Page 356 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Epipolae and the Castello Eurialo
Castello Eurialo Daily: April–Oct 9am–7pm; Nov–March 9am–5pm • €4A 20min ride on bus #11 or #25 to the
village of Belvedere, from Corso Gelone and outside the Parco Archeologico

The outlying area of Epipolae, 7km west of the city, was the site of ancient Siracusa’s
military and defensive works. These heights were first fortified by Dionysius the
Elder in about 400 BC, and subsequently modified and extended over a couple of
centuries. What remains today consists of a great wall, which marked the city’s

western limit, and the Castello Eurialo, just before the village on the right. This is the
major extant Greek fortification in the Mediterranean, most of it dating from Hieron
II’s time, when Archimedes, as his General of Ordnance, must have been actively
involved in its renovation. Despite the effort and ingenuity that went into making this
site impregnable, the castle has no very glorious history: ignored altogether by the
attacking Carthaginians, it surrendered without a fight to the Roman forces of

Marcellus in 212 BC.

Assailants had to cope with three defensive trenches, designed to keep the new
artillery of the time at bay, as well as siege-engines and battering rams. The first of the
trenches (approached from the west, where you come in) lay just within range of
catapults mounted on the five towers of the castle’s keep, while in the trench below
the keep you can see the high piers supporting the drawbridge that once crossed it.

Long galleries burrow beneath the walls into the keep, serving as supply and escape
routes, and also enabling the defenders to clear out by night the material thrown in by
attackers during the day.

Epipolae gate

Behind the keep is a long, wedge-shaped fortification, to the north of which is the main
gateway to the western quarter of the city. This, the Epipolae gate, was built indented
from the walls, allowing the defenders to shower attackers with missiles, and is
reminiscent of the main gate at Tyndaris, a city that shared the same architects. The
longest of the underground passages surfaces here stretches 180m from the defensive
trenches. From the gate, you can stroll along Dionysius’ extensive walls, looking

down over the oil refineries and tankers off the coast north of the city, and back over
Siracusa itself, with Ortigia clearly visible pointing out into the sea.

THE FIUME CIANE

Just southwest of Siracusa, the source of the Fiume Ciane (Ciane River) forms a
pool said to have been created by the tears of the nymph Cyane when her mistress
Persephone was abducted into the underworld by Hades. The pool and the river
banks are overgrown by thickets of papyrus, apparently the gift of Ptolemy
Philadelphus of Egypt to Hieron II, making this the only place outside North Africa