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Siculians
Or Siculans
A
population that inhabited
Sicily
in prehistoric times, said by
ancient sources to be connected
with the Ausons, who settled
there c.1000BC.
Finds
confirm the presence of
Indo-European populations who
spread along the island's N and E
coast. They came into contact
with the Greek settlers from the
9th–8th-cBC and were
absorbed by them.
Messina
was founded in the 8th century
B.C. by the Siculans, who named
it Zancle ("sickle") because of
its hooked promontory protecting
the harbor.
The
Greeks
from Cumae and Chalcis occupied
the site in the 5th century. It
fell to the dreaded Anaxilas,
tyrant of Reggio, who changed the
town's name to Messána to
honor his native Messenia in the
Peloponnesus.
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