A strange story is told by some Roman writers that it derived its ancient name from the pilot of Hannibal, who was put to death by that general from a suspicion of treachery; thus overlooking the fact that it was known by that name to the Greeks for centuries before the time of Hannibal. The actual headland of Pelorus, now called the Capo del Faro, is a low, sandy point; but about 3 km from its extremity there begins a ridge of hills which quickly rises into a range of mountains, of no great elevation, but steep and strongly marked. These continue in an unbroken range at the back of Messina, near which they attain a height of about 1000 m, and flank the east coast of the island as far as the neighborhood of Taormina, where they turn abruptly to the west and stretch across in that direction without any real interruption, until they join the more lofty group of the Monte Madonia. It is to this range of mountains that the name of Mons Neptunius is applied by Solinus called today mounts Peloritani, and which that author describes as separating the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic (i. e. Sicilian) seas. But there is no real geographical line of separation between these mountains and those further west, which were known to the ancients as the Mons Nebrodes.