Pantaloon
PANTALOON (Ital. pantalone), a character in the old Itahan popular comedy, said to represent a Venetian, from the favourite V'enetian saint San Pantaleone, and transferred from it to pantomime (q.v.). The Italian pantaloon was always a silly old man with spectacles and wearing sUppers, and his character was maintained in pantomime and has also made his name a synonym for a tottering dotard, as in Shakespeare's As You Like It (11. vii. 158). From the Venetian usage the word " pantaloon " (whence " pants ") has also been given to certain forms of garment for the legs, the exact meaning varying at different times. .iij'ji n,',i PANTECHNICON;' an' invented word, from Gr. iras, all, and rexvi/cos, of or belonging to the arts (rexvai-), originally used as the namciof a bazaar in which all kinds of artistic work was sold; Lt was established in Motcomb Street, Belgrave Square, London, early in the 10th century, but faOed and was turned into a furniture depository, in which sense the word has now passed into general usage. The large vans used for removing furniture are hence known as pantechnicon vans or pantechnicons simply. . : ,), PANTELLERIA, 01 Pantalaria (ancient Cowyro'),an island in the Mediterranean, 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. (igoi), 8683. It is entirely of volcanic origin, and about 45 sq. m. in area; the highest point, an extinct crater, is 2743 ft. above sea-level. Hot mineral springs and ebullitions of steam still testify to the presence of volcanic activity. The island is ferdle, but lacks fresh water. The principal town (pop. about 3000) is on the north-west, upon the only harbour (only fit for small steamers), which is fortified. There is also a penal colony here. The island can be reached by steamer from Trapani, and lies close to the main route from east to west through the Mediterranean. In 1005 about 300,000 - , 'The name is Semitic, but its meaning is uncertain. btiE ,s2fil3 labnij soitod ni io jri^il-bnBii c laijnu ,iio-; (imii>-; hi ,t3uiii-jj OSS .X7.
gallons of wine (mostly sweet wine), and igoo tons of dried raisins, to the value of £34,720, were 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, about 25 ft. high, ft. wide at the base, and 16 at the top, upon the undefended eastern side: within it remains of huts were found, with pottery, tools of obsidian, etc. The objects discovered are in the museum at Syracuse. To the south-east, in the district known as the Cunelie, are a large number of tombs, known as sesi, similar in character to the nuraghi of Sardinia, though of smaller size, 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 60 by 66 ft., but most of the sesi have a diameter of 20-25 ft. only. The identical character of the pottery found in the SCSI (vsith that found in the prehistoric village proves that the former are the tombs of the inhabitants of the latter. This population came from Africa, not from Sicily, and was of Iberian or Ibero-Ligurian stock. After a considerable interval, during which the island probably remained uninhabited, the Carthaginians took possession of it (no doubt owing to its importance as a station on the way to Sicily) probably about the beginning of the 7th century B.C., occupying as their acropolis the twin hill of San Marco and Sta Teresa, i m. south of the town of PanteUeria, where there are considerable remains of walls in rectangular blocks of masonry, and also of a number of cisterns. Punic tombs have also been discovered, and the votive terra-cottas of a small sanctuary of the Punic period were found near the north coast.
The Romans occupied the island as the Fasti Triumphales record 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 members of the imperial family. The town enjoyed municipal rights. In 700 the Christian population was annihilated by the Arabs, from whom the island was taken in 1 1 23 by Roger of Sicily. In 13 11 a Spanish fleet, under the command of Requesens, won a considerable victory here, and his family became princes of PanteUeria until 1553, when the town was sacked by the Turks.
See Orsi, " PanteUeria " (in Monumenti dei Lincei 1899, ix. 193-284). (T. As.)
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
