Capo Passero or Cape Passaro ( scn, Capu Pàssaru;
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: ;
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
: Pachynus or Pachynum) is a celebrated promontory of
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, 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
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, ''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
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
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
Nonnus of Panopolis ( grc-gre, Νόννος ὁ Πανοπολίτης, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century CE) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebai ...
, 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
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
, (''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
Portopalo di Capo Passero (Lingua siciliana, Sicilian: ''Puortupalu'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily (Italy). The southernmost commune of the island of Sicily, it is about southeast of Palermo and about south ...
): it was here that the fleet of
Verres
Gaius Verres (c. 120–43 BC) was a Roman magistrate, notorious for his misgovernment of Sicily. His extortion of local farmers and plundering of temples led to his prosecution by Cicero, whose accusations were so devastating that his defence adv ...
was stationed under his officer Cleomenes, when the news that a squadron of pirates was in the neighbouring Port of Ulysses (
Portus Odysseae
Portus was a large artificial harbour of Ancient Rome. Sited on the north bank of the north mouth of the Tiber, on the Tyrrhenian coast, it was established by Claudius and enlarged by Trajan to supplement the nearby port of Ostia.
The archaeo ...
) caused that commander to take to flight with precipitation.
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
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
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
fleet lay immediately to the north of it. (
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...
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
The Battle of Cape Passaro, also known as Battle of Avola or Battle of Syracuse, was a major naval battle fought on 11 August 1718 between a fleet of the British Royal Navy under Admiral George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, Sir George Byng an ...
) between the British and Spanish fleets.
See also
*
Capo Passero Lighthouse
Capo Passero Lighthouse ( it, Faro di Capo Passero) is an active lighthouse located on the Isola di Capo Passero, the extreme south-eastern tip of Sicily.
Description
The lighthouse was built in 1871 and consists of a white cylindrical tower, ...
References
*
{{Coord, 36.6890, N, 15.1374, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Landforms of Sicily
Passero