But By Far The Most Celebrated City In This Island For Its Advantageous
Situation, The Magnificence Of Its Buildings, Its Commerce, And The Wealth
Of Its Inhabitants, Was Syracuse.
According to Thucydides, in his time it
might justly be compared to Athens, even when that city was at the height
of its glory; and Cicero describes it as the greatest and most wealthy of
all the cities possessed by the Greeks.
Its walls were eighteen miles in
circumference, and within them were in fact four cities united into one. It
seems also to have possessed three harbours: the great harbour was nearly
five thousand yards in circumference, and the entrance to it five hundred
yards across; it was formed on one side by a point of the island Ortygia,
and on the other by another small island, on each of which were forts. The
second harbour was divided from the greater by an island of inconsiderable
extent; both these were surrounded with warehouses, arsenals, and other
buildings of great magnificence. The river Anapis emptied itself into the
great harbour; at the mouth of this river was the castle of Olympia. The
third harbour stood a little above the division of the city called
Acradina. The island of Ortygia, which formed one of the divisions, was
joined to the others by a bridge.
The other maritime towns of consequence were Agrigentum, Lilibaeum, and
Drepanum; though the first stood at a short distance from the sea, yet
being situated between and near two rivers, it conveniently imported all
sorts of provisions and merchandize.
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