On one occasion its citizens, having been involved in disputes among themselves concerning the choice of their senate, C. Claudius Pulcher was sent by Rome at their own request in 95 BC to regulate the matter by a law, which he did to the satisfaction of all parties.

The city appears to have subsequently declined, and had sunk in the time of Augustus to the condition of an ordinary municipal town,[9] but was still one of the few places on the north coast of Sicily which Strabo deemed worthy of mention.

[11] There was a difference of opinion on the site of Halaesa, arising principally from the discrepancy in the distances assigned by Strabo, the Antonine Itinerary, and the Tabula Peutingeriana.

There is now no doubt that its site is correctly fixed by Cluverius and Torremuzza at the spot marked by an old church called Santa Maria le Palate, near the modern town of Tusa, and above the river Pettineo.

This site coincides perfectly with the description of Diodorus,[12] that the town was built on a hill about 8 stadia from the sea: as well as with the distance of 18 Roman miles from Cephaloedium assigned by the Tabula (the Itinerary gives 28 by an easy error).

The ruins described by Fazello as visible in his time indicated the site of a large city, and several inscriptions have been found on the spot, some of them referring distinctly to Halaesa.