Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1090

 10G6 SYRACUSAE. ployed as prisons. Thus, after the Athenian expe- dition, the whole nunibor of the ciiptives, more than 7000 in number, were confined in these quarries (Thuc.vii. 86, 87 ; Diod. xiii. 33); and they continued to be used for the same purpose under successive despots and tyrants. In the days of Cicero they were used as a general prison for criminals from all parts of Sicily. (Cic. Ver7'. v. 27.) The orator in one passage speaks of them as constructed ex- pres.sly for a prison by the tyrant Uionysius (/&. 55), which is a palpable mistake if it refers to the Lau- tumiae in general, though it is not unlikely that the despot may have made some special additions to them with that view. But there is certainly no authority for the popular tradition which has given the name of the Ear of Dionysius to a peculiar excavation of singular form in the part of the quarries nearest to the theatre. This notion, like many similar ones now become traditional, is derived only from the suggestion of a man of letters of the 16th century. 5. EriPOLAE ('ETriTroAaj), was the name ori- ginally given to the upper part of the table-land which, as already described, slopes gradually from its highest point towards the sea. Its form is that of a tolerably regular triangle, having its vertex at Euryalus, and its base formed by the western wall of Achradina. The name is always used by Thu- cydides in this sense, as including the whole upper part of the plateau, and was doubtless so employed as long as the space was uninhabited; but as the SYRACUSAE. suburbs of Tycha aud Temenitis gradually spread themselves over a considerable part of the heights, the name of Epipolae came to be applied in a more re- stricted sense to that portion only which was nearest to the vertex of the triangle. It is generally as- sumed that there subsequently arose a considerable town near this angle of the walls, and that this is the fifth quarter of the city alluded to by Strabo and those who spoke of Syracuse as a Pentapolis or aggregate of Jive cities. But there is no allusion to it as such in the passage of Cicero already quoted, or in the description of the capture of Syracuse by JIarcellus ; and it seems very doubtful whether there was ever any considerable population at this remote point. No vestiges of any ancient buildings remain within the walls ; but the line of these may be distinctly traced along the top of the cliffs which bound the table-land both towards the N. and the S. ; in many places two or three courses of the masonry remain; but the most important ruins are those at the angle or vertex of the triangle, where a spot named Mongihellisi is still crowned by the ruins of the ancient castle or fort of Eueyalus (EvpvTiAos, Thuc, but the Doric form was Eupv- aXos, which was adopted by the Romans). Tlie ruins in question afford one of the best examples extant of an ancient fortress or castle, designed at once to serve as a species of citadel and to secure the approach to Epipolae from this quarter. The annexed plan will give a good idea of its general , A" __^^^ PLAN OF THE FORT EURYALUS. form and arrangement. The main entrance to the city was by a double gate (A.), flanked on both sides by walls and towers, with a smaller postern or sally-port a little to the right of it. The fortress itself was an irregular quadrangle, projecting about 200 yards beyond the approach to the gate, and fortified by strong towers of solid masonry with a deep ditch cut in the rock in front of it, to which a number of subterraneous passages gave access from withm. These passages communicating with the fort above by narrow openings and stairs, were evi- dently designed to fticilitate the sallies of the be- sieged without exposing the fortress itself to peril. As the whole arrangement is an unique specimen of ancient fortification a view is added of the external, or N. front of the fort, with the subterranean openings. There can be no doubt that the fortress at Mon- gibellisi is the one anciently known as Euijalus- This clearly appears from the mention of that fort at the time of the siege of Syracuse by Marcellus', as one capable of being held by a separate garrison after the capture of the outer walls of Epipolae, and threatening the army of Jlarcellus in the rear, if he proceeded to attack Achradina. (Liv. sxv. 25, 26.) Euryalus is also mentioned by Thucydides at the time of the Athenian expedition, when it was still unfortified, as the point which afforded a re.ady ascent to the heights of Epipolae (Thuc. vi. 99, vii. 2); and it must indeed have alw.ays been, in a military point of view, the key of the whole position. Hence, the great care with which it was fortified after the occupation of Epipolae by the Athenians had shown the paramount importance of that po- sition in case of a siege. The existing fortifications may, indeed, be in part the work of Hieron II. (as