Founding
city of ancient Sicily
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This article details the history of Syracuse from its origins to the present day.
Located in Sicily, the city was founded in the 8th century BC by a group of Greek colonists from Corinth. It became a prominent polis of significant importance, ranked among the greatest metropolises of the ancient world, and was the birthplace of notable figures such as Epicharmus, Archimedes, and many others. It also hosted influential personalities such as Aeschylus and Plato.
Conquered by the Romans in 212 BC, Syracuse served as the capital of Roman Sicily. It remained important under the Byzantine rule, even briefly becoming the empire's capital from 663 to 669 until the assassination of Emperor Constans II, which led to a drastic shift in its fortunes. The city was then captured by the Arabs in 878, initiating a prolonged decline and loss of its former primacy in Sicily.
In the 11th century, Syracuse was briefly reconquered by the Byzantines before passing to the Normans a few decades later. After a short period of Genoese control in the 13th century, it followed the fortunes of the Kingdom of Sicily. During the 14th, 15th, and early 16th century, it was the seat of the Queen's Chamber, governed by the queens of the Sicilian Kingdom. Subsequently, it became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies until the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
In modern times, Syracuse's history intertwined with that of the rest of Italy, experiencing both the First and Second World Wars. In 2005, its territory was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The earliest significant traces of human activity in the Syracuse area date back to the Neolithic period and primarily involve the coastal boundaries of the future city. The most notable archaeological evidence is the fortified village of Stentinello, located on the northern side of Syracuse, between the neighborhoods of Santa Panagia and the district of Targia. Its fortified nature is derived from the various ditches surrounding it. From the same period, though with fewer remains, are the village of Matrensa (or Milocca), the prehistoric sites of Plemmirio and Arenella, and the village of Ognina, which extend along the southern coast from the Maddalena Peninsula to the outskirts of Fontane Bianche.
Discovered by archaeologist Paolo Orsi in 1890, Stentinello is highly significant as it marks the advent of agriculture in Sicily. Dated to around 6000 BC or 5000 BC, the Stentinello culture is considered non-native, as it shows no connections with earlier human populations elsewhere on the island. Despite severe marine erosion and partial submersion of the site (the sea level is currently about 5–6 meters higher than in the first millennium BC), its impressed pottery, described as refined and featuring varied motifs, clearly demonstrates continuity with Neolithic ceramic production prevalent outside Sicily during those millennia. This pottery spread via maritime routes to numerous coastal sites in the Mediterranean Sea and is believed to have originated in the Fertile Crescent, between northern Syria and southern Anatolia.
Some scholars disagree with classifying the Stentinello people as foreign to the island's context, arguing that the Stentinello culture was not directly imported by sea but spread gradually across Sicily from the interior.
Paolo Orsi identified the Stentinello people as older and distinct from the Sicels. According to Orsi, the Sicels succeeded the Stentinello culture and initiated the Bronze Age and Iron Age in Sicily, dividing these periods into four long phases dominated by the Sicels. However, archaeologist Luigi Bernabò Brea, while validating Orsi's periodization, demonstrated that this framework must include a non-Sicel culture responsible for the Castelluccio culture and Thapsos culture, likely originating in the Aegean-Anatolian region. At Thapsos, located just a few kilometers north of Stentinello, Mycenaean remains (dating to 1500 BC) have also been found.
Another exception in the Syracuse area, unrelated to the Sicels during the Bronze Age, is the island of Ognina, believed to have been inhabited during this period by a colony from Malta. Several connections exist between the Maltese archipelago and the Syracuse area; for example, both regions feature deep grooves in the limestone known as cart ruts. The cart ruts of Syracuse, primarily located near Stentinello, have been tentatively dated to the time of the Greeks, possibly formed over centuries from the first roads traversed by carts.
Further lowering the dating of the Sicels' arrival in the Syracuse area, beyond some archaeological evidence, are ancient written sources. These indicate that the Sicels, a people from the Italian Peninsula (with substantial evidence of their settlement in Italy, allowing Brea to describe them as a people of "late Apennine" culture, while Greek historiography recounts that their legendary progenitor, Siculus, came from prehistoric Rome), arrived around the mid-2nd millennium BC. Their chronology is tied to the Trojan War: Philistus claims they arrived 80 years before the war against the Trojans, corresponding to 1364 BC. The same dating is supported by Hellanicus of Lesbos, who states the Sicels arrived in the 26th year of Alcyone's priesthood at Argos, three generations before the Trojan War, aligning with Thucydides' chronology of the 80th year before the conflict. Thucydides notes that the Sicels populated eastern Sicily 300 years before the Greeks, who arrived around the 8th century BC.
Both the Cassibile necropolis and the island of Ortygia have yielded numerous Sicel artifacts from the Pantalica culture, named after the Pantalica necropolis in the Hyblaean Mountains, characterized by thousands of rock-cut tombs. Some ancient historians attribute the origin of the city's name to the Sicels, suggesting it emerged as a Sicel colony known as Syraka or Syrako (rendered as Surako and Surakeus in other ancient sources), possibly derived from a marsh of the same name or a similarly named watercourse (based on a report by Duris of Samos, who includes Syracuse among cities named after rivers).
The Sicels are credited with founding an ancient indigenous capital called Hybla. This city, whose name has ancient roots in Syria and Anatolia, likely gave its name to the entire Syracuse region, known as Hyblaean, after the nearby mountains. Brea argued that the prehistoric Syraka/o was part of Hybla's domain, serving as its commercial port.
The exact location of this capital, which may have controlled the later Corinthian colony, remains a mystery. However, ancient sources note that there were multiple Hyblas: the closest to Syraka was Megara Hyblaea, where Stentinello culture artifacts have been found, indicating a connection with that area since the Neolithic. Megara Hyblaea was reportedly founded by Hyblon, a presumed mythological figure. Hybla remained linked to Syraka even after the latter adopted Greek customs and language.
As is common with the founding of ancient poleis, the founding of Syracuse is subject to differing opinions. Some sources, such as the Marmor Parium, date the founding act (ktisis) to 758 BC, while Thucydides suggests a later date of 733 BC. Others, such as Strabo, propose that Syracuse was colonized alongside Megara Hyblaea, Sybaris, and Crotone, implying a founding after 720 BC. Generally, Thucydides’ date of 733 BC is considered the most reliable.
The colonists who settled in the pre-existing Sicel settlement came from Corinth, in the Peloponnese. Greek historiography records that they were led by Archias of the Bacchiadae, who had ousted the Heracleidae to rule Corinth. These colonists were Dorians by lineage, having earlier invaded Greece and contributed to the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization, ushering in the Greek Dark Ages. The Doric dialect would characterize Syracuse in the centuries to come.
Archias also brought another lineage: most of the colonists on his ships were reportedly descendants of survivors of the Trojan War, originating from Tenea in Corinth. It has been suggested that the Teneans may have introduced the cult of the sun god Apollo to Syracuse.
Archias consulted the Oracle of Delphi, where the priestess of Apollo instructed him to settle on the island of Ortygia. An inscription found at Naxos, the oldest Greek colony in Sicily, reveals that the first colonists to land on Sicilian shores regarded Apollo as their protector, the Archegetes of Greek colonization in the West and "lord of the tribes." Different accounts exist regarding how and why Archias reached the Delphic oracle. According to Strabo, he visited it alongside Myscellus, the founder of Crotone. When the sibyl asked what he desired most for his future colony, Archias chose wealth (while Myscellus chose health), and the god granted him the land of Syracuse, whose wealth became legendary in the ancient world.
The island of Ortygia was linked by the first colonists to the lunar cult of Artemis. The name "Ortygia" recalls the homeland where the Titan Leto gave birth to the twins of Zeus, Apollo and Artemis. In antiquity, there were several places named Ortygia (today, only Syracuse's island retains the name). The Ortygia associated with the sacred birth later became known as Delos, the "luminous" island, while other Ortygias faded into history. The Sicilian Ortygia has often been associated with the Homeric Ortygia (Ὀρτυγίης), linked to a city called "Syria" (Συρίη), noted as the place "where the sun turns." It is also tied to Apollo and Artemis.
Although the location of Homer's passage remains uncertain due to the many homonymous Ortygias and Syrias in antiquity, some scholars consider the Homeric reference valid for tracing the origins of Syracuse's toponyms. For instance, it is widely accepted that "Ortygia" means "quail" in ancient Greek (ὄρτυξ), but it has been suggested that the name was given not for the bird's appearance but for its rotational movement, its rising at dawn, essentially as a "solar emblem." This could connect to the solar inversion mentioned by Homer. Another Homeric passage supports the idea of the sun's rebirth being tied to Ortygia, as it places the deeds of Eos, the goddess of dawn, within it.
Accounts of the colony's early life vary. It is presumed that there was initially peaceful coexistence between the Sicels and Greeks, which later turned to conflict when the colonists attempted to subjugate the indigenous population. Apart from anecdotes about Archias’ companions (Aethiopus, Melitutus, Bellerophon, Eumelus, and Telephus, who reportedly killed the Bacchiad after the founding) and a possible archaic Argive king who governed the new polis, there are no historical sources detailing the first two centuries of the colony's existence.
However, Syracuse appears early on the list of Western poleis that triumphed in the ancient Olympic games. In 648 BC, at the 33rd Olympiad, the Syracusan Lygdamis won the inaugural pankration competition (a discipline considered a precursor to martial arts), making Syracuse the second Western city to have its name recorded at the games in Olympia, following Crotone in 672 BC.
A deep connection existed between Syracuse and Olympia, the land of Elis and the mythical seat of the gods of Olympus. It was said that a cup thrown into the Alpheios in Olympia would resurface in the waters of Syracuse, and sacrifices performed in the same river would turn the Fountain of Arethusa red, symbolizing the bond between the Aegean and Sicilian lands. Arethusa was said to have originated in Olympia, as was her suitor Alpheus.
Archaeologists attribute the collapse of major Sicel centers, such as Pantalica, to Syracuse's expansion, which favored Greek culture over the Sicel civilization. The Syracusans established their first sub-colonies in the Hyblaean Mountains.
The earliest historical records of Greek Syracuse concern internal conflicts between the Killichirioi and the Geōmóroi. The former were descendants of the Sicels, representing the Hellenized popular class, while the latter descended from Corinthian colonists, becoming the landowning elite of the new polis. The Killichirioi succeeded in ousting the Geōmóroi from power, but the exiled Geōmóroi, in 485 BC, sought refuge in Gela, a powerful polis of Rhodian-Cretan origin, and requested aid from the ruling Deinomenid family.
Gela, under its tyrant Hippocrates, had previously attempted to seize Syracuse. In 492 BC, Hippocrates defeated the Syracusans in the Battle of the Helorus River, where Chromius of Aetna and Gelon of the Deinomenids distinguished themselves among Gela's ranks. Syracuse would have been at his mercy had Hippocrates not died attempting to conquer Hybla.
Before Hybla intervened, both Corinth and Corcyra reportedly acted to prevent the weak Corinthian colony from being occupied, negotiating with Gela by offering a Syracusan sub-colony, Kamarina, in exchange for peace, which then became part of Gela.
About a decade later, Gelon skillfully gained entry to Syracuse without force, mediating the dispute between the Killichirioi and Geōmóroi and securing his appointment as strategòs autokrátor, becoming the first tyrant of Syracuse. The seat of power shifted from Gela to Syracuse, though Gela remained independent.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Ancient Syracuse”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.