The Sicani dwelt east of the Elymians and west of the Sicels, having, according to Diodorus Siculus,[1] the boundary with the last in the ancient Himera river (Salso) after a series of battles between these tribes.

In the 5th century BCE, the Greek historian Thucydides,[2] claims that the Sicani originated on the Iberian Peninsula, from around a river they called "Sicanus" and had migrated to Sicily following an invasion by the Ligurians.

[6] A third theory, put forward by some modern scholars, suggests that the Sicani were immigrants, who gained control of areas previously inhabited by native tribes.

[7] The testimony of a Sicanian migration by land is supported by Greek geographer Pausanias, who does not seem to depend on Thucydides when he asserts that three peoples arrived in Sicily: Sicani, Sicels and Phrygians: the first two came from Italy, while the third came from Troy.

[8] Pliny the Elder and Gaius Julius Solinus also mention the Sicani, among the peoples of the Mount Albanus league in the Old Latium.

On the other hand, the term Sicanian remains useful as a means of identifying the older, possibly non-Indo-European linguistic substrate, geographically overlaid by later arrivals such as Sicel and Elymian.