HALAESA  , an

ancient town on the north coast of Sicily, about 14 M . E. of Cephaloedium [Cefalu], to the east of the modern Castel di Tusa, founded in 403 B.C. by Archonides, tyrant of Herbita, whose name it sometimes bore: we find, e.g . Halaisa Archonida on a coin of the time of Augustus (Corp. inscrip . Lat. x., Berlin, 1883, p . 768) . It was the first town to surrender to the Romans in the First Punic War, and was granted freedom and immunity from tithe . It became a place of some importance in Roman days, especially as a port, and entirely outstripped its mother city . Halaesa is the only place in Sicily where an inscription dedicated to a Roman governor of the republican period (perhaps in 93 B.C.) has come to light . (T .