Echetla

Echetla was an indigenous settlement, a town or fortress on the edge of the territory of Syracuse. It was not called a polis in antiquity but was a Hellenised settlement. It is first mentioned by Diodorus, who tells us that it was occupied in 309 BC (during Agathocles' absence in Africa) by a body of troops in the service of Syracuse. From there these mercenaries in Syracusan service are said to have ravaged the territories of Kamarina and Leontinoi. But they were soon subdued, despite the strength of their position, by Xenodicus of Akragas, who restored its freedom. (Fazell. 10.2, pp. 446, 450; Amic. Lex. Topog. Sic. vol. ii. p. 150; Cluver. Sicil. p. 360.) Little studied, it is important to note that this settlement was part of Syracuse's area of domination. Echetla has today been identified in the Terravecchia district of the present-day town of Grammichele, province of Catania, Sicily.