia from Catana , Aetna , and declared Hiero its founder. Now the city of Aetna is situated in the interior about over Catana , and shares most in the devastation caused by the action of the craters;⁸ in fact the streams of lava rush down very nearly as far as the territory of Catana ; and here is the scene of the act of filial piety, so often recounted, of Amphinomus and Anapias, who lifted their parents on their shoulders and saved them from the doom that was rushing upon them. According to Poseidonius, when the mountain is in action, the fields of the Catanaeans are covered with ash-dust to a great depth. Now although the ash is an affliction at the time, it benefits the country in later times, for it renders it fertile and suited to the vine, the rest of the country not being equally productive of good wine; further, the roots produced by the fields that have been covered with ash-dust make the sheep so fat, it is said, that they choke; and this is why blood is drawn from their ears every four or five days⁹—a thing of which I have spoken before¹⁰ as occurring near Erytheia. But when the lava changes to a solid, it turns the surface of the earth into stone to a considerable depth, so that quarrying is necessary on the part of any who wish to uncover the original surface; for when the mass of rock in the craters melts and then is thrown up, the liquid that is poured out over the top is black mud and flows down the mountain, and then, solidifying, becomes millstone, keeping the same color it had when in a liquid state. And ash is also produced when the stones are burnt, as from wood; therefore, just as wood-ashes nourish rue, so the ashes of Aetna , it is reasonable to suppose, have some quality that is peculiarly suited to the vine.

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. Reggio.

2. Thucydides says ξάγκλιον is a Sicilian word.

3. B. C. 289.

4. B. C. 264 to 243.

5. B. C. 44.

6. B. C. 36.

7. Now called Garafalo.

8. Taormina.

9. κοπρία.

10. These wines, although grown in Sicily, were reckoned among the Italian wines. See Athen. Deipnos. lib. i, cap. 21, ed. Schweigh. tom. i. p. 102. And from the time of Julius Caesar they were classed in the fourth division of the most esteemed wines. See Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xiv. § 8, No. 4 and § 17.

11. At the same time as Syracuse.

12. A note in the French translation suggests that we should read Sicilians of Hybla. τῶν ἐν?̔́υβλῃ σικελῶν instead of ζαγκλαίων.

13. Hiero in Greek was ̔ιέοͅων. The line of Pindar in Kramer’s edition is,

ξύνες [ὅ] τοι λέγω, ζαθέων ἱεοͅῶν ὁμώνυμε πάτεοͅ

κτίστοοͅ αἴτνας.

The words played on are ̔ιέοͅων and ὶεοͅῶν.

14. This occurred in the year 468.

15. About 461.

16. Cluvier considers that the monastery of Saint Nicolas de Arenis, about 12 modern miles from Catana, is situated about the place to which Strabo here alludes.

17. τὴν καταναίαν. The spelling of this name, like very many in the present work, was by no means uniform in classic authors. Strabo has generally called it Catana ( κατάνη); Ptolemy, κατάυν κολώνια; Pliny, lib. iii. cap. 8, Colonia Catina; Pomponius Mela, lib. ii. cap. 7, Catina; Cicero, Catina; and on ancient coins we find καταναιων.

18. This feat was recorded by divers works of art set up in different places: it must have taken place in one of the eruptions, 477, 453, or 427, before the Christian era. The place where they lived was called Campus Piorum.

19. δι’ ἡμερῶν τεσσάοͅων ἤ πέντε, in Kramer’s text; in his notes he particularizes the readings of the different manuscripts and editions, some reading forty or fifty. He also records his sorrow at having preferred the reading of fifty days to thirty, in the passage relating to the fat beasts of Erythia, book iii. cap. 5, § 4, (page 255).

20. Literally, changes into coagulation.

Strabo Geography 6.2.3

Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator)

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