place
Halaesinos
also: Halaesine, Halaesam, Halaesa
Halaesa, a Sicilian city on the northern coast east of Cephaloedium, founded by the Sicel king Archonides; a free and immune community under Roman rule, Cicero's most-praised Sicilian polis (Verr. 2.2.122; 2.3.170). Home of Dio, of M. Clodius Archagathus and his brother Philo (Ad fam. 13.32), and the seat of an important Roman business community.
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 13.32 §1 In the town of Halaesa, a place of such elegance and such standing
Halaesa (modern Tusa, northern Sicily) was among the most prosperous and Hellenised of the inland Sicilian towns, famous for its civic order and wealthy elite; Cicero celebrated it in the Verrine orations as a model community. Lauta (elegant/wealthy) and nobilis (distinguished) are the precise compliments.