The Sicily historical summary

The geographical position of Sicily in the centre of the Mediterra­nean has made her not only the prized possession of foreign powers, but also a battleground between warring nations. But her long history of foreign domination has often been coloured by a brilliant mixture of traditions and cultures which has produced some of the most remarkable art in the Mediterranean world.

The earliest prehistoric finds on the island are the Palaeolithic cave paintings on Levanzo and Monte Pellegrino. The first Neolithic culture so far recognised in Sicily is that known as ‘Stentinello’, named after one of its typical fortified villages near Syracuse. The Aeolian Islands became important because of the existence of obsidian, which was much sought after by the Mediterranean peoples. In the Bronze Age the islands were on the trade route between the Aegean Islands and the Western Mediterranean. The earliest inhabitants of Sicily of whom we have any written record are the Siculi in the easth and the Sicani in the West. The Elymni are known to have occupied Segesta, Erice, and Entella; but evidence of their civilisation has only so far been found at Segesta. All these people, in the were in dose commercial touch with the Aegeo-Mycenaean peoples of Greece. Recent archaeological evidence has suggested that the Phoenicians visited the west coast of Sicily to establish trading outposts (at Motya, San Pantaleo, and later Palermo) even before the Greek settlers began to arrive in the 8th century bc. The Greeks established strong­holds on the easth coast at Naxos (c 735 bc) and Syracuse, going on into the next century with Lentini, Catania, Megara Hyblaea, Zancle, and Gela. Most of these settlements were separate from the Sicel villages, although in some cases (such as Morgantina, from the mid­6C bc), the two communities merged.

The 6c bc saw the beginning of the heroic age of tyrants with the notorious, if shadowy, figure of Phalaris, who ruled in Akragas pro­bably from 570 to 555. The brothers Cleander and Hippocrates were succeeded in Gela by Gelon, who captured Syracuse in 485. He and his father-in-law, Theron, tyrant of Akragas, soon controlled nearly all of Greek Sidily, and Gelon became the most powerful figure in the Greek world after his decisive victory over the Carthaginians at the Battle of Himera in 480. This supremacy aroused the jealousy of Athens, but a massive Athenian attack (415) met with fatal disaster. With this defeat the last serious resistance of the Sicel population in Sicily was also silenced.

In the late 5C BC Dionysius the Elder dominated the affairs of the island for 38 years as the most powerful tyrant in Sicilian history. The Corinthian Timoleon brought greater prosperity to the island, while Agathocles extended control not only over Carthaginian Sicily, but also into North Africa. He became the first King’ of Sicily. His suc­cessor, Hieron II, brought Sicily under Roman influence, and in 264 the First Punic War broke out between Rome and Carthage, with Sicily as one of the main battlegrounds. Continuous destructive fighting continued until the Carthaginian surrender in 241. In the Second Punic War Sicily again found herself in an important strategic position between Italy and North Africa. In 212 Syracuse finally fell to the Roman Marcellus, and by 210 Rome controlled the whole of the island including the former Carthaginian territories in the W. Under Roman domination the Greek cities lost some of their auto­nomy. Extensive rural estates were established in the interior, and luxurious villas were built (typified by the villas found at Piazza Armerina, Patti, and Eloro). In the coastal towns public buildings were erected. The huge slave population on the island (increased by prisoners-of-war taken by the Romans in their battles in the easth), led by Eunus in Enna and Cleon in Agrigento, revolted c 139. A second Revolt (c 104) led to cruel repressions by the Romans. In the early Imperial period Sicily lost importance as a Roman province.

During the 5c Sicily was the successive prey of the Vandals and the Ostrogoths, but in AD 535 it was conquered for Byzantium by Belisarius. The weak hold of the Eastern Emperors (although in the 7c Syracuse became the capital of the Byzantine Empire for 5 years) relaxed under the pressure of the Saracen invasion (827); fierce fighting for possession of the island continued for 50 years. Palermo fell to the Arabs in 831 Syracuse in 878 Muslim rule accompanied by vast numbers of North African and Spanish settlers, was marked by a spirit of tolerance Palermo in the 9c was one of the great centres of scholarship and art in the world, surpassed in size in the Christian world only by Constantinople. The fertility of the island was exploited to the full, and cotton, oranges, lemons, sugar cane, etc. were first cultivated at this time.

In 1060 the Norman Count Roger de Hautville (1031 to 1101), with a handful of knights, seized Messina. By 1091 Roger was in control of the entire island. Norman rule was characterised by its efficiency, and willingness to adapt to the Arabic, Greek, and Roman traditions which already existed on the island. In 1130 Rogers son (1093 to1154) was crowned King of Sicily as Roger Il. At that time he was probably the wealthiest ruler in Europe, and his court in Palermo the most brilliant. Meanwhile Messina flourished as a supply base for the Crusaders.

In 1194 the crown was claimed by the Emperor Henry VI of Swa­bia, son of Barbarossa, in the name of his wife, Constance (daughter of Roger TI) and the last of the Hautevilles was put to death. He was succeeded as Emperor and King of Sicily by his son Frederick Il, stupor mundi’, whose reign was marked by a prolonged struggle with the Papacy. His splendid court in Palermo, drawing on Islamic and Jewish, as well as Christian cultures, was famous throughout Europe for its luxury and learning. The Swabian line ended with the beheading of Conradin in 1268 and the Pope invested Charles of Anjou with the crown of Sicily and Naples. The hated Angevin rule was, however, soon terminated by the famous rebellion known as the Sicilian Vespers, which broke out at Palermo at the hour of vespers on Easter Tuesday, 1282. A French officer who had insulted a Sicilian bride on her way to church by insisting upon searching her for con­cealed weapons was immediately killed, and every Frenchman in Palermo was massacred. Every Sicilian town, except Sperlinga, followed suit by massacring or expelling its French garrison, and the Sicilians summoned Peter of Aragon to be their king. From that day for over four centuries Sicily was ruled by Aragonese princes and Spanish and Bourbon kings, a period in which the rebellious spirit of the islanders lay dormant. By the 16c Charles V had moved the centre of power west of the Mediterranean and Sicily lost much of her strategic importance.

After Napoleon failed to invade the island, the British took control of Sicily in the first years of the 19c and established a constitution for a brief time. Revolution broke out in 1848 against the Bourbons of Naples. Garibaldi fired the imagination of the Sicilian people and led an attack against Naples in 1860, thus paving the way for Italian unification. But hard Peidmontese rule by Cavour soon proved unpopular. The Northern Italian cities took up a dominant position over the south, and the economic position of Sicily was to remain for a century a long way behind that in the rest of Italy. Violence increased in the ungovernable interior of the island. By 1900 Sicily was one of the main areas of emigration in the world. In 1931 40 per cent of Sicilians still remained illiterate.

The geographical position of Sicily meant that the Allies chose the island for their first important attack on Hitler in Europe. The capture of Sicily by the Allies in 1943 (Operation Husky’) was accomplished in 38 days. During the Italian administration in 1944 Civil War broke out on the island. Regional administration was approved by Rome in 1946, and the first Assembly was elected in 1947.