Syracūsae
（
Συράκουσαι or
Συράκοσσαι, Ion.
Συρήκουσαι, also
Συρακοῦσαι, Συρακούση). 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
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Fountain of Arethusa at Syracuse. (From a photograph.)
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the lake or marsh called Syraco (
Συρακώ), 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 (
Ὀρτυγία), frequently called simply the Island
(
Νᾶσος or
Νῆσος), 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.
Achradīna (
Ἀχραδίνη) 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
B.C.), 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.
Tyché (
Τύχη), named after the temple of Tyché 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.
Neapŏlis (
Νέα
πόλις), nearly southwest of Achradina, was also, at the time of the Athenian
siege of Syracuse, merely a suburb, and called
Temenītes, from having within it the statue and consecrated ground of
Apollo Temenites. Neapolis contained the chief
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Plan of Ancient Syracuse. (After Freeman.)
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theatre of Syracuse, which was the largest in all Sicily, and many temples.
5.
Epipŏlae (
αἱ
Ἐπιπολαί), a space of ground rising above the three quarters of Achradina,
Tyché, 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
Euryēlus (
Εὐρύηλος), on which stood the fort
Labdalum (
Λάβδαλον). 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 (
Λάκκιος), 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 mediæval 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. See
Theatrum.
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
(q.v.). The expedition set out from Athens in B.C. 415 under
Alcibiades (q.v.),
Nicias
(q.v.), 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. See
Gylippus.
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 (see
Archimedes), the city was taken by Marcellus in 212. From this time Syracuse became a
town of the Roman province of Sicily. See Lupus,
Die Stadt Syrakus im
Alterthum (Strassburg, 1887), and the works cited under
Sicilia.
