January 13, 2010
Some historical context: The early years
Sicily has a very complicated historic timeline, reflecting its position at a key strategic location in the Mediterranean. For over two thousand years it has been under the dominion of one sea power after another, and it's art and architecture reflect this. To prepare us a bit for what we'll be seeing there (and to help wile away our wet winter weather), I thought I'd start outlining a bit of its history. Hopefully before we land in Palermo we'll know a Norman from a Roman from a Greek.
Sicily's story appears to begin during the Gigantomachy, the war between the Giants and the Olympian gods for control of the cosmos. According to some sources, the Giant Enceladus was buried here beneath Sicily, when the goddess Athena threw the island upon him. He still lies down there in frustration, his fiery breath erupting from time to time from Mount Etna.
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It is also claimed that Mount Etna was the workshop for Hephaestus (Vulcan), and that this is the spot where he and the Cyclopes produced lightning bolts for Zeus.
Sicily is also alleged to be the home of the Cyclopes, and the site where Odysseus and his crew were captured and trapped in a cave by Polyphemus. They famously escaped after Odysseus blinded him, and narrowly avoided being crushed by the huge bolders the giant hurled at their fleeing ships in his wrath. The remains of his fury are still visible as the Islands of the Cyclops off the coast of Aci Trezzi on the southeast coast.
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After these clear beginnings the historical record gets a bit murky, until the Phoenecians and Greeks arrived from the east beginning in about 1000 BC and laid claim to different ends of the island. Prior to this it was settled by three different peoples of uncertain origin: the Sicani, the Sicels (hence the name of the island), and the Elymians.
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