The story of this place
Founded by Corinthian Greeks in 734 BC, Syracuse became the greatest Greek city of Sicily, so powerful it crushed an Athenian invasion in 413 BC, dooming Athens in the Peloponnesian War. Its great Greek theatre, carved into the hillside and seating 15,000, still hosts classical drama, and the vast limestone quarry called the 'Ear of Dionysius' amplifies the faintest sound—legend says a tyrant used it to eavesdrop on prisoners. Here too the mathematician Archimedes designed war machines to defend the city against Rome; when it finally fell in 212 BC, a Roman soldier killed him as he sketched geometric figures in the sand, reportedly saying 'Do not disturb my circles.' The park preserves the heart of the ancient city.