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Book III, Chapter 4

Location of Sicily island
(from the Seventh Map of Europe)

Thayer's Note: Stevenson's "translation" of Ptolemy, to which this page belongs, is abysmally bad. It should not be used for any serious purpose. For details and correctives, see my Ptolemy homepage.

[image ALT:
A schematic map of Sicily in Roman times.
]

Constrained by the height of most screens, I had to crowd the map a bit, so I've shown the more important towns in red. No other information has been added to Ptolemy's text as I have it, so there is almost no topographic data; the courses of the rivers also remain unmapped.

Notice that Ptolemy has Sicily rotated counterclockwise by about 35°. This probably shows that he established the coördinates from mariners' reports rather than from astronomical data.

Sicily is surrounded on the west and the north by the Tyrrhenian sea, on the south by the African sea, on the east by the Adriatic sea. The seacoast of this island is thus described:

the central part of the north side, which, terminating in a point, and more toward the north, is called Pelorus promontory

39*40

38°35

A description of the west side on the Tyrrhenian sea:

Phalacrum promontory	39*10	38°30
Mylae	39*00	38°30 a
mouth of the Helicon river	38*50	38°25
Tyndarium	38*30	38°20
mouth of the Thymethus river	39*20	38°20
Agathyrnum	38*00	38°15
Alontium	37*50	38°10
mouth of the Chyda river	37*45	38°05
Calacta	37*40	37°55
Alaesa	37*40	37°45
mouth of the Monalus	37*30	37°45
Cephaloedis	37*20	37°40
mouth of the Himera river	37*15	37°20
town of Therma Himera	37*05	37°15
Solus town	37*00	37°20
mouth of the Eleutherus	37*00	37°05
Panormus	37*00	37°00
Cetaria	37*00	36°45
mouth of the Bathis river	37*00	36°40
Emporium Segestanum	37*00	36°30
Drepanum	36*55	36°30
Aegitharsus promontory	36*50	36°15

Description of the southern side toward the African sea

Lilybaeum city and promontory	37*00	36°00
mouth of the Acithius river	37*10	36°05
Mazaras	37*20	36°15
Selinuntis	37*30 b	36°15
Pintia	37*40	36°20
Sossius	37*50	36°20
Isburus	38*05	36°25
Heraclea	38*20	36°25
Hypsa	38*30	36°25
Agrigentinum Emporium	38*50	36°25
Himera	39*00	36°20
Hipparus	39*15	36°20
Bruca promontory	39*20	36°20
Caucana harbor	39*30	36°15
Motycanus	39*40	36°20
Ulixia promontory	39*50	36°15

Description of the eastern shorte on the Adriatic sea

Pachynus promontory	40*00	36°20
Phoenicus harbor	39*45	36°30
Erinous	39*45	36°40
Longum promontory	39*50	36°45
Chersonesus	39*40	36°55
Syracusa colonia	39*30	37°30
Alabus	39*25	37°20
Taurus promontory	39*30	37°30
Pantacius	39*25	37°35
Symaethus	39*35	37°40
Catana colonia	39*30	37°45
Argennum promontory	39*30	37°50
Tauromenium colonia	39*30	38°10
Messena in the strait	39*30	38°30

The mountains in the island, which are well known, are

Aetna	39*00	38°00
Cratos	37*40	36°40

The Messeni occupy the northern part of this island, the Herbitae and Catanei the middle, and the southern part the Segestani and Syracusi inhabit.

The inland towns of Sicily are:

Capytium	38*20	38°15
Abacaena	39*00	38°15
Imachara	38*30	38°00
Tissa	38*50	38°00
Aleta	37*50	37°50
Centuripa	38*30	37°50
Dymethus	38*50	37°50
Aetna	39*25	37°45
Agurium	38*15	37°40
Herbita	37*40	37°30
Sergentium (Ergetium)	38*30	37°30
Hydia	38*45	37°30
Leontium	39*00	37°30
Erbessus	37*50	37°20
Neetum	38*20	37°25
Menae	38*50	37°25
Paciorus	37*20	37°10
Assorus	37*40	37°20
Enna	38*05	37°15
Megara	39*15	37°15
Petra	38*40	37°05
Hybla	38*20	37°00
Engyum	39*00	37°00
Cotyrga	38*20	36°50
Macyrum	38*40	36°50
Acrae	39*15	36°40
Macella	37*15	36°40
Schera	37*30	36°50
Triocala	38*00	36°45
Agrigentum	38*30	36°40
Motyca	39*25	36°40
Segesta	37*05	36°30
Letum	37*30	36°30
Entella	37*45	36°30
Ancrina	38*10	36°35
Phthinthia	38*40	36°30
Gela	39*00	36°30
Camarina	39*20	36°25
Elorus	39*40	36°30
Ina	39*30	36°25
Helcethium	37*15	36°15

And the islands located around Sicily and near it are:

Didyme island	39*00	39°00
Hicesia island	39*30	39°00
Ericodes island	38*20	38°45
Phoenicodes island	38*30	38°50
Vulcani island	38*50	38°35
Lipara island and town	39*00	38°45
Euonymos island	39*10	38°45
Strongyle island	39*30	38°45
Ustica island and town	37*30	38°45
Osteodes island	36*15	37°00
Phorbantia island	36*00	36°20
Aegusa island	36*15	36°05
Hiera island	36*00	36°00
Paconia island	36*30	35°50
Aeoli island	37*00	39°00

Thayer's Notes:

a 27*30 in the 1932 edition is a modern typo; probably for 37*30 as above, or possibly 37*20

b 26*30 in the 1932 edition, a modern typo.

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Sicily
in 380 AD

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Book III, Chapter 4

Location of Sicily island (from the Seventh Map of Europe)

Thayer's Notes:

Location of Sicily island
(from the Seventh Map of Europe)