HALICYAE
HALICYAE (
Ἁλικύαι: Eth.
Ἁλικυαῖος, Eth.
Haltcyenis:
Salemi), a city in the west of Sicily, bout midway between the two seas, and 10 miles S. of Segesta. Stephanus of Byzantium correctly describes it as situated between Entella and Lilybaeum. (
Steph. B. sub voce Its name frequently occurs in history, and generally in connection with the adjacent cities of Entella and Segesta, but we have no account of its origin: it was probably a Sicanian town, and followed the fortunes of its more powerful neighbours. Hence, when it first appears in history
1 subject to, or at least dependent on, Carthage, the power of which was at that time predominant in the W. of Sicily. In B.C. 397, when the great expedition of Dionysius caused the greater part of the Carthaginian allies and subjects to revolt, Halicyae was one of the five cities which remained faithful to them, on which account its territory was ravaged by Dionysius. (
Diod. 14.48.)
But the next year the Halicyans were so alarmed at his progress that they concluded a treaty of alliance with him, which, however, they soon broke on the appearance of Himilco in Sicily at the head of a large army, and rejoined the Carthaginian alliance. (Id. 14.54, 55.) They are not again mentioned till B.C. 276, during the expedition of Pyrrhus to Sicily, when they followed the example of the Selinuntines and Segestans, and
[p. 1.1028]declared themselves in favour of that monarch. (Id. 22.10, Exc. H. p. 498.) Again, in the First Punic War they were among the first to imitate the conduct of the Segetans, and, throwing off the Carthaginian yoke, declared themselves on the side of Rome. (Id. 23.5, p. 502.) For this signal service Halicyae was rewarded by the grant of peculiar privileges, which we find its citizens still enjoying in the time of Cicero, who reckons it among the five cities of Sicily which were “sine foedere immunes ac liberae.” (
Verr. 3.7, 40.)
But even this privileged condition did not preserve them from the exactions of Verres. (Ib. 2.28, 3.40, 5.7.) From this time we hear little of Halicyae, which appears to have lost its peculiar privileges, and had sunk in the time of Pliny into an ordinary stipendiary town. (
Plin. Nat. 3.8. s. 14.)
That author is the last who mentions its name.
The passage already cited from Stephanus is the only direct authority for the position of Halicyae, but agrees well with what we may gather from Diodorus; and there seems no reason to doubt that the site has been correetly identified by Fazello and Cluverius with that of the modern town of
Salemi. It stands on a hill in a commanding position, and must have been a place of considerable strength.
There are no ancient remains; but the modern, as well as the ancient name, appears to have reference to the
salt springs in the neighbourhood.
It is distant about 20 miles E. from
Marsalas (the ancient Lilybaeum) and 16 N. from the site of Selinus.
It is not improbable that we should read
Ἁλικυαίων in Diodorus (
36.3. p. 531), where he speaks of a Servile outbreak taking place,--
κατὰ τὴν Ἀδκυλίων χώραν,--a name otherwise unknown.
In a previous passage of the same author already cited (14.48) the MSS. have
Ἀλκυραίων, but there seems no doubt that here the true reading, as suggested by Wesseling, is
Ἁλικυαίων. Cluverius, however, contends for the correctness of the old reading, and admits the existence of a city named Ancyra, which he identifies with the
Ἄδκρινα of Ptolemy (
3.4.15). IE. H. B.]
