The Greek theatre at Syracuse is the largest of its kind extant. Forty-six tiers of seats still remain, and it is estimated there were at least fifteen more. The eleven lower rows were covered with marble slabs, on which in some instances we can still decipher the names of their owners — such as King Hiero, Queen Philistis, and Nereis.
Near here is the Street of the Tombs, cut in the solid rock. On the rock passage between the rows of tombs are ruts worn by the wheels of passing chariots, and these ruts are worn much deeper than those at Pompeii. The imposing tombs that lined both sides of this street were rifled of their contents long ago. Reaching the top of the inclined street we obtained a view of all of the ruins of Syracuse. From here the Ionian Sea is superbly beautiful.
We also visited the Amphitheatre, a Roman structure of the time of Augustus. Many blocks of marble from the seats, still bearing the names of the proprietors, here also lie scattered about. This was the arena famed for gladiatorial fights and battles between captives and wild beasts. A short walk takes us to Hiero’s Altar, a raised stone platform so vast in extent that upon it the king each year sacrificed four-hundred and fifty oxen at the same time.
The Latomia del Paradiso is considered the most beautiful of all the latomie on account of its luxuriant vegetation. The Ear of Dionysius is in this latomia, the shape of the grotto, which resembles an ear, being doubtless due to the rounding of the theatre which adjoins it. In this grotto the tearing of a piece of paper sounded like sawing wood, and when the attendant dropped to the earth an iron bar from the gate the noise was like a clap of thunder. I went up into the chamber, at the top of the “ear,” where Dionysius used to station his spies that they might overhear what the prisoners said who were confined in the grotto below. I could understand what L. F. whispered a thousand feet distant.
On the island of Ortygia, where the main town now lies, we found the famed Fountain of Arethusa. Mythology states that here Diana turned the flying Arethusa into a fountain to save her from her pursuers. It is a pretty little pool, and here we first saw the papyrus plant growing. There is no longer any papyrus in Egypt, but here in Sicily, especially along the banks of the river Anapus, grow today the plants that were presented to the Romans by the king of Egypt, many centuries ago.
A former temple of Minerva is now a cathedral, but eleven of the old pillars of the temple still show in the walls. In his speech against Verres, Cicero described this temple as containing costly treasures. The ruins of a temple to Apollo, which must have been very beautiful, consist of many broken columns and the floor, with an interesting inscription on one of the steps. The modern city had been built on top of this temple, which has recently been excavated.
The museum at Syracuse is an important one and contains many of the antiquities discovered on the island. It has a wonderful collection of coins, including the first piece of money ever minted, bearing the profile of Arethusa. One of the five famous Venuses of the world — the Venus Aphrodite — is in this museum. It is an exquisite work and second in beauty only to the Milo.
I forgot to mention one thing that interested me greatly in the Latomia del Paradisio. This was the “Roper’s Grotto,” where in the days of Siracusa’s glory the ropemakers lived and worked. We found them there today, making rope in the same manner and in the same place. They claim they are the lineal descendants of the ropemakers of Dionysius, but we are inclined to doubt it. The acoustic properties of the Roper’s Grotto are extraordinary. It adjoins the Ear of Dionysius.
LETTER X. THROUGH SICILY TO PALERMO
Palermo, Sicily
We left Siracusa at 8:30 in the morning and rode until 7:30 p m. to reach Girgenti, really crossing straight through the island at its center. It is a very mountainous country, and very beautiful. Every inch seems cultivated that could possibly be made fertile. The ground was covered with wild flowers of brilliant colors, red and yellow poppies appearing in great quantities. There were also many blue, white and purple flowers mingled with these, so that the effect was gorgeous, combined with the green of the fields and the purples and blues of the mountains. The mountains are frequently tipped with snowy clouds.
L. F. and I both were disappointed in the Temples at Girgenti. Although they are said to be the best Greek temples extant, and only rivaled by those at Paestum, they appear insignificant when compared with the great temples of Egypt which we have so lately seen. They are built of a soft limestone called tufa, which time, rain and sciroccos have disintegrated until the pillars and blocks of stone are full of holes like worm holes, and scarcely seem strong enough to hold together. Although fine examples of the Doric style, they not only fall behind the Egyptian temples in the matter of material used in construction, but also in dignity of design, in size and in workmanship.
Girgenti was the Greek city of Acragas, the Roman city of Agrigentum, in the middle ages a flourishing metropolis. The Temple of Juno Lacinia was built in the fifth century before Christ. All Greek temples are of similar construction and vary only in details. First is a vestibule, supported by fluted pillars five times as high as their diameter; then the pronoas, the cell or middle hall, and generally a pillared hall running around the three sides. In front of the temple is an altar where sacrifice is offered. Temples always face the east.
There are several ruined temples at Girgenti, the best preserved being the Temple of Concord, which afterward came into use as an early Christian church. The structures are most impressively located on a high bluff overlooking the sea. Today they are surrounded by green fields and wild flowers, and their delicate outlines, white from a distance, inspire us with a feeling that they are the ghosts of a bygone age and an obsolete religion.
Leaving Girgenti after twenty-four hours, which is ample time to examine the temples, an afternoon’s ride by rail brought us to Palermo, the “City of the Golden Shell.”
For some three thousand years Palermo has been called “the beautiful,” and well deserves the name. It is surrounded on three sides by mountains, the fourth side being the spacious shell-shaped harbor. From the balcony outside my window I can see Mt. Pellegrino, tinted soft blues at morning and evening, but golden hued in the light of the noonday sun.
Palermo remained always a Phoenician city until captured by the Romans 254 B.C. From them it passed to the Arabs, the Normans, the Byzantines, and then the Italians. Each people seems to have left its mark in architecture, and the town boasts monuments erected in all ages. The Palazzo Reale, or royal palace, still shows traces of its Saracen and Norman builders. Its many rooms are simply gorgeous and did not appeal to me at all, although L. F. insisted they were handsomely decorated. The rooms are all hung with bright colored silks, which the furniture matches. One room in Pompeiian style was the most attractive, but the glaring yellow, green, red, blue, purple and other rooms made my eyes ache. The palace has a Chinese room, a superb dance hall, a rose and ebony bedroom for the queen, which is filled with massive gilt furniture, and some elaborately decorated ante-rooms. The most enjoyable thing was the succession of magnificent views from the upper windows.
Connected with the Palazzo Reale is the wonderful Palatine Chapel, acknowledged the most beautiful chapel in all the world. It was built in 1132 by King Roger II and the walls are decorated on every inch with mosaics. These pictured mosaics are designed from Bible texts, and all the backgrounds are gold. The dome is seventy-five feet high and pierced by a row of narrow windows, through which the sun comes to glorify the decorations. The main ceiling of the chapel is in the style of the pointed Norman arch, and the wooden beams supporting it are carved and brilliantly colored. The most famous mosaics here are the picture of the Madonna over the altar and the figures of St. Peter and St. Paul on either side. It was Holy Week and we attended High Mass in this historic chapel. There were multitudes of priests and choir boys in full regalia and the ceremonies and music were very impressive. One noticeable thing in the chapel was a wonderful Norman candle-stick of the twelfth century, made of white marble and fifteen feet t
all.
Around this chapel once ran a gallery supported by pillars of Egyptian granite, six of which remain. The wall of the gallery was covered with mosaics.
The Cathedral at Palermo was built in 1425 and boasts some remarkable bronze doors. Through constant restorations but little of the original building remains, but here are still the tombs of the great kings. We saw the sarcophagi of King Roger I, his daughter Constance, wife of Henry VI, Frederick II, William, his son, and Henry VI. Some are constructed of porphyry and others of marble, but all are finely carved. There is some good statuary in this cathedral.
The Martorana is a church erected in 1143. The interior was formerly covered with glass mosaics, but after it was given in charge of the nuns in 1433 they had most of the pictures picked out. Two curious pictures remain, examples of the earliest mosaic work. One is of King Roger receiving his crown from Christ, instead of the Pope. The other shows an Admiral of King Roger’s groveling at the feet of the Virgin. His body is more like that of a turtle than of a man. The floor dates from 1143 and is all of marble mosaics. The exterior of a Martorana shows Norman towers and arches, and the Saracens, who doubtless used it for other purposes, added a gallery supported by pillars of Egyptian granite.
San Giovanni is a little older, being erected in 1132. It was once a mosque, and still rears its five domes toward the sky. The interior is in the form of the Egyptian cross — a T-cross — and its frescoes are of the twelfth century. Many noble Normans were here burned to death. Connected with it are charmingly pretty cloisters, with slender, graceful columns.
The public park called Villa Giulia is one of the city’s sights. It runs along the edge of the sea and contains many fine statues, the most famous being that of the brothers Canaris, the Greek naval heroes. This is a remarkably fine piece. The brothers are in their boat, peering ahead, while the wind blows their hair streaming back from their expressive faces. In the botanical gardens adjoining the park are specimens from every part of the world. Palermo has the smallest donkeys in the world — no bigger than good-sized dogs. They draw huge two-wheeled carts which hide the animals entirely, when viewed from the rear, and make you wonder for an instant if the moving carts are automobiles.
La Favorita was the villa of Ferdinand IV, built in the Chinese style, and is famous for its fine views and beautiful grounds.
A thing that impressed us was our visit to the catacombs connected with the Cappucini Convent. It was here that, after being embalmed for a year, the nobility and priests of Palermo were laid on shelves or suspended from the walls or ceiling during the period between 1557 and 1885. After that the government put a stop to the gruesome practice. My, what a sight they were! The mummified bodies were dressed in gorgeous clothing and grinned at you from every side. Imagine how horrible it must have been for their friends to visit them and find them thus! To see this awful sight is to become a convert to cremation, for such dead bodies are disgusting. Some of the women’s grinning skulls were set off by laces and furbelows. One of the most natural bodies was that of a general of Garibaldi’s, whose face was composed and dignified; but usually the flesh is shrunken and clings to the bones. They did not know the Egyptian process of embalming.
The splendid cathedral of Monreale is situated about five miles from the city, right up in the mountains, and the drive there was delightful. The building is in the form of a Latin cross and was built in 1186. The beautiful bronze doors are world renowned, and bear reliefs by famous artists depicting scenes in sacred history. The interior is in the Arabian style, with a pointed roof supported by eighteen columns of granite and a floor of solid marble mosaic. But the glass mosaics of the walls, the pulpit and choir are really wonderful, and stand today unrivaled. The mosaics cover an area of 70,400 square feet, and every inch is the work of a master of the art. The picture of Christ, over the pulpit, has been copied so extensively that it is well known to everyone. Aside from the bewildering array of pictured mosaics, the decorations show artistic scrolls and geometrical designs, circles, etc. And the wood carving is beautiful, especially the scenes depicting the history of the Passion, done in 1690. One of the small rooms is lined with Sicilian marble, exquisitely carved in relief with angels and sacred scenes.
I know well my inability to describe this wonderful place to you, for it bewilders the eye and stuns the mind with its magnificence and wealth of detail, and words are poor tools with which to reproduce it all. Even the guide books halt in describing Monreale, but those who see it never forget its marvels.
The cloisters connected with this cathedral are considered the largest and finest in existence. There are two hundred and sixteen pairs of columns supporting the arches, and the capital of every column is different. Many are adorned with mosaics, many beautifully carved, others gain distinction from their very simplicity. The view of Palermo and the sea from Monreale is fine.
We have visited La Cuba, a former Arabian palace now used for barracks, and the Villa Tosca, known for its ponds and fountains and its lovely gardens. The museum at Palermo is very interesting and contains a rare collection of antiques. It excels in wood carvings, bronzes and some exquisite altar pieces and other paintings by old masters.
LETTER XI. NAPLES AND VESUVIUS
Naples, Italy
We arrived at Naples from Palermo this morning, entering the bay just as another eruption of Vesuvius occurred. The mountain has been acting badly for some weeks, and people are worried when the wind blows the ashes and scoria over the city. We don’t know whether this is the last of the eruption or only the beginning, and people seem to look on it as we would a heavy rain or an early frost — something disagreeable but inevitable.
As we landed the sun was shining brilliantly upon a city covered in ashes. Over everything the ashes lie four inches deep, and that is a good deal. Great piles of ashes, many feet high, are being swept into the sides of the road, where they will be carted away in time. The city is in sunshine today, because the wind is blowing the smoke from Vesuvius in another direction; but we can only see the mountain itself at night, when the fires light it up, because it is enveloped in its own clouds.
Everything is so very dirty here that we intend to remain but a few days and then go to Sorrento, just across the bay. We walked in the park today — ankle deep in ashes, and the trees droop under their weight as snow-covered pines do in mid-winter. They try to keep the statuary dusted off, but it’s hard work. In the park is the Aquarium, which is one of the sights of Naples because it is considered the finest in the world. The rare fishes displayed there are interesting and beautiful. I noticed a number of electric rays, which emitted electric flashes of delicate rainbow tints. They are themselves perfectly transparent, and you can see the electricity run around them. Other curious things were blue eels that resembled snakes, pinkish-white “angel fish” with wings, which swim backward or forward at will; octopi, which are awful looking things; fish that looked like plants in blossom, and could draw the blossoms back into the upright stalks; fish like blown-up bladders, pure white and orange-yellow in color, and many other swimming things that I had never even heard of. And then the corals growing in these tanks were very lovely, being varieties of red, pink, white and yellow coral built in branches like trees by tiny insects.
We tried to drive along the Pasilipo this afternoon, but the ashes were so deep that the fashionable driveway was almost deserted, and shortly we abandoned the attempt.
Naples is built on a hillside running down to its beautiful circular bay, and the streets are in tiers, one above the other, so that the views are fine. But now the smoke from Vesuvius is coming our way again, and great roars, caused by explosions of gases, come booming from the volcano at intervals; so it is impossible for us to see much of the city or even to “hear ourselves think.”
Last night Vesuvius shot up flames hundreds of feet high, which lighted up everything for miles and miles around. We could also see the hot lava flowing from its sides. Today it has poured out heavy clouds of black smoke,
but late this afternoon the wind shifted and we could see the mountain. The white ash makes it look as if covered with snow. Tomorrow we are to go with Colonel and Mrs. Angeli, to whom we had letters of introduction, to visit some towns reported destroyed by the eruption. The Colonel’s regiment occupies the military barracks at Naples. I expect to enjoy the excursion and there is little danger. This is said to be the worst eruption since Pompeii was destroyed. The shape of the mountain has changed and it has lost nearly a quarter its height. Yesterday there were terrible explosions like the firing of a cannon, but today only one explosion has been heard.
With three strong horses in a row drawing our carriage, we rode from nine in the morning until nine at night, visiting the towns destroyed by the eruption. Colonel Angeli did not go officially, but his uniform was a passport everywhere, and we saw things denied to ordinary tourists. On our way to Torre Annunziata we passed through small villages where the dust and ashes reached the second-story windows, being shoveled in banks from the center of the street, as we shovel snow. The nearer we drew to the volcano the more beautiful it became, with its columns of white, grey and black smoke rising from many fissures in its sides; and also it became more menacing and grand.
The town of Bosco Trecase, which was overwhelmed by a stream of lava, looked as if a cyclone had struck it. The lava would go a certain distance, then turn abruptly aside and make unaccountable twists and turns, for it seems any irregularity of the ground affects the direction of its flow. We walked on lava so hot that it burned my shoes, and it was still glowing and smoking in places, although the general surface looked like lumps of pumice stone. Nearly all the buildings in the town were destroyed. In one place the lava flowed into a cellar and covered many casks of wine that were aging there, but did little damage to the house itself. In another place burned away the doors of a church and stopped its flow just within the entrance. The Italians claim the Madonna arrested the threatened destruction. Houses went down like paper before the lava stream, and vineyards, gardens and fields were covered deep. Wherever the lava lies no vegetation will ever grow again.
Complete Works of L. Frank Baum Page 900
