Sicily occupies a crucial position in the Mediterranean world. It is at the heart of many cross-currents of trade, people, and ideology that flowed unceasingly through the ancient period. The island was home to many people, most of them not native to it: Phoenicians, Greeks, and then Romans settled there, and sought ways of expressing their hybrid identities. The Sicilians, no less than their invaders, were concerned with their image and their contribution to the age. In this volume ideas of identity, image and acculturation are the central themes. The contributions combine detailed investigation of the archaeological finds in which the island abounds, with an examination of the understudied tradition of history and literature on or about the island. The book provides a chronological account of the island's history, interwoven with a series of discussions of Sicilian identity: to show Sicily as a centre of affairs from the Iron Age to the Augustan Empire within the context of a fundamentally regional ancient world. The book includes a chronology and guides for further reading.

This volume provides a chronological account of the island's history, interwoven with discussions of Sicilian identity, to show Sicily as a centre of affairs within the context of a fundamentally regional ancient world.

This volume provides a chronological account of the island's history, interwoven with discussions of Sicilian identity, to show Sicily as a centre of affairs within the context of a fundamentally regional ancient world.

Investigates the representation of the Carthaginian enemy and the revisionist history of the Punic Wars in Virgil's Aeneid.

The legend of Aeneas as preserved in the art and artifacts of antiquity is the focus of this study. Gallant warrior, accomplice in the abduction of Helen, fugitive from burning Troy, founder of Rome-in all his roles, Aeneas appears in ancient sculpture and wall painting, on vases, coins, lamps, mirrors, and gems, as richly illustrated here. To what extent he was known to the Greeks and Romans, for what qualities he was admired, and how his legend served the propaganda of empire building are examined in this survey of the visual data, and these are correlated with what is known of the legend in the literary, historical, and religious traditions of the ancient Mediterranean world. Originally published in 1969. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

A study of the two Late Republic slave revolts, exploring their social context, the nature of slavery at the time, and the causes of the conflicts. In 136 BC, in Sicily (which was then a Roman province), some four hundred slaves of Syrian origin rebelled against their masters and seized the city of Henna with much bloodshed. Their leader, a fortune-teller named Eunus, was declared king (taking the Syrian royal name Antiochus), and tens of thousands of runaway slaves as well as poor native Sicilians soon flocked to join his fledgling kingdom. Antiochus’ ambition was to drive the Romans from the whole of Sicily. The Romans responded with characteristic unwillingness and relentlessness, leading to years of brutal warfare and suppression. Antiochus’ “Kingdom of the Western Syrians” was extinguished by 132, but his agenda was revived in 105 BC when rebelling slaves proclaimed Salvius as King Tryphon, with similarly bitter and bloody results. Natale Barca narrates and analyses these events in unprecedented detail, with thorough research into the surviving ancient sources. The author also reveals the long-term legacy of the slaves’ defiance, contributing to the crises that led to the seismic Social War and setting a precedent for the more-famous rebellion of Spartacus in 73–71 BC. Praise for Rome’s Sicilian Slave Wars “An interesting read, and a good account of these large scale and very significant slave uprisings, giving us an idea of what the rebels were attempting to achieve, the methods they chose, and each revolt managed to survive for so long before being crushed.” —History of War

The World of Sicilian Wine provides wine lovers with a comprehensive understanding of Sicilian wine, from its ancient roots to its modern evolution. Offering a guide and map to exploring Sicily, Bill Nesto, an expert in Italian wine, and Frances Di Savino, a student of Italian culture, deliver a substantive appreciation of a vibrant wine region that is one of Europe’s most historic areas and a place where many cultures intersect. From the earliest Greek and Phoenician settlers who colonized the island in the eighth century B.C., the culture of wine has flourished in Sicily. A parade of foreign rulers was similarly drawn to Sicily’s fertile land, sun-filled climate, and strategic position in the Mediterranean. The modern Sicilian quality wine industry was reborn in the 1980s and 1990s with the arrival of wines made with established international varieties and state-of-the-art enology. Sicily is only now rediscovering the quality of its indigenous grape varieties, such as Nero d’Avola, Nerello Mascalese, Frappato, Grillo, and distinctive terroirs such as the slopes of Mount Etna.