Humanitext Reader

Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §1.22.1-1.22.5

Migration of the Sicels to Sicily and Historical Accounts

Passage 22 of 962 · Greek

Summary

This section details how the Sicels, defeated by the Pelasgians and Aborigines, migrated from Italy to Sicily, along with the history of the island's name change and the various theories of Hellanicus, Philistus, Antiochus, and Thucydides regarding the date and ethnic origins of this migration.

§1.22.1οἱ δὲ Σικελοὶ ʽοὐ γὰρ ἔτι ἀντέχειν οἷοί τε ἦσαν ὑπό τε Πελασγῶν καὶ Ἀβοριγίνων πολεμούμενοἰ τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τῶν χρημάτων ὅσα χρυσὸς ἢ ἄργυρος ἦν ἀνασκευασάμενοι μεθίενται αὐτοῖς ἁπάσης τῆς γῆς.
But the Sicels (for they were no longer able to hold out, being hard pressed in war by both the Pelasgians and the Aborigines), pack up their children, wives, and as much of their property as was gold or silver, and surrendered all the land to them.
τραπόμενοι δὲ διὰ τῆς ὀρεινῆς ἐπὶ τὰ νότια καὶ διεξελθόντες ἅπασαν Ἰταλίαν τὴν κάτω, ἐπειδὴ πανταχόθεν ἀπηλαύνοντο, σὺν χρόνῳ κατασκευασάμενοι σχεδίας ἐπὶ τῷ πορθμῷ καὶ φυλάξαντες κατιόντα τὸν ῥοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας διέβησαν ἐπὶ τὴν ἔγγιστα §1.22.2νῆσον.
Turning through the mountainous region toward the south, and passing through the whole of lower Italy, since they were driven away from everywhere, they built rafts in time at the strait and, having watched for the current flowing down from Italy, crossed over to the nearest island.
κατεῖχον δʼ αὐτὴν Σικανοὶ, γένος Ἰβηρικόν, οὐ πολλῷ πρότερον ἐνοικισάμενοι Λίγυας φεύγοντες, καὶ παρεσκεύασαν ἀφʼ ἑαυτῶν Σικανίαν κληθῆναι τὴν νῆσον, Τρινακρίαν πρότερον ὀνομαζομένην ἐπὶ τοῦ τριγώνου σχήματος.
The Sicanians held it, an Iberian race, who had settled there not much earlier, fleeing from the Ligurians, and they caused the island to be called Sicania after themselves, which had formerly been named Trinacria on account of its triangular shape.
ἦσαν δὲ οὐ πολλοὶ ἐν μεγάλῃ αὐτῇ οἰκήτορες, ἀλλʼ ἡ πλείων τῆς χώρας ἔτι ἦν ἔρημος.
But there were not many inhabitants in this large island, and the greater part of the land was still deserted.
καταχθέντες οὖν εἰς αὐτὴν Σικελοὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐν τοῖς ἑσπερίοις μέρεσιν ᾤκησαν, ἔπειτα καὶ ἄλλῃ πολλαχῇ, καὶ τοὔνομα ἡ νῆσος ἐπὶ §1.22.3τούτων ἤρξατο Σικελία καλεῖσθαι.
So the Sicels, having landed on it, lived at first in the western parts, and then in many other places as well, and the island began, after them, to be called Sicily.
τὸ μὲν δὴ Σικελικὸν γένος οὕτως ἐξέλιπεν Ἰταλίαν, ὡς μὲν Ἑλλάνικος ὁ Λέσβιός φησι, τρίτῃ γενεᾷ πρότερον τῶν Τρωικῶν Ἀλκυόνης ἱερωμένης ἐν Ἄργει κατὰ τὸ ἕκτον καὶ εἰκοστὸν ἔτος.
Thus the Sicel race left Italy, as Hellanicus of Lesbos says, in the third generation before the Trojan war, in the twenty- sixth year of the priesthood of Alcyone at Argos.
δύο δὲ ποιεῖ στόλους Ἰταλικοὺς διαβάντας εἰς Σικελίαν· τὸν μὲν πρότερον Ἐλύμων, οὕς φησιν ὑπʼ Οἰνώτρων ἐξαναστῆναι, τὸν δὲ μετὰ τοῦτον ἔτει πέμπτῳ γενόμενον Αὐσόνων Ἰάπυγας φευγόντων· βασιλέα δὲ τούτων ἀποφαίνει Σικελὸν, ἀφʼ οὗ τοὔνομα τοῖς τε ἀνθρώποις καὶ τῇ νήσῳ τεθῆναι.
And he represents two Italian expeditions as having crossed over to Sicily: the former of Elymians, whom he says were driven out by the Oenotrians, and the one after this, occurring in the fifth year, of Ausonians fleeing the Iapygians; and he declares their king to be Sicelus, after whom the name was given to both the people and the island.
§1.22.4ὡς δὲ Φίλιστος ὁ Συρακούσιος ἔγραψε, χρόνος μὲν τῆς διαβάσεως ἦν ἔτος ὀγδοηκοστὸν πρὸ τοῦ Τρωικοῦ πολέμου, ἔθνος δὲ τὸ διακομισθὲν ἐξ Ἰταλίας οὔτε Σικελῶν οὔτε Αὐσόνων οὔτʼ Ἐλύμων, ἀλλὰ Λιγύων, ἄγοντος αὐτοὺς Σικελοῦ· τοῦτον δʼ εἶναί φησιν υἱὸν Ἰταλοῦ, καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐπὶ τούτου δυναστεύοντος ὀνομασθῆναι Σικελούς· §1.22.5ἐξαναστῆναι δʼ ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν τοὺς Λίγυας ὑπό τε Ὀμβρικῶν καὶ Πελασγῶν.
But as Philistus of Syracuse wrote, the time of the crossing was the eightieth year before the Trojan war, and the nation transported from Italy was neither of Sicels nor of Ausonians nor of Elymians, but of Ligurians, under the leadership of Sicelus; and he says this man was a son of Italus, and the people were named Sicels during his rule; and that the Ligurians were driven out of their own country by both the Ombrians and the Pelasgians.
Ἀντίοχος δὲ ὁ Συρακούσιος χρόνον μὲν οὐ δηλοῖ τῆς διαβάσεως, Σικελοὺς δὲ τοὺς μεταναστάντας ἀποφαίνει βιασθέντας ὑπό τε Οἰνώτρων καὶ Ὀπικῶν, Στράτωνα δʼ ἡγεμόνα τῆς ἀποικίας ποιησαμένους.
Antiochus of Syracuse does not make clear the time of the crossing, but declares those who migrated to be Sicels, who were forced by both the Oenotrians and the Opicans, and who made Straton the leader of the colony.
Θουκυδίδης δὲ Σικελοὺς μὲν εἶναι γράφει τοὺς μεταναστάντας, Ὀπικοὺς δὲ τοὺς ἐκβαλόντας, τὸν δὲ χρόνον πολλοῖς ἔτεσι τῶν Τρωικῶν ὕστερον.
And Thucydides writes that those who migrated were Sicels, and those who expelled them were Opicans, and the time was many years after the Trojan war.
τὰ μὲν δὴ περὶ Σικελῶν λεγόμενα τῶν ἐξ Ἰταλίας μετενεγκαμένων τὴν οἴκησιν εἰς Σικελίαν ὑπὸ τῶν λόγου ἀξίων τοιάδε ἐστίν.
These, then, are the accounts given concerning the Sicels who transferred their habitation from Italy to Sicily by writers worthy of credit.

Notes

  1. 1.22.1μεθίενται αὐτοῖς ἁπάσης τῆς γῆς — The verb μεθίενται (present middle of μεθίημι) means 'to yield' or 'to surrender,' taking a dative of person (αὐτοῖς, 'to them') and a genitive of thing (ἁπάσης τῆς γῆς, 'all the land'). The middle voice implies surrendering or abandoning what was once one's own.
  2. 1.22.1κατιόντα τὸν ῥοῦν — The participle κατιόντα (from κάτειμι, 'to go down') describes the current (τὸν ῥοῦν) as flowing down or receding. Along with τὸν ῥοῦν, it functions as the object of φυλάξαντες ('observing' or 'waiting for').
  3. 1.22.3δύο δὲ ποιεῖ στόλους Ἰταλικοὺς διαβάντας — The subject of ποιεῖ is Hellanicus from the preceding sentence. Here, ποιεῖ means 'to represent' or 'to suppose' in historical narrative, taking the accusative noun (δύο στόλους) and participle (διαβάντας) in a predicative construction: 'he represents two Italian expeditions as having crossed.'
  4. 1.22.5ἐξαναστῆναι δʼ ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν τοὺς Λίγυας ὑπό τε Ὀμβρικῶν καὶ Πελασγῶν — Part of the indirect discourse (accusative with infinitive construction) reporting the view of Philistus. The subject of the infinitive ἐξαναστῆναι is τοὺς Λίγυας, and the agent of the passive-sense verb is indicated by ὑπό with genitives. The genitive reflexive pronoun ἑαυτῶν functions substantively as 'their own [land].'

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §1.22.1-1.22.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.22.1-1.22.5

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.