Looking at the ancient history of Syracuse, the golden age of the town was undoubtedly the Greek period, started with the foundation by Corinthian Archias and ended with the Roman conquer in 212 BC. Syracuse, however, remained a city of great importance during the Roman age and also after the fall of the empire, during the Byzantine era, when Sicily was reconquered by the Eastern Roman Empire, under which it remained for several centuries. But we know very few about Byzantine Syracuse. Among the monuments still visible in the town today there are some termal baths dating back to the Byzantine era, which were digged in the mid-1930s by the archaeologist Giuseppe Cultrera.
Unfortunately, these small baths, located near the older Greek arsenal and the modern small harbour, did not remain untouched by the urban expansion of the 1960s with building projects which are diffult to justify nowadays. Among these was the decision to construct a building directly above the baths. The term "above" is not used figuratively, as the building was unfortunately constructed on concrete pillars that extend among the archaeological remains. The apartments begin on the first floor, but at ground level, beyond the fence and eternally closed gate, the various rooms of the baths can still be glimpsed in the shadows of the building and its pillars—a striking example of the construction blunders of the economic boom years.
However, in the 1930s, during the initial excavations, these baths were widely publicized and were even believed to correspond to the "Baths of Daphne", with a report by Istituto Luce, still accessible online, providing information about them.
The size of this thermal complex is not particularly large, leading some scholars to suggest that it might have been a private bath, possibly associated with a villa, the remains of which have been lost. According to archaeologist Cultrera, the baths date back to the Roman era and were subsequently modified during the Byzantine period. Among the rooms, its's possible 
to identify the courtyard, apsidal rooms that contained pools, and two rooms that must have been heated, as remains of the suspensurae—small pillars that supported the floor to allow the passage of hot air underneath—are still visible on the floor. These two rooms can be identified as the tepidarium and calidarium.
One of the most intriguing but unproven theories is that this site could be identified as the "Baths of Daphne" mentioned by Theophanes in his work Chronographia. The historian informs us that the name of these baths in Syracuse came from the presence of a fresco dedicated to the myth of Daphne, and that it was here where Constans II, emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, was killed. Constans II ruled during a time of great crisis for the Byzantine Empire, journeyed to Italy, and became the last emperor to visit Rome. He then settled in Syracuse, where he lived from 663 to 668 AD. Scholars still debate whether his stay in the city was merely temporary, whether the capital of the empire was moved to Syracuse at that time, or if, at the very least, this was among Constans II’s projects. His absence from Constantinople, however, stirred envy and tensions that culminated in the emperor’s assassination, as narrated by Theophanes, by a servant who struck him with a heavy metal vessel while he was bathing in the baths.
In the same area, a small hoard from the same period was discovered along with an elaborate ring that some scholars, perhaps with some romanticism, have associated with Constans II himself. This significant artifact now belongs to the collections of the "Salinas" archaeological museum in Palermo.
Today, the Byzantine baths of Syracuse remain in a neglected state, overlooked by tourists and locals alike. As always, the hope remains for the modernization and improvement of this small but evocative archaeological site.
