Sicĭlia

, the largest and most celebrated island in the Mediterranean sea, at the bottom of Italy. It was anciently called Sicania , Trinacria , and Triquetra . It is of a triangular form, and has three celebrated promontories, one looking towards Africa, called Lilybæum; Pachynum looking towards Greece; and Pelorum towards Italy. Sicily is about 600 miles in circumference, celebrated for its fertility, so much that it was called one of the granaries of Rome, and Pliny says that it rewards the husbandman an hundredfold. Its most famous cities were Syracuse, Me an a, Leontini, Lilybæum, Agrigentum, Gela, Drepanum, Eryx, . The highest and most famous mountain in the island is Ætna, whose frequent eruptions are dangerous, and often fatal to the country and its inhabitants, from which circumstance the ancients supposed that the forges of Vulcan and the Cyclops were placed there. The poets feign that the Cyclops were the original inhabitants of this island, and that after them it came into the po e ion of the Sicani, a people of Spain, and at last of the Siculi, a nation of Italy. See: Siculi . The plains of Enna are well known for their excellent honey; and, according to Diodorus, the hounds lost their scent in hunting on account of the many odoriferous plants that profusely perfumed the air. Ceres and Proser pine were the chief deities of the place, and it was there, according to poetical tradition, that the latter was carried away by Pluto. The Phœnicians and Greeks settled some colonies there, and at last the Cart hag in i ans became masters of the whole island till they were dispo e ed of it by the Romans in the Punic wars. Some authors suppose that Sicily was originally joined to the continent, and that it was separated from Italy by an earthquake, and that the straits of the Charybdis were formed. The inhabitants of Sicily were so fond of luxury, that Siculæ mensæ became proverbial. The rights of citizens of Rome were extended to them by Marcus Antony. Cicero , bk. 14 , Letters to Atticus , ltr. 12 ; Against Verres , bk. 2 , ch. 13 .— Homer , Ody ey , bk. 9 , . — Justin , bk. 4 , ch. 1 , . — Virgil , Æneid , bk. 3 , li. 414 , . — Silius Italic us , bk. 14 , li. 11 , . — Pliny , bk. 3 , ch. 8 , . ――The island of Naxos in the Ægean, was called Little Sicily on account of its fruitfulne .