History of the Jews in Sicily of the Temple of Jerusalem. Rabbi Akiva visited the city of Syracuse during one of his trips abroad. The Jews lived in many Sicilian cities such as Palermo, Messina and Catania. From the late 7th century, Sicily joined with Calabria to form the Byzantine Theme of Sicily. In the 6th century, communications were sent to Pope Gregory I about the plight of the Jews in the Kingdom of Sicily. In 831, Sicily came under the Arab dominion, which treated the Jews justly. In 1072 Sicily fell to the Normans and the Jews were again brought under the supremacy and jurisdiction
Geology of Sicily well as the regional uplift of the Calabrian unit. The tectonic setting of Sicily is controlled by the rate of collision of the African plate and Eurasian plate and the rate of back rolling of the African plate. The tectonic history of Sicily can be divided into four main stages: During Late Triassic, the ancient Neotethys ocean was formed by a major continental rifting event and rapid tectonic subsidence. Traces of the tectonic event can be found at both the Hyblean plateau and western Sicily. After the rapid subsidence during Triassic to Early Jurassic, there was a slow thermal subsidence