Cetaria

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography

CETA´RIA(Κηταρία, Ptol. 3.1.4: Eth. Cetarinus), a small town of Sicily, placed by Ptolemy, the only author who affords any clue to its position, on the N. coast of the island between Panormus and Drepanum, but its exact site is uncertain. Fazello and Cluver fix it at the Torre di Scupelloon the W. side of the Gulf of Castellamare;but if the river Bathys of Ptolemy, which he enumerates immediately after it, be the modern Iati, or Fiati, the position suggested for Cetaria is untenable. Its name was probably derived from its being the seat of tunny fisheries (cetaria); hence we should probably read Cetarini for Citarini in Cicero as well as Pliny. The former tells us it was a very small town, though enjoying its separate municipal rights. Pliny enumerates it among the stipendiary cities of Sicily. (Cic. Ver. 3.4. 3; Plin. Nat. 3.8. s. 14.)
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