The principal town on the eastern coast of Sicily, opposite Greece, was
Messana, now called Messina: it was the first which the Romans possessed in
the island: it was one of the most wealthy and powerful cities in ancient
Sicily. Taurominium stood near Mount Taurus, on the river Taurominius; the
coast in its vicinity was anciently called Coproea, because the sea was
supposed to throw up there the wrecks of such vessels as were swallowed up
by Charybdis. The hills near this city were famous for the excellent grapes
they produced. On a gulph in the Ionian Sea, called Catana, stood a city of
the same name; it was one of the richest and most powerful cities in the
island.
But by far the most celebrated city in this island for its advantageous
situation, the magnificence of its buildings, its commerce, and the wealth
of its inhabitants, was Syracuse. According to Thucydides, in his time it
might justly be compared to Athens, even when that city was at the height
of its glory; and Cicero describes it as the greatest and most wealthy of
all the cities possessed by the Greeks. Its walls were eighteen miles in
circumference, and within them were in fact four cities united into one. It
seems also to have possessed three harbours: the great harbour was nearly
five thousand yards in circumference, and the entrance to it five hundred
yards across; it was formed on one side by a point of the island Ortygia,
and on the other by another small island, on each of which were forts.
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