Sicily Chronology

Thomas Fleming | August 12, 2011 | 0 Comments

For our upcoming Convivial Winter School, I shall be posting, revising, and updating the reading list, chronology, and travelers’ history of Sicily.

These posts are aimed at 1) people intending on joining us, 2) people interested in joining us, 3) people who just want to read along and learn something about ancient Sicily in a fairly easy and painless manner.  Working in a hurry, I shall be making many mistakes, but I shall also be correcting them as I go along.  I am not an expert on ancient Sicily, though I am fairly well-read in the literature and philosophy written by and about Siceliots (Greeks on Sicily).  As a first step, here is the current draft of the Chronology we’ll be using.  It is a slightly revised version of the Chronology I drew up for our Convivium in Sicily 5 years ago.

 

Sicily Chronology

BC

1170 c. Odysseus entertained by Cyclops near Catania

1050 c. Cumae founded by Chalcis and Eretria (traditional date)

884-59                Ashurbanipal II rules Syria, extracts tribute from Phoenicia

814                       Elissa Dido leads Tyrian Phoenicians in founding Carthage

8-700                  Phoenicians plant stations and settlements in N. Africa, Spain, Sicily, etc.

735                       Naxos, first Greek colony, founded by Chalcis in Euboea

734 c. Syracuse founded by Corinth, Archias the oikistes

729                        Catane (Catania) founded from Naxos

709                        Leontini founded from Naxos

 

690??                      Panormus (Palermo) founded by Carthaginians

688                        Gela founded by Cretans and Rhodians

630??                       Lyric Poet Stesichorus of Himera born in Italy

628                        Greeks from Megara Hyblaea found Selinous

 

598                        Syracuse establishes Camarina

580 c. Acragas founded by settlers from Gela; Greeks from Cnidus & Rhodes

prevented from founding colony across from Motya.

550 c. Magonid clan rises to power in Carthage

553                        Camarina, aided by Sicels, revolts and is destroyed by Syracuse

539                        Cyrus the Great subjugates Phoenicia

535                        Phocaean Greeks at Alalia on Corsica, after fighting Carthaginian and

Etruscan fleets to a draw, move to Massalia

510 c.                        Dorieus, Spartan prince, tries to found Heraclea and

is defeated and killed by Carthaginians and Elymians

509                        Carthage and Rome sign mutual treaty

500 c. Gamoroi of Syracuse driven out by revolting demos settle in Casmenae

 

490 c. Philosopher-poet Empedocles born in Acragas

480                        Theron of Acragas and Gelon of Gela defeat Carthaginians at Himera

476                        Pindar goes to Sicily; Olympian odes 1-3 in honor of Hieron, Theron

454 c. Ducetius, Hellenized Sicel, unites Sicels in federation

413                        Syracuse decisively defeats Athenian invasion

406                        Acragas sacked by Carthaginians

 

397                        Dionysius I captures Motya, but defeated next year by Carthage, which

founds Lillybaeum

387                        Plato makes first visit to Sicily, meets Dionyisus and Dion

345                        Syracuse invites Corinthian Timoleon to restore order

305                        Agathocles crowned king of Syracuse, tyrant since 317

211                        Marcellus sacks Syracuse after 2 year siege.

 

135                        Servile rebellion breaks out under

102                        Second servile insurrection under

73                        Verres made Roman governor

 

AD

 

553                        Byzantine Empire takes over Sicily

827                        Arabs attack Sicily, seize Palermo in 830

878                        Arabs destroy 1500 year old Syracuse

902                        Taormina, last Christian outpost, falls

938                        Two years of destructive invasions from North Africa

 

1071                        Robert Guiscard seizes Palermo

1090                        Roger d’Hauteville takes Noto, last Muslim stronghold

1098                        Pope Urban II makes Roger (and heirs) Apostolic Legate

1101                        Count Roger II succeeds with mother Adelaide as regent

1130                        Crowned King of Sicily with southern Italy on death of Guiscard’s heir

1146                        George of  Antioch takes Tripoli for Sicily

1154                        William I succeeds Roger II

1166                        William I succeeded by William II “the good,” mother Margaret as regent

1194                        Emperor Henry VI crowned King of Sicily

1198                        Henry’s wife dies, appoints Pope Innocent III  guardian of son Frederick II

1220                        Frederick returns from Germany to Sicily, joined by Michael Scott

1231                        Peter della Vigna draws up Liber Augustalis

1250                        Frederick dies

1258                        Manfred crowned at Palermo

1266                        Manfred killed by Charles of Anjou, made king by Pope Clement IV

1282                        French massacred, expelled in Sicilian Vespers; Peter of Aragon king

1296                        Frederick III, son of Peter crowned

1412                        Sicily merged with crown of Aragon, Ferdinand I

1415                        Alphonso V conquers Naples, reconstitutes Kingdom of 2 Sicilies

1516                        Emperor Charles V inherits Sicilies

1670                        Riots, rebellion in Messina

1707                        Austrians conquer Sicily

1713                        Under Peace of Utrecht given to Victor Amadeus of Savoy

1738                        Carlos of Bourbon, son of Philip V of Spain, made king of 2 Sicilies

1743                        Giuseppe Balsamo, future “Count Cagliostro” born in Palermo

1759                        Charles III, on becoming King of Spain, leaves Sicily to Ferdinand IV

1799                        French Revolutionary invaders declare Parthenopean Republic

but Ferdinand restored by Cardinal Ruffo

 

1805                        Ferdinand escapes to Palermo

1806                        Joseph Bonaparte enters Naples as king

1808                        Napoleon promotes Joseph to Spain, gives Naples to Murat

1815                        Ferdinand Restored

1816                        Kingdom of Two Sicilies proclaimed

1825                        Francis becomes king on death of father

1848                        King responds to revolutionary violence by granting constitution

1859                        Ferdinand III dies, succeeded by Francis II

1860                        Garibaldi launches invasion of 1000

1893                        Riots, unrest in Sicily

 

1922                        Mussolini marches on Rome

1950                        Murder of separatist bandit Salvatore Giuliano

1982                        Gen. Carlo Alberto della Chiesa begins investigation, murdered by Mafia

1992                        Anti-Mafia judges, Falcone and Borsellino murdered by Mafia

1993                        Arrest of Salvatore Riina

 

 

(03 August 2011)

 

Related posts:

  1. ...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Category: Convivia, Winter School

About Thomas Fleming: Thomas Fleming is the president of The Rockford Institute and the editor of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. He has worked at the Institute since 1984. He is the author of The Politics of Human Nature, Montenegro: The Divided Land, The Morality of Everyday Life, named Editors’ Choice in philosophy by Booklist in 2005, and Socialism. He is the coauthor of The Conservative Movement and the editor of Immigration and the American Identity. He holds a Ph.D. in classics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Before joining the Rockford Institute, he taught classics at the University of Miami of Ohio, served as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Education, and was headmaster at the Archibald Rutledge Academy. He has been published in, among others, The Spectator (London), Independent on Sunday (London), Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Chicago Sun-Times, National Review, Classical Journal, Telos, and Modern Age. He and his wife, Gail, have four children and three grandchild. View author profile.

Comments are closed.