The clocks went back last night so we were able to get an early start for the Archaeological Park. There was a short shower over breakfast but the weather was definitely improving – fresher and lots of blue sky visible.
The short walk took us past the large coach park with the inevitable souvenir stalls to the park entrance. Here we saw the enormous, 200m long altar to Zeus Eleutherios (the giver of freedom) built by Hieron II in the 3rd century BC. It is the largest altar in the whole of the Greek empire and was the scene of massive sacrifices, Diodorus wrote that 450 bulls were killed in one of the annual feasts.
The Greek (inevitably modified by the Romans) theatre capable of holding 15,000 people and backed by a Nymphaeum, the water being by a tunnel cut through the rock. Sat in the seats of the theatre there is a view over the sea and in ancient times, without the modern buildings, it would have been even better. It was easy to imagine watching a performance of a Greek play with the sound of the water from the Nyphaeum and that view over the stage.
The other part of the park was one of the quarries that supplied the stone for the building of the ancient city. There were two natural caves in the quarry, the first the 'Orecchio del Dionisio' (The Ear of Dionysius) being shaped like an ear, high and going deep into the cliff in a twisted passage. The acoustics were remarkable and a single clap of the hands sounded like a rifle shot with a ricochet provided by the echo. The second cave was used in more modern times by rope makers, the dampness of the cave making it easier to make the ropes as the fibres were less likely to break. Unfortunately we weren't able to go into the second cave or explore the rest of the quarry. Although there were paths going off into the quarry, they were blocked and it was obvious that they had been out of bounds for a while. We inspected the Roman Amphitheatre with its central tank to collect the blood from the animals and humans killed for entertainment. The position of the lift used to raise animals into the ring was clearly visible.
After leaving the park we decided to check out the other two quarries behind the park. All of the quarries were used as a prison to hold the 7000 Athenians captured after their disastrous attempt to defeat defeat Syracuse in the Great Expedition of 415 BC with the largest fleet that ever sailed from Athens. They were badly organised and suffered from diseases and were soundly defeated, their generals executed and many of the Athenians made into slaves. The rest of the Greek world took a very dim view of this – killing Greeks in a battle was one thing but imprisoning Greeks for seven years in appalling conditions and enslaving them was wholly unacceptable. Once again, the quarries obviously had been open to the public at one time but they were now overgrown and securely fenced with padlocked gates. We were however able to see into them and the Latomia (pit) di Santa Venera was particularly fascinating. The rock was covered with niches cut for Greek and Roman cemeteries. We saw the tomb claimed to be that of Archimedes although there is absolutely no evidence to support the claim.
The afternoon was spent relaxing and reading in the sunshine and in the afternoon we decided to visit a more modern monument. Opposite the archaeological museum is a striking modern building shaped like a thin up-turned ice cream cone. This is the Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime (the Sanctuary of Madonna of Tears) built in 1994 to hold the statue of the Madonna that allegedly wept for five days in 1953. It is now an important place of pilgrimage and it was busy every time that we passed it. There were many people in the sanctuary when we visited and it took us a while to work out where the statue was. It was only when someone put some money in a box that the, much smaller than we expected, statue in the wall above the altar was lit. The building dominates the skyline from many parts of the city and is meant to look like a teardrop. The view from inside looking up into the conical roof is quite impressive but we noticed that they are already having to do extensive repairs to the roof on the outside.
Photos: The massive Altar of Hieron II; The Greek Theatre; Latomia del Paradiso; The Ear of Dionysius cave; The conical ceiling of The Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime.
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