Syracuse

Sister cities

• Erchie
• Perugia
• Stockholm Municipality
• Corinth

History

Excavations in the area have established that the region where Syracuse arose was inhabited continuously from the Neolithic period: the so-called "Stentinello culture," named after the coastal site north of Syracuse, is particularly significant, with artifacts dating back to 6000 BC. The city of Syrakousai was founded by the Corinthians in 733 BC (according to the Thucydidean dating). The leader of the new colonists was the oekist Archias, and their landing place was the island of Ortygia, from which they expelled the Sicels, the previous inhabitants of the area. The new Corinthian colony grew rapidly and subjugated nearby territories. Throughout its centuries-long Greek history, Syracuse had a long line of tyrants and brief periods of popular rule, mostly under oligarchy. Among the numerous men who governed the polis, six stood out in the ancient world for their ingenuity, fame, and power: Gelon, Hiero I, Dionysius I, Agathocles, and Hiero II, alongside the moderate oligarchic rule of the Corinthian general Timoleon, which lasted about a decade. These leaders dominated much of Sicily, extending Syracusan presence within the Magna Graecia, and influenced the broader Mediterranean, colonizing and establishing strategic commercial outposts (such as the ) or subjugating cities they encountered to thwart enemies (e.g., Agathocles with his ). Syracuse was the main rival of the Phoenician capital, Carthage, which, occupying the western part of the island (called the Punic eparchy), gave rise to the Greco-Punic Wars. These two influential metropolises, through a series of peace treaties and renewed battles, fiercely shaped the entire history of Greek Sicily. In addition to internal conflicts with other Siceliot poleis and Barbarians (e.g., the war against Akragas and the…

Geography

Syracuse is located on the southeastern side of Sicily. Its geography is highly varied, featuring hills and natural caves, while two rivers flow along its southwestern edge. The city is predominantly bordered by the sea, which surrounds it almost entirely. The coast is mostly rocky and jagged, with various promontories, bays, small islands, and peninsulas. The city is partly located on the island of Ortygia and partly on the mainland (the entire area lies within the island of Sicily). Its unique geographical position has made it famous for its sunsets (thanks to the zenith angles from which they are observed, they have been described for millennia as among the most beautiful in the world). The configuration of the southern coast creates a vast natural inlet within which the Great Harbor is located: approximately 1,200 meters from the tip of Ortygia lies Cape Murro di Porco, a promontory of the Maddalena Peninsula, locally referred to simply as Isola (in reference to the toponym of a district on its eastern coast, whose origin is tied to a former, no longer existing condition of insularity). To the north of the city lies another promontory: Cape Santa Panagia, where the third port of Syracuse, the Trogilo, is believed to have been located. The city faces the central Mediterranean Sea, surrounded by the basin of the Ionian Sea. Syracuse lends its name to the southeastern Sicilian escarpment, known as the "Malta and Syracuse Escarpment" (also called the "Hyblaean-Maltese Escarpment"), which is primarily responsible for the area's high seismicity. This escarpment extends east of the Syracuse territory, into the depths of the Ionian Sea, as far as the island of Malta. * Seismic classification: Zone 1 (high seismicity), PCM Ordinance No. 3274 of 20 March 2003,…