Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/521

IMILKON BLOCKADES SYRACUSE. 499 divided into two fleets of one hundred ships each, showed them- selves in face of the two interior harbors or docks (on ^ach side of the connecting strait between. Ortygia and the Rain land) wherein the Syracusan ships were safely lodged. He thus chal- lenged the Syracusans to combat on both elements ; but neither challenge was accepted. Having by such defiance farther raised the confidence of his own troops, he first spread them over the Syracusan territory, and allowed them for thirty days to enrich themselves by unlimited plunder. Next, he proceeded to establish fortified posts, as essen- tial to the prosecution of a blockade which he foresaw would be tedious. Besides fortifying the temple of the Olympian Zeus, he constructed two other forts ; one at Cape Plemmyrium (on the southern entrance of the harbor, immediately opposite to Ortygia, where Nikias had erected a post also), the other on the Great Harbor, midway between Plemmyrium and the temple of the Olympian Zeus, at the little bay called Daskon. He farther en- circled his whole camp, near the last-mentioned temple, with a wall ; the materials of which were derived in part from the de- molition of the numerous tombs around ; especially one tomb, spacious and magnificent, commemorating Gelon and his wife Damarete. In these various fortified posts he was able to store up the bread, wine, and other provisions which his transports were employed in procuring from Africa and Sardinia, for the continu- ous subsistence of so mighty an host. It would appear as if Imilkon had first hoped to take the city by assault ; for he pushed up his army as far as the very walls of Achradina (the outer city). He even occupied the open suburb of that city, afterwards separately fortified under the name of Neapolis, wherein were situated the temples of Demeter and Per- sephone, which he stripped of their rich treasures. 1 But if such 1 Diodor. xiv, 63. Kare/la/Jero 6s /cat TO rf/f 'Axpadivrjf n-poaarelov, Ka2 Cicero (in Verrem, iv, 52, 53) distinctly mentions the temples of Deme- jcr and Persephone, and the statue of Apollo Temenites, among the char- acteristic features of Neapolis which proves the identity of Neapolis with what Diodortis calls the suburb of Achradina, This identity, recognized by Serra di Falco, Colonel Lcake, and other authors, is disputed by Saverio Cavallari, on grounds which do not appear to me sufficient. See Colonel Leakc, notes on Syracuse, pp. 7-10 ; Cavallari, zur Topo- graphic von Syrakus, p. 20.