South-eastSicily in the 5th century BC with the Greek cities in red and the Native settlements in blue. TheVia Selinuntina in yellow and theVia Elorina in green.
Casmenae orKasmenai (Ancient Greek:Κασμένη or Κασμέναι,[1][2]Casmene inItalian) was an ancient Greek colony ofMagna Graecia located on theHyblaean Mountains, founded in 644 BC by theSyracusans at a strategic position for the control of centralSicily. It was also intended as a military forward-position on theVia Selinuntina road that connected Syracuse toAkragas (modern-dayAgrigento) - also on that road wereGela andAkrillai to Casmenae's west andAkrai to its east. Destroyed by the Romans in 212 BC, Casmenae was abandoned during the 3rd century BC and never inhabited again.
The site was discovered by the Sicilian archeologistPaolo Orsi during the first half of the 20th century, after he had identified the most probably site atMonte Casale inBuscemi at 830 m (2,720 ft) above sea level, on an extinct volcano nearMonte Lauro, 7 km (4.3 mi) fromGiarratana and 12 km (7.5 mi) fromPalazzolo Acreide. Remains of the defensive walls, 3.4 km (2.1 mi) long, are still visible along with the base of one of the temples and some dwellings.
It was founded in 643 BC fromSyracuse, 90 years after Syracuse's own foundation in 734 or 733 BC. There are several references to it in the historical sources, though few links to the main figures of the time and with several false accounts added. The most reliable source for it isThucydides and hisHistory of the Peloponnesian War. He writes:
Acrae and Casmenae were founded by the Syracusans; Acrae seventy years after Syracuse, Casmenae nearly twenty after Acrae. Camarina was first founded by the Syracusans, close upon a hundred and thirty-five years after the building of Syracuse; its founders being Daxon and Menecolus. But the Camarinaeans being expelled by arms by the Syracusans for having revolted, Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, some time later receiving their land in ransom for some Syracusan prisoners, resettled Camarina, himself acting as its founder. Lastly, it was again depopulated by Gelo, and settled once more for the third time by the Geloans.[3]
The most reliably-attested events related to the city are as follows; perhaps in 553 BC, it fought alongside Syracuse againstCamarina and theSiculi; there were also some Syracusan exiles, then brought back to Syracuse byGelo in 485 BC;Dion landed atHeraclea Minoa and chose troops to lead against Syracuse. The city was abandoned around the end of the 4th century BC, with gradual Syracusan decadence, hence the relatively undisturbed nature of the site. To the south of ancient Casmene, on the site now known as "Terravecchia", is the former site of Giarratana (Jarratana), abandoned by its inhabitants in 1693.
The city walls, important for their military and strategic function and 3.4 km (2.1 mi) long, are interspersed with rectangular towers and contain a unique city plan. This is solely made up of 38 parallel streets, all in a north-south direction. All the evidence suggests that Kasmenai (in the plural) was the name for a grouping of quarters. Arrows, daggers and spears have been found in the area, andbasalt blocks still emerge from the earth – these blocks formed mills in the ancient city. Among the excavated remains are four houses and a temple that already existed before the settlers' arrival - the latter has polychromatic ceramic decoration and, judging by the several weapons found in it, associated with a warrior god.
