Syracuse

The island of Sicily, centrally located in Mediterranean just 3km from the Italian peninsula and 160km from Africa, has always been a crossroads of cultures. In Greco-Roman antiquity, Syracuse

Figure 19.5 Tomb of the Diver (reconstruction), Paestum

Was its most important city. Founded by Corinthians in the second half of the eighth century BC, the town expanded from the small but defensible island of Ortygia (“the Partridge”) with harbors on either side to the mainland beyond. In the mid-sixth century BC island and mainland were linked by an artificial causeway (Figure 19.6). The city became one of the largest in the Greek world: its population during the Classical period may have reached 250,000, comparable only to Athens.

Syracusan prosperity derived from agriculture, limestone quarries, and the harbors. But the city’s political history was turbulent. As was typical in Sicily, tyranny rather than democracy remained the dominant form of government. As elsewhere, the ruler had an important role in creating works of art and architecture. However, in a brief evaluation of three tyrants, we shall see that not all Syracusan rulers saw the need to promote themselves through art and architecture.

In 480 BC, the deposed tyrant of Himera (north Sicily) requested help from the Carthaginians. In response, Gelon, tyrant of Gela and Syracuse, marched forth at the head of a coalition force and won a great victory. The triumph at Himera over the non-Greek Carthaginians became the western equivalent of the Battle of Salamis, the Greek victory over the Persians; indeed, Herodotus recorded them taking place on the very same day. According to Diodorus Siculus, the Carthaginians were able to secure light armistice terms; grateful to Damarete, Gelon’s wife, for her helpful intervention, they presented her with a gold crown weighing 100 talents. In commemoration of the victory she had a decadrachm struck from this gold, a coin worth ten Attic drachmas,

An unusually large denomination: the “Damareteion” it was called, named after her. The coin has not survived. But its commemorative purpose may be reflected in a beautiful silver decadrachm that has come down to us. Depicted on the coin are, on the obverse (front), a horseman in a quadriga, and on the reverse, the profile head of Arethusa, the local water nymph who served as the

Figure 19.7 Silver decadrachm with Arethusa, Syracuse. British Museum, London

Symbol of the city, surrounded by dolphins (Figure 19.7). After long believing that it, too, celebrated the victory at Himera, numismatists now prefer to date this coin later, with some specialists connecting it with the expulsion of the tyrants in 466 BC.

Gelon himself celebrated his victory by commissioning two major Doric temples: one at Himera, the other at Syracuse, on Ortygia. The latter, dedicated to Athena, measures 52m X 22m, with six columns on the short end, fourteen on the long. Local limestone was used for its construction, with marble for details. Rich touches (now disappeared) included doors of gold and ivory; in addition, the statue of Athena placed outside on the summit of a pediment was supplied with a golden shield, its reflection visible far out to sea. In the seventh century AD the temple was converted into a Christian church, with many elements, notably columns, incorporated into the design.

In 415—413 BC, the Athenians attempted to capture Syracuse, then an ally of Sparta. A dismal failure, this expedition opened the way to the Spartan triumph over Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War. Soon after, the Carthaginians invaded Sicily, also unsuccessfully. By 405 BC the important tyrant Dionysios I had come to power. Ruthless at home, aggressive abroad, fighting against Carthage, the Etruscans, and other Greek cities, he ruled until 367 BC, controlling at one point over half the island. In contrast with many other rulers examined in this book, he did not choose to advance himself through visual imagery, sculpted or painted, or create great religious monuments. Instead, he patronized poets and writers; he himself composed tragedies. The architectural project for which he is remembered is military: a new fortification system protecting Syracuse. Ortygia was reinforced, and a new wall reached out to enclose the Epipolae plateau, an area eight times that previously fortified. At the far corner lay the Euryalus Hill, crucial for defense. Little is known of the fort built here by Dionysios, but later reinforcement of the fourth and third centuries BC is well preserved. It includes a sophisticated complex of towers, dry moats or ditches cut from the bedrock, and underground passages allowing soldiers quick access to the different parts of the walls and to the dry moats, in order to clear them of debris thrown in by the enemy.

The third century BC was dominated by the tyrant Hieron II (ruled ca. 271—216 BC). He showed himself a true ruler of the Hellenistic age: influenced by the monarchs of the Hellenistic east, he and his wife Philistis were the first rulers of Syracuse to have themselves depicted on the city’s coinage. His building projects consist of big public monuments, exactly what we expect from a successful ruler, the remodeling of a theater and a monumental altar. The theater illustrates the transition from Greek design to Roman. Enlarged to hold 15,000 people, the theater, cut out of a hillside, consisted of a half-circle of seating with a closely placed stage building with an elaborate architectural backdrop. Unified seating and stage building would become the hallmark of the Roman theater, with the Romans surpassing the Greeks by their ability to construct on flat ground (with vaults) as well as on hillsides. Near the theater Hieron II had a monumental altar built for the annual sacrifice of 450 oxen at the feast of Zeus Eleutherios. Not associated with a temple but free-standing — recalling in this feature, at least, the later Altar of Zeus at Pergamon — this altar is notable for its huge size (198m X 22.8m).

Hieron II had developed a close and friendly connection with Rome. After his death, the relationship soon turned sour, and in 212 BC the Romans captured and sacked the city after a bitter siege lasting two years. Among the victims was Archimedes, a brilliant mathematician and inventor. With this victory the Romans completed their takeover of south Italy and Sicily, and focused their attention on their long-standing rival in the central Mediterranean, Carthage.