1835 print TEMPLE OF MINERVA, SIRACUSA SYRACUSE, SICILY, ITALY (#16) |
Print from steel engraving titled SYRACUSE: Temple de Minerve, published in a volume of L'Univers Pittoresque, Paris, approx. page size 20 x 12 cm, approx. image size 12 x 8.5 cm, nice hand coloring.
Syracuse
Italian Siracusa
city, on the east coast of Sicily, 33 miles (53 km) south of Catania. It was the
chief Greek city of ancient Sicily.
Syracuse was settled about 734 BC by Corinthians led by the aristocrat Archias,
and the city soon dominated the coastal plain and hill country beyond. The
original Greek settlers of the city formed an elite (gamoroi), while the Sicel
natives (Siculi) worked the land as an oppressed class. In the early 5th century
BC, the Syracusans were defeated by Hippocrates of Gela, a city lying to the
west. The power of the gamoroi in Syracuse was subsequently ended by a
democratic revolution, and in exile the gamoroi supported Hippocrates'
successor, Gelon, who captured Syracuse and transferred his government there.
Gelon ruled Syracuse from 485 to 478. His defeat of a great Carthaginian
invasion in 480 at Himera confirmed his supremacy, and, under him and his
brother Hieron, Syracuse attained a high point of power and cultural brilliance.
A revolution in 466 overthrew Hieron's successor as tyrant, Thrasybulus, and
under a democratic constitution the Syracusans survived wars against the
neighbouring city of Acragas and the Siculi, although they had to abandon the
territorial empire that Gelon had acquired. Most importantly, the Syracusans
survived a long siege by the Athenians (415–413) that took place during the
Peloponnesian War, ultimately destroying the Athenian invasion force in Sicily
and weakening Athenian power in Greece itself.
A few years later Sicily faced a Carthaginian resurgence. But Syracuse was saved
from the fate that overtook Acragas and other Sicilian cities by its general,
Dionysius I, who obtained autocratic power in 405 and ruled Syracuse as its
tyrant until 367. Dionysius fought three wars against the Carthaginians,
confining their territorial dominions to the western part of Sicily, and he
extended Syracusan control to most of the “foot” of Italy. Under Dionysius,
Syracuse became the most splendid and the best fortified of all Greek cities.
Its naval power was vastly increased, too, until its fleet was the most powerful
in the Mediterranean. Dionysius' son Dionysius II saw a decade of peace before
his autocracy was challenged by his uncle Dion, who won a brief, bloody civil
war but was himself assassinated in 354. The period of civil war that followed
was ended by the Corinthian Timoleon, who defeated Carthage and reordered
Sicilian affairs (344–336), introducing a moderate oligarchy in Syracuse. In 317
this was overthrown by the adventurer Agathocles, who became tyrant and later
king. He established a Syracusan empire that broke up at his death in 289.
In the ensuing chaotic conditions Sicily was rescued by Pyrrhus of Epirus from
further Carthaginian encroachments, but his mercenaries later seized Messana
(now Messina). Their defeat by Syracuse under a new leader, Hieron II, caused
the intervention of Rome, with whom Hieron came to terms. After Hieron's death
in 215, the Syracusans became allies of Carthage and were besieged by the Romans
in 213. After its fall to the Romans in 211, Syracuse became a provincial
capital.
In AD 280 Syracuse was ravaged by Frankish invaders but soon recovered a
prosperity that lasted until its capture by the Arabs in 878. During the late
Roman and Byzantine periods and under Norman, Swabian, and Spanish rule,
Syracuse shared the vicissitudes of the rest of the island. It was shattered by
an earthquake in 1693 and owes some of its finest architecture to the ensuing
reconstruction efforts. The Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943 during World War
II caused Syracuse some damage that was swiftly repaired in a new and greater
postwar prosperity. The city is now a centre for processing local agricultural
produce and has several other light industries. The harbour, with its commerce
and fishery, and tourism are further sources of income.
Syracuse's nucleus is formed by the southward-projecting island of Ortygia,
which half-encloses the bay known as the Great Harbour. The remains of antiquity
on the continuously inhabited Ortygia are less striking than those in Neapolis,
which was long a country district. Archaeological remains in Neapolis include
the Greek theatre of Hieron II (3rd century BC), a Roman amphitheatre (2nd
century AD), and an altar of Hieron II, pillaged in 1526 to provide building
materials for defensive walls. The nymphaeum (fountain) above the theatre was
one of the ancient city's sources of water. Among the most imposing remains of
ancient Syracuse are the fortifications of the Epipolae Plateau, which culminate
in the Euryalus fort at their western end.
The cathedral on Ortygia, with a fine Baroque facade, incorporates the Doric
columns of the temple of Athena that was built as a thanks offering by the
Syracusans for their victory at Himera. Architectural reliefs in painted
terra-cotta from earlier buildings in this area are preserved in the
archaeological museum. The remains of the Temple of Apollo (c. 565 BC) stand
near the bridge from Ortygia to the mainland; another temple of the same period,
that of Olympian Zeus, lies on the west side of the Great Harbour. The streets
of Ortygia bear witness to the medieval and Renaissance contributions to the
charm of Syracuse. The finest 14th-century facade is that of the Montalto
Palace. The Bellomo and Parisio palaces incorporate elements of the 13th- to
15th-century Gothic styles. Giovanni Vermexio's Municipal Palace (1628) and
Luciano Alì's Beneventano del Bosco Palace (1775) represent the best among many
notable survivals of the 17th- and 18th-century city. Pop. (2006 est.) mun.,
122,972.