Edward Augustus Freeman and Thomas Ashby

“ During the long tyranny of Dionysius the city grew greatly in size, population and grandeur. In fact the free Greek cities and communities, in both Sicily and southern Italy, were sacrificed to Syracuse; there the greatness and glory of the Greek world in the West were concentrated. The mass of the population of Gela and Camarina in the disastrous year 405 had, at the prompting of Dionysius, taken refuge at Syracuse. ”

“ Of what took place in Syracuse during the next ten years we know but little. The younger Dionysius came back and from his island fortress again oppressed the citizens; the plight of the city, torn by faction and conflicts and plundered by foreign troops, was so utterly wretched that all Greek life seemed on the verge of extinction (Plato, Exist. viii.) . Sicily, too, was again menaced by Carthage. Syracuse, in its extremity, asked help from the mother-city, Corinth ”

“ The “outer” and the “inner city” of Thucydides still held out, whilst a Carthaginian fleet was moored off Achradina and Carthaginian troops were encamped on the spot. But a pestilence broke out in the autumn of 212, which swept them clean away, and thinned the Roman ranks. The ships sailed away to Carthage; on their way back to Syracuse with supplies they could not get beyond Cape Pachynus owing to adverse winds, and they were confronted by a Roman fleet. All hope for the city being now at an end, the Syracusans threw themselves on the mercy of Marcellus ”

“ In this revolution Thrasybulus and his mercenaries held the fortified quarters of Ortygia and Achradina; the revolted people held the unwalled suburbs, already, it is plain, thickly inhabited. Thrasybulus yielded to the common action of Siceliots and Sicels. Syracuse thus became a democratic commonwealth. Renewed freedom was celebrated by a colossal statue of Zeus Eleutherius and by a yearly feast in his honour. But when the mercenaries and other new settlers were shut out from office [7] new struggles arose. ”

“ All we know is the bare fact. It was shortly after this revolution, in 317, that Agathocles with a body of mercenaries from Campania and a host of exiles from the Greek cities, backed up by the Carthaginian Hamilcar, who was in friendly relations with the Syracusan oligarchy, became a tyrant or despot of the city, assuming subsequently, on the strength of his successes against Carthage, the title of king. Syracuse passed through another reign of terror ”

“ In 397 Syracuse had to stand a siege from the Carthaginians under Himilco, who took up his quarters at the Olympieum, but his troops in the marshes below suffered from pestilence, and a masterly combined attack by land and sea by Dionysius ended in his utter defeat. Dionysius, however, allowed him to depart without further pressing his advantage. This revolution and the peace with the Carthaginians confirmed Dionysius in the possession of Syracuse, but of no great territory beyond, as Leontini was again a separate city. ”

“ The upper plateau (Achradina, Tyche, Epipolae itself) is now largely cultivated at the east end, less so at the west end. It is traversed by the subterranean aqueducts by which the city was supplied [18] (see Aqueducts) , and by a few ancient roads, but contains practically no remains of ancient buildings. Cuttings in the rock for the foundations of such are numerous round the south edge of Temenites and Achradina, and are to be seen at various points near the city wall. But otherwise the disappearance of the edifices of ancient Syracuse is most striking. ”

“ The city wears a prosperous and busy appearance. The Marina, or esplanade at the south of the town, affords a fine sea front with a view of the bay; near it are beautiful public gardens. In the immediate neighbourhood of the city are the oldest church in or near Palermo, the Lepers' church, founded by the first conqueror or deliverer, Count Roger, and the bridge over the forsaken stream of the Oreto, built in King Roger's day by the admiral George. ”

“ It received large accessions from some of the Greek cities of southern Italy, from Hipponium on its west and Caulonia on its east coast, both of which Dionysius captured in 389 B.C. There had also been an influx of free citizens from Rhegium. At the time of the Athenian siege Syracuse consisted of two quarters-the island and the “outer city” of Thucydides, generally known as Achradina, and bounded by the sea on the north and east, with the adjoining suburbs of Apollo Temenites farther inland at the foot of the southern slopes of Epipolae and Tyche west of the north-west corner of Achradina. ”

“ In 485 the Gamori, who had been expelled by the Demos and the Sicel serfs, and had taken refuge at Casmenae, craved help of Gelo, the successor of Hippocrates, who took possession of Syracuse without opposition, and made it the seat of his power. He gave citizenship both to mercenaries and to settlers from Greece, and added to the population the inhabitants of other cities conquered by him, so that Syracuse became a city of mixed population, in which the new citizens had the advantage. ”

“ A remarkable man now comes to the front—Dion, the friend and disciple of Plato—and for a time the trusted political adviser of his nephew Dionysius. Dion's idea seems to have been to make Dionysius something like a constitutional sovereign, and with this view he brought him into contact with Plato. ”

“ A neolithic settlement and necropolis were discovered in 1897 at the foot of Monte Pellegrino, on the N.E. side (E. Salinas in Notizie degli Scavi, 1907, 307) . Palermo has been commonly thought to be an original Phoenician settlement of unknown date (though its true Phoenician name is unknown) , but Holm (Archivio storio siciliano, 1880, iv. 421) has suggested that the settlement was originally Greek. [1] There is no record of any Greek colonies in that part of Sicily, and Panormus certainly was Phoenician as far back as history can carry us. ”

“ The most important buildings of which we have any remains are to be found in the lower part of Achradina and in Neapolis, a quarter of which we hear first in the time of Dionysius, and which at first was confined to the lower ground below Temenites, but in Roman times included it and the theatre also (Lupus, 168) , though it did not extend beyond the theatre to the uppermost part of the plateau. In lower Achradina remains of Roman private houses have been found, and it is in this district that the early Christians [17] constructed their Catacombs. ”

“ To the south of the Anapus is the hill of Polichne, on which stood the Olympieium, attributed on stylistic grounds to 581 B.C. Its monolithic columns, of which two are still standing, are about 21 ft. in height and 6 ft. in lower diameter: its length is estimated at 197 ft., its breadth at 663⁄4 ft. (Orsi, in Monumenti dei Lincei, 1903, xiii. 369) . The hill was frequently occupied in attacks on Syracuse by the besieging force. It is not, however, defensible in the rear: hence Dionysius's success against the Carthaginians. ”

“ Presently other settlers perhaps not always Greek, gathered round the original Syracuse people; they formed a distinct body, δῆμος or plebs, personally free, but with an inferior political franchise or none at all. The old citizens thus gradually grew into an exclusive or aristocratic body, called γαμόρος or landowners. ”

“ Most of these buildings are witnesses in different ways to the peculiar position of Palermo in the 12th century as the “city of the threefold tongue,” Greek, Arabic, and Latin. King Roger’s sun dial in the palace is commemorated in all three, and it is to be noticed that the three inscriptions do not translate one another. In private inscriptions a fourth tongue, the Hebrew, is also often found. For in Palermo under the Norman kings Christians of both rites, Mahommedans and Jews were all allowed to flourish after their several fashions. ”

“ Almost the only classical antiquities from Palermo itself are Latin inscriptions of the imperial period, and two large coloured mosaics with figures found in the Piazza Vittoria in front of the royal palace in 1869: in 1906 excavations in the same square led to the discovery of a large private house, apparently of the 2nd or 3rd century A.D., to which these mosaics no doubt belonged. Of greater local interest are the medieval and Renaissance sculptures from Palermo itself, a large picture gallery, and an extensive collection of Sicilian majolica, &c. ”

“ There are not many early remains in Palermo. The Phoenician and Greek antiquities in the museum do not belong to the city itself. The earliest existing buildings date from the time of the Norman kings, whose palaces and churches were built in the Saracenic and Byzantine styles prevalent in the island. ”

“ The military skill of Gylippus enabled the Syracusan militia to meet the Athenian troops on equal terms, to wrest from them their fortified position on Plemmyrium, which Nicias had occupied as a naval station shortly after Gylippus's arrival, and thus to drive them to keep their ships on the low beach between their double walls, to take Labdalum, an Athenian fort on the northern edge of Epipolae, and make a third counter-work right along Epipolae in a westerly direction, to the north of the circular fort. ”

“ It is generally regarded as the temple of Athena.
Near the west coast of the island is the famous fountain of Arethusa. [11] According to the legend, the nymph Arethusa was changed into the fountain by Artemis to deliver her from the pursuit of the river-god Alpheus (q.v.) ; and the spring, which was fresh until an earthquake broke the barrier and let in the salt water, was supposed to be actually connected with the river. There are interesting remains of medieval architecture in the closely built town with its narrow streets ”

“ The later houses employ a very flat arch, the use of which goes on in some of the houses and smaller churches of the Renaissance. S. Maria della Catena may be taken as an especially good example. But the general aspect of the streets is later still, dating from mere Spanish times. ”

“ East of this point it probably followed the edge of the low terrace above the marsh (the ancient Lysimeleia) , [14] while in the other direction it ran N.N.W., making straight for the western edge of the gorge known as the Portella del Fusco, which was thus included within the fortifications, as it would otherwise have afforded a means of access to the enemy. ”