Etna Part 4

A drive of a few miles to the South of Aci Reale brings us to Trezza, a small village built of lava. A short distance from the sh.o.r.e are the celebrated _Scogli di Ciclopi_, or rocks of the Cyclops, said to be those which Polyphemus hurled at Ulysses after his escape from the cave.

The rocks, seven in number, form small islets, the largest of which, the Isola d'Aci, is about 3000 feet in circ.u.mference, and 150 feet high. It consists of crudely columnar basalt capped by a kind of marl. Near the top of the island there is a cave called the "Grotto of Polyphemus,"

also a cistern of water. To the south of this island a very picturesque rock rises from the sea. It is 2000 feet in circ.u.mference and about 200 feet in height, and consists of columnar basalt in four and eight-sided prisms, but not very regular; a hard calcareous substance is found in their interstices. Fine crystals of a.n.a.lcime are sometimes met with in the basalts of the Cyclops Islands. Lyell considers these basalts "the most ancient monuments of volcanic action within the region of Etna."

A few miles south of the Isole di Ciclopi are the bay and city of Catania. We started from the latter when we commenced our ascent of Etna, and now on returning to it, we completed the circuit of the mountain by its base-road of 87 miles.

Katana (~Katane~) is believed to have been founded about 730 B.C.

by a Greek colony of Naxos, which had originally come from Chalcis. The city maintained its independence till the time of Hieron, who expelled the original inhabitants in 476 B.C., and peopled the city with Syracusans and inhabitants of the Peloponnesus to the number of 10,000.

At the same time the name of the city was changed to Aetna ([Greek: Aitne]). In 461 B.C., however, the old inhabitants retook their city, and drove out the newly-settled strangers, who betook themselves to Inessa, occupied it, and changed its name to _Aetna_. At a later period the Katanians sided with the Athenians against the Syracusans. But in 403 B.C. Dionysius of Syracuse took and plundered the city, sold the inhabitants as slaves, and established in it a body of Campanian mercenaries. The latter quitted it and retired to Aetna in 396 B.C., when the city was taken by the Carthaginians after a battle off the rocks of the Cyclops. Katana submitted to the Romans in 263 B.C., during the first Punic War, and it soon became a very populous city.

Cicero mentions it as a wealthy city and important seaport. During the Middle Ages it underwent many changes both at the hands of nature and of man; it belonged in succession to the Goths, Saracens, and Normans; and in 1169 was destroyed by an earthquake, during which 15,000 of its inhabitants perished. Again in 1669, and 1693, it was almost destroyed by earthquakes. The present town is comparatively new, many of its more ancient remains are covered with lava, among them the remains of a fine Greco-Roman theatre, in which it is probable that Alcibiades addressed the Catanians in 415 B.C. There are also remains of a Roman amphitheatre, bath, and tombs. Of more modern structures, the cathedral is the first to claim our notice. It was commenced by Roger I. in 1091, but in less than a century was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake. At one corner of the building you descend through a narrow pa.s.sage cut in the lava, to a crypt in which some ancient Roman arches are shown, partly filled up with lava. Here also is seen a small stream of very clear water flowing through the lava. The cathedral contains several interesting tombs, and in the chapel of S. Agata, her body is preserved in a silver sarcophagus, which during certain fetes is carried through the town in procession, attended by all the authorities. S.

Agata was martyred by the Praetor Quintia.n.u.s in the reign of Decius, and is the patron saint of the city. Whenever Catania has been in trouble from the approach of lava streams, or from earthquakes, the veil of S.

Agata has been used as a charm to avert the evil.

The University of Catania is the most celebrated in Sicily. It was founded in 1445 by Alfonso of Arragon, and has produced several men of eminence. The city also possesses one of the finest monasteries in the world, now converted into schools and barracks. Formerly the monastery of S. Nicola was occupied by 40 monks, all members of n.o.ble families; it is sufficiently large to hold 400.

CHAPTER V.

ERUPTIONS OF THE MOUNTAIN.

Their frequency within the historical period.--525 B.C.--477 B.C.-- 426 B.C.--396 B.C.--140 B.C.--134 B.C.--126 B.C.--122 B.C.--49 B.C.

--43 B.C.--38 B.C.--32 B.C.--40 A.D.--72.--253.--420.--812.--1169.

--1181.--1285.--1329.--1333.--1371.--1408.--1444.--1446.--1447.-- Close of the Fifteenth Century.--1536.--1537--1566.--1579.--1603.-- 1607.--1610.--1614.--1619.--1633.--1646.--1651.--1669.--1682.--1688.

--1689.--1693.--1694.--1702.--1723.--1732.--1735.--1744.--1747.-- 1755.--Flood of 1755.--1759.--1763.--1766.--1780.--1781.--1787.-- 1792.--1797.--1798.--1799.--1800.--1802.--1805.--1808.--1809.--1811.

--1819.--1831.--1832.--1838.--1842.--1843.--1852.--1865.--1874.-- General character of the Eruptions.

A list of all the eruptions of Etna from the earliest times has been given by several writers, notably by Ferrara in his _Descrizione dell' Etna_, and by Gemellaro. The latter places the first eruption in 1226 B.C. in the time of the Sicani; the second in 1170 B.C.; and of the third he says, "In 1149 B.C. there was an eruption, and Hercules in consequence fled from the island." Of course these dates are worthless, and the statements are no doubt based upon the a.s.sertion of Diodorus, that before the Trojan war the Sicani were driven from the east side of Sicily by the eruptions of the volcano.

1. The first eruption appears to have occurred in the time of Pythagoras; we have no details as to its nature.

2. The second eruption occurred in 477 B.C. It is mentioned by Thucydides, and it must be the eruption to which Pindar and aeschylus allude. The former visited the tomb of Hiero I. of Syracuse in 473 B.C., and the latter was in Sicily in 471 B.C. On the occasion of this eruption, two heroic youths named Anapias and Amphinomus, performed a deed to which Seneca and other writers allude with enthusiasm. While the lava was rapidly overwhelming the city of Katana, they placed their aged parents on their shoulders, and, at the risk of their lives, bore them through the flaming streets, and succeeded in placing them in safety. It was said that the fiery stream of lava parted to make way for them. Statues were raised to the honour of the _Pii Fratres_, and their burial place was long known as the _Campus Piorum_.

Even a temple was erected to commemorate the deed.

Lucilius Junior devotes the concluding lines of his poem on Etna to the glory of the brothers: "The flames blushed to touch the filial youths, and wherever they plant their footsteps, they retire. That day is a day of fortune; harmless that land. On their right hand fierce dangers prevail; on their left are burning fires. Athwart the flames they pa.s.s in triumph, his brother and he, each safe beneath his filial burden.

There the devouring fire flees backward, and checks itself round the twin pair. At length they issue forth unharmed, and bear with them their deities in safety. Songs of poets honour and admire them; them has Pluto placed apart beneath a glorious name, nor can the mean Fates reach the holy youths, but have truly granted them the homes and dominion of the blessed."[18]

[18] Translated by L. E. Upcott, M.A.

3. The third eruption occurred in the year 426 B.C. It is mentioned by Thucydides as having commenced in the sixth year of the Peloponnesian War. It destroyed a portion of the territory of the inhabitants of Katana.

4. An important eruption occurred in the year 396 B.C. It broke out from Monte di Mojo, the most northerly of the minor cones of Etna, and following the course of the river Acesines, (now the Alcantara) entered the sea at the site of the ancient Greek colony of Naxos. Himilco the Carthaginian general, was at this time on his way from Messana to Syracuse, and he was compelled to march his troops round the west side of the mountain in order to avoid the stream of lava.

5. We hear of no further eruption for 256 years, when in the year 140 B.C., in the consuls.h.i.+p of C. Laelius Sapiens and Q. Servilius Caepio, there was an outburst from the volcano which destroyed 40 people.

6. Six years later an eruption occurred according to Orosius and Julius Obsequens, in the consuls.h.i.+p of Sergius Fulvius Flaccus, and Quintus Calpurnius Piso. We have no details concerning its nature or extent.

7. The same authorities state that in the year 126 B.C. in the consuls.h.i.+p of L. OEmilius Lepidus, and L. Aurelius Orestes, Sicily suffered from a very severe earthquake, and a deluge of fiery matter poured from Etna, overwhelming large tracts of country, and rendering the waters of the adjacent Ionian sea positively hot. It is said that the sea near the island of Lipari boiled, and that the inhabitants ate so large a number of the fishes which were cast, already cooked, upon their sh.o.r.es, that a distemper appeared which destroyed a large number of people.

8. Four years later Katana was nearly destroyed by a new eruption. The roofs of many of the houses were broken in by the weight of hot ashes which fell upon them; but the lava stream turned aside near the city and flowed into the sea. The lava is believed to have issued from a small crater near Gravina, about 2-1/2 miles from Katana. The city was so much injured by this eruption that the Romans granted the inhabitants an immunity from all taxes for a s.p.a.ce of ten years.

9. An eruption, of which we have no details, occurred during the civil war between Caesar and Pompey.

10. Livy speaks of an eruption and earthquake which took place shortly before the death of Caesar, which it was believed to portend.

11. In 38 B.C., during the civil war between Octavia.n.u.s and s.e.xtus Pompeius, a violent eruption occurred on the east side of the mountain, accompanied by fearful noises and outbursts of flame.

12. Six years afterwards an eruption of a less violent character took place.

13. The next eruption of which we hear is that mentioned by Suetonius in his Life of Caligula. The Emperor happened to be at Messina at the time, and he fled from the town through fear of the eruption. This was in 40 A.D.

14. An eruption is said to have occurred in 72, in the second year after the capture of Jerusalem by t.i.tus.

15. Etna was now quiescent for nearly two centuries, but in the year 253, in the reign of the Emperor Decius, a violent eruption lasting nine days occurred. The lava flowed in the direction of Catania, and the inhabitants for the first time tested the efficacy of the veil of S.

Agatha, which afterwards stood them in such good stead on more than one occasion. The Saint had been martyred the year before, and when the frightened inhabitants saw the stream of lava approaching the city, they rushed to the tomb, and removed the veil which covered her body.

This was carried to the edge of the descending torrent of lava, and is a.s.serted to have at once arrested its progress.

16. According to Carrera and Photius an eruption occurred in the year 420.

17. We now find no record of any volcanic action for nearly four hundred years. Geoffrey of Viterbo states that an eruption occurred in 812, when Charlemagne was in Messina.

18. After another long interval of more than three centuries and a half, the mountain again entered into eruption. In February, 1169, occurred one of the most disastrous eruptions on record. A violent earthquake, which was felt as far as Reggio, occurred about dawn, and in a few minutes Catania was a heap of ruins. It is estimated that 15,000 persons were buried beneath the ruins. It was the vigil of the feast of S.

Agatha, and the Cathedral of Catania was crowded with people, who were all buried beneath the ruins, together with the Bishop and forty-four Benedictine monks. The side of the cone of the great crater towards Taormina fell into the crater. At Messina the sea retired to some distance from the sh.o.r.e, and then suddenly returned, overwhelming a portion of the city, and sweeping away a number of persons who had fled to the sh.o.r.e for safety. The clear and pure fountain of Arethusa at Syracuse became muddy and brackish; while the fountain of Ajo, near the village of Saraceni, ceased to flow for two hours, and then emitted water of the colour of blood. Ludovico Aurelio states that the vines, corn, and trees were burnt up over large districts.

19. According to Nicolo Speziale, there was a great eruption from the eastern side of the mountain in 1181.

20. A stream of lava is said to have burst from the eastern side of the mountain in 1285, when Charles of Anjou was on his death-bed, and to have flowed fifteen miles.

21. In the year 1329 Niccolo Speziale was in Catania, and witnessed the eruption of which he has left us an account. On the evening of June 28th, about the hour of vespers, Etna was strongly convulsed, terrible noises were emitted, and flames issued from the south side of the mountain. A new crater--Monte Lepre--opened in the Val del Bove above the rock of Musarra, and emitted large quant.i.ties of dense black smoke.

Soon afterwards a torrent of lava poured from the crater, and red-hot ma.s.ses of rock were projected into the air. These effects continued till the 15th of July, when a second crater opened ten miles to the S.E. of Montelepre, and near the Church of S. Giovanni Paparometto. Soon after four other craters opened around it, and emitted smoke and lava. The sun was obscured from morning till evening by the smoke and ashes, and the adjacent fields were burnt up by the hot sand and ashes. Mult.i.tudes of birds and animals perished, and many persons are said to have died from terror. The lava streams were divided into three portions, two of which flowed towards Aci, and the third towards Catania. The ashes were carried as far as Malta, a distance of 130 miles.

22. Four years afterwards an eruption is recorded by Silvaggio.

23. A ma.n.u.script preserved in the archives of the Cathedral of Catania mentions an eruption which occurred on the 6th of August, 1371, which caused the destruction of numerous olive groves near the city.

24. An eruption which lasted for twelve days commenced on the 9th of November, 1408; it originated in the great crater, but several mouths subsequently opened near the base of the mountain. Large quant.i.ties of red-hot ashes were emitted, some of which fell in Calabria. The villages of Pedara and Tre Castagne suffered severely from this eruption.

25. A violent earthquake in 1444 caused the upper cone of the mountain to fall into the crater. A torrent of lava also issued from the mountain, and moved for a s.p.a.ce of twenty days towards Catania, but it did not reach the city.

26. Two years later lava issued from the Val del Bove near the Rock of Musarra; the crater then formed was perhaps the present Monte Finocchio.

27. A short eruption, of which we have no details, occurred in 1447: after which Etna was quiescent for 89 years.

28. Bembo and Fazzello mention an eruption which occurred towards the close of the 15th century, during which a current of lava flowed from the great crater, and destroyed a portion of Catania. In 1533 Filoteo, of whom we have before spoken as one of the earliest historians of Etna, descended into the crater, which possessed its present funnel-like form.

He found at the bottom a hole, not larger than a man's head, from which issued a thin moist sulphurous vapour.

29. In March, 1536, a quant.i.ty of lava issued from the great crater, and several new apertures opened near the summit of the mountain and emitted lava. It divided into several streams, flowing in different directions, one towards Randazzo, a second towards Aderno, and a third towards Bronte. The lava swept everything before it; at the same time quant.i.ties of smoke and ashes were ejected, the mountain was convulsed, and fearful noises were heard. Three new craters were formed on the south and west sides of the mountain, and on the 26th of March twelve new craters, or _bocche_, opened between Monte Manfre and Monte Vituri. A physician of Lentini, named Negro di Piazza, having approached too near to the scene of the eruption, was destroyed by a volley of red-hot stones. Several rifts were formed in the sides of the mountain from which issued flames and hot cinders.