PANTELLERIA, an island in the Mediterranean (ancient Cossyra), 62 m. S. by W. of the south-western extremity of Sicily, and 44 m. E. of the African coast, belonging to the Sicilian province of Trapani. Pop. (1931), 9,679. It is entirely of vol canic origin, and about 45 sq.m. in area; the highest point, an extinct crater, is 2,743 ft. above sea-level. Hot mineral springs and ebullitions of steam still testify to the presence of volcanic activity. The island is fertile, but lacks fresh water. The chief town (6,874 in 1921) is on the north-west, upon the sole harbour (fit only for small steamers), which is fortified. There is also a penal colony here. Sweet wine and raisins are exported. On the west coast, 2 m. south-east of the harbour, a neolithic village was situated, with a rampart of small blocks of obsidian, upon the east: within it remains of huts were found, with pottery, tools of obsidian, etc. To the south-east are tombs, known as sesi, similar to the nuraghi of Sardinia, consisting of round or elliptical towers with sepulchral chambers in them, built of rough blocks of lava. Fifty-seven of them can still be traced.
The largest is an ellipse of about 6o by 66 ft., but most of the sesi have a diameter of 20-25 ft. only. After a considerable in terval, during which the island probably remained uninhabited, the Carthaginians took possession of it, occupying as their acrop olis the twin hill of San Marco and Sta. Teresa, i m. south of the town of Pantelleria.
The Romans occupied the island in 255 B.C., lost it again the next year, and recovered it in 217 B.C. Under the Empire it served as a place of banishment for prominent persons and mem bers of the imperial family. About 700 the Christian population was annihilated by the Arabs, from whom the island was taken in 1123 by Roger of Sicily. In 1311 a Spanish fleet, under the command of Requesens, won a considerable victory here, and his family became princes of Pantelleria until 1553, when the town was sacked by the Turks.
See Orsi, "Pantelleria" (in Monumenti dei Lincei 1899, ix. 193-284). (T. A.)