Tissa

TISSA (Τίσσα, Ptol.; Τίσσαι, Steph. B.: Eth. Τισσαῖος, Tissiensis, Cic., Tissinensis, Plin.), a town in the interior of Sicily, repeatedly mentioned by ancient authors, but without any clue to its position. As its name is cited from Philistus by Stephanus of Byzantium (s. v.), it must have existed as a Siculian town from an early period, but its name is not found in history. Under the Romans it continued to subsist as a municipal town, though a very small place. Cicero calls it perparva et tennis civitas,a nd Silius Italicus also terms it parvo nomine Tisse.( Cic. Ver. 3.3. 8; Sil. Ital..) It is again noticed by Pliny and Ptolemy among the towns of the interior of Sicily, but all trace of it is subsequently lost. The only clue to its site is derived from Ptolemy, who places it in the neighbourhood of Aetna. It has been fixed by Cluverius and others on the site of the modern town of Randazzo, at the northern foot of Aetna, but this is a mere conjecture. (Plin. Nat. 3.8. s. 14; Ptol. 3.4.12; Cluver. Sicil. p. 308.)