Tag: archeologia
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Goldery Star
The nymph Arethusa (or Aretusa) and her myth are central to the ancient history and culture of Siracusa, Sicily. So much so, that her image, surrounded by dolphins, is featured on the ancient coins of the city–from 415-400 BCE! This coin, which I photographed through a magnifying glass, may be seen in the newly opened…
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At Selinunte, I Feel Ghosts
Yesterday, Tony, Dominic, and I visited the magnificent ancient city of Selinunte with our guide Gianluca. I’m always taken aback by this site because it’s expansive. It’s strewn with ruins of massive temples and abandoned homes. To me it possesses ghosts everywhere, who continue to protect it. Selinunte was a Greek city built on the…
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Sant’Angelo Muxaro’s Golden Bowl
This golden bowl is a patera (libation bowl) from the 6th century BC. This particular one is a copy of the original (now in the British Museum) that was found in a cave-tomb on the hillside of the mountain village of Sant’Angelo Muxaro, north of Agrigento. Discovered in the late 18th century, the bowl sports…
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Temple E Is Electric
Today considered Europe’s largest archeological site, Selinunte was a Greek city built on the southwestern coast of Sicily by colonists from the eastern Sicilian Greek outpost of Megara Hyblea. Founded around 651 BC, it displayed its power by building massive temples dedicated to various gods, like this one pictured, Temple E, which scholars believe was…
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Happy Valentine’s Day
Happy Valentine’s Day! May love rule!
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Holding Court in Siracusa
The Duomo of Siracusa represents layers of history. The foundation–both base and walls of the structure–is an ancient, Doric-style Temple of Athena, built in the 5th century BCE (Once inside, you can easily see the columns of the Greek temple!). During the Byzantine age in the 7th century CE, the temple was converted into a…
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The Temple of Apollo
When you arrive on Siracusa’s Ortigia island from the land at the Piazza Pancali, you’ll find the remains of an ancient Doric temple dedicated to Apollo, the god of the sun, light, music, poetry, and prophecy. The Temple of Apollo was built in the first half of the 6th century B.C.E. The ancient Roman scholar…
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Ancient Origins
In ancient Greek times in Sicily, especially in the eastern coastal cities such as Catania and Siracusa, extending to Enna, in the island’s center, Demeter and her daughter Persephone were venerated with fervor. Pictured here on this krater (a cistern used for mixing water with fermented grapes to make wine) from 425-400 BCE, now in…
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One Ostrich, Two Ostrich
The corridor of the Ambulatory of the Big Game Hunt at the Roman Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina has been called a “map of the world,” by some scholars. Capped by two floor lunettes on either side, one representing Mauritania, a country in Africa, and the other India, the extraordinary mosaic scenes along the…