36 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Fhb. 



secure a safe return from tlieir voyage, of carrying from an altnr near 

 the Temple of Juno some ashes in a chalice, which, with flowers, 

 lioiiev, frankincense, and other aromatics, they cast into the sea as 

 soon as they were about to lose sight of this shield. The interior of 

 the walls of this temple were covered with paintings, amongst which 

 was an equestrian cumb it of King Agathocles, one of the most es- 

 teemed works of Syracusiin art ; this, with twenty-seven other ad- 

 mirable pictures, did the unscrupulous Verres carry awny. According 

 to tradition, Archimedes drew an equinoctial line in this tempi-, and 

 Mirabella savs that in 15i2 the commissioners appointed hy Pope 

 Gregory for'thi^ correction of the calendar came to Syracuse for the 

 purpose of examining it. This building has suffered much from 

 earthquakes, but I strongly suspect the band of man has been the 

 great destroyer : the modi'rn facade of the Borromini school forms a 

 strange mixiure with the rigid Uuric of the ancient [)eristyle. 



Of the Temple of Diana, two Doric coluini.s with a small portion 

 of entablature alone rem un. To judge of the ctf.'ct of them is no 

 very easy matter, for the columns are unfortunately encased by the 

 wal'lsof a modern dwelling, and the capitals are absolut.dy inclosed 

 in a wretched closet. Nolwitlistanding this sad modern degradation 

 of the great Diana's fane, these scanty remains possess cousiderable 

 degree of interest, as belonging to the most ancient teni|)le of Orty- 

 gia; and it is a curious circumstance, that the style of the columns, 

 with the bold swelling capital, strongly resembles the order at Co- 

 rinth, the mother city. The Selinus and Pffistuni examples have also 

 a great resemblance" to it. The intercolumniation must have been 

 very small, there being only 1 ft. 6^ in. between the abaci of the two 

 capitals. I am happy to state, that since my visit to Syracuse, the 

 Duke of Serradifalco' (a nobleman so well known to us all fur his suc- 

 cessful architectural researches in his native country, and for his con- 

 tributions to the library of the Institute), has discovered the lower 

 portions of these colui'nns. Near this temple stood the celebrated 

 Baths of Uai'hne, so named from a laurel grove sacred to Diana: the 

 spot is now called Bagnara, and many remains have been discovered 

 Dear it. 



The celebrated fountain of Arethusa next claims our attention. 

 This classic spot, sacred to the nymph to whom divine honours were 

 ofTered, and upon whose shrine even Hercules sacrificed, still pours 

 forth its abundant supply of fresh water as of old, bnt alas how dif- 

 ferent its present state I It is now the public washing place of the 

 town; and when 1 saw it, a number of Hungarian soldiers were 

 lounging about it, enjoying their merschaums, unconscious of the fame 

 of the spot, or of the gibes and wit that the Syracusan laundresses 

 were indulging in at their expense. 



According to Diodorus, the celebrated building, the palace of sixty 

 couches, which in magnitude and splendour wa* so superior to the 

 temples, that the gods, from jealousy, are said to have destroyed it 

 by thunder, was situate in Ortygia.' This, together with the palace 

 and gardens of Dionysius, the citadel surrendered by Dionysius to 

 Timoleon, the Palace' of Hiero, afterwards the residence of the Ro- 

 man prffitor and proconsuls, and the workshops of the in amous 

 Verres, have all disappeared, and their sites are now occupied with 

 modern fortifications, and narrow streets of miserable dwellings. 



I now proceed to the adjoining quarter of the city, called Acradina, 

 described by Cicero "as the second city, containing a spacious forum, 

 a beautiful portico, and an ornamental prytaueum, or public hall, from 

 which W>rres stole the inimitable statue of Sappho, the great work 

 of Silanion." Of these buildings there are now no existing remains. 

 It is, however, probable that the Church of San Giovanni occupies 

 the site of an ancient temple; and Mr. Hughes, in his admirable and 

 elaborate description of the city, supposes it to have been the Temple 

 of Jupiter, in which Hiero suspended the Gallic and lllyrian spoils 

 presented by him to the Roman senate; and from a passage in wliich 

 Cicero upbraids Verres for allowing a piratical corsair to s.dl into 

 the port, and penetrate up to the very forum, we may infer that the 

 forum was placed near the Isthmus. 



In this quarter of Acradina are several of those Latomise, or stone 

 quarries, which are su numerous in Syracuse. The most remarkable 

 one is perhaps tlie one attached to the Cainichin convent, and now 

 converted into a garden, forming one of the most beautilul and retired 

 spots tliat possibly could be selected for devotional study. 



There are also various subterraneous rt^mains in this quarter, with 

 vaults constructed of earthern Jiots and the ruins of a bath excavated 

 l)v Landolina, in 18)1, in which was lound the beautiful Torso of 

 Venus, now forming the most valuable specimen of ancient sculpture 

 to be found in the museum of the modern city. 



The celebrated catacombs are in the quarter Acradina, and whether 

 they are the works of the Syracusans previous to the Roman con- 

 quest by Marcellus, or subsecjuent to that period, is still a matter of 

 conjecture. Mr. Hughes is inclined to attribute thera to the Uumaus. 



At all events they are prodigious works. Denon describes them as a 

 perfect subterranean city. The principal street or avenue in the 

 catacombs is about eighteen feet wide and ten high, with numerous 

 recesses and chambers on either side, with separate receptacles for 

 the bodies, in one of which I counted no less than fifteen divisions. 

 Swinburn relates that be s iw a gold coin of the time of Icetas jiist 

 taken out of the jaws of a body found in a tomb here ; this must have 

 been the Naulon, or Charon's fare. 



Along the main street, at intervening distances, are transTerse 

 streets, forming at their intersections square and circular apartments, 

 which are generally vaulted, and in some of them are conical aper- 

 tures for light and air. Around these chambers are numerous re- 

 cesses, symmetrically formed. In some parts the walls are covered 

 with fine stucco, and there are the remains of painting, with mono- 

 grams and symbalical devices, the works probably of the early Chris- 

 tians. An old Capuchin monk acted as our cicerone in going through 

 the catacombs, and the elfect of his slow and solemn step, and the 

 glare of the torches through this city of the dead, will not be readily 

 efface<l from my memory. 



Of the walls of Acradina there are still remaining considerabla 

 vestiges, and the rock itself is in some places formed into battle- 

 ments. 



Not far from a gap in the rock, called ScalaGraeca, where tlie quar* 

 ter of Acradina terminated, and that of Tycha commenced, may be 

 traced one of the principal gates of ancient Syracuse, and whicli, like 

 some of the otiier gateways, was admirably contrived for defence, 

 the assailants being forced to expose their right side, which was un- 

 protected by the shield, to a great length of wall, and the missiles of 

 its defenders. 



From Scala GrsEca a broad road traversed the city to the point 

 Ortygia, lined on each side by strong wails and towers. Fazello 

 states, that a little beyond it, in the quarter of Tycha, stood the town 

 called Galeagra, where a Roman soldier, during the conferences of 

 Epycedes and Marcellus, by numbering the courses of stone and com» 

 puting their heiglit, found the wall much lower than common opinion, 

 and scalable by the ordinary la<lders. By these means Marcellus took 

 the city in the night, during a festival of Diana, when the inhabitants, 

 more attentive to their superstitious observances than the means of 

 defence, were in a state of great iiitosicition. 



The quarter, Tycha, is described by Cicero as the tliird city; and 

 he says it was so named from the Temple of Fortune within its pre- 

 cincts, and that it contained a spacious Gymnasium, and many sacred 

 edifices. Of this once splendid quarter of the city little naw remains, 

 excepting large sepulchres cut in the rocKs, channels of aqueducts, 

 and vestiges of tlu^ city walls. To account for so large a sp ice being 

 so completely cleared of the remains of the numerous buildings which 

 formerly occupied it, one is almost led to the supposition that, from 

 the facility of transport given by the immediate vicinity of the port, 

 the materials must have been transported to other shores, 



Neanolis is the fourth quarter of the city mentioned by Cicero, and, 

 as its name implies, was the last built. It was adorned with a theatre 

 of vast dimensions, two superb temples — one of Ceres and another of 

 Proserpine — and a very beautiful colossal statute oS ^jjoIIo Tcintntles, 



The theatre is perhaps the most perfect of all the ancient buildings 

 of Syracuse. It was the largest in Sicily, and is computed to have 

 contained 3u,000 persons. Its situation, on a rising ground, commands 

 a magnificent view over the ports and surrounding country. The 

 greater portion of the seats are cut out of the living rock. 



In my examination of this edifice I had the great advantage to pos- 

 sess the elaborate and careful studies made in the previous year by 

 Professor Donaldson; and as these have been given in so admirable 

 a manner by that accomplished architect, in the supplementary volume 

 of "Stewart's Athens," It is unnecessary for me to attempt a further 

 d scriptiou of a work already so familiar to the members of this In- 

 stitute. 



Above the theatre are numerous excavations in the rocks, remains 

 of water courses, streets, and sepulchres. One, more perfect than the 

 rest, is called the Tomb of Archimedes ; and although the sepulchral 

 stele, with the sphere and cylinder carved upon it, are no lunger to 

 be found to authenticate its identity, one feels umvilling to doubt that 

 this must be tue very monument discovered by Cicero, and ptouounced 

 by him as the sepulchre of the immortal Archimedes. 



Not far from the theatre are tile remains of au amphitheatre, which 

 was also in part excavated from the platform of living ruck. The 

 arena, seats, corridors, podium, 'subterrauean cells, and waier-ducts 

 are still easily traceable. The construction is evidently Roman. 



The extensive quarries, or LatomisE, are principally in this quarti r 

 of the lily. They are said to have been exjavaied by the Athenian 

 prisoners, and afterwards used as places of cunfinenient. No greater 

 contrast can be imagined than their former with their present state; 



