Naxos
Location
2km/1.25mi south of Giardini, on the east coast of Sicily below Taormina, the basalt rocks of Capo Schisò jut out into the sea. To the south the cape adjoins the fertile plain at the mouth of the Alcántara River (known in ancient times as the Akesine). Here stood Naxos, the first Greek town to be built in Sicily.
History
According to Thucydides, Naxos was founded in 735 B.C. by settlers from Khalkis (Evvoia) and the Cycladic island of Naxos, after which the new town was named.
2km/1.25mi south of Giardini, on the east coast of Sicily below Taormina, the basalt rocks of Capo Schisò jut out into the sea. To the south the cape adjoins the fertile plain at the mouth of the Alcántara River (known in ancient times as the Akesine). Here stood Naxos, the first Greek town to be built in Sicily.
History
According to Thucydides, Naxos was founded in 735 B.C. by settlers from Khalkis (Evvoia) and the Cycladic island of Naxos, after which the new town was named.
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Must-see attractions nearby:
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They erected an altar to Apollo Archegetes as the main place of worship for these Ionian Greeks. As long ago as 730 B.C. their leader Thukles founded the towns of Katane and Leontinoi.
The subsequent fortunes of Naxos were determined by the tension which existed between the Ionians (Naxos and its satellites) and the Doric Greeks from Syracuse and Gela. In 495 B.C. the tyrant Hippocrates from Gela conquered the Ionian towns, and in 476 Hieron I of Syracuse transported the people of Naxos and Katane to Leontinoi; after Hieron's death in 466, however, they returned.
During the Sicilian expeditions carried out by Athens in 427-424 and 415-413 B.C. Naxos fought on their side against Syracuse. In a revenge campaign in 403 B.C. Dionysios I of Syracuse, aided by a deserter from the town, conquered Naxos, razed it to the ground and enslaved the population.
In 358 B.C. the survivors made a new home in the nearby mountain settlement of Tauromenion. In the years that followed Naxos became a town of little importance.
The subsequent fortunes of Naxos were determined by the tension which existed between the Ionians (Naxos and its satellites) and the Doric Greeks from Syracuse and Gela. In 495 B.C. the tyrant Hippocrates from Gela conquered the Ionian towns, and in 476 Hieron I of Syracuse transported the people of Naxos and Katane to Leontinoi; after Hieron's death in 466, however, they returned.
During the Sicilian expeditions carried out by Athens in 427-424 and 415-413 B.C. Naxos fought on their side against Syracuse. In a revenge campaign in 403 B.C. Dionysios I of Syracuse, aided by a deserter from the town, conquered Naxos, razed it to the ground and enslaved the population.
In 358 B.C. the survivors made a new home in the nearby mountain settlement of Tauromenion. In the years that followed Naxos became a town of little importance.
Things to See
Archeological Museum
At the eastern end of the Naxos excavations, right on the shores of Capo Schisò, stands the Archeological Museum. The ground floor contains prehistoric finds which prove that the region was settled in Neolithic times; on the upper floor finds from the Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods are on display, including a statuette of a goddess on her throne dating from the sixth century B.C., coins with their original moulds and displaying Greek influence, vases, oil-lamps, weaving-weights and other everyday objects.
Dagmar Nick wrote thus of the rubble-strewn terrain, once the proud core of Greek life on Sicily and now boxed in between holiday homes and an orange-grove: "Nowhere in Sicily is so little of the past to be found and yet so much reverence to be felt as here in front of the altar steps which have slid down into the earth or standing before the foundations of a town-gate which are older than those of Rome. This lonely stretch of black lava is the place for all those wishing to find the very roots of Sicily rather than go home with nothing but the mad noise of some pleasure-beach or other ringing in their ears."
Dagmar Nick wrote thus of the rubble-strewn terrain, once the proud core of Greek life on Sicily and now boxed in between holiday homes and an orange-grove: "Nowhere in Sicily is so little of the past to be found and yet so much reverence to be felt as here in front of the altar steps which have slid down into the earth or standing before the foundations of a town-gate which are older than those of Rome. This lonely stretch of black lava is the place for all those wishing to find the very roots of Sicily rather than go home with nothing but the mad noise of some pleasure-beach or other ringing in their ears."
Excavations 
The urban area around Naxos begins in the west beyond the Santa Venera River and extends eastward as far as Capo Schizò. Excavations carried out since 1953 have revealed the route followed by the town walls running parallel to the Santa Venera River, as well as sections of the town itself. Both an older (seventh/sixth centuries B.C.) and a later period were unearthed, the latter beginning with the exile in 466 B.C. and ending with the destruction of the town in 403 B.C.
Coming from the west the visitor will see a 300m/1,000ft long section of the town wall dating from the late sixth century B.C. It is made of roughly-hewn, polygonal blocks of lava. To the south it adjoins an area set aside for religious rituals; here were found traces of a small shrine (Sacellum A) and two seventh century pottery kilns, as well as the foundations of Temple B which was constructed above the older shrine at the end of the sixth century B.C.; it measures 14.25x38m/47x125ft and was probably dedicated to Aphrodite. The exact situation of the Apollo Archegetes altar, referred to in the literature of the time, is still unknown.
The fifth century B.C. town was laid out in accordance with the grid street system named after Hippodamus of Miletus. Some of the residential areas have been excavated.
Coming from the west the visitor will see a 300m/1,000ft long section of the town wall dating from the late sixth century B.C. It is made of roughly-hewn, polygonal blocks of lava. To the south it adjoins an area set aside for religious rituals; here were found traces of a small shrine (Sacellum A) and two seventh century pottery kilns, as well as the foundations of Temple B which was constructed above the older shrine at the end of the sixth century B.C.; it measures 14.25x38m/47x125ft and was probably dedicated to Aphrodite. The exact situation of the Apollo Archegetes altar, referred to in the literature of the time, is still unknown.
The fifth century B.C. town was laid out in accordance with the grid street system named after Hippodamus of Miletus. Some of the residential areas have been excavated.
