DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.846#0109
106 Gourbillon's Travels in Sicily, in 1819.
equally agreed. The historian in question was himself a wit-
ness of the discovery of many of these bodies, and possessed
himself some of the bones. Supported by this testimony, and
seeing no reason to doubt the facts attested by a crowd of au-
thors, both ancient and modern ; and having, moreover, no
light with regard to the formation of the dwellings of a people
whose origtn goes so far back, what improbability is it to sup-
pose, that this subterranean city was one of those which the
same authors do not hesitate to assign as a refuge to the first
inhabitants of Sicily, in those times of barbarism and ignorance,
when the name of architecture was unknown in that island?—
and rf it be true, that, in times much nearer our own, a whole
people have hewn for themselves a city, or lived in excava-
tions as extraordinary, why should it appear impossible, that
an ignorant or barbarous nation should have done from ne-
cessity, what the christians were led to from persecution and
terror, in the days of Nero, Domitian, and other emperors?
Without attaching to this surmise more importance than it
merits, I do not think it wholly problematical. If I were to
rely on the information of my muleteer, whose authority in the
present instance is of as much weight as that of Diodorus Si-
culus, or even Cicero himself, the place is known by the name
of Cava Pampenati, which is a further proof that the inhabi-
tants believe it to be an ancient excavation.
Ruins of Selinus.
After a long day's journey, I am, at length, arrived on the
spot of ancient Selinus, a city celebrated in the wars be-
tween Carthage and Rome. The name, according to antiqua-
rians, is derived from the Greek word selinon, parsley, a plant
which, in fact, abounds at this day in the environs of this city,
or rather amidst its ruins. Selinus was founded by the Phoe-
nicians, but at what epoch is uncertain. The Phoenicians were
expelled by the inhabitants of Megara, under the conduct of
Pammilios, according to Eusebiue, A. M. 4554, and 100 years
after the foundation of their city. The inhabitants of Selinus
suffered much from the aggressions of the people of Segeste,
their neighbours. Two hundred and forty years after its
foundation the Carthaginians under Hannibal, possessed them'
selves of Selinus, and delivered it to the flames, after having
massacred 6,000 of its inhabitants, and brought away the re-
mainder with them as slaves. Some years afterwards, Hermo-
cratus, of Syracuse, collected together the few inhabitants who
had by flight escaped the general massacre, and restored the
walls of their unhappy city. Finally, at the time of the last
Punic war, in the 129th Olympiad, about 264 years before
equally agreed. The historian in question was himself a wit-
ness of the discovery of many of these bodies, and possessed
himself some of the bones. Supported by this testimony, and
seeing no reason to doubt the facts attested by a crowd of au-
thors, both ancient and modern ; and having, moreover, no
light with regard to the formation of the dwellings of a people
whose origtn goes so far back, what improbability is it to sup-
pose, that this subterranean city was one of those which the
same authors do not hesitate to assign as a refuge to the first
inhabitants of Sicily, in those times of barbarism and ignorance,
when the name of architecture was unknown in that island?—
and rf it be true, that, in times much nearer our own, a whole
people have hewn for themselves a city, or lived in excava-
tions as extraordinary, why should it appear impossible, that
an ignorant or barbarous nation should have done from ne-
cessity, what the christians were led to from persecution and
terror, in the days of Nero, Domitian, and other emperors?
Without attaching to this surmise more importance than it
merits, I do not think it wholly problematical. If I were to
rely on the information of my muleteer, whose authority in the
present instance is of as much weight as that of Diodorus Si-
culus, or even Cicero himself, the place is known by the name
of Cava Pampenati, which is a further proof that the inhabi-
tants believe it to be an ancient excavation.
Ruins of Selinus.
After a long day's journey, I am, at length, arrived on the
spot of ancient Selinus, a city celebrated in the wars be-
tween Carthage and Rome. The name, according to antiqua-
rians, is derived from the Greek word selinon, parsley, a plant
which, in fact, abounds at this day in the environs of this city,
or rather amidst its ruins. Selinus was founded by the Phoe-
nicians, but at what epoch is uncertain. The Phoenicians were
expelled by the inhabitants of Megara, under the conduct of
Pammilios, according to Eusebiue, A. M. 4554, and 100 years
after the foundation of their city. The inhabitants of Selinus
suffered much from the aggressions of the people of Segeste,
their neighbours. Two hundred and forty years after its
foundation the Carthaginians under Hannibal, possessed them'
selves of Selinus, and delivered it to the flames, after having
massacred 6,000 of its inhabitants, and brought away the re-
mainder with them as slaves. Some years afterwards, Hermo-
cratus, of Syracuse, collected together the few inhabitants who
had by flight escaped the general massacre, and restored the
walls of their unhappy city. Finally, at the time of the last
Punic war, in the 129th Olympiad, about 264 years before