Capo Passero or Cape Passero (Greek: Πάχυνος; Latin: Pachynus or Pachynum) is a celebrated promontory of Sicily, forming the extreme southeastern point of the whole island, and one of the three promontories which were supposed to have given to it the name of "Trinacria." (Ovid, Fast. iv. 479, Met. xiii. 725; Dionys. Per. 467-72; Scyl. p. 4. § 13; Pol. i. 42; Strabo vi. pp. 265, 272, &c.; Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 8; Mela, ii. 7. § 15.) Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC – Tomis, now ConstanÅ£a AD 17), a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... Scylax Of Caryanda, Carian explorer. ... Polybius (c. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ... A medieval artists rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; ca. ... For Mela Festivals today, see Mela Festival. ...

Historical significance

All the ancient geographers correctly describe it as extending out towards the south and east so as to be the point of Sicily that was the most nearly opposite to Crete and the Peloponnese. It is at the same time the southernmost point of the whole inland. The headland itself is not lofty, but formed by bold projecting rocks (projecta saxa Puchyni, Virg. Aen. iii. 699), and immediately off it lies a small rocky island (the Isola di Capo Passero) of considerable elevation, which appears to have been generally regarded as forming the actual promontory. This explains the expression of Nonnus, who speaks of the island rock of the seagirt Pachynus. (Dionys. xiii. 322.) Lycophron also has a similar phrase. (Alex. 1181.) For the famous World War II battle, see: Battle of Crete For other uses, see Crete (disambiguation). ... Peloponnesos (Greek: Πελοπόννησος, sometime Latinized as Peloponnesus or Anglicized as The Peloponnese) is a large peninsula in Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Isthmus of Corinth. ... Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a classical Roman poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the substantially completed Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became... The Aeneid is a Latin epic written by Vergil in the 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy where he became the ancestor of the Romans. ... The Greek epic poet Nonnus (Greek Nonnos), a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid, probably lived at the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century AD. He produced the Dionysiaca, an epic tale of the god Dionysus, a paraphrase of the Gospel of John... Lycophron was a Greek poet and grammarian. ...

We learn from Cicero (Verr. v. 34) that there was a port in the immediate neighborhood of the promontory to which he gives the name of Portus Pachyni (modern Portopalo di Capo Passero): it was here that the fleet of Verres was stationed under his officer Cleomenes, when the news that a squadron of pirates was in the neighbouring Port of Ulysses (Portus Odysseae) caused that commander to take to flight with precipitation. Ptolemy gives the name of Promontory of Ulysses (Ὀδυσσεία ἄκρα, Ptol. iii. 4. § 7) to a point on the south coast of the island, a little to the west of Cape Pachynus. It is therefore probable that the Portus Pachyni was the one now called Porto di Palo, immediately adjoining the promontory, while the Portus Odysseae may be identified with Pantano Longarini.^[1] The convenience of this port at the extreme southeast point of the island caused it to be a frequent place of rendezvous and station for fleets approaching Sicily; and on one occasion, during the Second Punic War the Carthaginian commander Bomilcar appears to have taken up his post in the port to the west of the promontory, while the Roman fleet lay immediately to the north of it. (Livy xxiv. 27, xxv. 27, xxxvi. 2.) Cicero at about age 60, from an ancient marble bust Marcus Tullius Cicero (IPA:Classical Latin pronunciation: , usually pronounced in American English or in British English; January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, political theorist, philosopher, widely considered one of Romes greatest orators... Portopalo di Capo Passero is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Syracuse in the Italian region Sicily, located about 220 km southeast of Palermo and about 45 km southwest of Syracuse. ... Gaius Verres (c. ... There have been three kings of Sparta by the name Cleomenes Cleomenes I (c. ... A medieval artists rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; ca. ... Combatants Image:SPQR-Stone. ... Carthage (Greek: , from the Phoenician meaning new town, Arabic: , Latin: ) refers both to an ancient city in North Africa located in modern day Tunis and to the civilization that developed within the citys sphere of influence. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. ...

In 1718, the seas off the promontory were the site of a great naval battle (called the Battle of Cape Passero) between the British and Spanish fleets. // The Funj warrior aristocracy deposes the reigning mek and places one of their own ranks on the throne of Sennar. ...

References

1. ^ See, e.g., Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, (ISBN 0-691-03169-X), Map 47 & notes.)

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1857).