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750 BC-215 BC |
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734 Colonisation of Naxos (near
Catania). followed by Megarians at Megara Hyblaea, Corinthians at Ortygia,
Rhodians, Cretans and Cnidians at Gela.Taormina, Ortygia, Megara Hblaea,
Erice Mother Colonies start to form dependent city states. Agrigento,
Selinunte, Segesta, Eraclea Minoa Sicily extremely fertile. Olives and
vines introduced and trade intense and profitable. |
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415-413 Athenian invasion (Great
Expedition) of Syracuse in support of Segesta against Syracusan Tyrants
fails leaving 7000 Athenian soldiers in slavery. |
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264-241 First Punic War:
Romans use the Sikels against Carthage. |
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218-201 Second Punic war:
Syracuse falls in 211 giving way to Roman rule |
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The Greek colonisation of Sicily was very successful at the cultural level, and at the end practically the whole island was thoroughly hellenised. Sicily had been firmly anchored in the eastern Mediterranean, and Greek culture would survive for another thousand years, until the arrival of the Normans. |
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The importance and the function of the coinage during its early days (550 B.C.) remains to be clarified. However, it is certain that the first coins were made of gold, silver, an alloy of the two and copper. |
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The Valley of the Temples in Agrigento The Valley of the Temples is still today the most sublime evidence of the
Greek civilization in Sicily. The Valley of the Temple rises southernmost,
on the traces of the old town and it includes many temples built in the
5th century BC. They were erected with local tufa in Doric style and
oriented towards east: at dawn the statue of the god, placed inside the
entrance |
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The temple of Castor and Pollux (Dioscuri) was built in the 5th century BC and dedicated to Leda and Zeus's twins. The temple, which is also the symbol of Agrigento, has only four columns and some of the trabeation standing. Close to it, two sacrificial altars have been found | |
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The temple of Concorde is the only temple still standing in its whole. It was built in 430 BC, and in the 6th century BC it was changed into a sacred building: you can still see the arches included in the central cell walls. Here there are massive tapered columns and the frieze is decorated with triglyphs and metopes. The name Concorde comes from a Latin inscription founded nearby the temple itself. |
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 Eurialo Castle : example of a Greek fort |
Siracusa The name of the town comes from the nearby march Sykara and received this name in the 8th century BC when the Corinthians founded it. |
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Originally the town was built on the isle of Ortigia, populated already in the 14th century BC by Siculians and Phoenicians. Later on many houses were built also on the mainland. Amongst the most illustrious personalities from Siracusa we mention: the great mathematician Archimede and the Classical poet Teocrito. |
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