Morgantina is a place of settlement in the interior of Sicily, inhabited from prehistoric times to around 50 BC.
According to Strabo Morgantina was founded by a pre-Roman Italian group known as the Morgetes of Rhegium. Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote that the Morgetes were led by a king named Morges. The earliest historical date associated with Morgantina is 459 BC, when Ducetius, leader of the indigenous Sicel population of central Sicily, attacked the city and captured it. Morgantina was probably still under Ducetius' control when he was defeated at Nomai by Syracuse in 449 BC.
In 133 BC, Morgantina was the place where Eunus, the leader of the slave rebellion known as the First Servile War, died. In the Second Servile War, Morgantina was besieged and taken by slaves. The final mention of Morgantina comes again from Strabo, who notes that in his own time, the first century AD, the city had ceased to exist.
According to Strabo Morgantina was founded by a pre-Roman Italian group known as the Morgetes of Rhegium. Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote that the Morgetes were led by a king named Morges. The earliest historical date associated with Morgantina is 459 BC, when Ducetius, leader of the indigenous Sicel population of central Sicily, attacked the city and captured it. Morgantina was probably still under Ducetius' control when he was defeated at Nomai by Syracuse in 449 BC.
In 133 BC, Morgantina was the place where Eunus, the leader of the slave rebellion known as the First Servile War, died. In the Second Servile War, Morgantina was besieged and taken by slaves. The final mention of Morgantina comes again from Strabo, who notes that in his own time, the first century AD, the city had ceased to exist.
Modern location: Ruins
(1)
Morgantina
An
AR
Litra
struck 339-317 BC
in
Morgantina
Obverse: laureate head of Apollo right; MOPΓANTINΩN
Reverse: warrior on horseman left, brandishing spear, holding reins
Diameter:
10.5 mm
Die Orientation: -
Weight: 0.8 g
Die Orientation: -
Weight: 0.8 g
ex Nomos
SNG ANS 465 (same dies); SNG Copenhagen 472; HGC 2, 900.