Sicilia (Roman province)

• 1. The Mamertine Crisis

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  In 264 BC, a group of Campanian mercenaries known as the Mamertines seized control of Messina. They killed and exiled the men of the city while holding the women in bondage. The Syracusan general Hiero advanced on the city to restore order. Carthage offered aid to the Mamertines to prevent any single power from dominating Sicily. The Mamertines expelled the Carthaginian garrison and asked Rome for help. A debate erupted at Rome about whether to intervene against Carthage. Some historians claimed a treaty existed assigning Sicily to Carthaginian influence. Polybius denied this treaty's existence but noted economic motivations drove Roman intervention. The Senate allowed the popular assembly to decide on sending aid. This decision marked the beginning of the First Punic War without an official declaration of war.

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• 2. Grain And Governance

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  Rome established a provincial structure with a praetor and two quaestores based at Lilybaeum and Syracuse. In 227 BC, Gaius Flaminius was sent to Sicily as one of the first praetores provinciales. An annual grain tribute called the lex frumentaria imposed a tenth of the harvest on communities. Contractors known as decumani bid to collect these taxes. The system derived possibly from the Syracusan kingdom under King Hiero II. Small Italian proprietors lived on the island and faced varying levels of taxation depending on their status. Four legal classes divided the cities into foederatae civitates, civitates sine foedere immunes ac liberae, civitates decumanae, and civitates censoriae. Most cities paid the decuma tax while others enjoyed exemptions for loyalty during the Punic Wars. Syracuse became the capital in 212 BC after its conquest by Marcellus.

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• 3. Slave Uprisings

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  King Antiochus Eunus led the First Servile War between 138 and 132 BC. He established his capital at Enna and conquered Tauromenium. Eunus defeated Roman armies multiple times before being vanquished near Messina in 133 BC. Consul Publius Rupilius captured Tauromenium and Enna in 132 BC. About 20,000 slaves were crucified following the war's end. Athenion of Cilicia led the Second Servile War from 104 to 101 BC alongside Salvius Tryphon in eastern Sicily. Manius Aquillius terminated both conflicts. Diodorus Siculus described massive numbers of slaves from the eastern Mediterranean totaling around 200,000. These revolts had significant economic and social implications for the island. The slave uprisings disrupted agricultural production and caused widespread instability across rural areas.

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• 4. The Verres Trial

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  Gaius Verres served as praetor of Sicily from 73 to 71 BC. Sicilians denounced him for extortion, theft, and robbery. Cicero prosecuted Verres in Rome with speeches known as the Verrines that still survive today. Verres implemented the grain tax harshly for personal profit rather than state benefit. He stole artworks including sacred votive offerings from temples and public buildings. Cicero emphasized these crimes in his blisteringly effective first speech. Verres expected acquittal through manipulation of legal procedures but fled into exile after the trial began. His prosecution highlighted corruption within provincial administration. The case demonstrated how Roman governors could exploit their power over distant provinces. Cicero's speeches remain the main evidence for understanding Verres' impact on Sicilian society.

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• 5. Augustan Colonies

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  Octavian imposed a heavy indemnity of 1,600 talents on Sicily after defeating Sextus Pompey. Cities that resisted received harsh punishment while thirty thousand slaves were captured. Six thousand slaves without masters were impaled following the conflict. Augustus visited Sicily in 22 or 21 BC during an imperial journey. Tauromenium became the first colonia established in 36 BC. Other reforms created six coloniae: Syracuse, Tauromenium, Panormus, Catania, Tyndaris, and Thermae Himerenses. Italian veterans settled on land given to them by Augustus. This influx compensated for demographic slumps caused by warfare with Sextus Pompey. Latin replaced Greek as the elite language among new settlers. Existing Greek inhabitants faced uncertain futures regarding citizenship rights. The grain tithe was replaced by the stipendium property tax across the province.

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• 6. Latifundia Estates

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  Pliny the Elder traveled through Sicily seeing only slaves working vast estates called latifundia. These great private estates specialized in producing grain, olive oil, and wine for export. Owners re-invested profits by purchasing smaller neighboring farms unable to compete economically. By the second century AD, latifundia had displaced small farms as the agricultural foundation of the empire. Landless peasants relied heavily on handouts after losing their plots to wealthy owners. Senators did not pay land taxes while exploiting slave labor for maximum profit. Rural society entered a new period of prosperity at the beginning of the fourth century. Commercial settlements and farm villages reached peak expansion during this time. Wealthy equestrian and senatorial ranks abandoned urban life to retreat to country estates. Their lands were cultivated by colonists rather than slaves under new economic arrangements.

• 7. Faith And Martyrs

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  Paul of Tarsus landed in Syracuse after being shipwrecked on Malta during his voyage to Rome. He remained three days before traveling along the coast to Rhegion. A Jewish community existed in Catania evidenced by epigraphic records. The first certain reference to a Sicilian church appears in an official letter sent between 250 and 251 AD. Saint Agatha suffered martyrdom in Catania under persecutor Quintianus while Saint Lucy died in Syracuse under Pascasius. Both saints are known only from hagiographies written two hundred years after events. Two important Christian inscriptions date to the end of the third century found at Catania and Syracuse. Hilarion traveled from Egypt to Pachino seeking retreat as an anchorite near modern Ispica. Cenobitic monasticism gathered ascetics sharing religious life under the Basilian rule. Monasteries organized under Benedictine rules did not appear until the Norman period later.

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