Thomas Rose explores Temple G. Photo B. Kiesling
After the Open Meeting in mid-March, the School offers optional trips in other areas of the Mediterrranean to destinations that once were part of the Roman Empire. This provides students and other Members of the School a chance to explore the impact of ancient Greek culture within a larger sphere, and this year we chose Sicily, famed for its innovative and well-preserved Greek temples. Our group of 22 included ASCSA students and participants who came especially for the trip from the U.S. and Scotland. Some visited sites in Rome en route to our first stop, Palermo. After the trip, others stayed on in Sicily and climbed Mt. Etna, and two students went to the Lipari islands and climbed Stromboli.
We gathered in Palermo, and on our first afternoon we had a walking-tour of the prominent Norman and Baroque monuments and churches of Palermo, including La Martorana and San Cataldo. Also on the itinerary was the Vergogna (“Shame”) Fountain which featured a complex set of more than 50 sculptures originally intended for a Renaissance villa in Tuscany, but is now a landmark in Piazza Pretoria, brought there in the 16th century in rivalry with the waterworks in Messina.
Our visit in Palermo continued the next day at the spectacular Capella Palatina, with its superb Byzantine mosaics, inlaid marble floors and dadoes, and Arab-influenced carved and gilded ceiling. Truly, we could appreciate how cosmopolitan Sicily was in the 12th century! We continued on to the Duomo (burial place of Frederick II, Stupor Mundi) and the monastery complex of S. Giovanni degli Eremiti, now surrounded by gardens, a peaceful island in the city. We had read about stuccoes featured in the Oratorio del Rosaria di Santa Cita that included a scene of the Battle of Lepanto, which we had talked about on Trip 1 last fall at Nafpaktos, so that was a “must see.” From there we continued to the Palazzo Abatellis, La Cuba and La Zisa. A Phoenician cemetery has been excavated nearby in La Zisa, and there visitors are allowed to descend (with hard hats provided) into some of the chamber tombs. The long history of the city is becoming ever more clear in its archaeology.
We spent the next morning at Monreale visiting the duomo with its great cycle of Byzantine mosaics and cloister, and we sampled the cannoli. In the afternoon we pushed on to Segesta, where the wildflowers were out in full glory. That night we stayed at Erice, site of the former Elymian stronghold and the temple treasury that had helped entice the Athenians to get involved in Sicilian affairs (to their deep regret, according to Thucydides). The next day we took a small boat to Motya, where we were able to see a recently excavated Phoenician temple, as well as the tophet, city walls, and excellent museum. At Lilybaeum we saw the Phoenician ship and outlying excavations, and we concluded the day with the quarries near Selinunte that provided limestone for many of the temples there.
At Selinunte the group enjoyed exploring the temples on the eastern and western hills, the acropolis, and the Sanctuary of Demeter Malophoros. I’m always reluctant to leave Selinunte as it is my favorite site in Sicily, but I knew other good sites were in store for us, and we left for Agrigento the next morning. There, in addition to the ridge of temples that are so prominent a feature in the landscape, we visited the kolumbethra built by Phaiax in the 5th century B.C., long since filled in and turned into a lovely garden. On the day of our visit, groups of local schoolchildren and their teachers were involved in encouraging awareness of its local ecology. In the late afternoon we drove up near the church of San Biagio, built over the former Temple of Demeter, and were treated afterward by a local architect to a tour of the current excavations at the rupestral sanctuary on the cliff-side just below.
At the archaeological museum in Gela, we saw some recently excavated large terracotta altars, one with a very striking scene of Medusa with Chrysaor, and others with goddesses, all in deep relief. At the Villa Romana del Casale near Piazza Armerina we were able to experience some of the new layout in progress to allow visitors to appreciate the extraordinary floor mosaics created by its early 4th century owner. The Sopritendenza has installed new catwalks and most importantly, new roofs of wood and copper to replace the old purple plastic roofs, so now one sees the mosaics in more natural light and with lots of fresh air. This is a big, ongoing project and we could appreciate the challenges of keeping the site open while still carrying out the reconstruction. We were able to see most of the rooms, including the one with the Bikini Girls. Later that day we arrived at Aidone to visit the museum with finds from Morgantina, and we saw the acrolithic statues displayed there, as well as the repatriated statue of a Goddess that had spent some time in southern California at the Getty museum. When we got to the site, it was covered in a dense fog, but most of the group persevered in exploring it, even though visibility was only about fifteen feet. For the most part we had good weather on the trip and clear vistas, and the heavy fog was a new experience.
From Syracuse the next day we went to Pantalica to see the Bronze Age “megaron” on a summit and have a look at some of the rock-cut tombs, and then onward to the Euryalos fortification. Syracuse itself was a delight, as always, including its colorful outdoor market, where we saw a very large head of a dog-shark caught that morning, according to the fishmonger. We debated the interpretation of the Kleo---es inscription on the stylobate of the Temple of Apollo, and we inspected the interior of the Temple of Athena, now the Duomo. It is possible now to arrange a tour of the late Archaic Ionic Temple whose foundations are beneath the Palazzo (currently the City Hall) adjacent to the Duomo. There we saw not only the elegant pieces of the Ionic superstructure, but also the foundations, blocks with masons’ marks, and later installations that were driven into the foundations, such as a desiccatorium for the deceased monks of a 17th century monastery.
Stories from Cicero’s Verrines were brought to mind in Syracuse, especially at the Arethusa Fountain, and of course there were frequent reminders of Thucydides’ account of the Athenian invasion. All participants gave reports, on a great variety of topics: the Bronze Age in Sicily as in evidence at Pantalica, tophets, Phoenician religion, Bacchylides & Pindar on Sicilian contexts, the Lex Sacra of Selinunte, the Phoenician ship at Lilybaeum and other underwater finds that elucidate the Roman navy, Athenian drama, the ancient grain supply and Sicily as a breadbasket for the Roman Republic, Archimedes, Sicilian pastries, discussions of Temples C and E at Selinunte (nor did we neglect any other temple!), urban planning at Agrigento, the Bikini mosaics at Piazza Armerina, the villa’s owner and context, the Byzantine mosaics at Monreale, the Mafia as a model for interpreting antiquity, George of Antioch, and the Allied invasion of WWII. We all learned a lot! And we enjoyed many Sicilian feasts.
See previous program note.
Photos by M.M. Miles unless noted otherwise.
