Gela

Gela (Sicilian and ˈdʒɛːla; Γέλα) is a city and comune (municipality) in the Autonomous Region of Sicily, Italy; in terms of area and population, it is the largest municipality on the southern coast of Sicily. Gela is part of the Province of Caltanissetta and is one of the few comune in Italy with a population and area that exceed those of the provincial capital. Gela was founded in 698 BC by Greek colonists from Rhodes and Crete; it was an influential polis of Magna Graecia in the 7th and 6th centuries BC and became one of the most powerful cities until the 5th c. BC. Aeschylus, the famous playwright, lived here and died in 456 BC. In 1943, during the Invasion of Sicily, the Allied forces made their first landing on the island at Gela. Archaeology has shown that the acropolis of Gela was occupied during the Copper Age in the 4th millennium BC and during the Bronze Age in the 2nd millennium BC. Gela was founded around 688 BC by colonists from Rhodes and Crete, 45 years after the founding of Syracuse. Archaeology has shown that they chose to settle on the northern slope of the Molino a Vento extending for more than 400 m towards the west up to Castelluccio. The city was named after the river Gela, the name of which derives from gela, the Sicilian-dialect word for "winter frost". According to Diodorus Siculus, the city was founded by Antiphemus and Entimus. Gela immediately had violent clashes with the Sicani of the area: Antiphemus waged a war against the city of Omphace, not far from Gela. The Gelans won and defeated the city, also taking away a statue that was said to have been made by the mythical sculptor Daedalus. The Temple of Athena Lindia, protector of the city, was built on the acropolis over the protohistoric remains in the 7th century BC, This was then incorporated into a second temple in the 6th century, also dedicated to Athena. The Greeks established many colonies in Magna Graecia and for many centuries they had a major influence on the area.