Omphace or Omphake ( grc, Ὀμφάκη) was an ancient

Sicania The Sicani (Ancient Greek Σῐκᾱνοί ''Sikānoí'') or Sicanians were one of three ancient peoples of Sicily present at the time of Phoenician and Greek colonization. The Sicani dwelt east of the Elymians and west of the Sicels, having, ...

n town in the

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 ...

territory of

Gela Gela (Sicilian and ; grc, Γέλα) is a city and (municipality) in the Autonomous Region of Sicily, Italy; in terms of area and population, it is the largest municipality on the southern coast of Sicily. Gela is part of the Province of Ca ...

, and is one of very few cities we know from literary sources to have been in this territory. Various scholars have identified modern

Butera Butera ( Sicilian: ''Vutera'') is an Italian town and a ''comune'' in the province of Caltanissetta, in the southern part of the island of Sicily. It is bounded by the ''comuni'' of Gela, Licata, Mazzarino, Ravanusa and Riesi. It has a populatio ...

as ancient Omphace. If it was indeed Butera, the site's location is a formidable one: located on a high mountain on the plain of Gela, ideal for the defense of the fertile plain. Other scholars have identified it as Monte Bubbonia. The name of the town presumably comes from the ancient Greek word "ómphax", which means "wild, bitter grape". There exists a story from the ancient geographer

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

in which Antiphemus from Gela colonized the city of Omphace and carried off a statue made by the mythological

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, a ...

. In a story from the historian Philistus, the city was occupied by mercenaries from Syracuse, the former garrison of

, who after the fall of the Deinomenids retreated to Omphace to continue waging a campaign against Gela. Archaeologically, the city shows

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

influence from the 7th century BCE. There is some evidence that in the 4th century BCE that the city benefited from the reconstruction program of

Timoleon Timoleon ( Greek: Τιμολέων), son of Timodemus, of Corinth (c. 411–337 BC) was a Greek statesman and general. As a brilliant general, a champion of Greece against Carthage, and a fighter against despotism, he is closely connected ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. There was a sanctuary there, and a cult for a deity called "Polystephanos Thea", which was likely a

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label= Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

of a character similar to the goddess

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

Notes

{{Archaeological sites in Sicily Archaeological sites in Sicily Cities and towns in Sicily Gela 7th-century BC establishments in Italy