The hidden Temple of Artemis in Syracuse

Today’s visitor of Syracuse and more specifically to the island of Ortygia, will stare in awe at the Duomo with its Sicilian-Baroque façade rebuilt in 1728-1754 after several earthquakes had damaged the Norman entrance. The true treasure, however, is hidden inside as the entire church is built in and around the Doric columns of the Temple of Athena from the 5^th century BC (see: Syracuse rivaled with Athens to be the most powerful city).

What few people know it that hidden underneath the adjacent Palazzo Senatorio or City Hall we can find the remains of an older temple dedicated to Artemis. While this Ionian temple was still under construction (no remains of the roof were ever found), it was destroyed after the Battle of Himera in 480 BC (see: The Battle of Himera, a major confrontation). This grand Artemision was only discovered in the 1960s when reinforcement works to the City Hall were carried out.

It appeared that the temple was inspired by the famous Temple of Artemis from Ephesus (see: Alexander’s presence in Ephesus). During the 15^th century a church of San Sebastian arose on the spot and the remains of that church are now mixed with those of the Artemision together with relics from an early Greek Sacred area and from prehistoric and proto-historic times.

Although much of the Artemision was used as construction material for the Temple of Athena, enough was still standing in 70 BC when Cicero visited the place and left us an interesting description of this temple.