Segesta

Se·ges·ta (sĭ-jĕsʹtə, sĕ-jĕsʹtä)

An ancient city of northwest Sicily near modern-day Alcamo. Traditionally a Trojan colony, it was a Carthaginian dependency after c. 400 B.C. but declined during the first century.

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Ancient city, northwestern Sicily.

Located near modern Calatafimi, it was the chief city of the Elymi, a people of supposedly Trojan origin (see Troy). Culturally, the city was Greek, but it generally took the Carthaginian side against its Greek neighbours, and boundary disputes with Selinus were frequent. Early in the First Punic War, Segesta was allied with Rome. Its ruins include a well-preserved 3rd-century-BC theatre and a 5th-century-BC temple to Artemis.

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▪ ancient city, Italy

Greek  Egesta  

      ancient city of Sicily, located on Monte Barbaro about 2 miles (3 km) northwest of modern Calatafimi. It was the chief city of the Elymi, a people for whom Thucydides claimed a Trojan origin; they are archaeologically indistinguishable in the Early Iron Age (c. 1000–c. 500 BC) from their Sicanian neighbours. Culturally Segesta was Greek, and inscriptions on pottery show that the local dialect was written in the Greek alphabet. Boundary disputes with nearby Selinus, for instance, were frequent from 580 BC onward. During most of the 5th century BC, Segesta was allied with Athens. It was Segesta that lured Athens into embarking on the disastrous Sicilian Expedition (416–413). When in 409 Hannibal, son of Gisgo, sacked Selinus, Segesta became a Carthaginian ally. Early in the First Punic War, however, the inhabitants massacred the Carthaginian garrison and allied themselves with Rome. Segesta was favourably treated under Roman rule; it became a free city, and the territory of Eryx may have been assigned to it. The emperor Augustus (reigned 27 BC–AD 14) granted Segesta Latin rights. Vespasian (AD 69–79) settled Roman veterans in Segesta's extensive territory. By the late 2nd century AD, however, Segesta had been abandoned.

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