HELO´RUM
HELO´RUM,
HELO´RUS, or ELO´RUS (
Ἔλωρος or
Ἕλωρος, Ptol.,
Steph. B. sub voce Ἕλωρον, Scyl.: Eth.
Ἑλωρῖνος, Helorinus), a city of Sicily, situated near the E. coast, about 25 miles S. of Syracuse, and on the banks of the river of the same name. (
Steph. B. sub voce Vib. Seq. p. 11.) We have no account. of its origin, but it was probably a colony of Syracuse, p. of which it appears to have continued always a dependency.
The name is first found in Scylax ( § 13. p. 168); for, though Thucydides repeatedly mentions “the road leading to Helorus” from Syracuse (
τὴν Ἑλωρίνην ὁδόν, 6.66, 70, 7.80), which was that followed by the Athenians in their disastrous retreat, he never speaks of the town itself.
It was one of the cities which remained the under the government of Hieron II. by the treaty concluded with him by the Romans, in B.C. 263. (Diod. xxiii. Exc. H. p. 50, where the name is corruptly written
Αἰλώρων): and, having during the Second Punic War declared in favour of the Carthaginians, was recovered by Marcellus in B.C. 214 (
Liv. 24.35). Under the Romans it appears to have been dependent on Syracuse, and had perhaps no separate municipal existence, though in a passage of Cicero (
Cic. Ver. 3.48) it appears. to be noticed as a “civitas.” Its name is again mentioned by the orator (
lb. 5.34) as a maritime town where the squadron fitted out by Verres was attacked by pirates: but it does not occur in Pliny's list of the towns of Sicily; though he elsewhere (32.2), mentions it as a “castellumn” on the river of the same name: and Ptolemy (
3.4.15) speaks of a
city of Helorus. Its ruins were still visible in the days of Fazello; a little to the N. of the river--Helorus, and about a mile from the sea-coast.
The most conspicuous of them were the remains of a theatre, called by the country people
Colisseo: but great part of the walls and other buildings could be traced.
The extent of them was, however, inconsiderable.
These are now said to have disappeared, but there still remains between this site and the sea a curious column or monument, built of large stones, rising on a square pedestal.
This is commonly regarded as a kind of trophy, erected by the Syracusans to commemorate their victory over the Athenians.
But there is no foundation for this belief: had it been so designed, it would certainly have been erected on the banks of the river Asinarus, which the Athenians never succeeded in crossing. (Fazell. 4.2. p. 215; Cluver.
Sicil. p. 186; Smyth,
Sicily, p. 179; Hoare,
Classical Tour, vol ii. p. 136.)
[
E.H.B]
