Teatro antico di Taormina

Ancient Greek theatre at Taormina, Sicily, above the sea and Mount Etna.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness	Carlo Rovelli	backdrop	Where Sophocles was staged in Archimedes’ day, and gladiators fought later.

There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness — Carlo Rovelli (2020)

Source: There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness · Readwise highlight

Near to Syracuse there is one of the most beautiful sites in all Italy, the theatre at Taormina, overlooking from above the Mediterranean Sea and Mount Etna. In the time of Archimedes, the theatre was used to stage plays by Sophocles and Euripides.

• Role: backdrop
• In the book: In the essay on Archimedes’ Sand Reckoner, Rovelli points to the theatre at Taormina near Syracuse, where plays by Sophocles and Euripides were staged in Archimedes’ time and which the Romans later adapted for gladiatorial combat. He uses the change as a symbol of one world displacing another.
• Why it matters: A small, vivid image in a short essay; it gives the argument a place to stand.