Before DAMOCLES was a computer program, Damocles lived around 400 B.C. in Siracusa (Syracuse), on the island of Sicily, a part of modern-day Italy. The following is a summary of the life of the "other" Damocles, a story that was originally told by the Roman orator Cicero: Damocles was an attendent in the royal court of the Greek tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse. Damocles talked so incessantly about the happiness of Dionysius that the tyrant decided to teach Damocles a lesson. Dionysius held a grand banquet, and invited Damocles to sit at the place of honor. Just as Damocles was beginning to enjoy himself, he was horrified to discover a sword hanging over his head, suspended by a single hair. In so doing, Damocles learned from Dionysius the perilous nature of his life. In modern language, "the sword of Damocles" has come to mean a dreaded tragedy that may strike at any moment. In addition, one of the co-authors of the DAMOCLES program was born only 40 km north of Siracusa (guess which one!). Thus, the ties between DAMOCLES and Damocles run quite deep.

The two photos below were taken on a recent trip to Sicily, to retrace the steps of our program's namesake. This first image shows the Greek theater in Siracusa, where Damocles undoubtably sat, contemplated, and complained.

The city of Siracusa sits beyond the trees in the right-rear, with the Ionic Sea coast directly to the right (not shown).

The second image shows the entrance to a man-made, teardrop-shaped cave called the "Ear of Dionysius".

This cave, which is near the Greek theater, was carved into the wall of a quarry by prisoners. For their efforts, the prisoners also got to occupy the cave. As a result of the acoustics of the cave, Dionysius could stand outside the cave and hear prisioners talking within. Any prisioner who spoke out against Dionysius was thereby found out, and quickly put to death. The native-born co-author is one of the people standing, with his back to the camera, at the entrance to the cave.