History of Sicily politics in Greece itself, leading Athens, for example, to mount the disastrous Sicilian Expedition in 415 BC during the Peloponnesian War. In Greek mythology, the goddess Athena threw Mount Aitna onto the island of Sicily and upon either the gigante Enceladus or Typhon during the giants' war against the gods. The Greeks came into conflict with the Punic trading communities, by now effectively protectorates of Carthage, with its capital on the African mainland not far from the southwest corner of the island. Palermo was a Carthaginian city, founded in the 8th century BC, named Zis or Sis ("Panormos" to the
Gallo-Italic of Sicily Gallo-Italic of Sicily Gallo-Italic of Sicily () is a group of Gallo-Italic languages found in about 15 isolated communities of central eastern Sicily. Forming a language island in the otherwise Sicilian language area, it dates back to migrations from northern Italy during the reign of Norman Roger I of Sicily and his successors. Towns inhabited by the new immigrants became known as the "Lombard communities" (, ). The settlers, known as the Lombards of Sicily, actually came principally from the Aleramici fiefdoms of Piedmont and Liguria, "Lombardy" being the name for the whole northern Italy during the Middle Ages. In