MARSALA

This article appears in Volume V17, Page 766 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MAR-MEC

MARSALA , a seaport of Sicily, in the province of Trapani, 19 m. by rail S. of Trapani. Pop. (1881), 19,732; (1901), 57,567. The low

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

on which it is situated is the westernmost point of the island. The town is the seat of a bishop, and the cathedral contains 16 grey marble columns, which are said to have been intended for Canterbury Cathedral in England, the vessel conveying them having been wrecked here. The town owes its importance mainly to the trade in Marsala wine.
Marsala occupies the site of Lilybaeum, the principal strong-hold of the Carthaginians in Sicily, founded by Himilco after the abandonment of Motya. Neither Pyrrhus nor the Romans were able to reduce it by siege, but it was surrendered to the latter in 241 B.C. at the end of the First Punic War. In the later wars it was a starting point for the Roman expeditions against Carthage;
' Bulletin

Lowell

Obsy., Monthly Notices, R.A.S. (1905), 66, p. 51. 2 St

Petersburg

PETERSBURG

Memoirs,

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

viii., Phys. Mars-classe, vol. viii.
and under Roman

rule

RULE

it enjoyed considerable prosperity (C.I.L. X. p. 742). It obtained municipal rights from

Augustus

AUGUSTUS (a name 1 derived from Lat. augeo, increase, i.e. venerable, majestic, Gr. Ee0avr6s)

and became a colony under Pertinax or Septimus Severus. The Saracens gave it its present name, Marsa Ali, port of Ali. The harbour, which lay on the north-

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

, was destroyed by Charles V. to prevent its occupation by pirates. The modern harbour lies to the

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

. In ,86o Garibaldi landed at Marsala with low men and began his campaign in Sicily. Scanty remains of the ancient Lilybaeum (fragments of the city walls, of squared stones, and some foundations of buildings between the walls and the sea) are visible; and the so-called grotto and

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

of the Sibyl may be mentioned. To the east of the town is a

great

GREAT

fosse which defended it on the land side, and beyond this again are quarries like those of Syracuse on a small scale. The modern town takes the shape of the Roman camp within the earlier city, one of the gates of which still existed in 1887. The main street (the Cassaro) perpetuates the name castrum.

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