Altar of Hiero II — Attraction in Syracuse

Didn’t get to see the park as we were harassed by some guy pretending to be a parking attendant and demanding money. When I asked for ID he refused and pointed to his t-shirt. When I tried looking up this name he became aggressive and came into my personal space. He walked away and I took a picture of him. He came back demanding I delete the photo and tried to take my phone off me. He then became more aggressive and threatening. As soon as I started saying let’s call the police he said free parking and walked away. Needless to say this wasn’t a pleasant experience and put us off going to the park incase our car was damaged on our return. The city should do something about these scams as it doesn’t give a good lasting impression...

Impressive remains of the past, well prezerved today, even it is not much. You can visit it by paying 16,5 euro, but you will find no historical refferences about it inside the Park. Wich means you do your homework before, reading about it, or pay extra to hire a audioguide or a local guide. There are no curators in this superb site, you will not receive even a cheap map...

"Ara" è un termine latino che significa "altare", ossia un manufatto più o meno monumentale che serviva per celebrare riti sacri ed offrire doni alla divinità. Lo storico Diodoro Siculo narra che a Siracusa, nei pressi del teatro, si trovava un enorme altare fatto costruire nel 466 a.C. da Ierone II per celebrare l'avvenuta espulsione del tiranno Trasibulo, che - per dimensioni compatibili - in molti ritengono debba identificarsi con questo monumento, anche se le spoliazioni del periodo spagnolo ne abbiano lasciato soltanto un mastodontico basamento lungo quasi 200 mt. Sempre da Diodoro sappiamo che dopo l’allontanamento di Trasibulo venne celebrata una festa di liberazione in onore di Zeus, durante la quale vennero sacrificati addirittura 450 tori in un sol giorno, un numero che effettivamente spiegherebbe le dimensioni di questo altare. Per questi motivi si pensa che quest'ara sia stata edificata dallo stratega siracusano e dedicata al capo di...