Cruising the Adriatic--Sicily

Syracuse.  I knew that Syracuse University was a good American school and that Syracuse was a Greek name, but I had no idea that Syracuse, located in Sicily, was one of the great Greek cities of the ancient world. It was part of the wave of "Hellenism," or Greek culture, that spread through the ancient world, as far east as Jerusalem and as far west as Spain, before the Romans conquered those outposts.  On November 11, 2013, we visited the ruins of Syracuse after our boat docked in Catania, Sicily. 

We stopped first at the ruins of the Syracuse forum, and then we walked to rock quarries where slaves, captured in ancient wars, cut blocks of rock for the great amphitheaters and forums of the city.  Parts of the quarry are filled with water to form lakes and other parts are pocked with caves and overhangs where rock was hollowed out.  Syracuse was founded in 700 B.C. by Greeks from Sparta, one of the city-states on the Greek mainland.  In 500 B.C. Syracuse, by now an independent state, fought off the invasion of Athens, another city-state from the Greek mainland.  In 200 B.C. Syracuse was captured by the Romans.  Between 700 B.C. and 200 B.C., Syracuse was one of the great powers of the Mediterranean world.

 

 

 

We paused inside a huge cave, hollowed out as a quarry.  Echoes bounced off the walls and a tiny slit at the top let in daylight.

We wandered through the Greek theater where plays were produced.  Aristophanes, one of the great Greek playwrights, came from Syracuse.  Plays are still produced in the amphitheater during the summer.

We could still see Greek letters etched in the stone.

We paused at the caves near the theater, which had been Christian cemeteries in the years after the Romans left.  Everywhere in the Mediterranean, there have been layers on layers of settlement, with the same structures and building materials used by different cultures over the centuries.

We visited the Roman amphitheater nearby.  Our very literate guide was more impressed by the Greeks than the Romans.  "The Greeks used their amphitheater for religion and education," she said.  "The Romans used their amphitheater for gladiators and entertainment."

We next traveled to Orvieta, a city which dated back to the Romans, if not the Greeks, but which had been continuously occupied until today.  It had a charming pier, with fishing boats and colorful buildings.

Orvieta also had an Old City, with a Baroque square and elegant old palaces where rich Italian families still lived, with fancy Italian cars inside the gates.

I was fascinated by a Catholic church which had once been a Roman temple.  The Roman pillars were simply incorporated into the church, which was first Byzantine and then Roman Catholic.  Again, layers of culture simply built up, one over the top of the last one.

Our guide was frank about Mafia influence.  Shop owners pay protection money, but "you can deduct it from your taxes."

 

During the morning we were in Sicily, Mt. Etna, the local volcano, began spouting rock and ash.  As our ship pulled away from Catania, we gathered with other shipmates to watch fire spout from the top of Mt. Etna.  Within a few days there was a full eruption, although  it did not harm anyone nearby. We couldn't get clear pictures of Mt. Etna spouting fire from our moving ship, but we did get some impressionistic designs (note the red on top of the mountain).