Hybla Gereatis (Greek:Ὕβλα ἡ Γελεᾶτις), was an ancient city ofMagna Graecia inSicily, located on the southern slope ofMount Etna, not far from the riverSymaethus, in the moderncomune ofPaternò. There were at least three (and possibly as many as five) cities[1] named "Hybla" in ancient accounts of Sicily which are often confounded with each other, and which it is sometimes very difficult to distinguish.[2]
Hybla Gereatis has been described as the largest and most considerable of the Sicilian cities called Hybla, thence equated withHybla Major or Magna.[3][4]
Pausanias (in whose time it had ceased to be an independent city) described the city as situated in the territory of Catana (modernCatania).[5] In like manner, we find it noticed byThucydides as a place between Catana and Centuripa (modernCenturipe), so that theAthenians, on their return from an expedition to the latter city, ravaged the corn fields of theInessaeans and Hyblaeans.[6] It was clearly aSiculian city; and hence, at an earlier period, it is mentioned among the other towns of that people in the interior of the island which Ducetius sought to unite into a common league, a measure to which the Hyblaeans alone refused to accede.[7] It is quite clear that, in all the above passages, the Aetnaean Hybla is the one meant: and it seems probable that the city of Hybla, which was attacked by the Athenians soon after their landing in Sicily (Thuc. vi. 62), but without success, was no other, but only Thucydides distinguishes the Hybla as Hybla Geleatis (Ὕβλα ἡ Γελεᾶτις)[8]
During theSecond Punic War,Livy mentions Hybla as one of the towns that were induced to revolt to theCarthaginians in 211 BCE, but were quickly recovered by theRomanpraetorM. Cornelius.[9] In the time ofCicero the Hyblenses (evidently the people of the Aetnaean city) appear as a considerablemunicipal community, with a territory fertile in corn:[10] and Hybla is one of the few places in the interior of Sicily whichPomponius Mela thinks worthy of mention. Its name is also found both inPliny, who reckons it among thepopuli stipendiarii of the island, and inPtolemy. Hence it is strange that Pausanias appears to speak of it as in his time utterly desolate. The passage, however, is altogether so confused that it is very difficult to say of which Hybla he is there speaking.[11] We find no later notice of it, though an inscription of Christian times found at Catana appears to refer to Hybla as still existing under its ancient name.[12]
The site, as suggested byCluverius, at Paternò (about 20km from Catania), and derives strong confirmation from the discovery in that city of an altar dedicatedVeneri Victrici Hyblensi.[13] There is much confounding of this city with that ofAetna.
^The circumstance that there were so many towns called Hybla in Sicily probably arose from the fact mentioned byPausanias, that there was a local divinity of the name. (Paus. v. 23. § 6.)
^William Smith, Britain's foremost classicist of the 19th century, begins to describeHybla Major with an admixture of locational and historic information from both Hybla Gereatis andMegara Hyblaea. Caution should therefore be used when assuming reference to "Hybla" in an ancient source refers to this city.
^Ὕβλα ἡ μείζων,Steph. B.;Paus. v. 23 § 6: on coins, the name appearsὝβλα Μεγάλη:Eckhel, vol. i. p. 216.
^However, Smith's identification is doubtful based on his general confusion of the synonymous cities.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
