Territorio e identità nella geografia della Sicilia orientale. Il caso di Xouthia

Abstract

Xouthia, indicating the chora of Leontinoi, is one of the rare cases where a territory of eastern Sicily is called by name. Following a mythical tradition reported by Diodorus Siculus, the name of Xouthia derives from king Xutho, son of the king of Lipari Aeolus. Exploiting the theme of Xutho’ s “ideal” kingdom, Chalcidian settlers of Leontinoi created a Greek identity character for the territory of Leontinoi, which was based on the memory of peaceful relations between the righteous and pious king Xutho and local populations. The same mythical account was later used and re-moulded by Aeschylus in the play Aitnaiai (commissioned by the Syracusan tyrant Hieron) with a twofold goal: integrating the people of Leontinoi into Hieron’ s new territorial arrangement which extended to the area of Mount Etna, and claiming the right of precedence for Greeks in the territory of Xouthia where the indigenous sanctuary of the Palikoi was located, which was the best suited place for the structuring of a sense of common identity among Sicilian people.