Eurialos Castle

Tuesday was pretty boring, because we didn't have a site to visit. We had a morning lecture on the prehistoric pottery of Sicily and an evening lecture on digital archaeology. While they both were interesting, I much rather preferred to have been out exploring and sight-seeing. Anyway, yesterday was much better. We visited the Eurialos Castle, which is the only Greco-Roman castle that is left. It was built after the Athenian Expedition of 415-413 BC and lasted until the Romans took control of Syracuse (as well as Sicily) in 212 BC. The castle was heavily fortified with 3 trenches and a retractable drawbridge. It had numerous platforms where catapults, invented by Archimedes in the 3rd century BC, were held. There also was a system of galleries that allowed access underground from inside the castle to the outside. The castle was awesome, but it was an extremely hot day, so I was glad to get back to Ortigia. Last night I played a pick-up game of soccer and then went to see the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, two days before anyone else in the states! It was dubbed over in Italian, though, but I knew the plot very well, and there were many action scenes, making it very easy to follow. It is my favorite so far, and I am so pumped to see the English version in a few weeks! Today was another boring day. I woke up real early to do my readings for a quiz today, since I stayed out late to see Harry Potter and didn't finish it earlier in the day. Then, we had a lecture on the prehistoric religion of Sicily. If you haven't guessed, my professor is an expert in prehistoric Sicily. While this topic is intriguing, I would much rather learn about Classical and Hellenistic Sicily. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent relaxing, doing errands online and watching the Godfather Part II.

Archaeological Park of Neopolis

Today, we visited the Archaeological Park of Neopolis, which was the western district of Ancient Syracuse that contains the most impressive ruins. As we entered the Archaeological Park, we first saw the Roman Amphitheater. Only the bottom level is left, but at one point it was one of the biggest amphitheaters in the Roman world. Next, we passed by the remains of the Altar of Hieron II. It was built in the 3rd century BC by the tyrant Hieron II and dedicated to Zeus. Then, we entered the massive stone quarries, where all the stone came from that used for most of the architecture in ancient Syracuse. One of the quarries is known as the "Ear of Dionysius", because the tyrant Dionysius I in the 4th century BC was said to have stood on top and listened to the conversations of his prisoners who were being imprisoned in the cave. We then proceeded  to see the Greek theatre, which was the second largest in the Greek world behind that which is found at Epidauros, Greece. Famous playwrights such as Aeschylus and Euripides had their plays performed there. In fact, modern dramas are still performed in it every summer. Behind the theatre is the base of what used to be a temple dedicated to Demeter and Persephone. Flanking this temple to the left and right are caves, in which the actors would have practiced before the plays. To the bottom right hand corner of the theatre are the remains of a temple dedicated to Apollo, to whom the entire sanctuary was dedicated as well. Afterwards, we headed back to Ortigia, and I finished my readings for a quiz tomorrow. Since I still wasn't feeling well, I decided to watch the Godfather Part I, which I thought was appropriate, since the Mafia originated in Sicily. It was my first time seeing Part I, and I absolutely loved it!

Ortigia/Weekend at Giardini Naxos

On Friday we took our second tour around Ortigia, this time seeing the archaic and classical sites. First, we visited the ionic Temple of Artemis. The remains actually are found beneath a modern government building. However, we received special access and descended underground to view the remains of the temple. Then, we saw the doric Temple of Athena, which sat right beside it. This temple was turned into a church in the 6th century AD and a Catholic Cathedral after the Norman conquest of the 13th century, allowing the preservation of many doric columns, which can be seen from both the inside and outside. Then, we saw the remains of the Temple of Apollo, which are actually found outside. Only about 2 columns stand upright, but the base of the temple and many other columns are still available. Finally, we visited the Fountain of Arethusa. According to mythology, the nymph Arethusa was turned into this fountain by Artemis along with the river god Asopus who was lusting after her. This fountain was a very important source of portable water for the ancient Syracusans. After our tour of Ortigia, I hopped on a bus to visit the beach at Giardini Naxos for the weekend. On Friday evening I visited the lovely city of Taormina, which is just north of Giardini Naxos. The second largest theater in Sicily, dating to the Hellenistic Period, can be found here. With Mt. Etna in the background it is an absolutely amazing view. Later that evening, I had a pasta with shrimp, mussels and octopus, which might be the best pasta I have ever consumed! Yesterday, I visited the archaeological site of Naxos, the first Greek colony established on Sicily in 734 BC. The remains are scanty, but the significance of this place still hit me as I walked through the site. It was colonized right on the beach shore for commercial reasons. Afterwards, I checked out the small museum. Then, I headed to the beach, which turned out to be a bad decision, because that evening I came down with a pretty intense fever. Thus, this morning, I checked out earlier than expected and headed back to Syracuse to try and recover.

Arhcaeological Museum of Syracuse

Today, we visited the Archaeological Museum of Syracuse, which is the largest archaeological museum on the island of Sicily. It housed many exhibits dating from the prehistoric to the Roman times. The first section housed the skeleton of extinct midget elephants. In the middle of the skull is a huge whole, which some scholars believe could be responsible for the development of the myth of the Cyclopes. The prehistoric section showed various different types of pottery and other household utilities. Of the Greek artifacts, my favorite were some of the ornately decorated red-figure and black-figure vases, a relief of Medusa from the Temple of Athena, a statue of Priapus (the god of male genitalia), and the gigantic bust of Asklepius. Pictures apparently were forbidden, but I made it through a majority of the museum before I ran into guards. Thus, I was able to take several without detection. We have a quiz tomorrow, so this evening I will catch up on my reading assignments.

Pantallica

Yesterday, we had class and then took a walking tour of Ortigia to "see" all the prehistoric sites on the island. We actually didn't see much, because when most of the sites were excavated, pictures were taken, and then they covered the areas up and many buildings have been constructed on top of them. So essentially we just saw the location of the prehistoric settlement's boundaries, which really didn't interest me at all, since I'm not big on this sort of stuff. Also, I didn't like the fact that I couldn't see what the professor was referring to. Anyway, that evening we had a lecture on Mycenaean imperialism in Sicily, and then MCAS hosted another event; this one celebrating Arabic culture. I stuffed myself with a lot of Arabic food while enjoying a belly-dancing performance. It was a great night! Today, we visited Pantallica, another prehistoric necropolis but one used during the Late Bronze Age instead. It held hundreds of thousands of tombs for the middle to upper-class of this settlement. After viewing some of the many tombs which are accessible, we made our way up to the plateau to see the remains of the Anaktoron, a building that was used as a palace/storage facility. We then headed back to Ortigia and I spent the rest of the day just relaxing. This intense heat just takes the wind out of your sails. I would kill for some air conditioning right now! Anyway, that night I played a pick-up game of soccer. I hadn't played in years, so it was a real interesting experience to say the least.

Thapsos

Today, we took a bus a half-hour north to visit the pre-historic necropolis of Thapsos, which was a site used for burials during the Middle Bronze Age. The tombs were very interesting, but to be honest, there really wasn't a whole lot besides that there, making it rather mundane at times. So after a few hours of moseying around the peninsula looking at the various tombs and the foundations of a later palace, we headed back to Ortigia. The sun here is just crazy. In my whole time in Europe I did not have to succumb to the ritual of Siesta until today. So because of the sun, I took a 5 hour nap in the middle of the afternoon. Since today is the 4th of July, MCAS decided to throw a party for their American students that evening. Many people from all over the island came out to eat hot dogs, hamburgers, wings and other traditional American foods while celebrating our Independence Day. It was really cool to witness and also be apart of that.

First Weekend in Syracuse

On Friday morning, we had our orientation to the program, which lasted for several hours. Afterwards, we took a walking tour around the island in order to get to know better our surroundings. We strolled through the open air market and were introduced to the cheese maker and the butcher. Then, we had some gelato (my favorite), and I succumbed to trying a horse-meat burger, which actually was very tasty. That evening, we had an orientation dinner, which was excellent. We were served the traditional Italian dinner; an appetizer, a first plate (some sort of pasta), a second plate (some sort of meat) and a dessert. All were fantastic! Yesterday, a few of us walked to the mainland to do some exploring. Afterwards, Chris and I decided to take a boat out to explore the sea caves, which was a lot of fun! On our way to dinner last night, we watched a guy doing a puppet show in the square, which was probably one of the most entertaining things I have ever witnessed. He was so funny and good! Today, we went and hung out at the pool. Throughout the day, I had the opportunity to taste many delicious Sicilian dishes. I also read a lot, got a bunch of sun and then played water polo. Afterwards, we went to a vineyard to eat fresh fruit and taste many delicious wines. Then, we went to the next town over to get gelato (of course), which ended up with us scaling a wall as a "shortcut".