Hieron II had it built on the site of a pre-existing theatre whose history is associated with Aeschylus of Eleusis (c 524-456 BC), the first of the great Greek tragedicians, Epicharmus (6C-5C BC), the Syracusan father of Greek comedy, and their contemporaries Phormides and Deinolochus. This earlier teatre witnessed the premiere of Aeschylus’ tragedy “The Persians” and, in 476 BC, “The Women of Etna”, written to celebrate the foundation of Etna by Hieron I the Etnean. The name of the architect who built this earlier theatre, Demokopos, has been handed down to us by the mime-writer Sophron (late 5C BC). In Roman times the theatre was altered so as to adapt it to the performance of circus and water games. During the reign of Charles V, the ancient stones of the theatre, amphitheatre and the Altar of Hieron II were used to build the fortifications on the island of Ortygia, suffering the same fate as many other noble monuments of ancient Sicily.
Strabo, the Greek historian and man of letters born in Amasea, Pontus (c 64 BC), who spent long years in Rome during the first Imperial Age between Augustus and Tiberius, thus wrote about the foundation of Syracuse in his valuable treatise of Italic geography: “Syracuse was founded by Archias, who sailed from Corinth about the same time that Naxos and Megara were colonised. It is said that Archias went to Delphi at the same time as Myscellus, and when they were consulting the oracle, the god asked them whether they chose wealth or health; accordingly, the god granted to the former to found Syracuse and to the latter Croton. And it actually came to pass that the Crotoniates took up their adobe in a city that was exceedingly healthful, as I have related, and that Syracuse fell into such exceptional wealth that the name of the Syracuse was spread abroad in a proverb applied to the excessively stravagant – “The tithe of the Syracusans would not be sufficient for them”. […] And the city grew, both on account of the fertility of the soil and on account of the natural excellence of its harbours. Furthermore, the men of Syracuse proved to have the gift of leadership, with the result that when the Syracusans were ruled by tyrants they lorded it over the rest, and when set free themselves they set free those who were oppressed by the barbarians”. (Strabo, Geography, Italy: VI, 2. 3-4, transl. by H. L. Jones, Harvard University Press) .
Historical references to the period following the foundation of the city, up to the early 5C BC, have been lost. During this obscure period, political power was wielded by the “gamoroi”, aristocrats and landowners, expelled by a popular democratic revolt at the beginning of the 5C BC. The city’s great historical epoch began when Gelon, of the Deinomenids of Gela, came to power; he provided for the return of the aristocrats and set himself at the head at the Greek settlement of Sicily against the Carthaginians, who aimed at conquering the whole island. Under Hieron I, the city grew more powerful and consolidated its supremacy over the western Mediterranean following the naval victory off Cumae in 474 BC over the Etruscans.

Publius Vergilius Maro, the great Latin writer and poet from Andes, near Mantova (70-19 BC), also sang the fountain in his verses:

“Right o’er against Plemmyrium’s wat’ry strand,
there lie and isle once call’d the Ortygian land.
Alpheus, as old same reports, has found
from Greece a secret passage under ground,
by love to beauteous Arethusa led;
and, by mingling here, they roll in the same sacred bed.
As Helenus enjoin’d, we next adore
Diana’s name, protectress of the shore.
With prosp’rous gales we pass the quiet sound
 of still Elorus, and his fruitful bounds”.

(Virgil; Aeneid, book III-151, transl. by J. Dryden, the Harvard Classic).

“August resting-place of Alpheus flower of the illustrious Syracuse, Ortygia”. (Pindar)

Thus the poet sang the famous of Arethusa, nymph of Artemis and daughter of Nereus and Doris, whom a legend associates to the origins of Syracuse: “One day Arethusa, searching refreshment from hunting, bathed in the river Alpheus whom, struck by love for the beautiful nymph, took on human form to pursue her. In order to protect Arethusa, Artemis turned her into a spring, flowing undergound to emerge on the islet of Ortygia”. The head of Arethusa, surrounded by darting dolphins, is a recurrent motif on the coins minted in Syracuse. Opposite, the silver tetradachm with the signature of the engraver, Kimon, and the image of the Medusa. The legend highlights the etnic and religious link between Syracuse and its mother-city, Corinth. Since ancient times, the site has been a source of inspiration for many travellers and men of letters.

One morning, on 29 August 1953, a small plaster image of the Virgin Mary in the house of Angelo Iannuso and Antonina Giusto suddenly began to shed tears. The following days, on 30 and 31 August and on 1 September, tears were seen again on the Virgin’s face. This extraordinary phenomenon turned the house of two simple worker in a sort of sanctuary, attracting an increasing multitude of people anxious to see and touch the tears coming out from the Virgin’s clear eyes. A commission appointed by the archiepiscopal Curia ascertained the tears to be human; on 19 May 1954, Cardinal Ruffini, the Archbishop of Palermo, laid the foundation-stone of the present Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime (Our Lady of the tears), built by two French architects, Michel Andrault and Pierre Parat. On 29 August 1968, the sacred image of the Virgin was displayed in the Crypt, which was opened on 1 September. Now it is exhibited in the higher part of the building, completed in 1990.