SYR'ACUSE, anciently the most famous and powerful city of Sicily. situated on the south-eastern coast of the island, 00 in. s.s.w. of Messina, was founded by a body of Corinthian settlers under Archias, one of the Bacchiadm, 734 B. c. The original colonists seem at first to have occupied nothing more than the little isle of Ortygia, about 1 m. long, and half a mile broad, which lies near the shore. It rapidly rose to prosperity, and was enabled to establish sub-colonies of its own: Acme (664 B.c.), Casmenia (644 B. c.), and Camarina (599 B.c.). Nothing definite is known of the early political state of Syra; but before 486 the political power had passed into the hands of a few leading families, or perhaps clans, who constituted an oligarchy, while the great body of the citizens formed a malcontent democracy. In that year a revolution took place. The oligarchic families— Geomori or gamori, " landowners;" probably the descendants of the original colonists, like the patrician gentes of Rome—were expelled, and the sovereign poWer was transferred to the citizens at large. Before a year passed, however, Gelon (q.v.), " despot" of Gela, had restored the exiles, and at the same time made himself master of Syracuse. He was a great ruler, and under him the city increased iu size and wealth. It is believed to have been in Gelon's time that the adjoining mainland was first built upon. The locality of the new settlers was the slopes and heights of Achrad ina, or the "outer city," a triangular table-land n. of the island of Ortygia, and subsequently connected with it by a mole. It ultimately became the most extensive and populous quarter of Syracuse— contained the agora, a temple of Zeus Olympios, the Prytaneum, with a splendid statue of Sappho, the fine monuments to Timoleon and the elder Dionysius (q.v.), etc. It may be convenient to mention here the other two quarters of the city, especially as the date of their settlement is not known. These were Tyche—so called, according to Cicero, from an ancient temple of " fortune" erected there—occupying a plateau to the w. of A.chradina; and Neapolis (new city), stretching along the southern slopes of the plateau, and overlooking the marshes of the Anapus and the " great harbor," a spacious and well sheltered bay, about 5 m. in circumference. Neapolis became one of the finest parts of Syracuse. Here were situated the theater, ampitheater, and numerous temples, of which hardly a relic remains, except of the first mentioned. Ortygia contained the castle or citadel which immediately fronted the mainland, and overlooked the docks or navalia in the "lesser harbor." Reverting to the history of Syracuse, which we must touch upon only in the most cursory manner, a noticeable characteristic of the reign of Hiero (q.v.), the successor df
Gelon, is his cultivation of the fine arts, and his liberal patronage of men of genius, as JEschylus, Pindar, etc. In 466 B.c., the democracy again got the the upper hand Thrasybulus, a " tyrant" of the baser sort, being expelled; and for sixty years a free and popular government was enjoyed, under which Syracuse flourished more than it had ever done. During this period occurred its great struggle with Athens (415-14 B.c.), in which it came off victorious, and its renown at once spread over the whole Greek world. But a new power appeared on the stage—the Carthaginian, whose conquests iu Sicily, toward the close of the 5th c., threatened the supremacy of Syracuse. Mean while, Dionysius (q.v.) restored the "tyranny" of Gelon, and during a reign of 38 years greatly increased the strength and importance of the city. It was he who constructed the docks in the greater and 16ser harbors, and surrounded the city with fortifications. His fierce and victorious war with Carthage (397 B.c.) raised the renown of Syracuse still higher. The reigns of the younger Dionysius (q.v.) and of Dion were unsettled; but after the restoration of public liberty by Timoleon (344 n.c.), a brief season of tran quillity ensued, during which the prosperity of the city.rapidly revived. Under Agath ocles, however, the despotic form of government was again established (317 n.c.), and continued, with scarcely an interruption, down to the conquest of the city by the Romans (212 B.c.)during the Hannibalic war—the ruler of Syracuse, Hieronymus, a rash and vain young man, having abandoned the prudent policy of his grandfather, hero (q.v.), broken the alliance with Rome, and joined the Carthaginians.
Under the Romans, Syracuse slowly but surely declined, though it always continued to be the capital and first city of Sicily. Captured, pillaged, and burned by the Sara cens (878 A.D.), it sunk into complete decay, and is at present confined to its original limits, Ortygia, which, however, is no longer an island, but a peninsula. Pop. '72,• 22,179. The streets of the modern town are, with few exceptions, narrow and dirty. Syracuse has a cathedral, a museum of classical antiquities discovered in Syracuse and the neighborhood, a public library, with some curious MSS., numerous churches, mon asteries, and nunneries, and carries on a trade chiefly with Malta in wine, oil, salt, and salt fish. It has several remains of ancient and medieval edifices, which are much visited by travelers.