TravelTill

History of Enna


JuteVilla
Enna is situated near the center of the island; whence the Roman writer Cicero called it Mediterranea maxime, reporting that it was within a day's journey of the nearest point on all the three coasts. The peculiar situation of Enna is described by several ancient authors, and is indeed one of the most remarkable in Sicily. The ancient city was placed on the level summit of a gigantic hill, so lofty as almost to deserve to be called a mountain, and surrounded on all sides with precipitous cliffs almost wholly inaccessible, except in a very few spots which are easily defended, abundantly supplied with water which gushes from the face of the rocks on all sides, and having a fine plain or table land of about 5 km in circumference on the summit, it forms one of the most remarkable natural fortresses in the world.

Prehistoric

Archaeological findings dating from the 14th century BC have proved the human presence in the area since Neolithic times. A settlement from before the 11th century BC, assigned by some to the Sicani, has been identified at the top of the hill; later it was a center of the Siculi. In historical times it became renowned in Sicily and Italy for the cult of the goddess Demeter (the Roman Ceres), whose grove in the neighborhood was known as the umbilicus Siciliae ("The navel of Sicily"). Ceres' temple in Henna was a famed site of worship.

The origin of the toponym Henna remains obscure.

Classical period

Dionysius I of Syracuse seems to have fully appreciated Enna's importance, and repeatedly attempted to make himself master of the place; at first by aiding and encouraging Aeimnestus, a citizen of Enna, to seize on the sovereign power, and afterwards, failing in his object by this means, turning against him and assisting the Ennaeans to get rid of their despot. He did not however at this time accomplish his purpose, and it was not till a later period that, after repeated expeditions against the
previous123next
JuteVilla