APOLLONIA
Sicily.
An unexplored city on
the N coast (Commune of S. Fratello, Province of Messina) between Halontion and Kalakta (Steph. Byz.). Historical references to the site are few: around the middle of the 4th c. B.C. it was dominated by Leptines, tyrant
of Engyon; in 342 B.C. Timoleon made the two cities
autonomous, after having defeated the tyrant and exiled
him to the Peloponnese (Diod. 16:72). The site was
sacked by Agathokles in 307 B.C. (Diod. 20:56). In the
1st c. B.C. it was civitas decumana (Cic.
Verr. 3.43,103),
and it was represented by one ship in the fleet gathered
against the pirates (Cic.
Verr. 5.33, 86; 34,90).
The city occupies a vast rocky plateau on the summit
of Monte Vecchio, a foothill of the central Nebrods;
from this position it dominates a large stretch of the
coastline from Kephaloidion to Agathyrnon. The ruins
of the ancient city are visible on the mountain peak. On
the entire S and W sides one can follow the line of the
fortification walls built with isodomic masonry of local
marble; the remains of at least two buildings, in the
same isodomic technique, lie on the E side of the plateau, to the W and to the NE of the Norman Church
(12th c.) of the Three Saints; on the summit of the
mount a large cistern (?) has been cut into the rock, as
well as a kind of altar and a few units at the end of a
stairway climbing from the E.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Salinas & S. Fratello,
NSc (1880)
198.
G. SCIBONA
