User:T8612/Syracuse (polis)
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Syrakousai was a Greek city-state in southeastern Sicily, and one of the most important cities of the Ancient World. Founded in 733 BC by colonists from Corinth on a site with large natural harbours and at the center of the Mediterranean Sea, Syracuse rapidly became the most powerful city of Magna Graecia. During the reigns of the tyrants Gelon (485–478 BC), Dionysios (405–367 BC), and Agathokles (317–289 BC), Syracuse even assumed the status of a great power, rivalling with Athens and Carthage. The city was finally conquered by the Roman Republic in 212 BC during the Second Punic War.
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Syrakousai | |||||||||
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733 BC–212 BC | |||||||||
Capital | Syracuse | ||||||||
Common languages | Ancient Greek (Doric dialect) | ||||||||
Ethnic groups | Dorian Greeks, Sicels | ||||||||
Religion | Greek polytheism, special cults to Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Zeus Olympios | ||||||||
Government | oligarchy (733–485) tyranny (485–466) democracy (466–405) tyranny (405–337) democracy (337–307) tyranny (317–214) democracy (214–212) | ||||||||
tyrants | |||||||||
• 485 BC (first) | Gelon | ||||||||
• 214 BC (last) | Hieronymous | ||||||||
Historical era | Classical antiquity | ||||||||
• Foundation of Syracuse | 733 BC | ||||||||
212 BC | |||||||||
Area | |||||||||
550 BC | 4,000 km2 (1,500 sq mi) | ||||||||
Population | |||||||||
• 450 BC | 250,000 | ||||||||
Currency | Drachma (Attic standard) | ||||||||
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Today part of | Italy |
Syracuse is the ancient Greek city with the most recorded periods of civil strife. Its history is marked by violent alternances between the three different kinds of political organisations found in the Greek world: there were two periods of oligarchy, four tyrannies and five democracies. Initially founded as an oligarchy after the model of its mother-city, Corinth, a revolution in 485 BC triggered the arrival of the first tyrants of Syracuse, Gelon and his brother Hieron, under whose rule Syracuse came to control most of Sicily, except the western part, which belonged to Carthage. Thanks to their victories against Carthage at Himera in 480 BC, and the Etruscans at Kyme in 474 BC, the Syracusan tyrants enjoyed considerable prestige and established their city as a major player in the Greek World. Syracuse sided with Sparta during the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which prompted Athens to set up an expedition in Sicily in 415 BC, which turned into a disaster and became the turning-point in the war, eventually won by Sparta. Carthage then attempted to take advantage of the situation, but was likewise repelled.
Moreover, Syracuse was famous in the Greek world for being a centre of the arts and philosophy. The poets Sappho and Pindar, the philosopher Plato, spent some time in Syracuse, which also counted several native scholars, such as the engineer Archimedes. The city also counted one of the earliest historians, Antiochos, who wrote a history of Syracuse, later transmitted by Diodoros. As a result, Syracuse is one of the best known cities of the Greek World besides Athens.[1]