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.
Prehistory Neolithic
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 BCSilvano Vinceti, L'area marina protetta del Plemmirio, 2006, p. 20.), 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.Archaeologist Luigi Bernabò Brea writes:
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.Among the few traces found on the island that may illustrate a gradual internal transition from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic, thus bridging the rest of the island with the Syracuse area, is the Grotta dell'Uzzo in the Trapani area, which has yielded impressed pottery and, in its final phase, Stentinello-style ceramics.
Bronze and Iron Ages
Paolo Orsi identified the Stentinello people as older and distinct from the Sicels.Cf. Orsi in Rivista di storia antica e scienze affini, 1895, p. 86; Bullettino di paletnologia italiana, 1893, p. 16. 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.; Rosy Gennusa, L’evoluzione millenaria di uno stile. La civiltà del Bronzo castellucciana nella Sicilia meridionale, 2015, p. 13. 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.Maria Turco, La necropoli di Cassibile - Scavi Paolo Orsi 1897 e 1923, 2020, p. 9, n.7-8. At Thapsos, located just a few kilometers north of Stentinello, Mycenaean remains (dating to 1500 BC) have also been found.Piero Lo Sardo, Le vie del Mezzogiorno (ed. Giuseppe Barone), 2002, p. 12.
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.Malta in the Hybleans, the Hybleans in Malta - proc. int. conference, Catania, 30 September, Sliema 10 November 2006, 2008 .Luigi Bernabò Brea, Pantalica - Ricerche intorno all'anáktoron, 2020, p. 10, n. 19: 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.Infopoint - Siracusa nord; Sicilia: arte e archeologia dalla preistoria all'unità d'Italia, 2008, p. 55.
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),Antiochus of Syracuse FGrHist 555 F 9 in Dion. Hal., Antiquitates Romanae, I, 12, 3. 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,Philistus FGrHist 556 F 46. corresponding to 1364 BC.Atti della Accademia delle Scienze Fisiche e Matematiche di Napoli, vol. 2, 1888, p. 19, n. 5. 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,Hellanicus of Lesbos F 790 J. and F 79a-b. 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.Ettore Pais, Storia della Sicilia e della Magna Grecia, 1894, p. 95, n. 3.
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 sourcesIn the scholia of Callimachus, the term for Syracuse is reported in these two forms; translated from Greek: Συρακώ and Συρακούς. Cf. L'onomastica dell'Italia antica aspetti linguistici, storici, culturali, tipologici e classificatori, École française de Rome, 2009, p. 584 .), possibly derived from a marsh of the same nameStephanus of Byzantium (Gramm., Ethnica (epitome) v.s. Syrakousai) and Marcian of Heraclea (trans. Latin in Buonanni, Colonna, 1717, p. 137). See also Scholia in Callimachus, Scholia in Aetia (P. Berol. 11629 + P. Oxy. 18.2169; 19.2208, 2212; 20.2258 addenda, fragmenta inedita); Pseudo-Scymnus Geogr., Ad Nicomedem regem, vv. 1-980. or a similarly named watercourse (based on a report by Duris of Samos, who includes Syracuse among cities named after riversDuris Hist., Fragmenta (Müller).).
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.Luigi Bernabò Brea cited in .
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.Università degli studi di Roma, Istituto di paletnologia, Museo delle origini, Origini: preistoria e protostoria delle civiltà antiche, 1975, p. 114. Megara Hyblaea was reportedly founded by Hyblon, a presumed mythological figure.Luigi Bernabò Brea, Il crepuscolo del re Hyblon. Considerazioni sulla cronologia delle fondazioni di Leontinoi, Megara e Siracusa e sulla topografia della Megaride di Sicilia, in «La parola del passato», XXIII, 1968. Hybla remained linked to Syraka even after the latter adopted Greek customs and language.Numerous affinities between the Hyblaeans and Syracusans are recorded by ancient historians. For instance, Hybla was the only Sicel city that did not side with Ducetius when he sought to restore indigenous power and conquer Syracuse. Hybla also opposed Athens when it aimed to destroy Syracuse and assume control of the island. Additionally, Hybla (though it is unclear which Hybla) joined the Syracusans in the Panhellenic Games, offering statues to Greek gods, a significant novelty given the Greeks' strict policies toward foreigners.
Ancient era
Foundation 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.Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, VI, 3, 1. Others, such as Strabo, propose that Syracuse was colonized alongside Megara Hyblaea, Sybaris, and Crotone,Strabo, Geography, VI, 2, 4. implying a founding after 720 BC.Lorenzo Braccesi, Hesperia 9, L'ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER, 1998, . 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.So defined as Teneans in Aristotle (fr. 594 Rose) and Pausanias (II, 5, 4). Strabo links them to Archias’ Sicilian expedition (VIII 6, 22). It has been suggested that the Teneans may have introduced the cult of the sun god Apollo to Syracuse.Pausanias (Description of Greece, II, 5, 4) states that, as Trojans, the Teneans revered Apollo above all other gods, as he had supported the Trojans during the war. The Teneans may have transferred this Apollonian cult to their new polis in the West.