Greek Theatre

Today we went to the Greek Theatre in Siracusa.  My sister knew one of the groundsmen and he got us free tickets to enter.  There was so much to see there and I took quite a few photos.

You can only see about a quarter of it in the photo. It was constructed in the 5th. century B.C., redone in the 3rd. century B.C. and remains the same since then.  It is the largest built by the Greeks and seats 155,000 people.  It was later used by the Romans. Today, in the summer months, the locals perform Greek plays. They were constructing a platform for the plays while we were there today.

Ear of Dionysius

This cave got its name because of its shape.  Legend says that it was a prison for political dissidents and the acoustics are perfect.  Dionysius was therefore able to eavedrop on the prisoners in case they were plotting an escape.

Home of Dionysius

See, I really am here!  There was another,smaller amphitheatre.

Amphitheatre

Prisoners were chained to the centre post and the lions were released. Nice guys those Romans.

Tombs

These are tombs of wealthy people.  They have been emptied of all contents. Apparently these people were buried with some valuables and these are now in museums. 

These caves were homes.  I don't know who lived 

here...could have been servants, but that is just a guess.  They didn't look too inviting.

Home of Archimedes 

Home Sweet Home

We walked about a block and arrived at the home of Archimedes. He was killed by a Roman soldier.  I was only able to capture a very small portion of this large property. 

We left the Greek Theatre and drove about 5 minutes to McDonalds.  It seemed rather incongruous!

:-)