Syracuse

Syracuse was the principal city of Sicily, situated on the south-eastern coast of the island, and one of the most celebrated cities of the ancient Greek world. Founded by Corinthian colonists in 734 BC, it grew to become the largest Greek city outside Greece itself, renowned for its wealth, culture, and fortifications. The city appears in the New Testament in Acts 28:12, where Paul's ship from Malta put in at Syracuse and remained three days during his voyage to Rome. The brief stop gave Paul contact with one of the Mediterranean world's great urban centers. Syracuse had successfully resisted the Athenian expedition of 415–413 BC in one of antiquity's most dramatic military reverses, and under Dionysius I and II it had been a major Mediterranean power. By Paul's time it was a prosperous Roman provincial city and served as a regular stopping point on the grain routes between Alexandria and Rome.