…and then passed by the good, rich soil of marshy Helorus.
Virgil, Aeneid, III, 698
The fertile land along the southern coast was highly inhabited during the Roman and Greek eras. At the end of the 8th century BC, Syracusans occupied a promontory above the mouth of the River Tellaro and, therefore, founded a town called Helorus. The agrarian resources of the area were profusely exploited thus attaining an economic and monumental peak between the 4th and 3rd century BC.
Our expert-led private tour will continue inside the Roman Villa of the River Tellaro, whose excavations disclosed an important complex of Roman mosaics dating back to the middle of the 4th century AD. Among hunting scenes, geometrical and plant motifs, we will also see one of the scenes taken from Aeschylus’ Phrygians, namely the ransoming of Hector’s body.
