Aetna, Mons (CT)
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
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).