Aesculapius: An ancient god of medicine. He was very popular in ancient Sicily, where malaria was an endemic problem. He was said to have been the son of Apollo and Coronis, and was a patron god of ancient Messene (Messina).
Aesernia (IS): Classical name for the area now occupied by the province of Isernia (Molise) and for the city of Isernia (CB). It was also the name for center of the ancient Caraceni Samnites, which became a Latin colony was founded here in 263 BC. It was situated on the Via Numicia, between Aufidena and Bovianum. Mod. Isernia.
Aeserus, River: A small river in ancient Bruttium, named for a legendary hunter who drowned there. It emptied into the Ionian Sea just N of Croton. It is identified with the modern river Esaro. Unimportant historically, it was the site of a mythological battle between Herakles (Hercules) and Lacinius.
Aethusa (TP): An ancient name for the island of Favignana (TP).
Aetius>: An ancient physician from Sicily to whom has been ascribed the book De Atrabile. It is believed that the famous physician Galen used Aetius’s writing for source material.
Aetna (Aitna): An ancient Sicilian nymph and the goddess of the Sicilian volcano Mt. Etna. According to some versions of her myth, she was one of the Oceanides, a daughter of Uranus and Gaea, and, thus, older than the Olympian gods themselves. Other sources say she was the daughter of the Cyclops Briareus. She is known principally as the mediator in a dispute between Hephaestus and Demeter over control of Sicily. She may have been considered the consort of the Sikel fire-god Adranos (see which) (Other sources name Hephaestus or Zeus), as she is named as the mother of the Palici (Palikoi), the gods of thermal geysers and springs.
Aetna (Inessa)(CT): An ancient town that sat at the S. foot of M. Etna, near modern Paterno, located between Centuripae and Katane. It was originally a Sikel town known as Inessa. In 461 BC, the town was seized by Hiero I’s Doric Greek colonists who were fleeing from Catana. They renamed the place Aetna, after their former home. In 426 BC, the Athenians under Laches unsuccessfully attacked the town. In 415 BC, Aetna supported Syracuse during the war against Athens. During the reign of Dionysius II, a military colony of Campanian mercenaries was established here, later ousted by Timoleon. The Romans later gave the town the status of civitas decumena. It grew in prosperity thanks to the fertility of its soil. In the 1st century BC Aetna was among the towns pillaged by the avaricious Roman governor Verres (73-71 BC). The town never recovered from this desolation and it disappeared from history soon after. The exact location of this last center is uncertain, though believed to be between Paterno and Centuripe.
Aetna, Mons (CT): Classical name for Mt. Etna in the E part of Sicily. Some scholars believe that the name “Aetna” is related to the Phoenician word attuna (= chimney, furnace). The ancient Sikel and Greek inhabitants of the area lived in fearful respect of the mountain. Its extremely fertile lower slopes yielded rich harvests of grapes, one of the most important commodities in the ancient Mediterranean world. Further up the slopes, thick forests provided wood for shipbuilding and other industries. Perhaps to counter-balance these rich gifts, the mountain also exacted a terrible price. The area was, and still is, highly susceptible to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. It may well have been these natural disasters rather than the invasion of the Sikels that caused the Neolithic Sikans to emigrate to the west. The Classical Greeks put the slopes of the mountain to full use. In c476 BC, Hieron I of Syracuse attempted to found a town (Aetna) on the slopes of the mountain. In 430 BC, the philosopher Empedocles, is believed to have committed suicide by jumping into the volcano’s crater. During the Roman era it was a popular pastime to climb to the top of the mountain. Among those climbers was the Roman Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138). Roman ruins may still be seen near the summit. The volcano figures in a number of mythological stories both ancient and medieval. It is associated first with the nymph, Aetna (see which). The volcanic nature of the mountain was usually explained away as it being the forge of the fire-god Hephaestos/Vulcan. Whenever the forge was in use, fire would spit forth out of the mountaintop; the earth around would shake to the force of the god’s hammer as he worked. At other times, it was the Cyclopes the filled this role. It was also claimed that a mythological monster, either the giant Enceladus or the hideous Typhon, trapped underneath caused the seismic activity. When the Normans arrived in Sicily in the 11th century they brought with them French troubadours who spread the tales of King Arthur and the Round Table throughout the island. According to one of their legends, King Arthur sleeps in a cave on the mountain awaiting his return to the world of the living. (Also see Etna).