Technopark Archimedes

A sight recommended by my hosts was the Technopark Archimedes a short walk outside Sicacusa. But first I passed through the Neapolis Archeological Park which is a collection of Greek and Roman structures and took these pictures.

Not so interesting without any explanation or interpretation, sorry about that.

The Technopark Archimedes exhibits working models of his inventions. First the guide showed me a short video about Archimedes.

π is of course because he obtained an approximation to its value.

There are working models of his inventions on the grounds. Some of them were used in the defense of Siracusa. I took a picture of only one, a mirror setting leaves on fire. It's believed that his "heat ray" was used to blind the sailors rather than set fire to ships. Likewise the claw that was said to upend ships was probably used to damage the prows.

We take his inventions for granted now, but for his age, he was an extraordinary inventor. The park can be recommended for young people.

There's the legend that he was killed by a Roman soldier he scolded for upsetting his diagrams. Actually we don't know this and many other details of his life for sure. What we know of him has been passed to us through others' accounts. We don't even have an idea of his likeness.

So it was time to return to Catania. A small lunch of an arancino, and after an hour on the train I was back in Catania for the last couple of days in Sicily.