Herbessos

Herbessos was an ancient city located at Montagna di Marzo, Sicily, a few kilometres north-west of Piazza Armerina.

Subsequently in the 1950s Dinu Adamesteanu recognised, through aerial photography, part of the ancient access routes to the city.

Agathocles of Syracuse established a garrison there, which, in 309 BC, was driven out by the Acragantines while the tyrant was in Africa and the city became an ally of Akragas.

After the Second Punic War, the Romans razed the entire town to the ground, when nearby Morgantina was destroyed and Enna punished with the massacre of its citizens.

Its riches fueled the clandestine market for the whole of the last century, and bronze and marble sarcophagi, armour of ancient heroes, and precious ceramics emerged and then disappeared.