Ancient Greek Sites
Euryalus Fortress
The Euryalus Fortress was the key point in the fortifications of the ancient Greek city of Syracuse. It is located on the highest point of the hill of Epipolae. During the Athenian invasion of Sicily (415-413 BC), the fortress did not yet exist, but the strategic importance of the area was clear; the Athenians initially captured the hill, but their failure to retain it prevented them from effectively besieging the city. ...
Founded: 402-397 BCE |
Location:
Syracuse, Italy
Greek Acropolis of Gela
Located near the Regional Archaeological Museum, the Acropolis of Gela is one of the most important archaeological sites in Sicily. The area was already occupied in prehistoric times by indigenous settlements dating from between the 4th and 2nd millennia BC. After a period of neglect, this site was occupied again around the 8th century BC by a small settlement prior to the founding of Gela, a proto-colony which had been g ...
Founded: 8th century BCE |
Location:
Gela, Italy
Attavyros Zeus Temple
Attavyros is the highest mountain on the island of Rhodes. It rises to a height of 1,215 m. In Greek mythology Althaemenes founded an altar to Zeus Atabyrios on the mountain. He was said to have chosen the site as the only point on Rhodes from which his homeland of Crete could be seen. The remains of the sanctuary can be seen near the summit.
Founded: 3000-1000 BCE |
Location:
Embonas, Greece
Temple of Juno Lacinia
The Temple of Juno Lacinia is a ruined ancient Greek temple dedicated to Hera (Juno) located on Capo Colonna in Calabria. The remaining feature is a Doric column with capital, about 8.2 m in height. Remains of marble roof-tiles have been seen on the spot and architectural fragments were excavated in 1886–1887 by the Archaeological Institute of America. The sculptures found were mostly buried again, but a few fragments, ...
Founded: 480-440 BCE |
Location:
Capo Colonna, Italy
Itanos
Itanos was particularly powerful community during the Greek era and it was flourishing by the seventh century BC. Itanos was continuously at war with its neighbours Praisos, and later Hierapytna. In the 8th century AD Itanos was destroyed in an earthquake but the inhabitants stayed and rebuilt the town. Only in the 15th century after attacks by pirates the town was finally destroyed and deserted. Because the west of Cr ...
Founded: 700 BC |
Location:
Vai, Greece
Megara Hyblaea
Megara Hyblaea is an ancient Greek colony in Sicily It was founded about 728 BC by colonists from Megara in Attica. In 628 the city established a colony at Selinus but in 483 was destroyed by the Syracusan leader Gelon. The city had a brief independent existence in the 4th century BC, when it issued coinage, but is heard of mainly as a fortified place. Excavations carried on in 1891 led to the discovery of the nor ...
Founded: 728 BCE |
Location:
Augusta, Italy
Morgantina
Morgantina is an archaeological site in east central Sicily. It was inhabited in several periods. According to Strabo Morgantina was founded by a pre-Roman Italian group known as the Morgetes of Rhegium. Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote that the Morgetes were led by a king named Morges. The earliest historical date associated with Morgantina is 459 BCE, when Ducetius, leader of the indigenous Sicel population of central S ...
Founded: 5th century BCE |
Location:
Aidone, Italy
Ietas
Ietas was an ancient town in the modern comune of San Giuseppe Jato. Ietas was mentioned by Philistus as a fortress, and it is called by Thucydides a fortress of the Siculians, which was taken by Gylippus on his march from Himera through the interior of the island towards Syracuse. It first appears as an independent city in the time of Pyrrhus, and was attacked by that monarch on account of its strong position and the ad ...
Founded: 6th century BC |
Location:
San Giuseppe Jato, Italy
Temple of Artemis
The temple of Artemis consists of vaulted structures and the main temple with the altar located in its center. Archaeologists have excavated various figurines of bulls and other interesting findings, which prove the worship of the goddess Artemis in Myrina. The sanctuary, which was revealed during the construction of the Hotel Porto Myrina, is located on the premises of the hotel and is open to the public.
Founded: 500 BCE |
Location:
Lemnos, Greece
Diana Archaeological Park
The Archaeological Park of Lipari is located at the Diana district. In the park there are the remains of walls for a length of about 50 m, a tower of the 4th century BCE and some Roman fortifications built by Sextus Pompey. Behind the Greek walls there are buildings of the Imperial-Roman period (2nd century AD). Within the walls there is a street with some home facades of the Imperial-Roman period, mainly located under t ...
Founded: 4th century BCE |
Location:
Lipari, Italy
Scylletium
Scylletium was situated on the east coast of Calabria (ancient Bruttium), According to a tradition generally received in ancient times, Scylletium was founded by an Athenian colony, a part of the followers who had accompanied Menestheus to the Trojan War. But no historical value can be attached to such statements, and there is no trace in historical times of Scylletium having been a Greek colony, still less an Athenian on ...
Founded: 4th century BCE |
Location:
Catanzaro, Italy
Acropolis of Thasos
Acropolis of Thasos was built on a rectangular plateau. The position is ideal and served as an excellent observatory 137m above sea level. Acropolis owes its current form from the medieval times, but there is a corner of the wall built of marble that belongs to the Acropolis of the 5th century BC. This is where the sanctuary of Pythian Apollo was located based on the inscriptions found referring to its worship. A ca ...
Founded: 6th century BCE |
Location:
Thasos, Greece
Sanctuary of Heracles
Sanctuary of Heracles was a large paved court surrounded by buildings on three sides and with the principal altar in the centre. It wouldn’t have been as separate from the rest of the town as many sanctuaries, and would have been part of the town’s landscape, immediately apparent to the citizens. The 5th century re-buildings were on a much larger scale than the original 6th century rooms. As you stand at the gate of ...
Founded: 6th century BCE |
Location:
Thasos, Greece
Heraclea Minoa
Heraclea Minoa was an ancient Greek city situated near the mouth of the river Halycus (modern Platani). Excavations have revealed several parts of the city which are now open to the public. Archaeological finds from the necropolis show the city was founded in the mid-6th century BC. The first written mention of the city is of a small town and a colony of the Greek settlement of Selinus. The city was only briefly under th ...
Founded: 6th century BCE |
Location:
Cattolica Eraclea, Italy
Temple of Artemis
The Temple of Artemis is an Archaic Greek temple in Corfu, Greece, built in around 580 BC in the ancient city of Korkyra. The temple was dedicated to Artemis. It is known as the first Doric temple exclusively built with stone. It is also considered the first building to have incorporated all of the elements of the Doric architectural style. Very few Greek temple reliefs from the Archaic period have survived, and the large ...
Founded: 580 BCE |
Location:
Corfu, Greece
Temple of Victory
The Greek Temple of Victory (Greek Nikē) was located in the ancient city of Himera, today in the archaeological area of Termini Imerese. The temple dates to the fifth century BC and has been identified with the temple built by the Carthaginians at the command of the tyrant Gelon of Syracuse, who commanded the Greek coalition which defeated them at the Battle of Himera in 480 BC. Probably dedicated to Athena, the build ...
Founded: 5th century BC |
Location:
Termini Imerese, Italy
Gournia
The Late Minoan town of Gournia was excavated by Harriet Boyd in the first years of the 20th century. The original name of the settlement is not known and its present name comes from the hollow vessels found all over the site, many of which can still be seen at the entrances to the rooms. Gournia lies on a small hill, a few hundred metres from the sea in the Gulf of Mirabello. Its position is important as it lies on the ...
Founded: 1700 BC |
Location:
Ierapetra, Greece
Lissos
Lissos and Syia were the harbours of the city of Elyros, the most important ancient city of the area, located near the village Rodovani. It was established in the Classical period and flourished until the Late Antiquity. The early history of the city is unknown. Based on inscriptions and coins of the 3rd century BC, we know the city allied with King Magas of Cyrene, and joined the League of Oreians. Lissos had powerfu ...
Founded: 400 BC |
Location:
Kandanos Selinos, Greece
Rudiae
Rudiae is presently an archaeological park beside the Via San Pietro in Lama that runs south-west from the city of Lecce. The place was identified as the former home of the poet Ennius by the Renaissance Humanist, Antonio de Ferraris. The ancient site of the city was first settled from the late ninth or early eighth centuries BCE by the Messapians. In the late sixth century BCE it developed in importance and, even after ...
Founded: 8th century BCE |
Location:
Lecc, Italy
Halaesa
Halaesa was an ancient city of Sicily, situated near the north coast of the island. The city was of Siculian origin; in 403 BC the tyrant Archonides of Herbita, having concluded peace with Dionysius I of Syracuse, gave the northern part of his territory to the Sicilians as well as to mercenaries and others who had helped him during the war. He named it Halaesa, to which the epithet Archonidea was frequently added for the ...
Founded: 403 BCE |
Location:
Tusa, Italy