Syracuse

Prehistory

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 BC), 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.

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. …

Ancient era

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. Others, such as Strabo, propose that Syracuse was colonized alongside Megara Hyblaea, Sybaris, and Crotone, implying a founding after 720 BC. 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. It has been suggested that the Teneans may have introduced the cult of the sun god Apollo to Syracuse.

Archias consulted the Oracle of Delphi, where the priestess of Apollo instructed him to settle on the island of Ortygia. An inscription found at Naxos, the oldest Greek colony in Sicily, reveals that the first colonists to land on Sicilian shores regarded Apollo as their protector, the Archegetes of Greek colonization in the West and "lord of the tribes." Different accounts exist regarding how and why Archias reached the Delphic oracle. According to Strabo, he visited it alongside Myscellus, the founder of Crotone. When the sibyl asked what he desired most for his future colony, Archias chose wealth (while Myscellus chose health), and the god granted him the land of Syracuse, whose wealth became legendary in the ancient world. …

The Germanic Era

The Barbarian Invasions ultimately led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 4th century; Syracuse was one of the first imperial cities to experience the impact of these invasions: as early as 278/280, under Emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus, it was attacked and sacked by the Franks, who arrived from the Black Sea (this was a direct consequence of Marcus Aurelius Probus' struggles against the Germanic peoples, as by attacking them, he had relocated a large number of them from the North Sea to the Black Sea, ancient Pontus Euxinus, not expecting, however, that they would, in turn, attack the Sicilians). With the arrival of the Germanic Vandals, who began the conquest of Sicily around 440 AD, the city became part of the Germanic Vandal kingdom with its capital in Carthage. Subsequently, it became part of the kingdom of the Goths, who had previously conquered peninsular Italy.

The Byzantine era

After being part of the domains of Odoacer and the Goths, Syracuse became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, better known as the Byzantine Empire: conquered in 535 by General Belisarius, in the name of Emperor Justinian I, it returned under Greek influence, and given its strongly Hellenic past, this also meant a return to the hegemonic role granted by its geopolitical position, serving as a bridge between the Mediterranean West and East. In this context, during the early decades of the new Arab–Byzantine wars, in 663, Emperor Constans II decided to move the capital of the Empire from Constantinople (ancient Byzantium) to Syracuse.

The reasons behind this decision remain shrouded in mystery to this day: it seems that he intended to reconquer the lost western domains from there or, more likely, Syracuse was the base from which to prepare to confront the Arabs, who, starting with the prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, had conquered many lands, reaching from Syria to Tripoli, Libya. It was, therefore, a struggle for dominance over the entire Mediterranean.

Whatever the reason, the transfer of central power to Sicilian soil did not gain the favor of Constantinople: the city on the Bosphorus initially refused to allow the imperial family to leave for reunification with Constans II, and when he was killed by Mezezius - who declared himself or was declared emperor - in 669, it sent its armies to Syracuse, deploying soldiers from various parts of the Empire. Constantine IV, the legitimate heir to the throne, came to reclaim the crown and restore the imperial seat to New Rome. …