Elephas falconeri Busk ... adult female (L) & male ... aka extinct pygmy elephant.

Panel showing how Sicily got its current shape.

Middle Neolithic bowl ... first half of the 5th millennium BCE.

From the Middle Copper Age — mid 3rd millennium BCE.

Purpose unknown ... from the Late Copper Age ... 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BCE.

Burials in Pithoi ... tombs 30 and 23 ... from the San Pacino necropolis, Milazzo.

Pedestal Basin w/etched human figures ... Middle Bronze Age - 15th-13th century BCE.

Basin from the Thapsos cemetery — 15th-9th century BCE.

Jug w/strainer-spout; Tomb 9; - Montagna Alta-Di Bernardo Late; Bronze Age ... 13th-11th century BCE

Sicilian red figure lekane; attributed to the Leontinoi Painter; 360-340 BCE.

Vase with two lions and a rabbit ... from Tomb 414 ... 625-600 BCE.

Attic black figure levy this depicting departure in a chariot ... 550-525 BCE.

Oinochoe with animal freezes and palmettes & winged lions on the lip ... 600-575 BCE.

Limestone relief depicting a banquet scene ... 3rd century BCE.

Gorgon with Pegasus, the winged horse, in her right hand ... end of 7th century BCE.

Two amphorae and a small table from the wreck of Porto Palo di Capo Passero; 4th-3rd century BCE.

Boat w/animal head and stern w/mermaid tail ... Tomb 346; 214-212 BCE.

Female statue of the "Small Herculaneum Woman" type ... circa 300 BCE.

Fragment of a statue of centaur ... 2nd century BCE.

Fragment of a cup of the Megarese type ... 2nd century BCE.

Vase depicting a comedy scene with a servant holding a mirror for his master; end of 2nd century BCE

Lion head water spouts from Eurialo Castle ... 4th century BCE.

Roman official with decorated armor; from Neeopolis; Tiberian Period (14-27 CE).

Fragment of a new comedy mask; 3rd century BCE.

Statue of a muse; probably from the Rhodian workshop; 2nd century BCE.

Old fisherman with a basket of fish; Roman copy of a Hellenistic original; circa 220-200 BCE.

"Venus Landolina" ... 2nd century CE copy of an original from 2nd century BCE.

"Asclepius" ... Roman copy of a statue from the early 4th century BCE.

Marble Sarcophagus of Adelphia (circa 340 AD); depicting scenes from the Bible.

Some of the biblical scenes on the front of the sarcophagus of Adelphia.

The Sarcophagus of Adelphia was found inside the Catacombs of San Giovanni in Siracusa.

Painting depicting a banquet scene ... 3rd-4th century CE.

Basin with applied relief decorations ... 2nd century BCE.

Painted with depictions of a bride preparing for her wedding ceremony.

Greek black-glazed pottery bowl with stamped rosette pattern.

Siracusa: Museo Archeologico

October 13 in Italy ☀️ 75 °F

We’d heard that the Regional Archaeology Museum Paolo Orsi is one of the principal museums of its kind in not just Italy, but in all of Europe. Not to be missed. So, after Mui returned from the Ortigia market and put away the goodies he had purchased, we headed off to check it out.

The museum is located outside the Old Town area in Ortigia. One can walk to the museum … takes about 30 minutes to do so. But there was nothing interesting to see along the way. Instead, we hopped on bus 105 from the stop up the street from the apartment and saved our steps for wandering around the museum.

Inaugurated in 1886, the museum used to be situated in Piazza Duomo. It wasn’t until 1988 that the current museum building was opened to the public. The new exhibition space on the upper floor was opened in 2006, and expanded eight years later to display one of the highlights of our visit … the Sarcophagus of Adelphia, which was moved here from the catacombs of Siracusa.

The display of artifacts are divided into sectors — (A) prehistoric; (B) Greek colonies in Sicily from the Ionic and Doric period; (C) colonies of Siracusa; and (D) Hellenistic and Roman periods. There are mosaic fragments; skeletal remains of animals that no longer roam the earth; pottery fragments … large and small, decorated and plain; masks and sculptures; delicate glass vases; marble statuary; fragments of larger artifacts partially pieced together like jigsaw puzzles; bronze busts, and a couple of sarcophagi.

It took a while to go through the rooms as one thing or another caught my eye. In fact, after four hours of studying display case after display case, my feet were screaming so loud for relief that I had to call it quits … leaving the lower floor of sector D unexplored. We’ll be in the area again tomorrow and I hope to finish up then.Read more