The city was of Siculian origin, and its foundation is related by Diodorus, who informs us that in 403 BCE the inhabitants of Herbita (a Siculian city), having concluded peace with Dionysius I of Syracuse, their ruler or chief magistrate Archonides determined to quit the city and found a new colony, which he settled partly with citizens of Herbita, and partly with mercenaries and other strangers who collected around him through enmity towards Dionysius.
That writer associates it with Herbita, Assorus, Agyrium (modern Agira), and other towns of the interior, in a manner that would lead us to suppose it situated in the same region of Sicily; and this inference is confirmed by Ptolemy, who places Hemichara or Himichara (evidently the same place) in the northeast of Sicily, between Capitium (modern Capizzi) and Centuripa (modern Centuripe).
Herbita |