Editing Palici

{{for|the Romanian village|Pălici}}
The '''Palici''' ({{langx|grc|Παλικοί}}, <small>[[Romanization of Greek|romanized]]:</small> {{transliteration|grc|Palikoi}}, singular '''Palicus''' (Παλικός)),<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Dpalicus-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Palicus]</ref> or '''Palaci''', were a pair of indigenous [[Sicily|Sicilian]] [[chthonic]] deities in [[Roman mythology]], and to a lesser extent in [[Greek mythology]]. They are mentioned in [[Ovid]]'s ''Metamorphoses'' V, 406, and in [[Virgil]]'s ''Aeneid'' IX, 585. Their cult centered on three small lakes that emitted [[sulphur]]ous vapors in the [[Palagonia]] plain, and as a result these twin brothers were associated with [[geyser]]s and the [[underworld]]. There was also a shrine to the Palaci in Palacia, where people could subject themselves or others to tests of reliability through divine judgement; passing meant that an oath could be trusted.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9781400835850-004 |chapter=On Marvellous Thing Sheard |title=Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2 |year=1985 |last1=Dowdall |first1=L. D. |pages=1272–1298 |isbn=978-1-4008-3585-0 }}</ref>

==Genealogy==
The mythological lineage of the Palici is uncertain. One version of the legend attributes their parentage to sky god [[Zeus]] and nymph [[Aetna (nymph)|Aetna]]. Others associate their birth to a coupling between Aetna herself and smith deity [[Hephaestus]]. The "Greek version" indicate they are sons of Zeus and another nymph, called [[Thalia (nymph)|Thaleia]].<ref>Witczak K. T., Zawiasa D. (2004). "[https://antiquitasvivahome.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/54.1-2.05.-witczak-k.-t.-zawiasa-d.-palici-e28093-the-sicilian-twin-brothers-and-the-indo-european-myth-about-divine-twins.pdf Palici – the Sicilian Twin Brothers and the Indo- European Myth about Divine Twins]". In: ''Živa Antika'' [Antiquité Vivante]'' 54(1–2), 2004, pp. 55–57.</ref> A third account claimed that the Palici were the sons of the Sicilian deity [[Adranus]].

The medieval ''[[Vatican Mythographers]]'' book ascribed their lineage to Zeus and Aetna: Zeus (Jupiter) impregnated Aetna and she, fearing the wrath of Hera (Juno), was entrusted to Earth to protect her and her sons.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9780823293315-004 |chapter=First mythographer |title=The Vatican Mythographers |year=2022 |pages=13–98 |isbn=978-0-8232-9331-5 }}</ref><ref name=Pepin2022>{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9780823293315-005 |chapter=Second mythographer |title=The Vatican Mythographers |year=2022 |pages=99–206 |isbn=978-0-8232-9331-5 |first1=Ronald E. |last1=Pepin }}</ref>

==Interpretations==
The second book of the ''Vatican Mythographers'' translated their name as 'twice-born'.<ref name=Pepin2022/>

Scholar Marcel Meulder argues for a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] origin for their name, and relates it to a group of Greek compound names that belong to the semantic field of colours (e.g., ''leuko'' 'white'; ''melas'' 'black'). Thus, their name would mean 'of a white colour, of a grey colour, of a yellow colour' ("blanchâtre, jaunâtre, grisâtre”").<ref name=Meulder1998>{{cite journal |last1=Meulder |first1=Marcel |title=Les dieux sicules paliques portent un nom indo-européen |journal=Latomus |date=1998 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=33–37 |jstor=41538205 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meulder |first1=Marcel |title=Le vers 4 du fragment 115 d'Empédocle (FVS 31 D.-K.): proposition d'une correction |trans-title=Verse 4 of fragment 115 of Empedocles (FVS 31 D.-K.): proposed correction |language=fr |journal=Elenchos |date=1 December 2016 |volume=37 |issue=1–2 |pages=33–68 |doi=10.1515/elen-2016-371-203 |s2cid=192732795 }}</ref> He also suggests it as evidence of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European character]] of the [[Siculian|Siculian language]].<ref name=Meulder1998/>

Polish historian Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak and Daria Zawiasa suggest the Palici may derive from the old [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Indo-European]] [[mytheme]] of the [[divine twins]].<ref>Witczak, K. T.; Zawiasa, D. "The Sicilian Palici as representatives of the indo-european divine twins". In: ''ΜΥΘΟΣ'', n. 12, 2004-2005. pp. 93-106.</ref> They argue that the pair fit some of the common traits that scholar [[Donald J. Ward]] ascribed to the mytheme, such as a [[sky-god]]'s paternity and a single designation for both twins.<ref>Witczak K. T., Zawiasa D. (2004). "[https://antiquitasvivahome.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/54.1-2.05.-witczak-k.-t.-zawiasa-d.-palici-e28093-the-sicilian-twin-brothers-and-the-indo-european-myth-about-divine-twins.pdf Palici – the Sicilian Twin Brothers and the Indo- European Myth about Divine Twins]". In: ''Živa Antika'' [Antiquité Vivante] 54(1–2), 2004, pp. 56–60.</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
*Hammond, N.G.L. & Scullard, H.H. (eds.). ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (Oxford; Oxford University Press. 1970).
*Wilson, R.J.A. ''Sicily under the Roman Empire'' (Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1990), p.&nbsp;278.
* Maniscalco, Laura (ed.). ''Il santuario dei Palici: un centro di culto nella Valle del Margi'' (Palermo: Regione Siciliana, 2008) (Collana d'Area. Quaderno n. 11).
* {{cite journal |last1=Meulder |first1=Marcel |title=Les dieux sicules paliques portent un nom indo-européen |journal=Latomus |date=1998 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=33–37 |jstor=41538205 }}
* Meurant, Alain. ''Les Paliques, dieux jumeaux siciliens''. Louvain-la-Neuve: Peeters, 1998. {{ISBN|90-429-0235-3}}.

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Croon |first1=J. H. |title=The Palici: An Autochthonous Cult in Ancient Sicily |journal=Mnemosyne |date=1952 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=116–129 |doi=10.1163/156852552X00128 |jstor=4427356 }}
* {{cite book |doi=10.1515/9783110780116-012 |chapter=(Re)writing a Sicilian Myth: The Palici and Aeschylus' Aitnaiai |title=Myth and History: Close Encounters |year=2022 |last1=Cipolla |first1=Paolo B. |pages=187–206 |isbn=978-3-11-078011-6 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Cusumano |first1=Nicola |title=Fabriquer un culte ethnique. Écriture rituelle et généalogies mythiques dans le sanctuaire des Paliques en Sicile |trans-title=Building an ethnic cult. Ritual writing and mythical genealogies in the Sicilian sanctuary of the Palikoi gods |language=fr |journal=Revue de l'histoire des religions |date=2013 |volume=230 |issue=2 |pages=167–184 |doi=10.4000/rhr.8107 |jstor=23618389 |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Lamboley |first=Jean-Luc |year=2007 |title=Palici |encyclopedia=Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 10, Obl – Phe |editor-last1=Cancik |editor-first1=Hubert |editor-last2=Schneider |editor-first2=Helmuth |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden and Boston |isbn=9789004142152 |doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e904460 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Sampson |first1=C. Michael |chapter=Macrobius, Aeschylus’ Aetnaeae, and the Myth(s) of the Palici |pages=179–194 |jstor=10.3998/mpub.9905263.13 |editor1-first=Michael |editor1-last=Sampson |editor2-first=Louise |editor2-last=Pratt |title=Engaging Classical Texts in the Contemporary World: From Narratology to Reception |date=2018 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |doi=10.3998/mpub.9905263 |isbn=978-0-472-13108-2 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Thatcher |first1=Mark |title=Aeschylus' Aetnaeans, The Palici and Cultural Politics in Deinomenid Sicily |journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies |date=November 2019 |volume=139 |pages=67–82 |doi=10.1017/S007542691900003X |s2cid=204450203 |doi-access=free }}

;Archeology:
* {{cite journal |last1=Maniscalco |first1=Laura |last2=McConnell |first2=Brian E. |title=The Sanctuary of the Divine Palikoi (Rocchicella di Mineo, Sicily): Fieldwork from 1995 to 2001 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=2003 |volume=107 |issue=2 |pages=145–180 |doi=10.3764/aja.107.2.145 |jstor=40026074 |s2cid=155841895 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Maniscalco |first1=Laura |chapter=The Sanctuary of the Palikoi at Rocchicella (Mineo): The Copper Age Structures and the ‘Boiling Waters’ Phenomenon |pages=169–178 |jstor=j.ctvqmp11h.22 |editor1-last=Gullì |editor1-first=Domenica |title=From Cave to Dolmen: Ritual and symbolic aspects in the prehistory between Sciacca, Sicily and the central Mediterranean |date=2014 |publisher=Archaeopress |doi=10.2307/j.ctvqmp11h.22 |isbn=978-1-78491-038-9 }}
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[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Roman gods]]
[[Category:Children of Zeus]]
[[Category:Children of Hephaestus]]
[[Category:Mythological Sicilians]]
[[Category:Divine twins]]