Mt Eryx (modern Erice), the steep mountain at the north-western tip of Sicily famous for the temple of Venus Erycina (the Sicilian Aphrodite). The slaves of the temple (Venerii) functioned as a kind of public attendant body whom Verres used as bailiffs; the quaestor who held the mountain claimed forfeit inheritances on behalf of the goddess (Verr. 2.2.22).