Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 2 of 2)

Syracuse was founded about seven hundred and thirty-two years before the Christian era, by a Corinthian named Archias; one of the Heraclidæ.

The two first ages of its history are very obscure; it does not begin to be known till after the age of Gelon, and furnishes in the sequel many great events for the space of more than two hundred years. During all that time it exhibits a perpetual alternation of slavery under the tyrants, and liberty under a popular government, till Syracuse is at length subjected to the Romans, and makes part of their empire.

The Carthaginians, in concert with Xerxes, having attacked the Greeks who inhabited Sicily, whilst that prince was employed in making an irruption into Greece, Gelon, who had made himself master of Syracuse, obtained a celebrated victory over the Carthaginians, the very day of the battle of Thermopylæ.

Gelon, upon returning from his victory, repaired to the assembly without arms or guards, to give the people an account of his conduct. He was chosen king unanimously. He reigned five or six years, solely employed in the truly royal care of making his people happy.

Gelon is said to have been the first man who became more virtuous by being raised to a throne. He was eminent for honesty, truth, and sincerity; he never wronged the meanest of his subjects, and never promised a thing which he did not perform.

Hiero, the eldest of Gelon’s brothers, succeeded him. The beginning of his reign was worthy of great praise. Simonides and Pindar celebrated him in emulation of each other. The latter part of it, however, did not answer the former. He reigned eleven years.

Thrasybulus, his brother, succeeded him. He rendered himself odious to all his subjects, by his vices and cruelty. They expelled him the throne and city, after a reign of one year.

After his expulsion, Syracuse and all Sicily enjoyed their liberty for the space of almost sixty years.

During this interval, the Athenians, animated by the warm exhortations of Alcibiades, turned their arms against Syracuse; this was in the sixth year of the Peloponnesian war. This event was fatal to the Athenians.

The reign of Dionysius the Elder is famous for its length of thirty-eight years, and still more for the extraordinary events with which it was attended.

Dionysius, son of the elder Dionysius, succeeded him. He contracted a particular intimacy with Plato, and had frequent conversations with him. He did not long improve from the wise precepts of that philosopher, but soon abandoned himself to all the vices and excesses which attend tyranny.

Besieged by Dion, he escaped from Sicily, and retired into Italy, where he was assassinated in his house by Callippus.

Thirteen months after the death of Dion, Hipparinus, brother of Dionysius the Younger, expelled Callippus, and established himself in Syracuse. During the two years of his reign, Sicily was agitated by great commotions.

Dionysius the Younger, taking advantage of these troubles, reascends the throne ten years after having quitted it. At last, reduced by Timoleon, he retires to Corinth. Here he preserved some semblance of his former tyranny, by turning schoolmaster, and exercising a discipline over boys, when he could no longer tyrannise over men. He had learning, and was once a scholar to Plato, whom he caused to come again into Sicily, notwithstanding the unworthy treatment he had met with from Dionysius’s father. Philip, king of Macedon, meeting him in the streets of Corinth, and asking him how he came to lose so considerable a principality as had been left him by his father, he answered, that his father had indeed left him the inheritance, but not the fortune which had preserved both himself and that; however, Fortune did him no great injury, in replacing him on the dunghill, from which she had raised his father.

Timoleon restored liberty to Syracuse. He passed the rest of his life there in a glorious retirement, beloved and honoured by all the citizens and strangers.

This interval of liberty was of no long duration. Agathocles, in a short time, makes himself tyrant of Syracuse. He commits unparalleled cruelties. He forms one of the boldest designs related in history, carries the war into Africa, makes himself master of the strongest places, and ravages the whole country. After various events, he perishes miserably, after a reign of about twenty-eight years259.

Syracuse took new life again for some time, and tasted with joy the sweets of liberty. But she suffered much from the Carthaginians, who disturbed her tranquillity by continual wars. She called in Pyrrhus to her aid. The rapid success of his arms at first gave him great hopes, which soon vanished. Pyrrhus, by a sudden retreat, plunged the Syracusans into new misfortunes. They were not happy and in tranquillity till the reign of Hiero II., which was very long, and almost always pacific.

Hieronymus scarce reigned one year. His death was followed with great troubles, and the taking of Syracuse by Marcellus.

Of this celebrated siege, since it was the ruin of Syracuse, it is our duty to give some account.

“The Romans carrying on their attacks at two different places, Syracuse was in great consternation, and apprehended that nothing could oppose so terrible a power, and such mighty efforts; and it had indeed been impossible to have resisted them, without the assistance of a single man, whose wonderful industry was every thing to the Syracusans – this was Archimedes. He had taken care to supply the walls with all things necessary to a good defence. As soon as his machines began to play on the land-side, they discharged upon the infantry all sorts of darts, and stones of enormous weight, which flew with so much noise, force, and rapidity, that nothing could oppose their shock. They beat down and dashed to pieces all before them.

“Marcellus succeeded no better on the side of the sea. Archimedes had disposed his machines in such a manner as to throw darts to any distance. Though the enemy lay far from the city, he reached them with his larger and more forcible balistæ and catapultæ. When they overshot their mark, he had smaller, proportioned to the distance, which put the Romans into such confusion as made them incapable of attempting any thing.

“This was not the greatest danger. Archimedes had placed lofty and strong machines behind the walls, which suddenly letting fall vast beams, with an immense weight at the end of them, upon the ships, sunk them to the bottom. Besides this, he caused an iron grapple to be let out by a chain; the person who guided the machine having caught hold of the head of a ship with this hook, by the means of a weight let down within the walls, it was lifted up and set upon its stern, and held so for some time; then, by letting go the chain either by a wheel or a pulley, it was let fall again with its whole weight either on its head or side, and often entirely sunk. At other times the machines dragging the ship towards the shore by cords and hooks, after having made it whirl about a great while, dashed it to pieces against the points of the rocks which projected under the walls, and thereby destroyed all within it. Galleys, frequently seized and suspended in the air, were whirled about with rapidity, exhibiting a dreadful sight to the spectators; after which they were let fall into the sea, and sunk to the bottom, with all that were in them.

“Marcellus, almost discouraged, and at a loss what to do, retired as fast as possible with his galleys, and sent orders to his land forces to do the same. He called also a council of war, in which it was resolved the next day, before sun-rise, to endeavour to approach the walls. They were in hopes by this means to shelter themselves from the machines, which, for want of a distance proportioned to their force, would be rendered ineffectual.

“But Archimedes had provided against all contingencies. He had prepared machines long before, as we have already observed, that carried to all distances a proportionate quantity of darts, and ends of beams, which being very short, required less time for preparing them, and in consequence were more frequently discharged. He had besides made small chasms or loop-holes in the walls at little distances, where he had placed scorpions, which, not carrying far, wounded those who approached, without being perceived but by that effect.

“When the Romans, according to their design, had gained the foot of the walls, and thought themselves well covered, they found themselves exposed either to an infinity of darts, or overwhelmed with stones, which fell directly upon their heads; there being no part of the wall which did not continually pour that mortal hail upon them. This obliged them to retire. But they were no sooner removed than a new discharge of darts overtook them in their retreat; so that they lost great numbers of men, and almost all their galleys were disabled or beat to pieces, without being able to revenge their loss in the least upon their enemies: for Archimedes had planted most of his machines in security behind the walls; and the Romans, says Plutarch, repulsed by an infinity of wounds, without seeing the place or hand from which they came, seemed to fight in reality with the gods.

“Marcellus, though at a loss what to do, and not knowing how to oppose the machines of Archimedes, could not, however, forbear pleasantries upon them. ‘Shall we persist,’ said he to his workmen and engineers, ‘in making war with this Briareus of a geometrician, who treats my galleys and sambucæ so rudely? He infinitely exceeds the fabled giants with their hundred hands, in his perpetual and surprising discharges upon us.’ Marcellus had reason for referring to Archimedes only; for the Syracusans were really no more than the members of the engines and machines of that great geometrician, who was himself the soul of all their powers and operations. All other arms were unemployed; for the city at that time made use of none, either defensive or offensive, but those of Archimedes.

“Marcellus at length renounced his hopes of being able to make a breach in the place, gave over his attacks, and turned the siege into a blockade. The Romans conceived they had no other resource than to reduce the great number of people in the city by famine, in cutting off all provisions that might be brought to them either by sea or land. During the eight months in which they besieged the city, there were no kind of stratagems which they did not invent, nor any actions of valour left untried, almost to the assault, which they never dared to attempt more. So much force, on some occasions, have a single man, and a single science, when rightly applied.

“A burning glass is spoken of, by means of which Archimedes is said to have burned part of the Roman fleet.

“In the beginning of the third campaign, Marcellus almost absolutely despairing of being able to take Syracuse, either by force, because Archimedes continually opposed him with invincible obstacles, or famine, as the Carthaginian fleet, which was returned more numerous than before, easily threw in convoys, deliberated whether he should continue before Syracuse to push the siege, or turn his endeavours against Agrigentum. But before he came to a final determination, he thought proper to try whether he could make himself master of Syracuse by some secret intelligence.

“This, too, having miscarried, Marcellus found himself in new difficulties. Nothing employed his thoughts but the shame of raising a siege, after having consumed so much time, and sustained the loss of so many men and ships in it. An accident supplied him with a resource, and gave new life to his hopes. Some Roman vessels had taken one Damippus, whom Epicydes had sent to negociate with Philip king of Macedon. The Syracusans expressed a great desire to ransom this man, and Marcellus was not averse to it. A place near the port Trogilus was agreed on for the conferences concerning the ransom of the prisoner. As the deputies went thither several times, it came into a Roman soldier’s thoughts to consider the wall with attention. After having counted the stones, and examined with his eye the measure of each of them, upon a calculation of the height of the wall, he found it to be much lower than it was believed, and concluded, that with ladders of a moderate size it might be easily scaled. Without loss of time he related the whole to Marcellus. Marcellus did not neglect this advice, and assured himself of its reality with his own eyes. Having caused ladders to be prepared, he took the opportunity of a festival that the Syracusans celebrated for three days in honour of Diana, during which the inhabitants gave themselves up entirely to rejoicing and good cheer. At the time of night when he conceived that the Syracusans, after their debauch, began to fall asleep, he made a thousand chosen troops, in profound silence, advance with their ladders to the wall. When the first got to the top without noise or tumult, the others followed, encouraged by the boldness and success of their leaders. These thousand soldiers, taking the advantage of the enemy’s stillness, who were either drunk or asleep, soon scaled the wall.

“It was then no longer time to deceive, but terrify the enemy. The Syracusans, awakened by the noise, began to rouse, and to prepare for action. Marcellus made all his trumpets sound together, which so alarmed them, that all the inhabitants fled, believing every quarter of the city in the possession of the enemy. The strongest and best part, however, called Achradina, was not yet taken, because separated by its walls from the rest of the city.

“All the captains and officers with Marcellus congratulated him upon this extraordinary success. For himself, when he had considered from an eminence the loftiness, beauty, and extent of that city, he is said to have shed tears, and to have deplored the unhappy condition it was upon the point of experiencing.

“As it was then autumn, there happened a plague, which killed great numbers in the city, and still more in the Roman and Carthaginian camps. The distemper was not excessive at first, and proceeded only from the bad air and season; but afterwards the communication with the infected, and even the care taken of them, dispersed the contagion; from whence it happened that some, neglected and absolutely abandoned, died of the violence of the malady, and others received help, which became fatal to those who brought it. Nothing was heard night and day but groans and lamentations. At length, the being accustomed to the evil had hardened their hearts to such a degree, and so far extinguished all sense of compassion in them, that they not only ceased to grieve for the dead, but left them without interment. Nothing was to be seen every where but dead bodies, exposed to the view of those who expected the same fate. The Carthaginians suffered much more from it than the others. As they had no place to retire to, they almost all perished, with their generals Hippocrates and Himilcon. Marcellus, from the breaking out of the disease, had brought his soldiers into the city, where the roofs and shade was of great relief to them; he lost, however, no inconsiderable number of men.

“Amongst those, who commanded in Syracuse, there was a Spaniard named Mericus: him a means was found to corrupt. He gave up the gate near the fountain Arethusa to soldiers sent by Marcellus in the night to take possession of it. At day-break the next morning, Marcellus made a false attack at Achradina, to draw all the forces of the citadel and the isle adjoining to it, to that side, and to facilitate the throwing some troops into the isle, which would be unguarded, by some vessels he had prepared. Every thing succeeded according to his plan. The soldiers, whom those vessels had landed in the isle, finding almost all the posts abandoned, and the gates by which the garrison of the citadel had marched out against Marcellus still open, they took possession of them after a slight encounter.

“The Syracusans opened all their gates to Marcellus, and sent deputies to him with instructions to demand nothing further from him than the preservation of the lives of themselves and their children. Marcellus having assembled his council, and some Syracusans who were in his camp, gave his answer to the deputies in their presence: – ‘That Hiero, for fifty years, had not done the Roman people more good than those who have been masters of Syracuse some years past had intended to do them harm; but that their ill-will had fallen upon their own heads, and they had punished themselves for their violation of treaties in a more severe manner than the Romans could have desired. That he had besieged Syracuse during three years; not that the Roman people might reduce it into slavery, but to prevent the chiefs of the revolters from continuing it under oppression. That he had undergone many fatigues and dangers in so long a siege, but that he thought he had made himself ample amends by the glory of having taken that city, and the satisfaction of having saved it from the entire ruin it seemed to deserve.’ After having placed a guard upon the treasury, and safe-guards in the houses of the Syracusans, who had withdrawn into his camp, he abandoned the city to be plundered by the troops. It is reported that the riches which were pillaged in Syracuse at this time exceeded all that could have been expected at the taking of Carthage itself.”

The chronicles of Syracuse260 commemorate endless and bitter dissentions among the several ranks of citizens, the destruction of liberty by tyrants, their expulsion and re-establishment, victories over the Carthaginians, and many noble struggles to vindicate the rights of mankind; till the fatal hour arrived, when the Roman leviathan swallowed all up. Inglorious peace and insignificance were afterwards, for many ages, the lot of Syracuse; and, probably, the situation was an eligible one, except in times of such governors as Verres. At length, Rome herself fell in her turn, a prey to conquest, and barbarians divided her ample spoils. The Vandals seized upon Sicily; but it was soon wrested from them by Theodoric the Goth; and at his death, fell into the hands of the Eastern emperor. Totila afflicted Syracuse with a long but fruitless siege: yet it was not so well defended against the Saracens. These cruel enemies took it twice, and exercised the most savage barbarities on the wretched inhabitants. They kept possession of it two hundred years, and made an obstinate resistance against Earl Roger, in this fortress, which was one of the last of their possessions, that yielded to his victorious arms.

“It is truly melancholy,” says Mr. Brydone, “to think of the dismal contrast, that its former magnificence makes with its present meanness. The mighty Syracuse, the most opulent and powerful of all the Grecian cities, which, by its own strength alone, was able at different times to contend against all the power of Carthage and of Rome, in which it is recorded to have repulsed fleets of 2000 sail, and armies of 200,000 men; and contained within its walls, what no other city ever did before or since, fleets and armies that were the terror of the world: – this haughty and magnificent city is reduced even below the consequence of the most insignificant borough.”

In its most flourishing state Syracuse, according to Strabo, extended twenty-two and a half English miles in circumference261, and was divided into four districts; each of which was, as it were, a separate city, fortified with three citadels, and three-fold walls.

Of the four cities262 that composed this celebrated city, there remains only Ortygia, by much the smallest, situated in the island of that name. It is about two miles round. The ruins of the other three are computed at twenty-two miles in circumference. The walls of these are every where built with broken marbles, covered over with engravings and inscriptions; but most of them defaced and spoiled. The principal remains of antiquity are a theatre and amphitheatre, many sepulchres, the Latomie, the catacombs, and the famous Ear of Dionysius, which it was impossible to destroy. The Latomie now forms a noble subterraneous garden, and is, indeed, a very beautiful and romantic spot. The whole is hewn out of a rock as hard as marble, composed entirely of a concretion of gravel, shells, and other marine bodies; and many orange, bergamot, and fig trees, grow out of the hard rock, where there is no mark of any soil.

There are many remains of temples. The Duke of Montalbano, who has written on the antiquities of Syracuse, reckons nearly twenty; but few of these now are distinguishable. A few fine columns of that of Jupiter Olympius still remain; and the temple of Minerva (now converted into the cathedral of the city, and dedicated to the Virgin) is almost entire.

There are some remains, also, of Diana’s temple, near to the church of St. Paul; but they are not remarkable.

The palace of Dionysius, his tomb, the baths of Daphnis, and other ancient buildings, and all their statues and paintings263, have disappeared; but the Ear, of which history speaks so loud, still remains. It is no less a monument of the ingenuity and magnificence, than of the cruelty of the tyrant. It is a huge cavern, cut out of the hard rock, exactly in the form of the human ear. The perpendicular height of it is about eighty feet, and the length is no less than two hundred and fifty. The cavern was said to be so contrived, that every sound, made in it, was collected and united into one point as into a focus. This was called the tympanum; and exactly opposite to it the tyrant had made a hole, communicating with a little apartment, in which he used to conceal himself. He applied his own ear to this hole, and is said to have heard distinctly every word that was spoken in the cavern below. This apartment was no sooner finished, than he put to death all the workmen that had been employed in it. He then confined all those that he suspected of being his enemies; and by hearing their conversation judged of their guilt, and condemned or acquitted accordingly.

The holes in the rock, to which the prisoners were chained, still remain, and even the lead and iron in several of the holes.

The cathedral264, now dedicated to Our Lady of the Pillar, was the temple of Minerva, on the summit of which her statue was fixed; holding a broad, refulgent shield. Every Syracusan, that sailed out of the port, was bound by his religion to carry honey, flowers, and ashes, which he threw into the sea, the instant he lost sight of the buckler. This was to ensure a safe return. The temple is built in the Doric proportions, used in the rest of Sicily. Its exterior dimensions are one hundred and eighty-five feet in length, and seventy-five in breadth.

The amphitheatre265 is in the form of a very eccentric ellipse; but the theatre is so entire, that most of the seats still remain.

The great harbour ran into the heart of the city, and was called “Marmoreo,” because it was entirely encompassed with buildings of marble. Though the buildings are gone, the harbour exists in all its beauty. It is capable of receiving vessels of the greatest burden, and of containing a numerous fleet. Although at present this harbour is entirely neglected, it might easily be rendered a great naval and commercial station.

The catacombs are a great work; not inferior either to those of Rome or Naples, and in the same style.

There was also a prison, called Latomiæ, a word signifying a quarry. Cicero has particularly described this dreadful prison, which was a cave dug out of the solid rock, one hundred and twenty-five paces long, and twenty feet broad, and almost one hundred feet below the surface of the earth. Cicero, also, reproaches Verres with imprisoning Roman citizens in this place; which was the work of Dionysius, who caused those to be shut up in it, who had the misfortune to have incurred his displeasure. It is now a noble subterranean garden.

The fountain of Arethusa266 also still exists. It was dedicated to Diana, who had a magnificent temple near its banks, where great festivals were annually celebrated in honour of that goddess. It is indeed an astonishing fountain, and rises at once out of the earth to the size of a river: and many of the people believe, even to this day, that it is the identical river, Arethusa, that was said to have sunk under ground near Olympia in Greece, and, continuing its course five hundred or six hundred miles below the ocean, rose again in this spot.267

NO. XXXVIII. – THEBES

The glory of Thebes belongs to a period, prior to the commencement of authentic history. It is recorded only by the divine light of poetry and tradition, which might be suspected as fable, did not such mighty witnesses remain to attest the truth. A curious calculation, made from the rate of increase of deposition by the Nile, corroborated by other evidence, shows however that this city must have been founded four thousand seven hundred and sixty years ago, or two thousand nine hundred and thirty before Christ. There are the ruins of a temple, bearing an inscription, stating that it was founded by Osymandyas, who reigned, according to M. Champollion, two thousand two hundred and seventy years before Christ.