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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MEC-MIC |
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MESSINA , a city of Sicily, 7 m. S.S.W. of the promontory of Faro (anc. Promontorium Pelorum), which forms the north-eastern angle of the island, the capital of the province of Messina and the seat of an archbishop. Pop. (1850), 97,074; (1881), 126,497; (1901), 149,778; (1905), 158,812. The site of the town curves round the harbour, between it and the strongly fortified hills of Antennamare, the highest point of which is 3707 ft. The straits, which take their name from the town, are here about 3i M. wide, and only a little over 2 M. at the promontory of Faro. The numerous earthquakes from which the city had suffered, notably that in 1783, had left it few remains of antiquity. But it was a flourishing and beautiful city when in 1908 one of the most disastrous earthquakes ever recorded destroyed it totally. The earthquake occurred early in the morning of December 28, , and so far as Messina was concerned the damage was done chiefly by the shock and by the fires which broke out afterwards; the seismic wave which followed was comparatively innocuous. But it did vast damage elsewhere along the strait, notably at Reggio, Calabria,. which was also totally destroyed. Many other smaller towns suffered both in Sicily and in Calabria; the loss of life was appalling and the distress widespread, in spite of the prompt assistance rendered by Italian naval and military forces and by the crews of British, Russian and German warships and other vessels, and the contribution of funds for relief works from every part of the world. The immediate seismic focus appeared to be in the straits, but Dr E. Suess pointed out that it was surrounded by a curved line of earth-fracture, following an arc drawn
The facades of buildings at Messina in great part withstood the earthquake, but even when they did so the remainder of the buildings was destroyed. The cathedral, which was completely wrecked, was begun in Io98 and finished by Roger II. It had a fine Gothic facade: the interior had mosaics in the apses dating from 1330, and the nave contained 26 granite columns, said to have been brought from a temple of Poseidon near Faro, and had a fine wooden roof of 126o. The rest of the edifice was in the baroque
marbles
I See S. Franchi, " Il Terremoto . . a Messina . . . ," in Boll. R. Comit. geologico d'Ital., 4th series, vol. x. (19o9). harbour, a circular basin open on the north only, formed by a strip of land curving round like a sickle, from which it took its original
Zancle was first founded, no doubt on the site of an earlier settlement, by pirates from Cumae, and again more regularly settled, after an unknown interval, by settlers from Cumae under Perieres, and from Chalcis under Crataemenes, in the first quarter of the 8th century B.C. Mylae must have been occupied as an outpost very soon afterwards, but the first regular colony of Zancle was Himera, founded in 648 B.C. After the capture of Miletus by the Persians in 494 B.C. Skythes, king of Zancle, invited the Ionians to come and settle at Kaki? 'Altai?, then in the occupation of the Sicels (the modern Marina di Caronia, 25 M. east of Cefalu); but at the invitation of Anaxilas of Regium the Samians proceeded instead to the latter place. About 488 B.C. Anaxilas and the Samians occupied Zancle in the absence of Skythes, and it was then that the name was changed to Messene
Messene
Messina fell into the hands of the Carthaginians during their, wars with Dionysius the elder of Syracuse (397 B.C.). The Carthaginians destroyed the city, but Dionysius recaptured and rebuilt it. During the next fifty years Messina changed masters several times, till Timoleon finally expelled the Carthaginians in 343 B.C. In the wars between Agathocles of Syracuse and Carthage, Messina took the side of the Carthaginians. After Agathocles' death, his mercenaries, the Mamertines, treacherously seized the town about 282 B.C. and held it. They came to war with Hiero
commander
commander
' From this word Trapani derives its name. 2 This account is at variance with the literary evidence and rests on that of the coins, as set forth by I. H. Dodd in Journal of Hellenic Studies, xxviii. (1908) 56 sqq.the concessions of Charles V., Messina enjoyed great prosperity. But the internal quarrels between the Merli, or aristocratic faction, and the Malvezzi, or democratic faction, fomented as they were by the Spaniards, helped to ruin the city (1671r678). The Messinians suspected the Spanish court of a desire to destroy the ancient senatorial constitution of the city, and sent to France to ask the aid of Louis KIV. in their resistance. Louis despatched a fleet into Sicilian waters, and the French occupied the city. The Spaniards replied by appealing to Holland, who sent a fleet under Ruyter into the Mediterranean. In 1676 the French admiral, Abraham Duquesne, defeated the combined fleet of Spain and Holland; but, notwithstanding this victory, the French suddenly abandoned Messina in 1678, and the Spanish occupied the town once more. The senate was suppressed, and Messina lost its privileges. This was fatal to the importance of the city. In 1743 the plague carried off 40,000 inhabitants. The city was partially destroyed by earthquake in 1783. During the revolution of 1848 against the Bourbons of Naples, Messina was bombarded for three consecutive days. In 1854 the deaths from cholera numbered about 15,000. Garibaldi landed in Sicily in 186o, and Messina was the last city in the island taken from the Bourbons and made a part of united' Italy under Victor Emmanuel.Messina was the birthplace of Dicaearchus, the historian (c. 322 B.c.); Aristocles, the Peripatetic; Euhemerus, the rationalist (c. 316 B.c.); Stefano Protonotario, Mazzeo di Ricco and Tommaso di Sasso, poets of the court of Frederick II. (A.n. 1250) ; and Antonello da Messina, the painter (1447-1499), of whose works one is preserved in the museum. During the 15th century the grammarian, Constantine Lascaris, taught in Messina; and Bessarion was for a time archimandrite there. (T. As.) End of Article: MESSINA If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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