Erice
by Ignazio Caloggero
Mount Erice seen from Trapani By giuseppe di giorgio CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21806796
Reference page: Repertory of Cults and Myths
Just as Adrano was the personification of Mount Etna, Erice is likely the personification of the mountain of the same name, today known as San Giuliano . The 751-meter-high mountain overlooks the Trapani plain and was often at the center of wars and events that took place in western Sicily. A town likely stood at its foot since the Bronze Age, and the mountain, in popular imagination, was soon considered the protector of the town below, just as the hero Erice was likely considered. According to tradition, Erice faced Heracles in battle , which reinforces the indigenous character of the hero defending his land from foreign invaders.
The myth of Erice had to suffer the fate of many indigenous myths, that is, a forced Hellenization that transformed it until it lost some of its local characteristics.
According to tradition, Erice was the son of the goddess Aphrodite and Butes , a native king [1] and he is credited with building the temple of Aphrodite on top of Mount Erice. However, a distinction must be made, as far as possible, between the cult of the hero and that of Aphrodite, whose temple, also known as the temple of Venus Ericina , was also famous in Roman times.
Diodorus recounts that Eryx fought Heracles, who happened to be passing through the region with his oxen. The fight between the two had been arranged so that, if Eryx won, Heracles would surrender his oxen; if Heracles won, Eryx would surrender his land. The victor was Heracles, who ceded the land he had won to the inhabitants with the condition that they would cede it to any of his descendants who requested it. Indeed, many generations later, the Lacedaemonian Dorieus , who claimed to belong to the Heraclid family, organized an expedition to Sicily, claimed the land near the mountain, and founded a city there, which he named Heraclea. This city was later destroyed by the Carthaginians.
It is likely that Dorieus' expedition, which took place around 580 BC, favored the introduction of the myth of Erice into Greek mythology. Ciaceri tells that, according to popular tradition, in the year 1342, while digging at the foot of Mount Erice, a corpse of enormous size was found, which as soon as it came to light shattered into dust. It was, in the opinion of most, attributed to the body of the hero Erice [2].
The Myth in the IWB Register of the Sicily Region
The Sicily Region has entered the Myth of Erice in the LIM register (Places of identity and memory) – Places of minor gods and divinities.
Place indicated in the IWB:
- Mount Erice (drills)
To view the places of the Myth on an Interactive Map, see the following web page: The places of Daedalus and Minos
Excerpt from the book “ Myths of Ancient Sicily” by Ignazio Caloggero ISBN:9788832060157 © 2022 Centro Studi Helios srl
[1] Diodorus lib.IV.23
[2] Ciaceri Emanuele: Cults and Myths of Ancient Sicily p. 50
To view the places of the Myth on an Interactive Map, see the following web page: The places of Erice
