Hard to believe this was nine years ago…

Some pics from a ‘business’ trip to Sicily.

The obligatory shot of Mt. Etna… and it wasn’t trying to erupt! Yay!

The castle town of Motta… NARROW streets, as in ONE chariot wide…

The Greek theater at Sircusa, still used on occasion.

And about a hundred yards away, a Roman amphitheater, built using the marble from the Greek theater above. Bonus points if you know who died in Sircusa in 212 BC, and when the amphitheater was built.

This Greek theater is in Taromina, and you can see Mt. Etna in the background. It too is still used, they had done a Greek play the week before we were there. You can also see the coastline to the left of the picture.

And another view from Taromina, looking out over the Mediterranean.

Hard to believe the first time I was there was 1978… Lots of changes on the base over the years, out in ‘town’, not so much… 🙂 Most of the towns have ‘only’ been there a thousand years or longer…

One ‘interesting’ tidbit, there was an actual archeological dig going on at a trash dump outside Catania, as people have been dumping stuff there for almost 2000 years!!!

Answers to the earlier questions below the fold.

Archimedes lived and worked in Sircusa, now known as Syracuse. It was the easternmost furthest west Greek city, according to the historians there. He died in the siege of Sircusa in 212 BC, supposedly killed in his home by a Roman soldier he pissed off…

The Romans used the Greek Amphitheater for close to 200 years, before building their own amphitheater using the blocks of marble from the Greek one sometime around 20 BC during the reign of Augustus.