PALIKÉ
(Mineo) Catania, Sicily.
Volcanic
hill, today named La Rocca, which closes to the NE the
valley of the river of Caltagirone or of the Margi, and
which dominates to the N the small lake of the Palici.
The site, which was uninterruptedly inhabited from the
Paleolithic period until the Early Bronze Age, acquired
particular importance after the foundation of the city of
Paliké by Ducetius in 453 B.C. (
Diod. 11.88.6). Destroyed
and rebuilt, the city continued to flourish until the Early
Hellenistic period. According to a new hypothesis, based
on a reference by Kallias (apud. Macrob.,
Sat. 5.19.25)
and on excavational evidence, the site should be identified also with Eryke, archaic center of the 6th c. B.C., which would have been refounded in the 5th c. B.C. by Ducetius under the name of Paliké.
Near a grotto opening onto the side of the hill, stone
tools of the Early Paleolithic period have been found,
and probably the foundations of the Temple of the Palici.
The plain before the hill has yielded Neolithic and Chalcolithic sherds of Serra d'Alto, Diana, and Serraferlicchio wares. Some oven-shaped graves of Castelluccio type attest that the site was also inhabited during the Early
Bronze Age. On the plateau of the hill traces have been
identified of an archaic settlement of the Licodia Eubea
culture whose continuity is attested until the early Hellenistic phase.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
G. V. Gentili, “Cinturone eneo con
dedica da Paliké,”
RömMitt 69 (1962) 14ff; P. Pelagatti,
FA 17 (1965) n. 2767; L. Bernabò Brea, “Paliké. Giacimento paleolitico e abitato neolitico ed eneo,”
BPI 74 (1965) 23ff; A. Messina, “Menai-Menainon ed Eryke-Paliké,”
CronArch 6 (1967) 87ff.
A. MESSINA
