Some historical context: The Age of Greece, et alia

January 17, 2016

First the Phoenecians/Carthaginans; then the Greeks; then the Romans; then the Vandals; then the Ostrogoths; and finally the Byzantine Greeks. From the time that the Phoenecians arrived in about 1000 BC until the second Greek conquest in about 400 AD, Sicily seems to have been under a perpetual siege from one invading empire after another. Syracuse, the most important city on the island, had a particularly miserable fate, enduring the first and second Battle of Syracuse in the Pelopponesian Wars; a series of unsuccessful sieges by the Carthaginians; and the successful Siege of Syracuse by the Romans.

I highly recommend the book Seeking Sicily by John Keahey for a cultural perspective of the island and obviously a much better overview of the island's tortured history. Just as a thumbnail sketch of this period though, here are the high points on the timeline:

1000 BC: the Phoenecians arrive and start settling the western end of the island. About 815 BC they also establish Carthage in North Africa and initiate the Carthaginian Empire.

800 BC: Ancient Greek merchants arrive and begin colonizing parts of the island, primarily in the east. Before long, Syracuse is established and grows into the most important Greek city in Sicily. Carthage is still here too in the west, and for the next three hundred years they share a very uneasy dominance of the island.

Actually though it is more complicated than this because the Greeks on the island include both Athenians and Spartans, who are at war with each other. The island becomes a front in the Pelopponsian Wars, culminating with the utter destruction of the Athenians in the first and second Battle of Syracuse (a Spartan city) 415-413. It is the beginning of the end for Athens as a great power.

397-278 BC: Syracuse endures four different sieges by the Carthaginians, surviving them all. They get a helpful assist in this from an outbreak of the plague.

264-212 BC: the Romans enter the picture, and engage Carthage in the first Punic War. Rome is victorious, and wrests control of the island from both Carthage and Greece. Syracuse, the last Greek outpost, comes under siege in 414 and holds out until finally falling in 212. Archimedes, a citizen of Sicily, is killed in the defense of the city. For the next six hundred years Sicily is relatively stable, as the first province of the Roman Empire.

410-535 AD. The Roman Empire collapses. The Vandals, and then the Ostragoths and others take up the slack. In 535 the Greeks are back, but this time they are Byzantine, from Constantinople (Istanbul). Another three hundred years of relative stability ensue.

Archimedes and his wartime inventions a were key to the defense of Syracuse from the Romans. Here, he is torching warships with his burning mirror. I like this - mathematician as super hero.

The Claw of Archimedes - a sort of giant crane and grappling hook, to seize and capsize enemy warships.

Archimedes to the rescue again here. I'm not sure what's going on - catapults perhaps, or the claw.

So, what remains of all of this for the modern visitor to take in? First of course, Sicily has some of the best preserved Greek temples in the world. It would be reason enough to visit the island to see the theater at Syracuse, and the temples at the Valley of the Temples, Segesta and Selinunte.

There are also impressive remnants of the Roman Empire that somehow survived the last two millennia. In particular, we're anxious to see the amphitheater of Syracuse, and the remarkably well preserved mosaic floors at the Roman villa near Piazza Armerina - amazingly, the largest assemblage of Roman mosaics anywhere.

I doubt that the Vandals left anything in their wake but ruin, but I'm not sure about the Carthaginians. We'll keep our eyes peeled when we visit the west - maybe we'll find a carving of an elephant somewhere.

The Temple of Concord, Agrigento (downloaded from the net)

Temple E, Selinunte (downloaded from the net)

'Coronation of the winner', Villa Romana Del Casale (downloaded from the net)

The Roman necropolis, Pantalica (downloaded from the net)

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