At the southern extremity of
Ortygia there is a narrow strip of land, pointing like a finger
towards the rocky peninsula of Plemmyrium; and between these two
points lies the entrance to a spacious bay, already alluded to under
the name of the Great Harbour. At the western end of the bay there is
a long stretch of low, marshy ground, intersected by the little rivers
Cyana and Anapus, and infested with fever during the heats of summer.
On a rising ground, south of the Anapus, stood the suburb of Polichne,
with its great temple, sacred to the Olympian Zeus. A little to the
north of Ortygia the coast rises abruptly in a bold line of cliffs,
facing eastwards, and forming the base of a triangular plateau, which
slopes upwards from the sea, and gradually grows narrower until it
ends in a point, called the hill of Euryelus. This plateau, which bore
the name of Epipolae, is guarded on all its three sides by rocky
precipices, only to be ascended at two or three places. Its eastern
end, called Acheadina, from the wild pear-trees which once flourished
there, was occupied by a new city, now included with Ortygia in the
same wall of defence. Here were situated the famous stone-quarries,
which afterwards acquired so tragic an interest from the sufferings of
the captive Athenians; and southwards from this district the ground
shelves gently to the shores of the Little Harbour, a sheltered inlet
at the northern end of Ortygia.
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