Agrigento is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento.
Magna Graecia was the name given by the Romans to the Greek-speaking coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these regions were extensively populated by Greek settlers starting from the 8th century BC.
The Sicels were an Indo-European tribe who inhabited eastern Sicily, their namesake, during the Iron Age. They spoke the Siculian language. After the defeat of the Sicels at the Battle of Nomae in 450 BCE and the death of Sicel leader Ducetius in 440 BCE, the Sicel state broke down and the Sicel culture merged into Magna Graecia.
The Battle of Himera, supposedly fought on the same day as the Battle of Salamis, or at the same time as the Battle of Thermopylae, saw the Greek forces of Gelon, King of Syracuse, and Theron, tyrant of Agrigentum, defeat the Carthaginian force of Hamilcar the Magonid, ending a Carthaginian bid to restore the deposed tyrant of Himera. The alleged coincidence of this battle with the naval battle of Salamis and the resultant derailing of a Punic-Persian conspiracy aimed at destroying the Greek civilization is rejected by modern scholars. Scholars also agree that the battle led to the crippling of Carthage's power in Sicily for many decades. It was one of the most important battles of the Sicilian Wars.
Gela is a city and comune (municipality) in the Autonomous Region of Sicily, Italy; in terms of area and population, it is the largest municipality on the southern coast of Sicily. Gela is part of the Province of Caltanissetta and is one of the few comuni in Italy with a population and area that exceed those of the provincial capital.
Licata, formerly also Alicata, is a city and comune located on the south coast of Sicily, at the mouth of the Salso River, about midway between Agrigento and Gela. It is a major seaport developed at the turn of the twentieth century, shipping sulphur, the refining of which has made Licata the largest European exporting centre, and asphalt, and at times shipping cheese.
The province of Caltanissetta is a province in the southern part of Sicily, Italy. Following the suppression of the Sicilian provinces, it was replaced in 2015 by the free municipal consortium of Caltanissetta. The province contains 22 comuni. Its coat of arms is a red crest and two green leaf stems on top with a laurel leaf on the right and a crown in the middle. The River Salso is the main river of the province; it is 122 kilometres (76 mi) long and originates in the province of Palermo, and it flows into the Mediterranean in this province at the end of the Gulf of Gela.
The Sicani or Sicanians were one of three ancient peoples of Sicily present at the time of Phoenician and Greek colonization. The Sicani dwelt east of the Elymians and west of the Sicels, having, according to Diodorus Siculus, the boundary with the last in the ancient Himera river (Salso) after a series of battles between these tribes.
Agira is a town and comune in the province of Enna, Sicily. It is located in the mid-valley of the River Salso, 35 kilometres from Enna. Until 1861 it was called San Filippo d'Argiriò, in honour of its saint Philip of Agira.
The Necropolis of Pantalica is a collection of cemeteries with rock-cut chamber tombs in southeast Sicily, Italy. Dating from the 13th to the 7th centuries BC, there was thought to be over 5,000 tombs, although the most recent estimate suggests a figure of just under 4,000. They extend around the flanks of a large promontory located at the junction of the Anapo river with its tributary, the Calcinara, about 23 km (14 mi) northwest of Syracuse. Together with the city of Syracuse, Pantalica was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.
The Salso, also known as the Imera Meridionale, is a river of Sicily. It rises in the Madonie Mountains and, traversing the provinces of Enna and Caltanissetta, flows into the Mediterranean at the western end of the Gulf of Gela at the seaport of Licata, in the Province of Agrigento. Its small deltaic system there is dominated by marine processes rather than fluvial ones. It is a seasonal torrent, with brief but violent floods during the winter rains, and all but dry in summer droughts. In November 1915 the iron bridge across the river's mouth collapsed during floods, and 119 people were swept away in the flood and lost. The Salso, which is the longest river of Sicily at 132 kilometres (82 mi), has a drainage basin area of 2,022 square kilometres (781 sq mi).
The Sicilian Wars, or Greco-Punic Wars, were a series of conflicts fought between ancient Carthage and the Greek city-states led by Syracuse over control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean between 580 and 265 BC.
Akrai was a Greek colony of Magna Graecia founded in Sicily by the Syracusans in 663 BC. It was located near the modern Palazzolo Acreide.
The archaeological site of Polizzello or mountain of Polizzello was a site inhabited probably from the eleventh to the sixth century BC
Cava del Rivettazzo is a Sicel necropolis located about 4 km north of Solarino on the SP 28 to Sortino.
Monte Adranone is a mountain rising 900 metres above sea level in the north of the comune of Sambuca di Sicilia, in the Province of Agrigento.
Monte Bubbonìa is a 595-metre-high (1,952 ft) hill located in the comune of Mazzarino, about twenty kilometres from the city of Gela. It consists of three platforms, descending from west to east.
The archaeological park of Sabucina, located on the mountain of the same name near Caltanissetta, is an archaeological site in Sicily. The area contains settlements ranging from the Bronze Age to the Roman period.
The History of Greek Sicily began with the foundation of the first Greek colonies around the mid 8th century BC. The Greeks of Sicily were known as Siceliotes.
Herbessos was an ancient city located at Montagna di Marzo, Sicily, a few kilometres north-west of Piazza Armerina.
