Full day of exploring the archaeological park called (Neapolis).  We chose this part of Sicily to visit because it has the largest concentration of ancient Greek sites.  The biggest colonies developed by the Greeks were located in this part of Sicily.  The park contains both Greek and Roman ruins.  This post will combine some of what we saw (the next day) at the Archaeological Museum which is one of the finest I’ve ever seen with 18,000 works on display in one of the most well thought out museums ever.  You were given a path to follow from earliest works (2500 BCE) to about 200 BCE for the entire region.  As you made your way through you could see all sides of the sculptural forms.  There was no catalog to buy and much of the signage was not in English although occasionally it was so much of what I’ll share with you will not be properly labeled, sorry.  Just enjoy them for what they are.  I’m going to include some here and some in a separate post just showing some of the highlights of the museum.

For the key to understanding the “Sections”:

Section A: geological and prehistoric displays including slab doors from a tomb with phallic designs, translucent red clay pottery, reconstructed tombs

Section B: Greek colonization of Sicily beginning 8th century BCE including a Venus, headless kouros (male nude figure), goddess suckling twins, vases, models of temples of Athena and Apollo and the Ionic temple near the duomo.

Section C: Sub-colonies of Syracuse and Hellenized communities.  Some highlights are terra-cotta horses, bronze statuette of athlete, vases, and votive busts.

Section D: Some Roman era figures and busts beginning of the final section of the museum