You have to imagine the astonishing view of three temples in parallel sitting on a hill. The view from the Acropolis would have been an oblique view as was typical of the Greeks. The temples have been named with letters as there is ongoing debate regarding which deity the temples were dedicated to.
The Acropolis was ringed by a huge defensive wall and had three temples. Some columns of Temple C have been reconstructed, apparently, a few of the columns were monolithic or cut from one piece of limestone. The city was laid out with two main streets crossing and the lesser streets laid out in a grid pattern.
After the Battle of Himera in 480 BC, where the Greeks from Siracusa and Akragas defeated Carthage, Selinous allied with Siracusa against Carthage. In 409 BC, Segesta, the enemy of Selinous, asked Carthage for assistance in attacking Selinous. After only nine days, Selinous fell, the city was sacked and destroyed and the inhabitants sold into slavery.
A short time later, refugees received consent from Carthage to refound the city, it remained under Carthaginian control and was inhabited by a mixture of Greek and Punic people. The Carthaginians made some alterations to sanctuaries to suit their deities. In 250 BC, the city was abandoned and the people transferred to Lilibeo (Marsala).
West of the Acropolis is a series of shrines, the Sanctuary of Demeter Malophorus, enclosed within a wall forming a sanctuary reserve. Just outside the gateway is a well, this signifies the Kallichoros well beside the gate of the Sanctuary of Eleusis near Athens, beside which Demeter collapses in despair, over the disappearance of her daughter Persephone. Left of the entrance is the shrine of Hekate who was the guardian of the Eleusinian shrine. In the centre of the sanctuary is a grand altar, behind the altar is the temple, much of the wall is still standing, it was a large central chamber with an outer room at the front and an adyton (an inner chamber) at the back. The Carthaginians altered the temple and it was the cult of their goddess Tanit.
It was a beautiful sunny day when we set out for Selinous, which is the Greek name, today it is called Selinunte. This is a great time of year to travel as the archaeological parks are pretty much deserted, so we have the place to ourselves most of the time. When we got to the ticket area of Selinous, the three workers communicated to us that they only wanted coins, we were perplexed. We figured out that they could not make change for a 20 euro note, which is utterly hysterical. I fished around for all of my coinage and came up .70 short. They ended up making our change among themselves, we walked away chuckling, this is just the way it is here and we just have to laugh about it. They didn’t provide a map so John had to head back to the car and get our guidebook, we would have been sunk without it.
The great thing about Selinous is the laid back atmosphere of the place. It was the first archaeological site where we could actually enter a temple, which is quite something. The interior space really defines the exterior and you do not experience that when looking in from the outside. Temple E (first pics), felt even more monumental from the inside. We could ramble through the rubble pile of fallen down temples at will, it was fabulous!
The Sicilians have the best road signs, spectacular, actually. This is the case on the main roads, apparently, it is another story on secondary roads. They give loads of warning prior to a turn, signs are everywhere. But the archaeological parks, hahahahaha, not a sign to be had, hence the need for a really good guidebook. After visiting the sanctuaries, our guidebook said there was an antiquarium in a farmhouse that has artifacts from the sanctuaries. There were a couple of cars parked there so we figured it must be staffed. There was absolutely no signage on the building at all, in any language. We saw footprints leading up some steps to a door so we went up the steps and as John opened the door, we were met with a chorus of Sicilian or Italian, not sure which, all arising, loudly, and simultaneously, from about three or four men who were in there with a televison blaring. We concluded that we had the wrong door, then a guy who spoke some English came out and sort of directed us to the other side of the building. When we rounded the corner, he was there waving us on. He turned on the lights of the small museum and hung around while we looked at the artifacts. We noticed there were stairs leading up to the room with the other men and the television. We walked away laughing our heads off.
Temple E reconstructed, I stood in one of the flutes on the columns, it is that large.
Look at that view to the sea.
The view from the Acropolis, imagine three of them in parallel. The other two dwarfing Temple E.
Wall around the Acropolis.
Temple C on the Acropolis, reconstructed.
Great example of a fallen column with capital.
This is the view down the main north-south street to the north gate of the city.
The view from the north gate back to the sea.
Artifacts in the antiquarium.
Well in front with Temple of Demeter Malophoros in background.
Temple of Demeter Malophoros (The Bearer of Fruits).
After spending forever at Selinous, we drove to the Cave Di Cusa (Cusa Quarries). There was a long, deep bank of limestone that was compact enough that the temple builders could detach pieces large enough for the gigantic Temple G at Selinous. The quarry was in use from the 6th century BC until the destruction of Selinous in 409 BC. Work at the quarry came to an abrupt halt with drums in several stages of completion, the drums were abandoned where they lay. It is rather disconcerting to think about all that work at the quarry coming to nothing.
It is thought that wooden frames were placed around the drums and they were then transported on wheels of wood reinforced by iron bands. The load was pulled by oxen to Selinous, a distance of 10 km.
This is a wonderful area to visit, there was nobody there until an Italian came and took photos but he did not stay long. The quarry is next to olive groves and vineyards on one side and grass (very prairie like) on the other side. It was only us and the birds and some wonderful old olive trees.
We could fit into the gap and walk right around the column.
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