Akragas

Yeah, I know, temples and more temples.  This is the last of the great archaeological parks, we had to go today as the weather was sunny and Greek temples are on the top of our priority list.  We never tire of looking at Greek temples as they are magnificent, but it is difficult to convey their size and the precision of their design through photographs.

Akragas was the Greek name, Agrigentum the Roman, the town was then known as Girgenti, which was an Arabic corruption of the Roman name.  In 1927, Mussolini ordered that the town be re-named Agrigento.

Akragas was founded in 580 BC by colonists from Gela, which had been settled in 688 BC by Rhodians and Cretans.  In 406 BC, the Carthaginians captured the city after a siege lasting eight months.  The city was burnt, and as usual, the people sold as slaves.  The Carthaginians were defeated in 340 BC by a tyrant ruler and the city was rebuilt.  It then fell to the Romans.

The Temple of Hera - 450 BC

The temple is incorrectly identified due to an incorrect interpretation of a Latin text regarding the temple.  The Romans restored the temple but it was completely destroyed above the lower column drums by an earthquake.  Reconstruction began in the 18th century.  It is made of local stone which would have been stuccoed over and painted.

The Temple of Concord -  430 BC

It was named Concord after an inscription in Latin was found nearby, the name has nothing to do with the temple. It is well preserved because it was converted into a church.  They hacked arches into the cella walls, a horrendous thing to do, but at least it resulted in the preservation of the temple.  In the 18th century the temple was restored.  The Sicilian sunshine has burnt the sandstone into a rich golden hue.

Heavy entablature but a very graceful temple.

The arches look completely foreign, they ruin the harmony.

Temple of Herakles - 490 - 480 BC

This is the first temple in Sicily where they used angle contraction to solve the Doric conflict.  The columns were re-erected in the 1920's.  Verres, a Roman governor of Sicily, had a habit of stealing valuable Sicilian art objects for himself.  He sent a group of soldiers at dawn to steal the cult statue of Herakles from the temple.  The citizens of Akragas got word of the plan, they were so enraged, they overpowered the soldiers and prevented the robbery of the cult statue.

Temple of Olympian Zeus - 5th Century BC

This was once a grand and unusual Greek temple.  The largest Doric Greek Temple ever built, it measured 60 x 340 feet and soared 120 feet above the foundation.  There was no peristyle (freestanding columns), rather, Doric half columns with an exterior circumference of 20 feet were attached to the exterior walls.  This is where it really gets interesting, between the columns, gigantic male figures called telamones, at 25 feet high, seemed to support the roof and were part of the walls.

The pediments were huge, the east pediment had a sculptured battle of gods and giants, while the west pediment demonstrated the fall of Troy.

Today, there is a lot of collapsed stone lying around.  The stone was pillaged in the 18th century to build a dock at a nearby port.  Pillaging of ancient ruins was not unusual, many popes oversaw the removal of marble from ancient buildings in Rome to build their churches.

A reconstructed telamone in the archaeological museum. Yes it is 25 feet tall, standing in a two story part of the museum

Model of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.  Notice how tiny the telemones look, this temple was very tall.

Critter getting some sun Temple of Herakles

Vase is red clay, black is painted.

Lion head water-spout from one of the temples.

The museum was deserted, it is loaded with artifacts, cases and cases and cases.

I think everybody is mistaken, the gods and goddesses were actually chickens.

Wonderful, terracotta head of Persephone.