Messina
Messina
Founded by the Sicels with the name of Zancle in 757 BC, which in their language meant sickle, it was repopulated by Greek colonists of Magna Graecia and renamed Messana. The city was renamed Messina in the Byzantine age. It was an important Roman, and then Greek-Byzantine city, but in 843 it was completely destroyed by the Arabs. Almost abandoned during the Islamic period, it rose again in the Norman era and reached the height of its grandeur between the late Middle Ages and the mid-17th century, when it competed with Palermo for the role of capital of the Kingdom of Sicily.
Names
• Zancle, from the Siculian meaning "scythe", that characterizes the singular shape of the natural port, from the founding of the city by the Sicels in 757 BC up to the Magna Graecia age; • Dankle (Ζάγκλης), from the Greek ζάγκλον meaning "scythe" in the Magna Graecia age up to Anaxilas of Rhegium; • Messene (Μεσσήνη), a name that was given to the city in the Magna Graecia age by Anaxilas of Rhegium, when he settled refugees from Messenia there at the beginning of the 5th century BC; • Messana, in the Roman age; • Messina, from the Byzantine age to today.
History
!Ancient Roman bronze coin minted in Messina, 264 BC
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