Capo Passero or Cape Passaro ( scn, Capu Pàssaru;
Greek: ;
Latin: Pachynus or Pachynum) is a celebrated promontory of
Sicily, forming the extreme southeastern point of the whole island, and one of the three promontories which were supposed to have given to it the name of "Trinacria." (
Ovid, ''Fast.'' iv. 479, ''Met.'' xiii. 725; Dionys. Per. 467-72;
Scyl. p. 4. § 13;
Pol. i. 42;
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...
vi. pp. 265, 272, &c.;
Plin. iii. 8. s. 14;
Ptol. iii. 4. § 8;
Mela, ii. 7. § 15.)
Historical significance
All the ancient geographers correctly describe it as extending out towards the south and east so as to be the point of Sicily that was the most nearly opposite to
Crete and the
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
. It is at the same time the southernmost point of the whole inland. The headland itself is not lofty, but formed by bold projecting rocks (''projecta saxa Puchyni'',
Virg. ''
Aen.'' iii. 699), and immediately off it lies a small rocky island (the
Isola di Capo Passero) of considerable elevation, which appears to have been generally regarded as forming the actual promontory. This explains the expression of
Nonnus, who speaks of the island rock of the seagirt Pachynus. (''Dionys.'' xiii. 322.)
Lycophron
Lycophron (; grc-gre, Λυκόφρων ὁ Χαλκιδεύς; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, sophist, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely).
Life and ...
also has a similar phrase. (''Alex.'' 1181.)
According to
Cicero, (''Verr.'' v. 34) there was a port in the immediate neighborhood of the promontory to which he gives the name of Portus Pachyni (modern
Portopalo di Capo Passero): it was here that the fleet of
Verres was stationed under his officer Cleomenes, when the news that a squadron of pirates was in the neighbouring Port of Ulysses (
Portus Odysseae) caused that commander to take to flight with precipitation.
Ptolemy gives the name of Promontory of Ulysses (, Ptol. iii. 4. § 7) to a point on the south coast of the island, a little to the west of Cape Pachynus. It is therefore probable that the Portus Pachyni was the one now called Porto di Palo, immediately adjoining the promontory, while the Portus Odysseae may be identified with Pantano Longarini.
[See, e.g., )]
The convenience of this port at the extreme southeast point of the island caused it to be a frequent place of rendezvous and station for fleets approaching Sicily; and on one occasion, during the
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
the
Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage.
It can also refer to:
* Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921
* Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...
commander
Bomilcar appears to have taken up his post in the port to the west of the promontory, while the
Roman fleet lay immediately to the north of it. (
Livy xxiv. 27, xxv. 27, xxxvi. 2.)
In 1718, the seas off the promontory were the site of a great naval battle (called the
Battle of Cape Passero) between the British and Spanish fleets.
See also
*
Capo Passero Lighthouse
References
*
{{Coord, 36.6890, N, 15.1374, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Landforms of Sicily
Passero