Listed 38 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "SIRACUSA Town SICILY" .
AKRES (Ancient city) SICILY
Acrae (Akrai, Thuc. et alii; Akra, Steph. B.; Akraiai, Ptol.; Akraioi,
Steph. B.; Acrenses, Plin.; Palazzolo), a city of Sicily, situated in the southern
portion of the island, on a lofty hill, nearly due W. of Syracuse, from which
it was distant, according to the Itineraries, 24 Roman miles (Itin. Ant. p. 87;
Tab. Peut.). It was a colony of Syracuse, founded, as we learn from Thucydides,
70 years after its parent city, i. e. 663 B.C. (Thuc. vi. 5), but it did not rise
to any great importance, and continued almost always in a state of dependence
on Syracuse. Its position must, however, have always given it some consequence
in a military point of view; and we find Dion, when marching upon Syracuse, halting
at Acrae to watch the effect of his proceedings. (Plut. Dion, 27, where we should
certainly read Akras for Makras.) By the treaty concluded by the Romans with Hieron,
king of Syracuse, Acrae was included in the dominions of that monarch (Diod. xxiii.
Exc. p. 502), and this was probably the period of its greatest prosperity. During
the Second Punic War it followed the fortunes of Syracuse, and afforded a place
of refuge to Hippocrates, after his defeat by Marcellus at Acrillae, B.C. 214.
(Liv. xxiv. 36.) This is the last mention of it in history, and its name is not
once noticed by Cicero. It was probably in his time a mere dependency of Syracuse,
though it is found in Pliny's list of the stipendiariae civitates, so that it
must then have possessed a separate municipal existence. (Plin. iii. 8; Ptol.
iii. 4. § 14.) The site of Acrae was correctly fixed by Fazello at the modern
Palazzolo, lofty and bleak situation of which corresponds. with the description
of Silius Italicus ( tumulis glacialibus Acrae, xiv. 206), and its distance from
Syracuse with that assigned by the Itineraries. The summit of the hill occupied
by the modern town is said to be still called Acremonte. Fazello speaks of the
ruins visible there as egregium urbis cadaver, and the recent researches and excavations
carried on by the Baron Judica have brought to light ancient remains of much interest.
The most considerable of these are two theatres, both in very fair preservation,
of which the largest is turned towards the N., while immediately adjacent to it
on the W. is a much smaller one, hollowed out in great part from the rock, and
supposed from some peculiarities in its construction to have been intended to
serve as an Odeum, or theatre for music. Numerous other architectural fragments,
attesting the existence of temples and other buildings, have also been brought
to light, as well as statues, pedestals, inscriptions, and other minor relics.
On an adjoining hill are great numbers of tombs excavated in the rock, while on
the hill of Acremonte itself are some monuments of a singular character; figures
as large as life, hewn in relief in shallow niches on the surface of the native
rock. As the principal figure in all these sculptures appears to be that of the
goddess Isis, they must belong to a late period. (Fazell. de Reb. Sic. vol. i.
p. 452; Serra di Falco, Antichita di Sicilia, vol. iv. p. 158, seq.; Judica, Antichita
di Acre.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ELOROS (Ancient city) SICILY
Helorum, Helorus, or Elorus (Eloros or Heloros, Ptol., Steph. B.;
Heloron, Scyl.: Eth. Helorinos, Helorinus), a city of Sicily, situated near the
E. coast, about 25 miles S. of Syracuse, and on the banks of the river of the
same name. (Steph. B. s. v.; Vib. Seq. p. 11.) We have no account of its origin,
but it was probably a colony of Syracuse, p. of which it appears to have continued
always a dependency. The name is first found in Scylax (§ 13. p. 168); for, though
Thucydides repeatedly mentions the road leading to Helorus from Syracuse (ten
Helorinen hodon, vi. 66, 70, vii. 80), which was that followed by the Athenians
in their disastrous retreat, he never speaks of the town itself. It was one of
the cities which remained the under the government of Hieron II. by the treaty
concluded with him by the Romans, in B.C. 263. (Diod. xxiii. Exc. H. p. 50, where
the name is corruptly written AiloroW): and, having during the Second Punic War
declared in favour of the Carthaginians, was recovered by Marcellus in B.C. 214
(Liv. xxiv. 35). Under the Romans it appears to have been dependent on Syracuse,
and had perhaps no separate municipal existence, though in a passage of Cicero
(Verr. iii. 48) it appears. to be noticed as a civitas. Its name is again mentioned
by the orator (lb. v. 34) as a maritime town where the squadron fitted out by
Verres was attacked by pirates: but it does not occur in Pliny's list of the towns
of Sicily; though he elsewhere (xxxii. 2), mentions it as a castellumn on the
river of the same name: and Ptolemy (iii. 4. § 15) speaks of a city of Helorus.
Its ruins were still visible in the days of Fazello; a little to the N. of the
river - Helorus, and about a mile from the sea-coast. The most conspicuous of
them were the remains of a theatre, called by the country people Colisseo: but
great part of the walls and other buildings could be traced. The extent of them
was, however, inconsiderable. These are now said to have disappeared, but there
still remains between this site and the sea a curious column or monument, built
of large stones, rising on a square pedestal. This is commonly regarded as a kind
of trophy, erected by the Syracusans to commemorate their victory over the Athenians.
But there is no foundation for this belief: had it been so designed, it would
certainly have been erected on the banks of the river Asinarus, which the Athenians
never succeeded in crossing. (Fazell. iv. 2. p. 215; Cluver. Sicil. p. 186; Smyth,
Sicily, p. 179; Hoare, Classical Tour, vol ii. p. 136.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KASMENAI (Ancient city) SICILY
Casmenae (Kasmene, Herod. Steph. B., Kasmenai, Thuc.: Eth. Kasmenaios,
Steph.), a city of Sicily founded by a colony from Syracuse, 90 years after the
establishment of the parent city, or B.C. 643. (Thuc. vi. 5.) It is afterwards
mentioned by Herodotus as affording shelter to the oligarchical party called the
Gamori, when they were expelled from Syracuse; and it was from thence that they
applied for assistance to Gelon, then ruler of Gela. (Her. vii. 155.) But from
this period Casmenae disappears from history. Thucydides appears to allude to
it as a place still existing in his time, but we find no subsequent trace of its
name. It was probably destroyed by some of the tyrants of Syracuse, according
to their favourite policy of removing the inhabitants from the smaller towns to
the larger ones. Its site is wholly uncertain: Cluverius was disposed to fix it
at Scicli, but Sir R. Hoare mentions the ruins of an ancient city as existing
about 2 miles E. of Sta Croce (a small town 9 miles W. of Scicli), which may very
possibly be those of Casmenae. They are described by him as indicating a place
of considerable magnitude and importance; but do not appear to have ever been
carefully examined. (Cluver. Sicil. p. 358 ; Hoare's Class. Tour, vol. ii. p.
266.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
LEONTINI (Ancient city) SICILY
Leontini (Leontinoi: Eth. Leontinos: Lentini), a city of Sicily, situated
between Syracuse and Catana, but about eight miles from the sea-coast, near a
considerable lake now known as the Lago di Lentini. The name of Leontini is evidently
an ethnic form, signifying properly the people rather than the city itself; but
it seems to have been the only one in use, and is employed both by Greek and Latin
writers (declined as a plural adjective1 ), with the single exception of Ptolemy,
who calls the city Leontion or Leontium. (Ptol. iii. 4. § 13.) But it is clear,
from the modern form of the name, Lentini, that the form Leontini, which we find
universal in writers of the best ages, continued in common use down to a late
period. All ancient writers concur in representing Leontini as a Greek colony,
and one of those of Chalcidian origin, being founded by Chalcidic colonists from
Naxos, in the same year with Catana, and six years after the parent city of Naxos,
B.C. 730. (Thuc. vi. 3; Scymn. Ch. 283; Diod. xii. 53, xiv. 14.) According to
Thucydides, the site had been previously occupied by Siculi, but these were expelled,
and the city became essentially a Greek colony. We know little of its early history;
but, from the strength of its position and the extreme fertility of its territory
(renowned in all ages for its extraordinary richness), it appears to have early
attained to great prosperity, and became one of the most considerable cities in
the E. of Sicily. The rapidity of its rise is attested by the fact that it was
able, in its turn, to found the colony of Euboea (Strab. vi. p. 272 ; Scymn. Ch.
287), apparently at a very early period. It is probable, also, that the three
Chalcidic cities, Leontini, Naxos, and Catana, from the earliest period adopted
the same line of policy, and made common cause against their Dorian neighbours,
as we find them constantly doing in later times.
The government of Leontini was an oligarchy, but it fell at one time,
like so many other cities of Sicily, under the yoke of a despot of the name of
Panaetius, who is said to have been the first instance of the kind in Sicily.
His usurpation is referred by Eusebius to the 43rd Olympiad, or B.C. 608. (Arist.
Pol. v. 10, 12; Euseb. Arm. vol. ii. p. 109.)
Leontini appears to have retained its independence till after B.C.
498, when it fell under the yoke of Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela (Herod. vii. 154):
after which it seems to have passed in succession under the authority of Gelon
and Hieron of Syracuse; as we find that, in B.C. 476, the latter despot, having
expelled the inhabitants of Catana and Naxos from their native cities, which he
peopled with new colonists, established the exiles at Leontini, the possession
of which they shared with its former citizens. (Diod. xi. 49.) We find no special
mention of Leontini in the revolutions that followed the death of Hieron; but
there is no doubt that it regained its independence after the expulsion of Thrasybulus,
B.C. 466, and the period which followed was probably that of the greatest prosperity
of Leontini, as well as the other Chalcidic cities of Sicily. (Diod. xi. 72, 76.)
But its proximity to Syracuse became the source of fresh troubles to Leontini.
In B.C. 427 the Leontines found themselves engaged in hostilities
with their more powerful neighbour, and, being unable to cope single-handed with
the Syrasans, they applied for support not only to their Chalcidic brethren, but
to the Athenians also, who sent a fleet of twenty ships to their assistance, under
the command of Laches and Charoeades. (Thuc. iii. 86; Diod. xii. 53.) The operations
of the Athenian fleet under Laches and his successors Pythodorus and Eurymedon
were, however, confined to the part of Sicily adjoining the Straits of Messana:
the Leontines received no direct support from them, but, after the war had continued
for some years, they were included in the general pacification of Gela, B.C. 424,
which for a time secured them in the possession of their independence. (Thuc.
iv. 58, 65.) This, however, did not last long: the Syracusans took advantage of
intestine dissensions among the Leontines, and, by espousing the cause of the
oligarchy, drove the democratic party into exile, while they adopted the oligarchy
and richer classes as Syracusan citizens. The greater part of the latter body
even abandoned their own city, and migrated to Syracuse; but quickly returned,
and for a time joined with the exiles in holding it out against the power of the
Syracusans. But the Athenians, to whom they again applied, were unable to render
them any effectual assistance ; they were a second time expelled, B.C. 422, and
Leontini became a mere dependency of Syracuse, though always retaining some importance
as a fortress, from the strength of its position. (Thuc. v. 4; Diod. xii. 54.)
In B.C. 417 the Leontine exiles are mentioned as joining with the Segestans in
urging on the Athenian expedition to Sicily (Diod. xii. 83; Plut. Nic. 12) ; and
their restoration was made one of the avowed objects of the enterprise. (Thuc.
vi. 50.) But the failure of that expedition left them without any hope of restoration
; and Leontini continued in its subordinate and fallen condition till B.C. 406,
when the Syracusans allowed the unfortunate Agrigentines, after the capture of
their own city by the Carthaginians, to establish themselves at Leontini. The
Geloans and Camarinaeans followed their example the next year: the Leontine exiles
of Syracuse at the same time took the opportunity to return to their native city,
and declare themselves independent, and the treaty of peace concluded by Dionysius
with Himilco, in B.C. 405, expressly stipulated for the freedom and independence
of Leontini. (Diod. xiii. 89, 113, 114; Xen. Hell. ii. 3. 5) This condition was
not long observed by Dionysius, who no sooner found himself free from the fear
of Carthage than he turned his arms against the Chalcidic cities, and, after reducing
Catana and Naxos, compelled the Leontines, who were now bereft of all their allies,
to surrender their city, which was for the second time deserted, and the whole
people transferred to Syracuse, B.C. 403. (Id. xiv. 14, 15.)
At a later period of his reign (B.C. 396) Dionysius found himself
compelled to appease the discontent of his mercenary troops, by giving up to them
both the city and the fertile territory of Leontini, where they established themselves
to the number of 10,000 men. (Id. xiv. 78.) From this time Leontini is repeatedly
mentioned in connection with the civil troubles and revolutions at Syracuse, with
which city it seems to have constantly continued in intimate relations; but, as
Strabo observes, always shared in its disasters, without always partaking of its
prosperity. (Strab. vi. p. 273.) Thus, the Leontines were among the first to declare
against the younger Dionysius, and open their gates to Dion (Diod. xvi. 16; Plut.
Dion. 39, 40). Some years afterwards their city was occupied with a military force
by Hicetas, who from thence carried on war with Timoleon (Ib. 78, 82); and it
was not till after the great victory of the latter over the Carthaginians (B.C.
340) that he was able to expel Hicetas and make himself master of Leontini. (Ib.
82; Plut. Timol. 32.) That city was not, like almost all the others of Sicily,
restored on this occasion to freedom and independence, but was once more incorporated
in the Syracusan state, and the inhabitants transferred to that city. (Diod. xvi.
82.) At a later period the Leontines again figure as an independent state, and,
during the wars of Agathocles with the Carthaginians, on several occasions took
part against the Syracusans. (Diod. xix. 110, xx. 32.) When Pyrrhus arrived in
Sicily, B.C. 278, they were subject to a tyrant or despot of the name of Heracleides,
who was one of the first to make his submission to that monarch. (Id. xxii. 8,
10, Exc. H. p. 497.) But not long after they appear to have again fallen under
the yoke of Syracuse, and Leontini was one of the cities of which the sovereignty
was secured to Hieron, king of Syracuse, by the treaty concluded with him by the
Romans at the commencement of the First Punic War, B.C. 263. (Id. xxiii. Exc.
H. p. 502.) This state of things continued till the Second Punic War, when Leontini
again figures conspicuously in the events which led to the fall of Syracuse. It
was in one of the long and narrow streets of Leontini that Hieronymus was assassinated
by Dinomenes, B.C. 215 (Liv. xxiv. 7; Polyb. vii. 6); and it was there that, shortly
after, Hippocrates and Epicydes first raised the standard of open war against
Rome. Marcellus hastened to attack the city, and made himself master of it without
difficulty; but the severities exercised by him on this occasion inflamed the
minds of the Syracusans to such an extent as to become the immediate occasion
of the rupture with Rome. (Liv. xxiv. 29, 30, 39.) Under the Roman government
Leontini was restored to the position of an independent municipal town, but it
seems to have sunk into a state of decay. Cicero calls it misera civitas atque
inanis (Verr. ii. 66); and, though its fertile territory was still well cultivated,
this was done almost wholly by farmers from other cities of Sicily, particularly
from Centuripa. (Ib. iii. 46, 49.) Strabo also speaks of it as in a very declining
condition, though the name is still found in Pliny and Ptolemy, it seems never
to have been a place of importance under the Roman rule. (Strab. vi. p. 273; Mel.
ii. 7. § 16; Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 13.) But the great strength
of its position must have always preserved it from entire decay, and rendered
it a place of some consequence in the middle ages. The modern city of Lentini,
which preserves the ancient site as well as name, is a poor place, though with
about 5000 inhabitants, and suffers severely from malaria. No ruins are visible
on the site ; but some extensive excavations in the rocky sides of the hill on
which it stands are believed by the inhabitants to be the work of the Laestrygones,
and gravely described as such by Fazello. (Fazell. de Reb. Sic. iii. 3.)
The situation of Leontini is well described by Polybius: it stood
on a broken hill, divided into two separate summits by an intervening valley or
hollow; at the foot of this hill on the W. side, flowed a small stream, which
he calls the LISSUS now known as the Fiume Ruina, which falls into the Lake of
Lentini, a little below the town. (Pol. vii. 6.) The two summits just noticed,
being bordered by precipitous cliffs, formed, as it were, two natural citadels
or fortresses; it was evidently one of these which Thucydides mentions under the
name of Phoceae which was occupied in B.C. 422 by the Leontine exiles who returned
from Syracuse. (Thuc. v. 4.) Both heights seem to have been fortified by the Syracusans,
who regarded Leontini as an important fortress ; and we find them alluded to as
the forts (ta phrouria) of Leontini. (Diod. xiv. 58, xxii. 8.) Diodorus also mentions
that one quarter of Leontini was known by the name of The New Town (he Nea polis,
xvi. 72); but we have no means of determining its locality. It is singular that
no ancient author alludes to the Lake (or as it is commonly called the Biviere)
of Lentini, a sheet of water of considerable extent, but stagnant and shallow,
which lies immediately to the N. of the city. It produces abundance of fish, but
is considered to be the principal cause of the malaria from which the city now
suffers. (D'Orville, Sicula, p. 168 ; Smyth's Sicily, pp. 157, 158.)
The extraordinary fertility of the territory of Leontini, or the Leontinus
Campus, is celebrated by many ancient authors. According to a tradition commonly
received, it was there that wheat grew wild, and where it was first brought into
cultivation (Diod. iv. 24, v. 2); and it was always regarded as the most productive
district in all Sicily for the growth of corn. Cicero calls it campus ille Leontinus
nobilissimus ac feracissimus, uberrima Siciliae pars, caput rei frumentariae;
and says that the Romans were accustomed to consider it as in itself a sufficient
resource against scarcity. (Cic. Verr. iii. 1. 8, 44, 46, pro Scaur. 2, Phil.
viii. 8.) The tract thus celebrated, which was known also by the name of the Laestrigonii
Campi, was evidently the plain extending from the foot of the hills on which Leontini
was situated to the river Symaethus, now known as the Piano di Catania. We have
no explanation of the tradition which led to the fixing on this fertile tract
as the abode of the fabulous Laestrygones.
Leontini was noted as the birthplace of the celebrated orator Gorgias,
who in B.C. 427 was the head of the deputation sent by his native city to implore
the intervention of Athens. (Diod. xii. 53; Plat. Hipp. Maj. p. 282.)
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MEGARA YVLEA (Ancient city) SICILY
Megara sometimes called, for distinction's sake, Megara Hyblaea (ta
Megara: Eth. Megareus or Megareus Hublaios, Megarensis), a city of Sicily, situated
on the E. coast of the island, between Syracuse and Catana, in the deep bay formed
by the Xiphonian promontory. It was unquestionably a Greek colony, deriving its
origin from the Megara in Greece Proper; and the circumstances attending its foundation
are related in detail by Thucydides. He tells us that a colony from Megara, under
the command of a leader named Lamis, arrived in Sicily about the time that Leontini
was founded by the Chalcidic colonists, and settled themselves first near the
mouth of the river Pantagias, at a place called Trotilus. From thence they removed
to Leontini itself, where they dwelt for a time together with the Chalcidians;
but were soon afterwards expelled by them, and next established themselves on
the promontory or peninsula of Thapsus, near Syracuse. Hence they again removed
after the death of Lamis, and, at the suggestion of Hyblon, a Sicilian chief of
the surrounding country, finally settled at a place afterwards called the Hyblaean
Megara. (Thuc. vi. 4.) Scymnus Chius follows a different tradition, as he describes
the establishment of the Chalcidians at Naxos and that of the Megarians at Hybla
as contemporary, and both preceding the foundation of Syracuse, B.C. 734. Strabo
also adopts the same view of the subject, as he represents Megara as founded about
the same time with Naxos (B.C. 735), and before Syracuse. (Scymn. Ch. 271-276;
Strab. vi. p. 269.) It is impossible to reconcile the two accounts, but that of
Thucydides is probably the most trustworthy. According to this the foundation
of Megara may probably be placed about 726 B.C. Of its earlier history we have
scarcely any information, but it would appear to have attained to a flourishing
condition, as 100 years after its foundation it sent out, in its turn, a colony
to the other end of Sicily, where it founded the city of Selinus, which was destined
to rise to far greater power than its parent city. (Thuc. vi. 4; Scymn. Ch. 291;
Strab. vi. p. 272.)
Nothing more is known of Megara till the period of its destruction
by Gelon of Syracuse, who, after a long siege, made himself master of the city
by a capitulation; but, notwithstanding this, caused the bulk of the inhabitants
to be sold into slavery, while he established the more wealthy and noble citizens
at Syracuse. (Herod. vii. 156; Thuc. vi. 4.) Among the persons thus removed was
the celebrated comic poet Epicharmus, who had received his education at Megara,
though not a native of that city. (Suid. s. v. Epicharmos; Diog. Laert. viii.
3.) According to Thucydides, this event took place 245 years after the foundation
of Megara, and may therefore be placed about 481 B. C. It is certain that Megara
never recovered its power and independence. Thucydides distinctly alludes to it
as not existing in his time as a city, but repeatedly mentions the locality, on
the sea-coast, which was at that time occupied by the Syracusans, but which the
Athenian general Lamachus proposed to make the head-quarters of their fleet. (Thuc.
vi. 49, 96.) From this time we meet with repeated mention of a place named Megara
or Megaris (Scyl. p. 4. § 6), which it seems impossible to separate from Hybla,
and it is probable that the two were, in fact, identical. The site of this later
Megara or Hybla may be fixed, with little doubt, at the mouth of the river Alabus
(Cantaro); but there seems much reason to suppose that the ancient city, the original
Greek colony, was situated almost close to the remarkable promontory now occupied
by the city of Agosta or Augusta.1 It is difficult to believe that this position,
the port of which is at least equal to that of Syracuse, while the peninsula itself
has the same advantages as that of Ortygia, should have been wholly neglected
in ancient times; and such a station would have admirably served the purposes
for which Lamachus urged upon his brother generals the occupation of the vacant
site of Megara. (Thuc. vi. 49.)
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SYRACUSSES (Ancient city) SICILY
THAPSOS (Ancient city) SICILY
Lopaduussa (Lopaduussa, Strab. xvii. p. 834; Lopadousa, Ptol. iv.
3. § 34: Lampedusa), a small island off the E. coast of Africa Propria, opposite
to the town of Thapsus, at the distance of 80 stadia, according to an ancient
Periplus (Iriarte, Bibl. Matrit. Cod. Graec. p. 488). Pliny places it about 50
M. P. N. of Cercina, and makes its length about 6 M. P. (Plin. iii. 8. s. 14,
v. 7. s. 7.) It really lies about 80 English miles E. of Thapsus, and about 90
NE. of Cercina.
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AKRES (Ancient city) SICILY
or Acra (Akrai). A town of Sicily, west of Syracuse.
ELOROS (Ancient city) SICILY
(Heloros) and Helorum. A town on the eastern coast of Sicily, south of Syracuse, at the mouth of the river Helorus.
LEONTINI (Ancient city) SICILY
The modern Lentini, a town in the east of Sicily, about
five miles from the sea, northwest of Syracuse, founded by Chalcidians from
Naxos, B.C. 730, but never attained much political importance in consequence
of its proximity to Syracuse. The rich plains north of the city, called Leontini
Campi, were some of the most fertile in Sicily, and produced abundant crops
of most excellent wheat. It was the birthplace of Gorgias, "the Nihilist."
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MEGARA YVLEA (Ancient city) SICILY
Minor (he mikra), afterwards called Megara.
A town in Sicily on the east coast north of Syracuse, founded by Dorians from Megara in Greece, B.C. 728, on the site of a small town, Hybla, and hence called Megara Hyblaea, and its inhabitants Megarenses Hyblaei. From the time of Gelon it belonged to Syracuse.
SYRACUSSES (Ancient city) SICILY
(Surakousai or Surakossai, Ion. Surekousai, also Surakousai, Surakouse). Now Siracusa
in Italian; Syracuse in English: the wealthiest and most populous town in Sicily.
It was situated on the south part of the east coast, 400 stadia north of the promontory
Plemmyrium, and ten stadia northeast of the mouth of the river Anapus, near the
lake or marsh called Syraco (Surako), from which it derived its name. It was founded
B.C. 734, one year after the foundation of Naxos, by a colony of Corinthians and
other Dorians, led by Archias the Corinthian. The town was originally confined
to the island Ortygia lying immediately off the coast; but it afterwards spread
over the neighbouring mainland, and at the time of its greatest extension under
the elder Dionysius it consisted of five distinct towns, each surrounded by separate
walls. Some writers indeed describe Syracuse as consisting of four towns, but
this simply arises from the fact that Epipolae was frequently not reckoned a portion
of the city.
These five towns were:
(1) Ortygia (Ortugia), frequently called simply the Island (Nasos or Nesos), an
island of an oblong shape, about two miles in circumference, lying between the
Great Harbour on the west and the Little Harbour on the east. It was, as has been
already remarked, the portion of the city first built, and it contained the citadel
or Acropolis, surrounded by double walls, which Timoleon caused to be destroyed.
In this island also was the celebrated fountain of Arethusa. It was originally
separated from the mainland by a narrow channel, which was subsequently filled
up by a causeway; but this causeway must at a still later time have been swept
away, since we find in the Roman period that the island was connected with the
mainland by means of a bridge.
(2) Achradina (Achradine) occupied originally the high ground of the peninsula
north of Ortygia, and was surrounded on the north and east by the sea. The lower
ground between Achradina and Ortygia was at first not included in the fortifications
of either, but was employed partly for religious processions and partly for the
burial of the dead. At the time of the siege of Syracuse by the Athenians in the
Peloponnesian War (415), the city censisted only of the two parts already mentioned,
Ortygia forming the inner and Achradina the outer city, but separated, as explained
above, by the low ground between the two.
(3) Tyche (Tuche), named after the temple of Tyche or Fortune, and situated northwest
of Achradina, in the direction of the port called Trogilus. At the time of the
Athenian siege of Syracuse it was only an unfortified suburb, but it afterwards
became the most populous part of the city. In this quarter stood the Gymnasium.
(4) Neapolis (Nea polis), nearly southwest of Achradina, was also, at the time
of the Athenian siege of Syracuse, merely a suburb, and called Temenites, from
having within it the statue and consecrated ground of Apollo Temenites. Neapolis
contained the chief theatre of Syracuse, which was the largest in all Sicily,
and many temples.
(5) Epipolae (hai Epipolai), a space of ground rising above the three quarters
of Achradina, Tyche, and Neapolis, which gradually diminished in breadth as it
rose higher, until it ended in a small conical mound. This rising ground was surrounded
with strong walls by the elder Dionysius, and was thus included in Syracuse, which
now became one of the most strongly fortified cities of the ancient world. The
highest point of Epipolae was called Euryelus (Euruelos), on which stood the fort
Labdalum (Labdalon).
After Epipolae had been added to the city, the circumference of Syracuse
was one hundred and eighty stadia, or upward of twenty-two English miles; and
the entire population of the city is supposed to have amounted to five hundred
thousand souls at the time of its greatest prosperity.
Syracuse had two harbours. The Great Harbour, still called Porto
Maggiore, is a splendid bay about five miles in circumference, formed by the island
Ortygia and the promontory Plemmyrium. The Small Harbour, also called Laccius
(Lakkios), lying between Ortygia and Achradina, was capacious enough to receive
a large fleet of ships of war. There were several stone quarries (lautumiae) in
Syracuse, which are frequently mentioned by ancient writers, and in which the
unfortunate Athenian prisoners were confined. These quarries were partly in Achradina,
on the descent from the higher ground to the lower level towards Ortygia, and
partly in Neapolis, under the southern cliff of Epipolae. From these was taken
the stone of which the city was built (Thucyd. vii. 86). The so-called "Ear
of Dionysius", in which the tyrant was supposed to overhear the conversation
of his captives, is probably an invention of a mediaeval writer. The city was
supplied with water from an aqueduct, which was constructed by Gelon and improved
by Hieron. It was brought through Epipolae and Neapolis to Achradina and Ortygia.
The modern city of Syracuse is confined to the island. The remaining quarters
of the ancient city are now uninhabited, and their position marked only by a few
ruins. Of these the most important are the remains of the great theatre, and of
an amphitheatre of the Roman period.
The government of Syracuse was originally an aristocracy; and the
political power was in the hands of the landed proprietors, called Geomori or
Gamori. In course of time the people, having increased in numbers and wealth,
expelled the Geomori and established a democracy. But this form of government
did not last long. Gelon espoused the cause of the aristocratic party, and proceeded
to restore them by force of arms; but on his approach the people opened the gates
to him, and he was acknowledged without opposition tyrant or sovereign of Syracuse,
B.C. 485. Under his rule and that of his brother Hieron, Syracuse was raised to
an unexampled degree of wealth and prosperity. Hieron died in 467, and was succeeded
by his brother Thrasybulus; but the rapacity and cruelty of the latter soon provoked
a revolt among his subjects, which led to his deposition and the establishment
of a democratic form of government. The next most important event in the history
of Syracuse was the siege of the city by the Athenians, which ended in the total
destruction of the great Athenian armament in 413. This affair, known in history
as the Sicilian Expedition, was the turning point in the Peloponnesian War. The
expedition set out from Athens in B.C. 415 under Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus,
and at first won a number of successes, so that Nicias, in 414, had seized Epipolae
and begun the complete investment of Syracuse. The arrival of Gylippus, the Spartan
general, turned the tide. The Syracusans defeated the Athenians, annihilated the
invading army, and took Nicias and his later colleague Demosthenes prisoners.
The democracy continued to exist in Syracuse till B.C. 406, when the
elder Dionysius made himself tyrant of the city. After a long and prosperous reign,
he was succeeded in 367 by his son, the younger Dionysius, who was finally expelled
by Timoleon in 343. A republican form of government was again established; but
it did not last long; and in 317 Syracuse fell under the sway of Agathocles. This
tyrant died in 289; and the city being distracted by factions, the Syracusans
voluntarily conferred the supreme power upon Hieron II., with the title of king,
in 270. Hieron cultivated friendly relations with the Romans; but on his death
in 216, at the advanced age of ninetytwo, his grandson Hieronymus, who succeeded
him, espoused the side of the Carthaginians. A Roman army under Marcellus was
sent against Syracuse; and after a siege of two years, during which Archimedes
assisted his fellow-citizens by the construction of various engines of war, the
city was taken by Marcellus in 212. From this time Syracuse became a town of the
Roman province of Sicily.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
THAPSOS (Ancient city) SICILY
A city on the eastern coast of Sicily, on a peninsula of the same name (Isola degli Magnisi).
MEGARA YVLEA (Ancient city) SICILY
Total results on 21/5/2001: 18 for Megara Hyblaea, 3 for Hyblaean Megara.
SYRACUSSES (Ancient city) SICILY
Total results on 10/4/2001: 1000 Syracuse, 769 Syracusans
SYRACUSSES (Ancient city) SICILY
AKRES (Ancient city) SICILY
An ancient city in the Province of Siracusa to the W of the modern
center of Palazzuolo Acreide. It is on the summit of a hill, almost level but
with steep and precipitous flanks except on the B side. It is between the Anapo
and the Tellaro, near the mouths of which are respectively Syracuse and Eloro.
The hill has been frequented since the Paleolithic period, as is shown by finds
during repair under the cliff of S. Corrado.
Akrai, founded by Syracuse in 664 B.C. (Thuc. 5.5.3), represents the
first of the city's three colonies. The other two were Kasmenai and Kamarina,
which were founded, according to the chronology of Thucydides, respectively in
644 and 599 B.C. Akrai was founded to protect one of the key points of access
to Syracuse in the triangle of SE Sicily. Conspicuous strategic use of the site,
however, preceded the foundation of the colony. The sources give little information
about the initial period of the subcolony's life, but it may be supposed that
it was subordinate to the mother city. Plutarch records Akrai as a stopping place
of Dion during the expedition he led against Dionysios II. It is known (Diod.
Sic. 23.4.1) that in the peace treaty between Rome and Syracuse in 263 Akrai was
one of the cities, along with Leontinoi, Megara, Heloros/Neton/Tauromemion, to
be assigned to Hieron II. Other notice of interest is that given by Pliny that
counts Akrai among the civitates stipendiariae, the cities, that is, that owed
a fixed tribute to Rome because their territory was considered property of the
Roman people. Written mention of the city is scarce during the Roman period, even
though recently acquired archaeological evidence shows continuity of life there
until the Late Imperial era. In the 4th and 5th c. Akrai was the seat of an important
Christian community. It is probable that the city was destroyed in 827 during
the first large invasion of Arabs into Sicily.
Temples in honor of Artemis, Aphrodite, and Kore (IGS 217) were built
here, and there is evidence also of the cults of Zeus Akrios and of the nymphs.
The fortification system of the city developed along the margins of the terrace
that is occupied by the urban center. Traces of the structures relating to the
city walls are evident along the NW, S, and E margins of the city. The position
of the two principal gates has also been identified. The Siracusana gate is to
the E, and the Selinuntina to the W. The latter, cited also in the inscriptions,
linked Akrai with nearby Kasmenai.
Inside the city, traces are clearly visible of the artery that crossed
the urban area in an E-W direction, almost in the middle of the plateau. This
area, which constituted the urban center, was itself situated at the midpoint
of the level summit. Its N sector, slightly sloping toward the N, contained no
archaeological remains. Apparently, although included in the circuit of the fortifications
for defensive reasons, it did not make up part of the true urban center. The actual
inhabited area in the central part of the level area shows well-regulated development.
This is in part because the city was founded at a precise historical moment as
a result of the expansionist politics of Syracuse, rather than growing gradually
from a primitive nuclear settlement. The principal artery of the city has recently
been brought to light for ca. 200 m, and it leads precisely between the two gates
of the city mentioned above. The well-preserved tract of road is paved in volcanic
rock. Excavation has also brought to light the intersections between this central
road and several others, five on its N side and two on the S. The intersections
are not at right angles, but rather slightly inclined, thus creating a singular
urban plan not previously documented in Sicily.
The archaeological documentation recovered in several stratified cuts
made in the central area of the city dates from archaic times to the Roman Imperial
period. Among the monumental urban remains is the base of a Doric peripteral temple
at the highest point of the city, on the sacred acropolis, probably dedicated
to Aphrodite. Included in a complex discovered in the 19th c. is a small theater
with a maximum diameter of 37.5 m. It dates from the 3d c. B.C. and is made up
of a cavea supported by a slope and composed of nine cunei and 12 steps, largely
rebuilt. Of the original logeion only the stylobate is preserved. The pavement
of the orchestra and the remnants of the stage are rebuildings from the Roman
era. To the W of the theater are the remains of a small bouleuterion with three
cunei that must have opened on the agora. At the rear of the theater are the two
Latomie called the Intagliata and the Intagliatella, which bear traces of defunct
cults for hero worship. In the Christian-Byzantine period they were transformed
into habitations and sepulchers.
The so-called Templi Ferali are found to the E of the city. They consist
of niches dug into the vertical wall of a Latomia, and were evidently related
to a cult of the dead. Also to be mentioned are the so-called Santoni, which are
rude sculptures relating to the cult of the Great Mother, dating to the 3d c.
B.C.
To the SE of the city are the necropoleis of Torre Iudica from the
archaic era, and of Colle Orbo from the Hellenistic-Roman period. The Sikel necropolis,
composed of burials in artificial grottos, probably dates to the Late Bronze age.
It is in the section called "Pinita" in the scenic rocky cliffs that
outline the S flank of the hill of Akrai.
The material coming from the excavations at Akrai and from its necropoleis
is in the small antiquarium near the monumental complex, in the Museo Archeologico
at Syracuse, and in the ludica collection, which Italy is in the process of acquiring.
G. Voza, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ELOROS (Ancient city) SICILY
Ancient remains at a small city on a low hill near the coast SE of
Noto on the left bank of the river Tellaro. The literary sources give scanty information
on the ancient site, which was connected to Syracuse by the Helorian Road. In
493 B.C. Hippokrates defeated the Syracusans on Helorian territory, and in 263
B.C., by virtue of the peace treaty between Hieron II and Rome, the city passed
under Syracusan control; it surrendered to Marcellus in 214 B.C.
Two excavation campaigns have brought to light long sections of the
ancient walls, a small temple, and some Hellenistic houses on the S slope of the
modern city, where part of the theater cavea was also identified.
A Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore has been explored on the shore immediately
to the N of the city, at a short distance from the fortification walls. The sanctuary
flourished from the archaic to the Hellenistic period and proved very rich in
votive offerings; a complex of rooms in front contained several bothroi.
In the S section of the urban area, a Sanctuary to Demeter has been
found, dating from the second half of the 4th c. B.C. In this district, previously
residential, a temple was built. Its stereobate is almost entirely preserved (20
x 10.5 m). Besides the temple, the sanctuary contained a few rectangular structures
for the storage of votive offerings, a practice attested also in the extramural
Koreion mentioned above. In the early 2d c. B.C. the sacred complex was delimited
by a monumental stoa which has now been completely excavated. It is a long pi-shaped
portico (stoa with paraskenia) with two naves, Doric columns on facade, and square
pillars in the interior. The greatest length of the building is ca. 68 m, the
greatest width, at the center, 7.4 m. It is one of the most important Hellenistic
examples of this type of structure in Sicily. During the Byzantine period the
E side of the sanctuary was occupied by a basilica with three naves, apse, and
narthex, built with blocks taken from earlier buildings. The most recent excavations
in the area of the sanctuary have also yielded the earliest documentation for
Greek occupation at Heloros. Stratigraphic tests have produced (from the archaic
levels) Protocorinthian Geometric sherds and remains of house walls of the early
archaic period.
These finds suggest that Heloros was not a relatively late foundation
connected with the Syracusan expansion within the SE triangle of Sicily, but was
instead one of the first outposts on the coastal zone S of Syracuse, in an area
agriculturally very rich and strategically very important (the mouth of the Tellaro)
especially with regard to the sites defended by the native populations.
Among the important finds of the recent campaigns are the discovery
of the S city gate and the identification of the major traffic artery within the
city, which ran N-S and connected the N gate, already excavated, with the newly
discovered gate.
In Helorian territory, approximately 2.5 km to the W of the city,
some polychrome mosaic floors have recently been discovered. They probably belong
to a Roman Imperial villa, and are in good state of preservation; they seem of
high artistic quality. A section of a vast portico is paved with a motif of medallions
with geometric patterns surrounded by large and elegant laurel wreaths. The other
mosaics belong to rooms opening onto the portico; the most important shows a banquet
scene with people around a table set under a tent, a well-known motif which occurs
also in the Little Hunt Mosaic of the Villa near Piazza Armerina. The varied and
vivid polychromy, the elegance and richness of the compositons, the particular
efficacy of the figured scenes make these mosaics, dating from the 4th c. A.D.,
a major discovery for our knowledge of the late Roman period.
G. Voza, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
KASMENAI (Ancient city) SICILY
The remains of an archaic city on the plateau of Monte Casale, ca.
12 km to the W of Palazzolo (ancient Akrai). A colony of Syracuse, it was founded,
according to Thucydides (6.5.3), 90 years after the mother city, ca. 643 B.C.
Herodotos (7.155) reports that ca. 485 B.C. Gelon removed the Syracusan Gamoroi
from this city and brought them back to their home city, from which they had been
expelled by the people in league with the slaves. A fragment of Philistos (Jacoby,
3 B.559, fr. 5), as emended by Pais, affirms that Kasmenai sided with Syracuse
during its struggle against the rebellious Kamarina and its Sikel allies in 553-552
B.C. And in 357 Dion, after landing at Heraklea Minoa, seems to have recruited
troops at Kasmenai on his way to Syracuse (Diod.Sic. 16.9.5). Insiguificant mentions
of the colony occur also in Stephanos of Byzantium and in scholia to Thucydides
(ed. Didot, p. 102).
On a plateau at the edge of Monte Casale are the ruins of a circuit
wall built with enormous blocks only roughly shaped. It was ca. 3400 m in length,
3 m thick, with external rectangular towers. Within the circuit the city comprised
at least 38 parallel streets (ca. 3 m wide), running from NW to SE, with blocks
usually no wider than 25 m. The E-W traffic utilized alleys of irregular width
since the houses were aligned only along their N side. This system appears at
first glance comparable to what is usually called per strigas, but it should be
noted that, although stenopoi are amply attested, this settlement lacked proper
orthogonal streets and especially major traffic axes, the typical plateiai of
the Hippodamian cities. The four plateiai believed to have been identified through
aerial photography have not yet been confirmed by systematic excavation. For the
present the city must be considered, on the basis of the test excavations, pre-Hippodamian
in type, with a plan that can be dated, to the second half of the 7th c. B.C.
The importance of the town's urban system for the studies of Greek
and particularly Sicilian city planning lies in the very fact that it allows us
to pinpoint between the end of the 7th and the first half of the 6th c., the transition,
at least in the W, from the system with parallel streets to the more sophisticated
Hippodamian type, such as we see it at Selinus, Akragas, Metapontion, and Poseidonia.
If in fact the Sicilian Greeks had already known the system per strigas
during the second half of the 7th c., it seems logical that they would have employed
it at Kasmenai, which started as a military colony and was therefore almost "prefabricated,"
thus offering the most favorable conditions for realizing on the ground the ideal
model for urban planning.
The colony was started here on the natural penetration route of Syracuse
toward the interior of the island purely for military reasons, as is amply attested
by the powerful wall circuit already mentioned and by the large quantity of iron
weapons from the temenos of a temple which excavations have brought to light in
the W corner of the plateau. From this early temple, part of the architectural
and sculptural decoration in polychrome terracotta have been recovered and at
least three inscriptions from the 6th c. In the necropolis the cist and chamber
tombs are typically Greek. The city's main function as a military colony ceased
rather early and it apparently ceased to exist at the end of the 4th c. B.C.
A. Di Vita, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
LEONTINI (Ancient city) SICILY
A Greek colony founded at the S edge of the Campi Leontini (modern
piana di Catania). First inhabited by the Sikels, in the second half of the 8th
c. B.C. (ca. 729), it was occupied by the Chalkidians of Naxos led by the Oikistes
Theokles; Thucydides (6:3) mentions that the Sikels were forcibly expelled (cf.
Polyaenus, Strat. 5:5.2).
For the entire archaic period Leontinoi was autonomous. It was conquered
by Hippokrates in 495 B.C., and was restored to freedom only after 466 B.C. In
427 it asked for Athenian help against Syracuse (Diod. 12:53) and was Athens'
ally during the Sicilian expedition. Occupied by the Syracusans in 422 B.C, it
regained independence for brief intervals but was virtually dominated by the Syracusan
rulers throughout the 4th and 3d c. B.C. It was conquered by the Romans in 215
B.C.
The ancient city lay beyond the hills to the S of present-day Lentini
in Valle S. Mauro, which is flanked by two series of steep rises sloping from
S to N. Polybios (7:6), in describing the city's topography, locates the agora
within the valley with a city gate at either end, the Syracusan Gate to the S
and the gate leading to the Campi Leontini to the N.
In 1950, at the far end of the Valle S. Mauro the S gate of the city
was discovered. One phase dates to the beginning of the 6th c. B.C., the other
to the middle of the 5th c. At the end of the century it was demolished together
with the surrounding fortifications, and during the 4th and 3d c. it lay under
the rising ground level and was covered by a necropolis. A third defensive work,
following the plan of the earlier gate, was hastily built at the end of the 3d
c. over the cemetery strata.
The gateway opened at the center of a pincer-like fortification whose
projections to the E and W embraced the edges of the overhanging hills of Metapiccola
and S. Mauro. The circuit wall has been uncovered for a few hundred meters and
is still in an excellent state of preservation. The various chronological phases
are reflected in the different construction techniques. On S. Mauro, besides the
structures connected with the various phases of the gate, an earlier wall has
been uncovered; it was built with large blocks set as headers, and belongs to
the time when the city extended only over S. Mauro or part of it.
Some archaic houses have been identified within the walls, and the
summit of the hill, near the Aletta dwelling, has yielded numerous architectural
terracottas from a temple now no longer visible.
On the opposite hill (Metapiccola) remains of houses and the foundations
of an archaic temple have been found. On the plateau at the summit of the hill
were identified the remains of a Sikel village of the Iron Age.
Two native cemeteries have been identified and explored in the Valle
S. Eligio to the E, and in the Valle Ruccia to the W. The graves are in the shape
of small artificial grottos and are largely preserved.
The finds from the excavations carried out since 1950 are housed in
the Archaeological Museum of Lentini, where they are arranged chronologically
and with specific reference to the major phases of the city's life.
G. Rizza, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
MEGARA YVLEA (Ancient city) SICILY
A city on the E coast of Sicily, 20 km N of Syracuse. It was founded
by the Megarians ca. 750 B.C. to judge from recent discoveries. Literary tradition
dates it to 728 (Thuc. 6.4). A century later it was the metropolis of Selinuntia
(Thuc. ibid.). It was destroyed in 483 B.C. by Gelon (Herod. 7.156). With the
exception of a fortification built by the Syracusans at the time of the Athenian
expedition (Thuc. 6.49 and 94), the site remained unoccupied until the foundation
of a new colony under Timoleon ca. 340 B.C. This new city was in turn destroyed
by the Romans during the second Punic war ca. 313 B.C. (Livy 24.35). A rural settlement,
founded among the ruins, existed until the 6th c. A.D. when the site was abandoned.
The first systematic explorations began at the end of the 19th c.,
in a necropolis. At the beginning of this century part of the wall and the remains
of a large sanctuary were uncovered. (The latter is now again buried.)
The superposition of three settlements (greatest height preserved
under the ground 2.5 m) makes the interpretation of the remains difficult. The
aerial photographs show the topography clearly: two plateaus standing above the
sea and separated by a depression. There is no acropolis or natural defense. The
area excavated is confined to a part of the N plateau. The archaic wall constructed
at the end of the 6th c. encompasses both plateaus, but the fortification erected
around 215 B.C., prior to the Roman attack, defended only the E portion of the
N plateau. The last settlement did not extend much beyond the area of this Hellenistic
fortification.
Although the most ancient necropoleis are not known, three great necropoleis
of the 6th and 7th c. in the N, W, and S have been explored. From the N necropolis
comes the great kourotrophe (second quarter of the 6th c.) and from the necropolis
to the S comes the mid 6th c. kouros, both of which are today in the museum at
Syracuse. The necropoleis from the Hellenistic town are more dispersed and more
fragmentary.
From a historical point of view, the three phases of settlement are
not of equal importance. For the last period (after 214 B.C.) may be noted some
houses (numerous remains of agricultural activity). The main buildings of the
preceding period (340-214 B.C.) are situated next to the agora. On its N side
are the foundations of a great portico from the time of Timoleon (second half
of the 4th c. B.C.) with the remains of a Doric temple in antis behind it. Elements
of Ionic decoration were added to this Doric temple, which was probably dedicated
to Aphrodite. To the S of the agora is a bath house from the end of the 3d c.
B.C., with a round room, installations for water heating, and mosaics. To the
SE are the remains of a small, square, 3d c. sanctuary with small basins for votive
purposes. The most impressive structure from this period remains the powerful
fortifications erected in haste to ward off the Roman menace and containing many
blocks taken from buildings of the archaic period. Noteworthy are the rectangular
towers and the gates, particularly the great gate on the S side with its tenaille.
The most important phase of habitation is the archaic period, as is
indicated by the size of the agora (80 x 60 m), more than twice that of the Hellenistic
agora. This agora and the buildings surrounding it date from the second half of
the 7th c. It is enclosed on three sides and bordered on the fourth by a great
street running N-S. The principal buildings, none of which is preserved above
the level of the foundations, include: on the N side, a stoa (42 x 5.8 m) with
an opening (three columns) in the back wall allowing the passage of a N-S street
towards the agora; on the E, the remains of another, very fragmentary stoa; to
the S, two temples, one (2.5 x 7.5 m) in antis with an axial colonnade, the other
(16 x 6.5 m) very ruined. All these buildings date from the second half of the
7th c. The fourth side of the agora consisted of an ensemble of structures on
the far side of the street which bordered it. There were numerous remodelings
here throughout the archaic period. A "heroon" from the second half
of the 7th c. (13 x 9.8 m) is composed of two cellae opening on the agora, with
basins for offerings, and a frontal stylobate with cupulae for libations. Farther
S, the prytaneum (14 x 11 m) dates from the end of the 6th c. It consists of three
rooms and a big courtyard, and was built on the site of an older building.
This agora is the hinge, so to speak, between two residential districts
of regular but differing orientation. There are precise characteristics common
to the whole of the archaic city: streets 3 m wide running parallel and equidistant
from one another at 25 m, with the insulae which they create divided along their
length by median walls. In addition, two nonparallel streets 5 m wide across the
site from E to W. There is also a single N-S street of the same width. The entire
plan (agora, streets, and dwellings) dates from the second half of the 7th c.
It is the oldest example we yet know of ancient Greek town planning. It should
be noted that neither of those two districts is orthogonal and their differing
orientation creates another element of irregularity.
The museum contains, in addition to its presentation of the plan of
the archaic city, the most important fragments of 6th c. architecture: an altar
balustrade of eolic style with large volutes (first half of the 6th c.), a fragment
of carved pediment (first half of the 6th c.), a metope with a carving of a two-horse
chariot (around 520), and marble architectural fragments of purely Ionic style
(last quarter of the 6th c.). This 6th c. presence of Ionic in Dorian colonies
(cf. the Ionic temple of Syracuse) is one of the most important discoveries of
recent years. Another new element provided by the recent excavations is the presence
at Megara of splendid polychrome ceramics whose production flourished above all
in the first half of the 6th c. The finest examples of this Megarian ceramic are
displayed at the museum at Syracuse.
Another room in the museum at Megara is given over to a reconstruction
of the upper part of the facade of a 4th c. temple situated to the N of the agora.
G. Vallet, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
SYRACUSSES (Ancient city) SICILY
The site of the ancient city, now entirely covered by the modern one,
lies on the SE coast of Sicily and once comprised a small island, Ortygia, which
has yielded evidence of prehistoric life starting in the Early Paleolithic period.
The Corinthians, led by Archias of the family of the Bacchiads, routed the Sikels
and founded the colony in 734 B.C. The foundation of sub-colonies--Akrai in 664,
Kasmenai in 624, Kamarina in 559--indicate that the city flourished. Gelon brought
to the city a period of splendor and political power. In the battle of Himera
in 480 B.C., Gelon and Theron of Akragas won a great victory over the Carthaginians,
while the naval battle of Cumae in 474, which Hieron I won against the Etruscans,
ensured the city's control over the S basin of the Mediterranean. Arts and letters
flourished; philosophers and poets, among whom were Aeschylus, Simonides, and
Pindar, came here to live. In 466 B.C. with the expulsion of Thrasyboulos, the
successor of Hieron I, the city adopted a democratic government and for ca. 40
years enjoyed prosperity and power. Successes against the Etruscans and against
Ducetius greatly enlarged the city's sphere of influence and prestige throughout
Sicily.
In the last quarter of the 5th c., in answer to Segesta's request
for help by Leontinoi against Syracuse, Athens sent a fleet which was defeated
in the Great Harbor. About this time Dionysios, an extremely able politician who
had managed to concentrate all power into his own hands and who had negotiated
peace with Carthage, transformed Ortygia into a well-provided fortress, and began
the fortification of Syracuse, which included the large plateau of the Epipolai.
After his death, the city lived under the rule of mediocre men until the arrival
of Timoleon, who was sent from Corinth at the head of an expedition. He conquered
the city and began the reorganization and rebuilding not only of Syracuse but
of Greek cities that had been subject to Carthage. He was succeeded by Agathokles,
son of a potter, who defeated (310 B.C.) and laid siege to Syracuse. He was successful
also in Magna Graecia, thus securing for Syracuse a large territorial domain.
After his death, the Carthaginians were fended off by Pyrrhos, king of Epeiros
and Agathokles' father-in-law.
In 275 B.C. Hieron II seized control of the city and ruled for 54
years. He was succeeded by his grandson Hieronimos, under whose rule the city
became an ally of Carthage and fell to Rome.
The city declined under Roman rule until Augustus sent a colony there
in 21 B.C. The city's recovery lasted through the first centuries of the empire.
St. Paul stopped in Syracuse on his trip to Rome, staying with the Christian community,
which must have enjoyed considerable prestige in Sicily. Syracuse was served by
two excellent natural harbors: the Great Harbor, formed by a large bay closed
by Ortygia and the Plemmyrion (the modern peninsula of the Maddalena) into which
flow the Anapo and the Ciane rivers, and the Small Harbor or Lakkios, delimited
by Ortygia and the shoreline of Achradina. The five districts of the ancient city
were Ortygia, Achradina, Tyche, Neapolis, and Epipolai. In Ortygia, which was
supplied with fresh water (Arethusa fountain) and was easily defensible, the Corinthian
colonists created the first urban nucleus. This must have soon extended to the
mainland, in the area immediately beyond the isthmus, where another district was
formed, Achradina, containing the agora and surrounded by the earliest cemeteries
of the city (the necropolis of Fusco, of the former Spagna Garden, and of Via
Bainsizza) which thus gave us the approximate limits of the district. Achradina
early acquired a fortification wall. Tyche, the district which corresponds approximately
to the modern S. Lucia, must have clustered around the sanctuary of the deity
after whom it was named. Neapolis developed to the NW of Achradina, that is, to
the W of the modern highway to Catania and as far as the Greek theater; in the
Hellenistic period it received a complex of important public buildings of monumental
nature and expanded into the area formerly occupied by the archaic necropoleis.
Epipolai represents the vast plateau, triangular in shape, which extends to the
N and W of the city and culminates in the Euryalos Fort. In the closing years
of the 5th c. the plateau was encircled by a huge fortification wall that united
it with the urban area solely for defense.
Ortygia retains vestiges of the earliest sacred buildings erected
by the Greek colonists. The Temple of Apollo, at the point of access into Ortygia,
goes back to the beginning of the 6th c. B.C. and has considerable importance
for the history of Doric architecture in the West.
The temple, discovered in 1862 and completely excavated in 1943,
was repeatedly transformed through the centuries. It has an elongated plan, a
stereobate (crepidoma) with four steps and is hexastyle with 17 columns on the
flanks. In front of the cella there is a second row of six columns; the cella,
preceded by a distyle-in-antis pronaos, was divided into three naves by two rows
of columns in two levels; its W end contained the closed area of the adyton.
The columns of the peristyle, all set very close together, lack entasis,
and are marked by 16 very shallow flutes; they are surmounted by heavy capitals
with strongly compressed abaci, on which rests an unusually high epistyle. The
temple frieze had tall triglyphs and narrow metopes, which took no account whatever
of the spacing of the columns. Fragments of terracotta revetments with lively
polychrome decoration are also preserved. The lack of equilibrium among the temple
parts, the marked elongation of its forms, the depth of the front of the building,
the presence of the adyton, the lack of coordination among the spatial elements
of the peristyle, are the most obvious traits of the architecture of this temple.
An inscription on the stylobate of the E facade attests that the building was
dedicated to Apollo and was the work of Kleomenes son of Knidios.
Another temple, on a small elevation S of the city, was dedicated
to Zeus Olympios; it resembles the Apollonion but shows improved correlations
among its parts. A section of the crepidoma survives, together with two incomplete
shafts of the monolithic columns of the peristasis. The temple was divided into
pronaos, cella, and adyton, and had 6 columns on facade and 17 on the sides. There
are remains of two other impressive temples on the highest elevation of the island.
Of the earlier, which was begun in the second half of the 6th c., the structures
of the stereobate and several architectural members have recently been exposed.
It is the only Ionic temple known in Sicily. It must have had 6 columns on the
facade and 14 on the sides; it was left unfinished, presumably on the arrival
of the Deinomenids. At the beginning of the 5th c. B.C., a second temple was erected
parallel to the Ionic temple on the S. An Athenaion, it was probably built after
Gelon's victory over the Carthaginians at Himera in 480 B.C. It was constructed
within a large sacred area which already comprised sacred structures, altars and
votive deposits dating from the beginning of the 6th c. The temple, hexastyle
with 14 columns on the sides, contains cella, pronaos and opisthodomos, both distyle
in antis. The building, constructed of local limestone and surmounted by tiles
and sima in Greek marble, conforms fully with developed Doric.
The Athenaion was transformed into a Christian church and in the
8th c. Bishop Zosimo transferred to it the episcopal see; it is even now a cathedral.
The transformation of the temple into a church required the screening of the intercolumniations
and the opening of arches into the isodomic outer walls of the cella. Of the Greek
temple, the facades are no longer extant, but clearly visible are a good deal
of the peristyle (both from within and from without the cathedral), a segment
of the entablature on the N side and the general structure of the cella. No other
important ancient remains survive in Ortygia.
In Achradina, which must have been surrounded by a defensive system,
almost nothing is left of the important civic buildings, for instance the stoas,
the chrematisteria, the prytaneion, which are mentioned by the ancient sources.
The only monumental complex partly preserved is the so-called Roman gymnasium
S of the agora area. This architectural complex, comprising a small theater facing
a marble temple and set within a large quadriportico, is of the 1st c. A.D.
Neapolis is the district preserving the most conspicuous complex
of ancient monumental buildings, among which the theater is particularly well
known. The form of the existing theater may be 3d c. B.C., but probably there
was an earlier theater by Damokopos on the site (early 5th c. B.C.?) where Aeschylus
produced The Persians and The Women of Aetna, and where Epicharmos' comedies
were performed. What remains of the theater today is only what was cut into the
rock of the hill from which this impressive and unified structure was almost entirely
derived. The cavea, ca. 134 m in diameter, is divided vertically into nine cunei
separated by klimakes and horizontally by a diazoma that breaks it into summa
cavea and ima cavea. Each section, at the level of the diazoma, presents inscriptions,
partially preserved, which give the names of the divinities or of the members
of the ruling family to which the section was dedicated. The central cuneus was
dedicated to Zeus Olympios, two of the sections toward E to Demeter and Herakles,
and those toward W are inscribed to Hieron II, his wife Philistis, his daughter-in-law
Nereis, and his son Gelon II. These inscriptions, which must be dated between
238 and 215, are instrumental in establishing a precise chronology for the building
of the theater. As for the orchestra and the whole stage building, of which almost
nothing is preserved above ground level, innumerable cuttings and trenches are
preserved in the rocky scarp; they are variously interpreted by scholars and bear
witness to the many alterations, adaptations, and phases of this part of the theater.
The remains of the stage, belonging to the period of Hieron II, are
few and badly fragmented; it was probably of the type with paraskenia, as in the
theaters at Tyndaris and Segesta. The interpretation of some markings before the
stage of the Greek scene building (a long trench and a series of cuttings in the
rock) has suggested the use of a wooden stage which might have been employed to
perform phlyakes. More consistent evidence, especially the long foundation built
with limestone blocks, further suggests a major alteration in the stage building
in the Late Hellenistic period: the facade was probably provided with thyromata.
In the Roman period the whole monumental stage building was moved forward toward
the cavea. This move involved the covering over of the earlier parodoi, which
were replaced by passageways in cryptae above which were built tribunalia. The
theater was also adapted for ludi circenses and for variety shows during the Late
Empire. A vast terrace overlooks the cavea and in antiquity housed two stoas set
at right angle to each other.
To the W of the theater an altar, bases for stelai and votive offerings,
seem to provide evidence for the Sanctuary of Apollo Temenites whose area was
crossed by the last retaining wall of the theater cavea.
Not far from the sanctuary, a short distance to the SE of the theater,
lies the so-called Altar of Hieron II. It is 198 m long and retains only an enormous
rock-cut podium, with two large ramps leading to the central part of the structure
where public sacrifices were offered by the city. The whole area in front of the
monument was planned to impress: a vast square extended the length of the altar
and hal a rectangular pool in the center; it was bordered by porticos with propylaia
of the Augustan period.
The amphitheater, probably dating from the 3d c. A.D., is one of
the largest known (external dimensions 140 m and 199 m). The entire N half was
cut out of the rock, and the opposite half built on artificial fill. It had two
large entrances to the arena on the N and S, three corridors leading to the steps,
and a service passage around the arena. In the center of the arena is a large
pool serviced by two canals. In the area of the steps a podium is bordered by
a marble parapet inscribed with the names of the people for whom the seats were
reserved. Outside the amphitheater a large area was flanked by retaining walls
and provided with entrances, rooms of various types, and water tanks; it was connected
with the S entrance to the building.
These monumental structures of Neapolis are bordered on the N by
a series of quarries which provided the blocks for the ancient buildings. The
so-called Ear of Dionysios, the Grotto of the Ropemakers, the Grotto of Saltpeter
are famous for their acoustical properties and their picturesque appearance.
The Epipolai, the rocky plateau of roughly triangular shape which
dominates the immediate hinterland of Syracuse, was incorporated into the city
for defensive reasons at the end of the 5th c. B.C. At the time of the war against
Athens (416-413 B.C.), only Achradina was fortified. Dionysios fortified the Epipolai
between 402 and 397 B.C. against the threat of Carthage. He produced an immense
defensive system: 27 kms of fortification walls deployed at the edge of the limestone
terrace and culminating at its highest point in the Euryalos Fort, one of the
most grandiose defensive works in dimensions and conception to have survived from
antiquity. Three huge ditches were dug into the rock to prevent a massive frontal
attack against the keep of the fortress. Between the second and third ditch a
defensive apparatus was accessible by means of a stepped tunnel opening onto the
bottom of the third ditch; from this moat, the veritable nerve center of the entire
defensive system, a network of passageways and galleries branched off and connected
all the various parts of the fort. At the S end of this third ditch rose three
powerful piers which supported a drawbridge. In the space between the third ditch
and the main body of the fortress is a pointed bastion, S of which are the remains
of a structure linking the drawbridge with the fort proper. This latter is in
two parts; the first is almost rectangular in shape, defended by five towers connected
by wall curtains and protected on the S by a ditch; the second part, an irregular
trapezoid, contains three cisterns for the water supply of the castle; it had
the function of connecting the fortress to the main defensive system. To the NE
of this section of the fortress a town gate with two arches, built according to
the pincer system, was protected by towers and external cross walls which channeled
traffic into narrow passageways close to the wall curtains from which defense
was easy.
Not all the parts of this defensive system, brilliantly engineered
under Dionysios, were contemporary but were gradually perfected through the 4th
and 3d c. B.C. to conform with the changing requirements of the art of war. Transformations
and adaptations were also carried out in the Byzantine period, especially in the
rectangular section of the fortress.
The Archaeological Museum includes among its exhibits much material
of the Classical period.
G. Voza, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Sep 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 127 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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