Magna Graecia

Magna Graecia was the Roman name for the many Greek cities founded in the southern half of the Italian peninsula and in Sicily – long before Rome was anything to speak of. Here below are nine video diaries including visits to Etruscan tombs, the Bay of Naples, and many of those early Greek colonies.

 

Texts, translations and other info

1

The Etruscans; and the fall of Troy

2

Parties, prophecies, and heartless Proserpina: we visit Cumae, Baiae and Lake Avernus

3

Two dangerous emperors; and a visit to the spot where Pliny saw Mt Vesuvius erupting – his was the one surviving account of it

4

Temples, roses, and the story of Palinurus: we visit Paestum, Elea and Palinuro

5

We meet Herodotos and Pythagoras here, and party with the Sybarites

6

We escape Scylla to Sicily, where Polyphemus and Mount Etna’s volcano await us …

7

The quarries of Syracuse, a Greek theatre in Sicily, and tales of war. The Sicilians are saved by the nymph Arethusa

8

To western Sicily, where we visit temples in Agrigento, Selinunte and Segesta, and meet a Greek philosopher on the moon

Epilogue

With reflections on Magna Graecia, we’re on our way home – but not without a Greek song