23 September 2023 Syracuse
Blog
We left Ragusa this morning and traveled about 1 ½ hours to
Syracuse, a city with a 2,700 year- old
history. It was one of the most
powerful ports of the ancient Mediterranean world. Syracuse’s history is rich
with Greek, Roman, and Baroque architecture.
During the 5th century BCE, it was described as the greatest
and most beautiful Greek city.
It is also the birthplace of the famous Greek mathematician
Archimedes. He is known as the father of
mathematics and mathematical physics.
For those of you who struggled with or are currently struggling with
math, he was the one who discovered the relationship of the radius of a circle
to its circumference and created the formulas for the surface area and volume
of a sphere and of a cylinder (areas I also struggled with).
Upon arrival, a local guide took us on a 2-hour walking tour
of Ortigia, a small island in Syracuse’s historical center. This little island with its crumbling houses,
beautiful wrought iron balconies filled with flowers, and baroque architecture,
dates back to the Ancient Greek era. Here
we saw the Fountain of Arethusa, the Temple of Apollo, and the Piazza del
Duomo.
Our first stop was at the ruins of the Temple of Apollo
which was built at the beginning of the 6th century BCE and is the
oldest Doric monument in Sicily. When
first constructed it was one of the first Greek temples made of stone and
contained 42 monolithic columns. . Since
its original construction, it has been an early Christian church, then turned
into a mosque, and finally a Norman basilica.
In the 1500s, its stone blocks were used in the construction of
Ortigia’s new walls. The Temple was then
incorporated into a 16th century Spanish barracks.
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| Ruins of the Temple of Apollo |
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| Ruins of the Temple of Apollo |
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| Ruins of the Temple of Apollo |
Leaving the ruins, we walked to Archimede Piazza where there
is a huge fountain – the Fountain of Diana.
Sculpted in 1906, it is dedicated to the Roman Diana (or Artemis in
Greek), the goddess of the hunt, wild animals, moon, and childbirth. One of the figures in the fountain is the
nymph Arethusa, a devotee of Diana, whose story appears later in this blog when
we visit her fountain.
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| Narrow Streets of Ortigia |
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| Moor Head Pottery |
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| Fountain of Diana |
We then walked to the Piazza del Duomo to see the Cathedral
of Syracuse, made from bright limestone and towering over the other ruins in Ortigia. It was built as a Doric temple to the Goddess
Athena in 480 BCE, but over the years it has been transformed into both a
mosque and a church. The Doric style had
6 sturdy columns on the short side and 14 on the long sides.
During the 7th century CE, the Byzantine empire
ruled Syracuse and the temple was converted into a church with the temple’s
columns incorporated into the walls of the church. The columns are still visible on the outside
and inside of the cathedral.
In 878 CE, Syracuse fell under Muslim rule and the cathedral
became a mosque. But by the 12th
century, the Norman’s had conquered Sicily, and the cathedral was once again
turned into a church. Following the
destructive earthquake of 1693, which damaged the façade and Bell Tower, the
current cathedral was reconstructed in the baroque style during the 18th
century.
Inside the cathedral are several relics (bone fragments, a
robe, a veil, and a pair of shoes) of Saint Lucy, the patron saint of
Syracuse. During the Great Persecution
of the Roman Empire’s rule, it is believed that Saint Lucy (or St. Lucia) brought
food and aid to the Syracuse Christians that were hiding in the Roman
Catacombs. She is believed to have been
killed during the Diocletianic Persecution.
Her feast day is celebrated twice a year on the first Sunday of May and
on December 12 throughout Italy and Scandinavia. In Scandinavia St. Lucia’s Day marks the
beginning of the Christmas celebration and the eldest daughter of the family
dresses in a white robe and wears an evergreen wreath studded with candles as a
crown. In Syracuse, St. Lucy’s December
13th Feast Day is very important.
Her statue is carried out of the cathedral and paraded through the
streets. The statue, made of silver and
housed in the Cathedral, is said to contain three fragments from her ribs.
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| Duomo Piazza with Baroque Buildings |
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| Cathedral of Syracuse |
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| City Hall in Duomo Piazza |
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| Marble Floor in Cathedral |
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| Main Altar of Cathedral |
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| Doric Columns from Ancient Greet Temple |
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Side Chapel in Cathedral
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| Statue of St. Lucy |
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| Relic Box Containing Elbow Bone of St. Lucy |
From the cathedral we walked to the Fountain of Arethusa, a
natural fountain with fresh water. Its
name came from Greek mythology.
According to the legend, Arethusa was from Arcadia. She left Arcadia and came to a clear stream
where she began bathing. Unbeknownst to
her, the stream was actually the river god Alpheus, who flowed down from
Arcadia to the sea. When he saw her, he
fell in love with her, but she was not interested as she wanted to remain a
chaste attendant of Artemis (Diana). She
fled from him, but he pursued here so she asked her goddess for
protection. Artemis hid her in a cloud,
but Alpheus was persistent. In fear,
Arethusa began to perspire profusely and soon transformed into a stream and
fled underwater to Syracuse to try and rid herself of this persistent
suitor. There Artemis transformed her
into the freshwater spring that today is the fountain. Alpheus, still obsessed with Arethusa, dug a
channel under the Mediterranean Sea and resurfaced a few feet from the water
spring. He mixed his own waters with
hers where it arrives at a point where the waters are still today strangely
gentle, and where the bubbles rise to the surface. It was from this point that Alpheus continued
to enjoy the view of his great love.
Today papyrus grows within the pool of the fountain, one of only two
places in Europe where papyrus grows.
The other site is the Fiumefreddo River, which flows near the Sicilian
city of Catania.
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| Fountain of Arethusa |
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| Statue of Arethuae and Alpheus |
From the Fountain, our TL got us a tuk-tuk to take us back
to the other side of the island where we would all meet after lunch. Along the way we drove past the waterfront
and saw the Castello Maniace, a citadel built by Emperor Frederick II between
1232 and 1240. It was built on the ruins
of a fort constructed in 1038. As part
of the defenses of Syracuse, it later became a prison and today it is one of
the tourist attractions in Syracuse.
Our tuk-tuk dropped us off near the Temple of Apolla and we
then found a restaurant near our meeting place and very close to the town’s
market. We shared a delicious pizza and
wine and then walked through the marketplace.
Interestingly, parked in front of the restaurant’s outdoor setting was
one of the beautiful painted wagons that we had learned about a few days ago.
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| Statue of Archimede |
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| Maniace Fortress |
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| Ortigia Waterfront |
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| Painted Wagon |
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| Ortigia Marketplace |
We then returned to our buses for the drive to Catania, our
last stop on our Sicily tour. It was
also the home of our TL Rosanna, and she was very excited to be back home.
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