of the low terrace above the marsh (the ancient Lysimeleia),[1]
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.
Here the wall gained the top of the cliffs which mark the southern
edge of the plateau of Epipolae, which from this point onwards
it followed as far as Euryelus. The south wall of Epipolae,
considerable remains of which exist, shows traces of different
periods in its construction, and was probably often restored.[2]
It is built of rectangular blocks of limestone generally quarried
on the spot, about 5⅓ ft. long, 2 ft. high and 2⅔ ft. deep. The
thickness of the wall averages 10 ft., but varies 3 or 4 ft. each
way. The point where the terrace of Epipolae narrows down
to a ridge about 60 yds. wide, which is its only link with the
hills to the west, had thrice proved during the Athenian siege
to be the key to Syracuse. It now bears the ruins of a mighty
fortress, finer than that which defends the entrance to the
acropolis of Selinus-the most imposing, indeed, that has come
down to us from the Greek period—which there is no doubt is
the work of Dionysius. The total length of the works is about
440 yds. In front of the castle proper are three ditches, the
innermost of which can be reached from the interior of the
castle by a complicated system of underground passages. The
front of the castle is formed by five massive towerszbehind
it are two walled courtyards, to the north of the easternmost
of which is the well-guarded main entrance to the plateau of
Epipolae (narrower minor entrances are to be seen on both
the north and the south sides) communicating by a long underground
passage with the inner ditch in front of the castle proper.
That this point is to be identified with Euryelus is now generally
admitted (see Lupus, 125–127; Freeman, iii. 661). Earlier
writers make this the site of Labdalum, and put Euryelus
farther west; but Labdalum must be sought somewhat farther
east, near the northern edge of the plateau, in a point not visible
from the Athenian central fort (κύκλος) with a view over Megara—not
therefore in the commanding position of Dionysius's fort,
with an uninterrupted view on all sides. On the north side of
Epipolae the cliffs are somewhat more abrupt; here the wall,
of a similar construction to that on the south, is also traceable:
but here it is apparently all of one period. It is, indeed,
recorded by Diodorus that Dionysius built the north wall from
Euryelus to the Hexapylon in twenty days for a length of 2¾ m.,
employing 60,000 peasants and 6000, yoke of oxen for the
transport of the blocks. Several smaller entrances are to be
seen in it, as in the south wall: among them one with a series of
inclined planes cut in the rock, which leads to an ancient road
running south-east to the neighbourhood of the theatre. The
Hexapylon plays an important part in the Roman siege of Syracuse.
It was the main entrance on the north, and no doubt
is to be identified with the so-called Scala Greca, where the
modern highroad leaves the plateau.[3] This highroad, which
probably follows an ancient line, may be reasonably held to mark
the west boundary of Tyche. Five hundred yards to the east
of it an interesting postern was discovered in 1895 (Orsi, in
Notizie degli scavi, 1893, 168), at the point where the wall
leaves the edge of the plateau and begins to follow the sea-coast;
and half a mile farther on we reach the deep gorge of S. Bonagia
(more correctly Panagia), which here forms the boundary between
Tyche and Achradina. The west boundary of Achradina
is marked farther south by a perpendicular cutting in the rock,
on the top of which a wall must have run (see above). To the east
of the gorge the wall still follows the edge of low cliffs of the
coast, and continues to do so all along the east side of Achradina
as far as the Little Harbour. On this side traces of it are very
scanty, as the sea-spray has eaten away the stone.
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[4] constructed their Catacombs. Those which are entered from near the 12th-century church of S. Giovanni, situated near an ancient temple, are extensive and important, and include the ancient crypt of S. Marcianus, and the type is different from that of the Roman Catacombs, the galleries being far larger (partly owing to the hardness of the limestone in which they are excavated), and having circular chambers at the points of junction. In Neapolis, on the other hand, public buildings predominate. The temple of Apollo Temenites has entirely disappeared, but the theatre, entirely hewn in the rock, is still to be seen. It is the largest in Sicily, being about 146 yds. in diameter, and having about sixty rows of seats; the eleven lower tiers were originally covered with marble. Each of the nine cunei bore a name: the inscriptions of live of them, still preserved on the rock, are in honour of Zeus, Heracles, King Hiero II., his wife Philistis, and his daughter in-law Nereis. Of the stage nothing but cuttings in the rock for foundations are visible. The situation is well chosen, commanding a splendid view over the Great Harbour. Not far off to the south-east is the amphitheatre, probably erected by Augustus when he founded a colony at Syracuse; it is partly cut in the rock and partly built. It is inferior in size only to the Colosseum and the amphitheatres of Capua and Verona, measuring about 153 by I3O yds. over all: the arena is 76, by 43 yds. To the west of the amphitheatre is the foundation of the great altar erected by Hiero II. (Diod. xvi. 85), 217 yds. long by 24 wide, and about 6 yds. in height; To the north-west of the theatre a winding road ascends through the rock, with comparatively late tomb chambers on each side of it. In this district are seen hundreds of small niches cut in the rock, as a rule about 2 ft. square and a few inches deep, which served for containing inscriptions or reliefs, sometimes of a sepulchral character, but sometimes relating to the cult of a divinity. Many of them are also found in the quarries (Orsi, in Notizie degli scavi, 1904, 277). Both the districts just described also contain huge quarries, the famous Lautumiae (from Gr. λαᾶς, stone, and τεμεῖν, to cut; hence λατομία, quarry) of Syracuse, over 100 ft. deep and of great extent (though through the collapse of the pillars supporting the undermined rock they have become still larger than they were in ancient times). They are now overgrown with luxuriant vegetation. 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[5] (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.
We have already seen that immediately outside Lower Neapolis on the south the marshes of Lysimeleia begin, which proved fatal to more than one besieging force. They are traversed by the Anapus, with its tributary the Cyane, the latter famous for the papyrus planted by the Arabs, which here alone in Europe grows wild in the stream. 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
- ↑ The date of the fragment of city wall immediately to the north-east of the so-called palaestra is uncertain; it is therefore doubtful whether it can belong to this system of defences (Lupus, pp. 308, 331).
- ↑ As to the question whether it was finished at the time of the Carthaginian invasion of 397 B.C., see Freeman, iv. 55. In any case it must have been completed by 385 B.C.
- ↑ Here are numerous caves in the rock, used for the worship of Artemis.
- ↑ St Paul tarried at Syracuse three days on his way to Rome (Acts xxviii. 12).
- ↑ A large reservoir of the Greek period exists under the present railway station (Notizie degli scavi, 1904, 280).
