The Imera Settentrionale (

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 ...

: ''Himera''; it, Imera Settentrionale or also ) is a river of

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

, rising in the Western

Madonie The Madonie (; Sicilian: ''Madunìi'') are one of the principal mountain ranges on the island of Sicily, located in the Northern part of the island. Its name comes from the feud of Madonìa which belonged to the noble family of La Farina from P ...

mountains near Cozzo Levanche, and flowing approximately through the ''

comuni The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of

Caltavuturo Caltavuturo ( Sicilian: ''Caltavuturu'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. The neighboring comunes are Polizzi Generosa, Scillato and Sclafani Bagni. History According to many scholars, the name and o ...

, Campofelice di Roccella,

Cerda Cerda is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in the Sicily region, Southern Italy, located about southeast of Palermo. Cerda borders the following municipalities: Aliminusa, Collesano, Sciara, Scillato, Sclafan ...

Collesano Collesano ( grc, Κολασσαέων, translit=Kolassaéon; el, Κολεσάνο, Kolesáno Sicilian: ''Culisanu'') is a small town in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily. It is situated roughly from the provincial capital of Palermo. It ...

Scillato Scillato ( Sicilian: ''Scillatu'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 671 and an area of .All demogra ...

Sclafani Bagni Sclafani Bagni ( Sicilian: ''Sclàfani Bagni'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo. Geography Sclafani Bagni borders the following municipalities: ...

Termini Imerese Termini Imerese (; scn, Tèrmini ) , grc, Θερμαὶ αἱ Ἱμερᾶαι , grc, Θερμαὶ Ἱμέραι , or grc, Θερμὰ (Ἱμεραῖα) ; la, Thermae Himerenses; literally "Himera's hot springs". is a town of the Metropo ...

and

Valledolmo Valledolmo ( scn, Vaddilurmu; "Valley of heElm") is a (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in the Italian region of Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo. Valledolmo borders the following municipalities: Alia, Sclafani B ...

(all in the

Province of Palermo The Province of Palermo ( it, provincia di Palermo; Sicilian: ''pruvincia di Palermu'') was a province in the autonomous region of Sicily, a major island in Southern Italy. Its capital was the city of Palermo. On 4 August 2015, it was replaced ...

) to the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...

at the site of the ancient city of

Himera Himera (Greek: ), was a large and important ancient Greek city, situated on the north coast of Sicily at the mouth of the river of the same name (the modern Imera Settentrionale), between Panormus (modern Palermo) and Cephaloedium (modern Cef ...

. The drainage area is , making it one of the principal rivers of Sicily to flow into the Tyrrhenian.Bacino Idrografico del fiume Imera Settentrionale, Relazione bacino
Regione Siciliana, p. 1-2

Historical significance

Himera was the ancient name of two rivers in Sicily, the Imera Settentrionale flowing to the north into the Tyrrhenian Sea, the other (the

Salso The Salso ( Sicilian: ''Salsu''), also known as the Imera Meridionale (Greek: ; Latin Himera), is a river of Sicily. It rises in the Madonie Mountains (Latin: Nebrodes Mons; Sicilian: Munti Madunìi) and, traversing the provinces of Enna and Ca ...

) to the south coast of the island, but which, by a strange confusion, were regarded by many ancient writers as one and the same river, which is in consequence described as rising in the center of the island, and flowing in two different directions, so as completely to divide Sicily into two parts. It is singular that, if we may believe

Vibius Sequester Vibius Sequester (active in the 4th or 5th century AD) is the Latin author of lists of geographical names. Work ''De fluminibus, fontibus, lacubus, nemoribus, gentibus, quorum apud poëtas mentio fit'' is made up of seven alphabetical lists of ...

, this absurd notion is as old as the time of

Stesichorus Stesichorus (; grc-gre, Στησίχορος, ''Stēsichoros''; c. 630 – 555 BC) was a Greek lyric poet native of today's Calabria (Southern Italy). He is best known for telling epic stories in lyric metres, and for some ancient traditions abo ...

, who was himself a native of the city of Himera.

Pomponius Mela Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45. His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nearly to the year 1500. It occupies less ...

is, however, the only one of the ancient geographers who adopts it. The northern Himera, a much less considerable stream than the southern Himera (the Salso), is uniformly described as flowing by the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

to which it gave its name; and

Pindar Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar ...

speaks of the great victory of

Gelo Gelon also known as Gelo (Greek: Γέλων ''Gelon'', ''gen.'': Γέλωνος; died 478 BC), son of Deinomenes, was a Greek tyrant of the Sicilian cities Gela and Syracuse, and first of the Deinomenid rulers. Early life Gelon was the son o ...

n (which we know to have been fought in the immediate vicinity of the city) as gained upon the banks of the fair waters of the Himera. Hence its identification with the modern Imera Settentrionale (or Fiume Grande) was necessarily connected with the determination of the site of that city, a question which was the subject formerly of dispute. Theocritus more than once alludes to the river Himera as a celebrated Sicilian stream; but in such general terms as to afford no indication which of the two rivers he means: the Scholiast, however, understands him to refer to the northern Himera.Theocr. v. 124, vii. 75; Schol. ''ad. loc.''

References

* *{{Barrington, 47 & notes Rivers of Sicily Rivers of the Province of Palermo Drainage basins of the Tyrrhenian Sea Rivers of Italy