Syracuse

(It. Siracusa ). Anciently the most famous and powerful city of Sicily, situated on the southeast coast of the island, 80 miles south-southwest from Me ina; was founded by a body of Corinthian settlers under Archias, one of the Bacchiadæ, 734 B.C. In 486 a revolution took place and the oligarchic families— Geomori , or Gamori , “land-owners”—were expelled, and the sovereign power was transferred to the citizens at large. Before a year pa ed, however, Gelon, “despot” of Gela, had restored the exiles, and at the same time made himself master of Syracuse. Hieron, brother of Gelon, raised Syracuse to an unexampled degree of prosperity. Hieron died in 467, and was succeeded by his brother Thrasybulus; but the rapacity and cruelty of the latter soon provoked a revolt among his subjects, which led to his deposition and the establishment of a democratical form of government. The next most important event in the history of Syracuse was the siege of the city by the A then i ans, which ended in the total destruction of the great A then i an armament in 413; and Syracuse’s renown at once spread over the whole Greek world. Dionysius restored the “tyranny” of Gelon, and his fierce and victorious war with Carthage (397 B.C. ) raised the renown of Syracuse still higher. On the death of Hieron II., his grandson Hieronymus, who succeeded him, espoused the side of the Cart hag in i ans. A Roman army under Mar cell us was sent against Syracuse, and after a siege of two years, during which Arch i me des a isted his fellow-citizens by the construction of various engines of war, the city was taken by Mar cell us in 212. Under the Romans, Syracuse slowly but surely declined. Captured, pillaged, and burned by the Saracens (878) it sunk into complete decay, so that very few traces of its ancient grandeur are now to be seen. It was taken by Count Roger, the Norman, 1088; in the insurrection, Syracuse surrendered to the Neapolitan troops, April 8, 1849.