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
Elvira of Sicily Elvira of Sicily Elvira of Sicily (died in 1231) was a member of the House of Hauteville who claimed the throne of the Kingdom of Sicily. She is known by an exceptional number of names, including Albinia, Elvira, Maria, Albidina and Blanche. Elvira was the eldest daughter of Tancred, Count of Lecce, and Sibylla of Acerra. Her father, an illegitimate member of the royal family, seized the throne of Sicily upon the death of his cousin William II in 1189, thus dispossessing his aunt Constance, who had been heir presumptive as William II's closest legitimate relative. A war of succession