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Syracuse
According to the Greek historian Thucidides, Corinthians led by Archias founded Syracuse about 734 BC. The Greeks displaced the Sicel inhabitants and settled on the island of Ortygia, the site of a fresh water spring. Ortygia protrudes into a deep bay, which gave Syracuse the best harbor in Sicily.
The city grew to become the wealthiest and most powerful of the Sicilian Greek city-states. Envious of this city-state's prosperity and influence, Athens attacked Syracuse under the command of Alcibiades in about 415 BC. With the help of the Spartans, the Sicilian colonists defeated the Athenians in about 413 BC.
During his rule, Hieron I (about 478-467 BC) hosted several famous poets in Syracuse: Aeschylus, Pindar, Simonides, and Bacchylides. Further emphasizing the city's cultural importance, other notable residents included the poets Theocritus (about 270 BC) and Moschus (about 200 BC). Perhaps Syracuse's most renowned native son was Archimedes (about 287-212 BC), the greatest mathematician of antiquity, renowned for his work in geometry.
This section of the exhibition contains objects from the Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum of Syracuse. The museum also includes important finds from other Greek cities in eastern Sicily.
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Agrigento
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