Syracuse (Συράκουσαι, Syrakousai). A Greek city on the southeast coast of Sicily. Paul’s ship stopped there for three days during his voyage to Rome (Acts 28:12).

The original Corinthian colony of Syracuse was founded in 734 bc (Thucydides, Hist. 6.3). It was first limited to the island Ortygia, which separates the Great Harbor from the sea. Later, the city spread over the promontory north of Ortygia and the harbor.

Syracuse became prominent in the affairs of Sicily under the rule of Gelon from 485–478 bc and his brother Hieron I from 478–467 bc. It flourished after the establishment of a popular government in 466 bc (Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, Hist. 11.68–72). The Syracusans successfully withstood the siege by the Athenians in 414 bc (Thucydides, Hist. 6, 7).

The most famous of the later rulers was Hieron II (275–216 bc). Perhaps the most famous resident of Syracuse, the mathematician and inventor Archimedes, flourished during Hieron’s rule. Under Hieron’s grandson and successor Hieronymus, the Romans under Marcellus conquered the city and it fell in 212 bc (Livy, History of Rome 24.21–33). After that, Syracuse was the capital of the Roman province of Sicily.

Lazarus Wentz