My thesis was built around my excavations in Sicily during the summer of 2012. I researched a church on a small islet, and some of its findings over the years. Not only did I use my excavation notes, but I also used the notes from the earlier excavation of the same site in the 1960s. I needed expert advice on the building and the lamp that was found, so I contacted a Byzantine architecture specialist, and an ancient lamp specialist to obtain their opinions on the site. In order to understand the findings from 2012,1 researched the basic history of the surrounding area of Syracuse, Sicily, and the Byzantine Empire\u27s expansion west into Italy. I discovered an increase of Byzantine architecture when Syracuse was the made the capital of the empire, and ancient temples being converted into churches, and this is possibly what happened to the church at Ognina. My conclusion was that the structure\u27s first phase as a church may date to the 7 century along with the other churches being constructed, and that the lamp, a lO^’’ century A.D. Byzantine lamp, was a part of a later phase of the church
