|
 Of
all the Greek cities of antiquity that
flourished on the coast of Sicily, Syracuse
(Siracusa) was the most important, a formidable
competitor of Athens. In its heyday, it dared
take on Carthage and even Rome.
Colonists from Corinth founded Syracuse on the
Ionian Sea in about 735 B.C. Much of its history
was linked to despots, beginning in 485 B.C.
with Gelon, the tyrant of Gela, who subdued the
Carthaginians at Himera. Syracuse came under
attack from Athens in 415 B.C., but the main
Athenian fleet was destroyed and the soldiers on
the mainland were captured. They were herded
into the Latomia di Cappuccini at Piazza
Cappuccini, a stone quarry. The "jail" from
which there was no escape, was particularly
horrid - the defeated soldiers weren't given
food and, packed together like cattle, were
allowed to die slowly.
Although the ruins of Syracuse will be one of
the highlights of your trip to Sicily, the city
itself has been in a millennia-long decline.
Today it's a blend of often unattractive modern
development (with supermarkets and high-rises
sprouting along speedways) and the ruins of its
former glory, a splendor that led Livy to
proclaim it "the most beautiful and noble of
Greek cities." |
