Hybla Gereatis

Hybla Gereatis has been described as the largest and most considerable of the Sicilian cities called Hybla, thence equated with Hybla Major or Magna [1]. During the Second Punic War, Livy mentions Hybla as one of the towns that were induced to revolt to the Carthaginians in 211 BCE, but were quickly recovered by the Roman praetor M. Cornelius [1]. In the time of Cicero the Hyblenses (evidently the people of the Aetnaean city) appear as a considerable municipal community [1]. Its name is also found both in Pliny, who reckons it among the populi stipendiarii of the island, and in Ptolemy [1]. We find no later notice of it, though an inscription of Christian times found at Catana appears to refer to Hybla as still existing under its ancient name [1].