Drepana | |
|---|---|
| Drepana (modern-dayTrapani) | |
Location of Drepana  | |
  Drepana Location of Drepana in Italy Show map of Italy Drepana Drepana (Sicily) Show map of Sicily | |
| Coordinates:38°00′54″N12°30′45″E / 38.01500°N 12.51250°E /38.01500; 12.51250 | |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Sicily |
| Province | Trapani (TP) |
| Elevation | 3 m (10 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Drepana (Ancient Greek:Δρέπανα) was anElymian,Carthaginian, andRoman port inantiquity on the western coast ofSicily. It was the site ofa crushing Roman defeat by theCarthaginians in 249 BC. It eventually developed into the modernItalian city ofTrapani.
Drepana received its name fromdrépanon (δρέπανον), theGreek word for "sickle", because of the curving shape of its harbour.[1] This wasLatinized asDrepanum before being pluralized to its present form.
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The town was founded by theElymians to serve as the port of the nearby city ofEryx (present-dayErice), which overlooks it fromMonte Erice. The city sits on a low-lying promontory jutting out into theMediterranean Sea. The town, 40 km (25 mi) north ofLilybaeum, had been fortified by the Carthaginians, who resettled part of the population toEryx. In 241, it was besieged byG. Lutatius Catulus,[2] and later used as a naval base.
The town features in theAeneid as the site of the death and funeral games ofAnchises.[1]
Carthage seized control of the city in 260 BC, subsequently making it an important naval base. Thenaval battle of Drepanum took place in 249 BC and was a major victory forCarthage against theRoman Republic in theFirst Punic War. After theBattle of the Aegates and Carthage's loss of the war, the town was ceded to Roman control in 241 BC.
It never achieved the status of acivitas in Roman times.
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