Fountain of Cyane. SYRACUSE. 35. Route. 3()|
to the upper parts of the Achradina. Following this path to the
r. for about 5 min., the traveller reaches the Villa Landolina (at
the corner to the r. , where a road diverges at a right angle),
with a small latomia, containing the grave of the German poet
A. v. Platen (d. 1835).
The traveller now returns to the same path, crosses the road
and obtains a view of the former Capuchin Monastery (10 min.)
near which is situated the * Latomia de' Cappuccini, the wildest
and most imposing of these quarries, where the 7000 captive
Athenians probably once languished. From the monastery a direct
road leads back to the town (3/4 hr.). passing the landing-place
of the small harbour (p. 291).
Vale o f the A n apo. Coast o f the Achradina.
Boat with 3 rowers from the Marina to the Fountain of Cvane according
to tariff 5 1., and a gratuity of 30-50 c.; to the mouth of the Anapo 1 1.,
where pedestrians are recommended to dismiss the boat and proceed on
foot, as the navigation of the stream is tedious. The route is then from
the bridge over the Anapo (on the road to >"otol, across the fields in 5
min. to the columns of the Olympieum, and thence by the bank of the
stream to the papyrus-plants. As the boatmen usually carry their passen¬
gers across the sandbank at the influx of the Anapo, ladies will prefer to
make the excursion by driving round the great harbour. The entire excur¬
sion occupies 3—4 hrs.
Beyond the influx of the Anapo the navigation of the narrow
and deeply imbedded stream is attended with some difficulty, and
the boatmen accordingly have recourse to a towing-line. The pa¬
pyrus-plants, IS ft. in height, which line the banks, impart a
strange and almost tropical aspect to the scene. Innumerable
water-fowl frequent the thickets of reeds and creeping-plants.
The right arm of the river which the boat ascends has its source
in the Fountain of Cyane, the ''azure spring", into which the
nymph of that name was metamorphosed for venturing to oppose
Pluto when he was carrying off Proserpine to the infernal regions.
Here the Suacusans celebrated an annual festival in honour of
Persephone (Proserpine). The spring, which abounds in fish, is
now termed Pisma.
On the hill to the r., between the Cyane and the great har¬
bour, stood the Olympieum , the celebrated Temple of Zeus Olym-
pius. Gelon provided the statue, the beauty of which is extolled
by Cicero, with a golden robe from the spoil of Himera, which
Dionysius I. removed as being "too cold in winter and too heavy
for summer''. The shaft* of two columns are now the sole remnants
of the temple. It was a hexastyle and doubtless the most ancient
Doric temple of Syracuse. As this point is one of great strategic
importance, it was usually made the basis of operations when the
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