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Loading... Syracuse, City of Legendsby Jeremy Dummett
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Dubbed 'the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all' by Cicero, Syracuse also boasts the richest history of anywhere in Sicily. Syracuse, City of Legends - the first modern historical guide to the city - explores Syracuse's place within the island and the wider Mediterranean and reveals why it continues to captivate visitors today, more than two and a half millennia after its foundation. Over its long and colourful life, Syracuse has been home to many creative figures, including Archimedes, the greatest mathematician of the ancient world, as well as host to Plato, Scipio Africanus, conqueror of Hannibal, and Caravaggio, who have all contributed to the rich history and atmosphere of this beguiling and distinctive Sicilian city. Generously illustrated, Syracuse, City of Legends also offers detailed descriptions of the principal monuments from each period in the city's life, explaining their physical location as well as their historical context.This vivid and engaging history weaves together the history, architecture and archaeology of Syracuse and will be an invaluable companion for anyone visiting the city as well as a compelling introduction to its ancient and modern history. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)945.814History and Geography Europe Italy and region Sicily and adjacent islands; Malta Eastern Sicily SyracuseLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I think Jeremy Dummett has done a workman-like job of condensing this history and being reasonably objective about it but I think it's slightly confused between being a history of Syracuse and a guide book to the Modern City. I can see where he is coming from. As, the exhortation on the dust cover says: "Don't leave for Sicily without this guide". His market for the book is probably going to be the english speaking tourists heading off for a holiday in Sicily/Syracuse ..so he probably needs to include a bit about where the touristic highlights are today.
Though, personally I felt that this latter section detracted from the book for me. Maybe I'd be be more generous if I was on my way to Syracuse right now. And I'm not totally convinced that Dummett has established that Syracuse really is a city of legends. Most of the happenings appear to be pretty well documented. Many of them not nice...but not really legends.
Somewhere, I've read a fairly detailed account of the failed Athenian invasion of Syracuse, which, to my recollection, was more detailed and interesting than Dummett's summary. Likewise, I've read better accounts of Plato's visits to Syracuse. (Must say, that I've always found it amusing that Plato, the great theorist about how to run a country/city came to grief when he was actually given the chance to put his ideas into practice. It seems the the reality of dealing with real people with real flaws was a bit too much for Plato).
And, I would have like to have learned a bit more about Archimedes. What an extraordinary character ......but we don't seem to have very much solid information about him.
But there certainly seems to have been a dearth of good leaders ..and even those who were good leaders seemed to be brought undone through some failing of their own or events beyond their capacity to influence. Overall, an interesting book which delivers a fairly comprehensive history of Syracuse and it's place in the world but left me wanting a bit more. Three and a half stars from me. ( )