ETNA, or JETNA, a volcano in the eastern part of the province of Catania, on the island of Sicily, and the largest active volcano in Europe and the highest mountain in Italy. Directly north is the valley of Alcantara, on the west and south, the valley of Simeto, and on the east, the Ionian Sea. From the waters on the east, which are in depth from 5,000 to 6,000 feet, Etna rises cone-like to a height of about 10,875 feet; but on the south and west it seems formed of superimposed mountains, the terminal being surrounded by a number of cones, all of volcanic origin, about nine of which are of considerable size. The circumference at the base is about 90 miles. Around the mountain and at the lower slope are a number of villages, cultivated fields, groves of olive-, orange-, fig- and date-trees ; and a little higher up is a belt of forest with oak, birch, beech and conifer''. Above 7,000 feet vegetation is scanty, the cone is almost bare ; rocky preci pices, lava beds, masses of ashes and scoria are visible at its summit except where covered by snow. A deep depression, Val de Bove, on the eastern side, was once the principal crater; and frequently lava has issued out of the sides of the mountain, thus forming small cones and craters, about 200 of which are now distinctly marked. The summit is usually altered with
every eruption. From the summit may be seen the whole of the island of Sicily, the Lipari Islands, Malta and Calabria.
The eruptions of Etna have been numerous and many of them destructive ; more than 80 have been recorded, 11 of which occurred be fore the Christian Era. That of 1169 A.D. over whelmed Catania and buried 15,000 persons in the ruins. In 1669 the lava spread over the country for 40 days, and 10,000 persons are estimated to have perished. In 1693 there was an earthquake during the eruption, when over 60,000 lives were lost. One eruption was in 1755, the year of the Lisbon earthquake. Among more recent eruptions are those of 1852, 1865, 1874, 1879, 1886, 1892, 1909 and 1911. An erup tion is ordinarily preceded by _premonitory symptoms of longer or shorter duration. In Greek mythology there are found frequent allusions to Etna, especially in the legends of Enceladus and Hiphastus. Consult Dana, 'Characteristics of Volcanoes' ; Kneeland, 'Vol canoes.>