Sikani, Sikuli and Elymi.Who were they?
The Prehistory of Sicily.
(for more, read the book-for free in this blogg. «Southern Italy and Sicily Mythology, Prehistory and History until 3th Century». (English and Italian).
By Stefano sotiriou, historian
***********
We'll start with some
preliminary observations.
- The ethnonyms "Sik-ani" and
"Sik-ouli" (or Sik-eli) is exactly the same
name. Were they two separate peoples with the same ethnonym? This is a question posted today by all the
historical scholarship and is notably pointed out by the eminent British
Professor Robin Lane Fox.
- This ethnonym is of Greek origin. It is
etymologically derived from the name SIKELIA, which comes from the
Greek «SKELIA» (SKELIA=Legs Skelos=leg) > (TRISKELIA
= Three Legs - Tre Gambe
in Italian).
There is
also the equally Greek name TRINAKRIA, from the "THREE AKRES"
(THREE ENDS). The three capes: ΠΑΧΎΝΟΣ (Pachynos),
ΕΛΩΡΟΣ (Heloros), and ΛΙΒΥΛΑΙΟΝ (Lilybaeon).
2.1. For
these peoples (Sikani and Sikuli) to be named with this Greek
name, it means they inherited it from some Greeks?
- A) Either they originate
from a Greek region, as current historical research suggests is
indeed the case.
- B) Or because the Greeks
named them so, and consequently, we do not know the name by which
they called themselves «in their own language». Sikeli and Sikani
are, in any case, Greek ethnonyms.
- They wrote using the Greek alphabet.
However, the inscriptions that have survived are very few with a very
limited vocabulary. They have not been understood. The biggest probability
is that the languages are an older Pre-Greek, Pelasgian language,
which has not been fully understood to this day, even in the modern Greek country.
However, the proper names, toponyms, and hydronyms are recognized as being
the same, as those found in the region of the two shores of the Aegean Pelagos
(Sea).
- Regarding the Elymians, their Greek origin
is much clearer.
***************
1) The
Sikani
The Sikani are believed
to be Pelasgian (Pelasgi and Leleges were the inhabitants of the Greek
Peninsula and the shores of the Aegean before the formation of the Greeks.
We call them Pre-Greeks but also Proto-Greeks). Herodotus wrote that the
Pelasgians were the fathers of the Greek tribes, and this is correct. The
integration of Pelasgians with other related tribes between the two shores of
the Aegean Sea created the Greeks. The Pelasgian Sikani were, then, one of the three oldest peoples in Sikelia.
Diodorus of Sicily writes that the other two peoples of Sicily were the Elymians, who lived in the west, and the Sikeli, who lived in the east, and the boundary between these tribes, after great battles, was the river Hímera.
How and when
did they arrive in Sicily?
Three different theories exist:
- They were proto-Greeks or early Greek
tribes (Pelasgians and Leleges), as we saw above, and
came from Greek territories around the Aegean Sea.
2. According to Thoukidides, the Sikani
came from the west, from the land of the river
Sikanos in (modern) Catalonia. They came to Sicily after being attacked by
the Ligurians. But the Celtic(?) tribe of Ligurians lived in N.W. Italy and
France (Genoa, Nicaea... today), and it is incomprehensible that if they
attacked Catalonia, they would have pushed the population there to the east and
south, toward Sicily. Why did the Sikani escape by ships and not toward the
interior and south and west of Spain? The sources of Thoukidides are unknown.
He heard them somewhere without verification, as he did not go to Catalonia.
Equally unknown is the location of the river Sikanos. There was never a river
with such a name in Catalonia or southern France, nor anywhere else. Science
has not managed to locate it to this day. However, this theory has been
completely rejected today, given that the language of the Sikani, from the
few words that have been found, is not considered Celto-Ligurian, but
rather (morphologically and from the toponyms) Pelasgian, which is also
not yet fully understood, but we know for sure that it originates from the regions of the Aegean.
- The third theory describes them as immigrants
from N.W. Greece (the region of Macedonia, Epirus, Aetolia,
Acarnania). During this period, the great descent of the Dorians
occurred from N.W. Macedonia and Epirus (roughly the region of Lakes
Prespa and Ohrid) to Doris in central Greece and in Lacedaemon
(Sparta) in the Peloponnese (1200–1000 BC), which pushed many other
Greek tribes to the West. This explains why the word «ELYMI» is
found in dozens of regions, cities, and city-states of N.W. Greece, mainly
in Macedonia and Epirus. The migrants carried their tribal name with them
to Sicily.
Archaeology and history confirm that of these three theories, the oldest population
and civilization in Sicily was the Cycladic-Minoan, and later Pelasgian
and Mycenaean Greek. From these three
cultures and their languages, we only know that Mycenaean (c. 2000 – 1100
BC) was Greek. The languages of the other two have not yet been fully understood
and are considered Pre-Greek, but they contributed to the enrichment of the
Greek language through the merging of the populations who spoke them.
Historians have unanimously
acknowledged that the Sikani were the most ancient of the other peoples.
The Elymi came later from the Greek territories and displaced the Sikanians in
the west. The Sikani were first recorded historically in the 11th century BC.,
immediately after the fall of Troy and the flood of Achaean (Mycenaean)
settlers to Sicily. The Sikani were gradually mixed and assimilated by
the newer Greeks, who arrived during the third, archaic Greek settlement, in
the 8th century BC.
According to Greek
mythology (Mythology is considered by science to have a
historical core and legendary additions. Therefore, every myth has a real and
existing history. A fairy tale is an invented narrative), King Minos of Crete came to Sikelia long before the
existence of the Sikani, either as a name or as a tribe (before 2000 BC). He
came to Sikelia in search of the architect Daedalus, who lived in
Drepano (Trapani)... Daedalus was built that city in honor to the Goddess Aphrodite.
There, King Minos died in a violent death by the King of the city of Kamikos, Kokalos
(Κώκαλος), and his tomb was in the neighboring city of Herakleia Minoa, which
was first built in the second millennium by the Cretan Minoans. Today the tomb
is located on the hill of Guastanedda, northeast of Agrigento, toward Palermo.
On the hill of monte Kronion, is the tomb of the father of the Olympian Gods, Kronos
(Saturn in Latin). He died there, after the terrible Titanomachy, which took place in Sicily. Kronos was defeated
by his son Zeus, who became the king
of the Greek Pantheon/Religion. And Kronos was buried in Sicily, which was his
residence while alive!
The few inscriptions that have
been found of the Sikani language are written with the Greek alphabet.
Except for the names, which are of Greek origin (toponyms and hydronyms to),
linguists have not been able to understand their language due to the small number
of words (we don't have a full text, but sporadic names and toponyms). It was
probably related to the language of King Minos, or other Pelasgian tribes of
the Aegean. The first Minoan Language was written with "Linear A"
letters, which is not fully understood until today (see the Phaistos Disc). The
Sikani were mentioned as a people related to the Cyclopes, who
appear to lived initially in Attica
(under King Kecrops) and next in the Cyclades islands of the Aegean Sea,
and later migrated to Sicily.
Mycenaean Influence: Newer archaeological research (e.g., at sites such as Sant'Angelo Muxaro and Monte Grande in the Agrigento region, where
the Sikani resided) has shown that the earliest Sikanian culture shared many
common elements with Mycenae (Late Bronze Age, c. 1600–1100 BC).
Finds: Aegean-type
pottery and artifacts have been found in Siκanian settlements, suggesting
intense trade activity and/or the establishment of Mycenaean in Eastern and Southern Sicily.
Proto-Siκanian Culture: Some scholars speculate that the early Proto-Sikanian populations received
a strong influence from the Minoan (Cretan) and later the Mycenaean culture,
especially in pottery techniques, architecture, Gods religion, and burial
practices. Or they were of Aegean origin!
Linguistic Hypothesis
(Pelasgian)
The connection with the inhabitants of the Aegean also arises from the
linguistic hypothesis:
Pelasgian Language: The Siκanian language is considered Pre-Indo-European and remains incomprehensible. However, many linguists and historians have connected it,
through the toponyms (place names), with the so-called Pelasgian language or
the Pre-Hellenic substratum of the Aegean (i.e., the languages spoken by the
peoples of the Aegean before Greek prevailed).
In summary, the connection of the Sikani with the Aegean is primarily
supported by archaeological finds that show contacts with the Mycenaean
civilization and by the hypothesis regarding the Pelasgian nature of the Sikanian
language.
************
The Sikuli-Siceli
The connection of the Sikuli with the Aegean is much more direct and less controversial compared to the Sikani, though not through direct migration from the Aegean. This link is primarily found through the Italian peninsula and Mycenaean trade.
Arrival
to Sicily via Italy
The Sikuli are
considered to be an Indo-European people who migrated to Sicily throu Southern
Italy (modern Calabria), from Greece, around 1200 – 1000 BC, during
the collapse of the great Bronze Age civilizations.
Their connection to the
Aegean stems from two main factors:
1. Mycenaeans in Italy
Before the Sikulian arrival
in Sicily, Southern Italy already had intense contact with the Mycenaean
civilization of the Aegean (Calabia, Basilicata and Apulia. 90 Mycenaean places and cities have been
found today and are being excavated in Southern Italy. The notions of mass
Greek colonization in the 8th century BC have now been revised, moving to times
before 1300-1400 BC with the Mycenaeans).
·
From
the 14th century BC onward, Mycenaean merchants established many cities, posts
and traded extensively in areas such as Apulia and Calabria.
·
The
ancestors of the Sikuli on the Italian peninsula had already culturally
and technologically assimilated elements from the Mycenaeans before they
even crossed into Sicily (or they were mycaenean population).
2. Linguistic Connections
The Sikulian language
belongs to the group of European
and was introduced to Italy by migrations.
·
The
Sikulian language itself is related to Aegean languages. The spread of European peoples into Italy and the subsequent movement of the Sikuli into
Sikelia are events that occurred simultaneously with the early phase of
Greek colonization in the Mediterranean, shortly after the collapse of the
Mycenaean palaces.
· In Italy, after the unification of Southern Italy into the Italian state in 1860, a tendency emerged in Italian scholarship to present the Greek populations of the South (the overwhelming majority of whom originate from Greeks and were Greek-speaking and Orthodox Christians, compactly until the 13th century, 3000 years long) as something like economic migrants. Something similar to those arriving from Africa in Lampedusa. (The 4 million Greeks of 4th century B.C and the 2 million Greek orthodox , the 90% of the total population in 11 and 12nth century aC., were just temporarily emigrants!!!). That they are not the indigenous populations of the South, but some people who went there for excurtion(!), lived there some centuries (20 centuries at least) and then, Poof!!! They disappeared! This tendency intensified during Mussolini's era, but continues normally to this day. Thus, the language of the Sikuli is presented by Rome as a branch of the Italian Indoeuropean languages of 1000 BC, which was however influenced by the early waves of Mycenaean migrants-merchants and not Mycaenean settlers, according to Rome and Vatican (But 90 Mycenaean cities have been found and are being excavated today in Southern Italy. The notions of mass Greek colonization in the 8th century BC have now been revised, moving to times before 1300-1400 BC with the Mycenaeans) and thus the Sikulian language was found to resemble the languages of the Aegean.
Conclusion
The Sikuli were not
"Aegean,"- according to some historians in Rome, but:
·
They
came to Sicily from northern Italy, from unknown place, but in the way to south, they had intense prior
contact (in the south) with
the Mycenaeans.
·
They
coexisted with the Sikani and the Elymians, who had also received Aegean
influences.
·
Ultimately,
the Sikuli and the Sikani were assimilated by the Greek colonists,
who arrived in Sicily from Greece (the heart of the Aegean) from the 8th
century BC onward (3rd greek colonization).
The final and dominant
connection of the island with the Aegean came, of course, with the Great
Greek Colonization (foundations of Syracuse, Panormos. Agrigento, Catania,…, and other 200 greek cities until medieval era etc.).
But.
It is clear
that the Sikuli-Sikeli, according to archaeological excavations, shared
the exact same culture as the Mycenaeans.
The question is: Were the Sikeli
Mycenaeans in origin, who came from Greece and the Aegean thgrou Calabria, or were they
simply local inhabitants of Sikelia influenced by the Greek Mycenaean
culture through contacts and trade?
The size of the archaeological
finds (I repeat that: nowadays there are almost 90 Mycenaean sites under
excavation all over southern Italy) is so huge, that it shows with every
certainty that the Sikeli were a branch of the Aegean Mycenaean peoples who
settled on the island, arriving from the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea, the
Peloponnese, and NorthWestern Greece, after the fall of Troy (12th–11th
century BC), and not from the Alps as some historians in Roma say!.
Homer records Sikelia as Sikania. As we mentioned,
the British historian Robin Lane Fox points out that he considers that, the Sikani and the Sikeli had
the same name and maybe were integrated to the same people. It is indeed
strange to say that two separate nations existed on the same island, not
related, but with the same ethno-racial name. Because both the words Sikeli
and Sikani have the same root (which is a Greek root) and the same
etymology. It is the same word practically.
The Sikel people are reported in the Great Inscription
of Karnak, Egypt, in the 5th year of the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah (1207 BC) and recorded as one of the "Sea Peoples," or the peoples of the Aegean Pelagos (Sea).
They were Pre-Hellenic or Proto-Hellenic tribes of the Aegean.
Their integration formed the Greek tribes. This is the scientific evolution in
Ethnology.
The name "Sekeles"
is also recorded in the inscription on the tomb of Medinet Habu, which is related to the second invasion (30 years
later) of the "Sea Peoples"
to Egypt, in the 7th year of Ramses III's reign as Pharaoh. Archaeological
evidence places the arrival of the Sikeli to Sikelia between the 13th
and the 11th century BC, at the same time when the "Sea-Aegean-People":
The Danyen (Danaans-Achaeans. Known as Mycaeneans, named by its
capital Mycaene), Peleset
(Pelasgians), Sekeles (Sikeli)...
attacked Egypt. Around
the same time, Troy fell to the Danaans-Achaeans (Mycenaeans), which drove the
Mycenaeans from Achaea and the Aegean Islands and the Trojans, to southern
Italy and Etruria in the north en masse. So,
The Sikeli were Mycaenians and not some
unknown italic tribe, from the unknown
Celtic North.
The most important Sikeli
cities were: Agyra, founded as "Agyrion" or Argyrion (Argyrion
in Greek > argentum in latin = Silver. Argyrion was the birthplace of Diodorus
of Sicily), Kenturippe, Enna, Thapsos, Hybla the Great, Hybla the
Small, and Hybla Heraea, founded by the Megarians (who also founded
the famous city of Byzantium in the Bosporus, Constantinople later, capital of
the Byzantine Empire).
Studies (with the few poor
epigraphic finds, which we mentioned, contain proper names, hydronyms, and
toponyms) have shown that the Sikeli spoke a language that was a branch
of the Aegean-GrecoPelasgian language, the closest relative of the very
ancient Greek languages, from which evolved later the known Greek dialects,
beginning from the Mycenaean Greek!
The Sikeli lived in the
eastern part of the island, the Sikani lived in central Sicily,
and the Elymians in the western part. The only alphabet used on
the island by all these tribes was the Greek alphabet.
*************
The Language of the
Sicanians (Sicanian)
The Siculi & sikani were considered an earlier population of
Characteristics
For this reason some
scholars compare it with:
Relationship with
Aegean Languages
In the
• Linear A (Minoan – partly read but not
fully understund; from proper names and names of deities that some scholars, Oxford profesors Gareth Owens and John Coleman, claim to have identified on the Phaistos Disc,
such as the expression “Potnia Thea,” which in central Greece referred to the
goddess Athena. In addition, recent DNA
research by the Max Planck Institute has
suggested that the Mycenaeans shared about 75% genetic similarity with the
Minoans.)
• Linear B (Mycenaean Greek)
• Minoan
hieroglyphic writing
Linear B
was proven to represent the Greek language. It was deciphered by the
Linear A
remains partly unknown and represents a pre-Greek language of the
Similarities Between Sicily and the Aegean
Comparisons are mainly
based on two elements.
a) Toponyms
Some place names in
Examples of patterns
• endings -nth-,
-ss-, -tt-
These also appear in:
• pre-Greek Greek toponyms
such as
•
Linguistics connects these forms with a pre-Greek Aegean substrate.
b) Mythological Traditions
A lot of ancient authors such as Thucydides report that:
• peoples from the Aegean Pelago (Sea) moved to
However, these references are mainly historical traditions rather than linguistic proof.
The Pelasgian Theory
The Pelasgians
were considered by the ancient Greeks to be the pre-Greek population of
the
Some researchers have
proposed that inhabitans of Sicily languages, spoke :
probably belonged to an old Mediterranean linguistic substrate, based on the available evidence so far.
Conclusion of Modern
Research
1. Words from a Sicul & Sican Inscription
One word appears as:
Pibe
Many linguists compare it
with:
Mycenaean root: pi-
/ drink, beverage
Therefore it may mean something like “drink” or “beverage.”
brutia / bruties
Appears in names or
ethnonyms.
Comparison with Greek βροτός (brotos) meaning “mortal.”
• Possible Mycenaean root bhrū- (human / body)
Toponym: Hybla
A city name in
Compared with pre-Greek
Aegean toponyms containing:
Example of similar
morphology:
The most probable
connection proposed is that they belong to an old
Toponym: Segesta
A city of the Elymians in
western
Comparison with Greek names
ending in -esta / -istos, such as:
In its original ancient
form Aigesta- Αίγεσθα (rather than the modern Italian form
• Aegean Pelagos (Sea)
These examples are
interpreted as showing possible shared name morphology between
Sicel–Sicani and
Word: Neton ( in the modern western historiography, the name is written with latin eding «um»- «Netum» But this is wrong. There is not existend in Sicily such latin ending, but only greek, and Grek alphabet. The latin alphabet came here after the concordat of Norman conqueror Robert Guyiscard and Vatican in 1059 aD. II. See surces)
Name of a city. Compared with Greek root:
νη-
/ να-
(to flow / water)
Examples:
Word in another Inscription:
aiti
Possible meaning: “to
/ toward.”
Comparison with Greek: αἰτία / αἰτί
Form comparison:
a-ti / aiti (Sicel)
– a-ti (Linear A, Crete)
Possible interpretations
proposed:
A similar form also appears in Linear B related to direction or the dative case.
Word. ku-pa / (Κούπα)
In tablets of Linear A the word appears:
ku-pa . Meaning: cup
In Sicilian toponyms it appears as: • cupa • kupa
Researchers have suggested
that it may mean:
No other interpretation has been proposed.
word. su / suki ( Σούκι)
In Linear A appears: su-ki
In Sicilian inscriptions appears: suki
Many linguists believe it
might have been:
However, there is no certainty.
4. Endings -ss- and -nth-
One of the most striking
features is the endings of words and place names.
Sicily:_
Aegean: Knossos. • Corinthos,
• -nthos →
e.g., Corinth , Zakynthos
These forms are considered
characteristic of the proto-Greek substrate of the
Some Etymolgy
What These Comparisons Overall Suggest
Most studies suggest three
possible scenarios:
1. Prehistoric
Mediterranean Substrate
Ancient populations before
the Greeks spoke related languages across the Aegean
and the western
2. Bronze Age Population
Movements
Civilizations such as the Minoan civilization of Crete had a lot of trading colonies in
Micenei hand a lot of colonies, from 15-14 centyury bC.
NAMES
7. Name Endings
In the few Sicel-Sicanian
inscriptions, name endings appear such as:
• -os,• -on,• -as ( I repeat. Not «um-us», but «on-os». Latin not existend them).
These are identical to
Greek Mycenaean endings.
Example:
Names of Sicanian Scriptes (Names were writen in Greek alphabet)
* Teutos- Τεύτος. Teutos is thought to be the same
as Teucer (Τεῦκρος), the Trojan figure. Teucer is associated with
the city of
According
to mythological traditions, the son of Teucer was wounded by Achilles during the war described in the
Trojan cycle.
These
traditions are sometimes interpreted as supporting the idea that some of the earliest inhabitants of
* Galeotis ( Γαλεώτης). Galeotes (Γαλεώτης) is the name of a magician or priest. It is considered a Greek name, possibly connected with galeos (γαλέος), a type of dogfish in Greek.
According
to ancient tradition reported by Thucydides,
Galeotes was the son of Telephus.
Telephus himself was associated with the Aegean
world, and Galeotes is said to have migrated to
The twin deities Palici are thought to derive their name from
Greek, from the compound expression “palin
ikesthai” (πάλιν ἱκέσθαι), meaning “to
return again” or “to come back
again.”
The
Palici were twin gods worshipped in
ancient
Ancient writers such as Thucydides mention the indigenous peoples
and cults of
Ardanos , Local king. has two possible etymologies.
The name Dardanos is also known from Greek mythology as the
ancestor of the Trojans and founder of Dardania,
closely associated with the legendary city of
The word Aitna (Etna)
The
name of the volcano
·
aíthō (αἴθω) = to burn, to
blaze.
From
the same root come several Greek words:
·
aithálē (αιθάλη) → soot or ash from burning
·
aithḗr (αιθήρ) → the bright upper air / ether
·
aíthrios
(αἴθριος) → clear, bright sky
·
aíthōn
(αἴθων) → blazing, shining, fiery
This
semantic connection makes sense because Etna
is an active volcano associated with fire and lava.
Sicilian
But. Names that seem to be Greek have been found in few inscriptions in Sicily in language spoken
Some
linguists think the name Aitna
might originally come from an older local
language of
So two main theories exist:
The Mycenaean possibility
The root aith- is very ancient. It existed already in Mycenaean Greek, although the specific name Aitna., like the greek names: Trhee akres (Triankria) and Triskeles= (Three legs) and Sikelia=Sicily
Conclusion
aíthō (to burn) → fire / blazing → Aitna (the “burning” mountain)
and it belongs to a family of related Greek words such as:
· aithálē, aithḗr,· aíthrios.· aíthōn
All connected with brightness, fire, and burning. 🔥
Possible Relation with Minoan Words
Words from Sicul–Sicani inscriptions show similarities with both systems-languages, even if we dont know their meaning.
The morphological elements
found also point to the
• -ss- • -nth-
Appearing in:
Aegean: Knossos, • Zakynthos, • Corinth
Sicily:
This may indicate a common ancient Mediterranean linguistic substrate.
Conclusion
The comparisons considered
most plausible are:
|
Sicilian |
Comparison |
Greek |
|
pibe |
root pi- |
πίνω |
|
aiti |
eti |
toward / cause |
|
-os |
ending |
-ος os |
|
-on |
ending |
-ον on (not existed the latin um-us) |
However, inscriptions in
Archaeological Evidences'
Another very interesting
element is that Minoan objects and trade contacts between Crete and
It is certain that Cretans
had trading stations there, and possibly even cities
as early as 2000 BC.
The story of King Minos, together with Cocalos and the architect Daedalos, who according to tradition
built cities in southern and western
The Mycenaean-Achaean
settlement in
Excavations have uncovered
evidence of 92 Mycenaean sites in eastern and southern
Therefore, according to
these interpretations, Greek genetic presence -DNA—supported by all the studies—would already date back to that period.
The Elymians
Important Distinction:
Elymians
It is important to note that, according to ancient sources (such as
Thucydides, Diodoros k.a.) and modern studies, the people of Sicily most
frequently connected with the Aegean are the Elymians, who lived in
western Sicily. Thucydides reports
that the Elymians originated from Asia Minor (Troy area), which falls within
the broader area of Aegean influence. The Trojans were branch of Proto Greek people, with her
language to be similar to Greek, the Pantheon was the same (Athena was the protector
of the Achaeans and Apollo to the Darnanian
Trojans), they had the same Greek names, like Hector, Alexandros-Paris… and is accepted
generally by the science that the Trojan war was not a war for the Beautiful
Helen, but for the control of the
straits of Hellespont or Dardanelle, the first known civil war in History (between two
relative tribes, the Achaeans (Mycenaean) and Trojan (Dardanian).
Mycenaean artifacts and Mycenaean sites from the 15th to the 12th century BC. Large collections of Mycenaean artifacts are displayed in the museums of Cagliari, Syracuse, Agrigento, Taranto, and other museums.
The mythical Patriarch of the Elymians is
considered to be the Trojan hero Elymos, the illegitimate half-brother
of Aeneas (see also the Elymia district of Macedonia, Elymia capital city
of Chaonia in Epirus, the mythical king Elymos...). Thucydides
writes that many Trojans who escaped the destruction caused by the Achaean-Mycenaean
arrived by ships to Sicily and initially founded two cities: Erykas
(Eryx was the son of the god Poseidon) and Aegesta (a sacred name for
the Greeks: Aegis, Aegai which is the capital of Macedonia, the Aegean
Pelagos (Sea), Aegypt ("Aeg-ypt" means south of the
Aegean), the Aegade islands in western Sicily, the Aegonian Pelagos-
Sea western of Trapani and Eryx, Aegesta (Segesta, corrupted
in Italian), Aegialia region in the Peloponnese, Aegion city,
kataegis, Aegis, Aegisthos king of Mycenae, etc.).
The Elymians had the same
culture as the Greeks. They believed in the same Olympian gods, they had
the same alphabet, they spoke language very closely related to Greek, but their oldest language is unknown (if an
older language existed, today it is unknown due to lack of evidence). Their
most important cities were Segesta/Aegesta, which was their political
center, and Eryx-Erycas, which was their religious center, with a cult
of Poseidon, and Drepanon-Drepani-Trapani with a cult of Aphrodite...
Other sources for the
Elymians. Elymos was the name of a son of Priamos or Podarkes,
king of Troy. According to Strabo, "the founder of the city
of Aegesta in Sikelia was the
famous Aegestos".
Strabo's reference to the Elymian residents of Sikelia is well known: "They were Greeks, followers of Philoctetes,
who according to legend came here to Sicily after Troy." In Aegesta (Segesta) is the famus Temple dedicated to the Great
Mother, possibly the goddess Rhea, wife of Kronos and mother of
Dias-Zeus, whom the Elymians worshipped. Mother Earth was also the goddess Demeter,
Sicilys Goddes protector (Da-Mater
in Doric-Spartan).
One region of Macedonia
was called, and is still call today, Elymia, with captal city the modern city Kozani. Elymos was
the name of one of the Centaurs (half man-horse) who lived in mount Pelion in
Magnesia, Thessaly region. Elyma was the name of the capital city of the
Chaonian Region in Epirus (opposite Hydrus/Otranto). Elyma was a
city in Arcadia, Peloponnese, and Elymos was one of the Kings of the
Tyrrhenians. Elymos was also a hero in the Trojan War, who originated
from the Thessalian city of Olyzon. He fought in Troy with the
poisoned arrows of Heracles. Stephanos of Byzantium writes that Elymia
and Ellinia have the same meaning. Ellines (=Greeks) were a Greek tribe in Chaonia-Thesprotia, Epirus. Ellinia-Elymia is a territory and
a city in Sikelia (Stephanos of Byzantium, 6th
century AD, was an Eastern Roman grammarian and the author of an important
geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica -Εθνικά). The etymology of the word Elymia is Greek. We also know that the Latins called the letter
"Y" "Ygraecum," because it was used only in words of
Greek origin.
- Elymia in Macedonia. The capital of Macedonia was Aeges (in Sicilia Eges-ta, S-eges-ta in modern Italian, with Spanish orthography in this map). See how many Greek tribes, countries, city states…, how many tribal ethnonyms in a small part of Greek world!
- Conclusion
Recent archaeological findings
have made it almost certain that the pre-Hellenic peoples of Sicily: Elymi,
Sikeli-Sikuli and Sikani , migrated
to Sicily from the Greek
regions of the two shores of the Aegean Sea, Asia Minor, the
islands, and N.W. Greece (Epirus, Acarnania, Peloponessos etc.) between
the 13th and 11th century BC.
***********
Greek Genetics from 1,000 BC until today.
Genetic Reality of the Mezzogiorno today! Challenging the myth and propaganda of Romanic, Normanic, Germanic & Arab DNA ancestry.
“Contrary to popular belief the many invasions in southern
Source: Cavalli-Sforza (University of Stanford, USA), Luigi Luca, Menozzi Paolo, Piazza Alberto (Turin Italy), "The History and Geography of Human Genes. p.
For more Mythology (all the mythology of Sicily, Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, and Campania is Greek), Prehistory, and History, up to the 13th century AD, when agreements (concordats) by the German conquerors of Southern Italy with the Pope, handed the region over to the jurisdiction of the Vatican—until then it belonged to the Ecumenical Patriarchate—and Dehellenized the region by force, after the Holy Inquisition burned Sicilians and Calabrians, etc. because they spoke and held church services in Greek... a history that is not accessible in Italy after the Risorgimento. The Greeks were not illegal immigrants in Southern Italy. They were the basic ethnic core from prehistory to the present day. Today, and after 7-8 centuries of course, they are no longer Greeks, because they were de-Hellenized by the violence and politics of the Vatican. Read the GENETIC HISTORY OF ITALY on Wikipedia and see if the Greeks were simply illegal immigrants!
****
Read the book. South Italy, Mythology, Prehistory and Historty until 13 century (why only until century???) : in the blogg: sicilia-calabria.blogspot.com.
Pages in Academia.edu, related to
and prehistory.
https://www.academia.edu/161291377/THE_MYCENAEAN_COLONIZ
ATION_in_SICILY_and_SOUTH
https://www.academia.edu/150276120/VATICAN_CATHOLIC_CHIRC
H_The_Greek_Popes_from_Calabria_Sicilia_Athens_Efesos_Damascos_
and_Jerusalem_1_
https://www.academia.edu/146186278/THE_SICILIAN_VESPERS_A_T
urning_Point_in_History_I_VESPRI_SICILIANI_Una_svolta_nella_stor
ia
https://www.academia.edu/145875108/SOUTH_ITALY_MEZZOGIORN
O_The_Violent_Latinization_Catholicization_of_Sicily_Calabria_Apulia
_Basilicata_and_Campania
https://www.academia.edu/145784826/Sikani_Sikuli_and_Elymi_Who_
were_they
https://www.academia.edu/145784412/FRIEDRICH_NIETZSCHE_Helle
nism_and_Magna_Graecia_Southern_Italy_Sicily
https://www.academia.edu/145782473/MARTORANA_PALERMO_SIC
ILY_Giorgio_dAntiochia_%CE%93%CE%95%CE%A9%CE%A1%CE
%93%CE%99%CE%9F%CE%A3_%CE%91%CE%9D%CE%A4%CE%
99%CE%9F%CE%A7%CE%95%CE%A5%CE%A3_and_the_MARTO
RANA_Santa_Maria_D_Ammiraglio_Palermo_Sicily
And the full
mythology, prehistory and history, until 13 century, in the Blogg: sicilia-
calabria.blogspot.com
.
