SELINUNTE - THE ANCIENT CITY OF SELINUS Selinus is located on the south cast of Sicily and occupied a bluff between two rivers and the area extending inland from it. It was founded, according Thucydides, as a colony from Megara Hyblaea (on the east coast of Sicily), under the leadership of Pammilus, about 100 years after the settlement of Megara, with the addition of a fresh body of colonists from the parent city of Megara in Greece. The date of its foundation is placed about 628 BC. Diodorus Siculus dates it around 650 BC, and Hieronymus still further back, 654 BC. The name of the city is supposed to have been derived from quantities of wild parsley (Greek selinon) that grew on the spot - for the same reason, they adopted the parsley leaf as the symbol on their coins. Selinunte was the most westerly of the Greek colonies in Sicily, and for this reason was early brought into contact with the Carthaginian colonists and the native Sicilians in the west and northwest of the island. The former people, however, do not at first seem to have offered any obstacle to their progress, but as early as 580 BCE we find the Selinuntines engaged in hostilities with the people of Segesta (a native non-Hellenic city), whose territory bordered on their own. The city lay between two rivers: the Cotone on the east and Modione on the west. The city was dominated by an acropolis which overlooked the sea. To the north archaeologists have identified the ancient street pattern. Eleven EW streets have been identified and a major NS road 9 m wide ran through the centre of the urban area. The agora is thought to have been located in the centre of the urban area north of the acropolis. The city was dominated in Archaic and Classical times by two groups of temples. The first group arose within the city on the acropolis overlooking the sea. The second group stood to the east across a small estuary, and included a peripteral temple as large as the Parthenon in Athens (ER), its neighbour (one of the largest temples ever built by the Greeks – GT), and another temple (FS). Unfortunately there is no secure evidence about which deities these temples belonged to. Temple E in the eastern group was erected over the remains of two earlier buildings, one of the late 6th Century (520 BC), the other on account of its associated pottery probably dates to the late 7th Century (620 BC). Temple E was a Doric building built around 490-80 BC. It measures 67.7 m long by 25.3 m wide and was possible dedicated to the goddess Hera. Temple G was one of the largest Greek temples ever planned. It measures 50 by 110 m and had 8 columns across the front and 17 along the flanks (the same arrangement as the Parthenon) and was probably dedicated to Zeus. The columns were over 16 m high with a base diameter of 3.4 m and were built up of drums each weighing around 100 tons, the stone coming from the quarries at Cusa. It was reduced to its current situation in the middle ages due to an earthquake and has made study of its interior difficult. But it is now thought that the temple was not meant to be roofed completely – instead the peristyle was a colonnade around a court in which a separate sacellum stood. Most of the temple was completed but the columns were never fluted. In the late 5th Century there was tensions between Selinus (backed by the Syracusans) and the northern settlement of Segesta, which was supported by the Carthaginians. At Selinus the walls around the acropolis were strengthened to create massive double walls in which 5 towers and 4 gates have been located. In 409 BC the Carthaginians sent armed forces to the assistance of Segesta, the enemy of Selinus. They sent an army which was estimated at 100,000 under the control of General Hannibal the son of Gisco. Selinus was besieged for just 9 days before it fell to the Carthaginians who destroyed much of the once beautiful city - they are said to have spared the temples from any desecration, although the temple treasures were carried off. Many of the citizens were sold as slaves. In the aftermath of the conquest of Selinus, most of the city was abandoned and in ruins – only the acropolis was re-settled and the northern gate was fortified. Inside the walls of the acropolis the once Greek city was transformed into a small Punic town which was eventually abandoned. The site was rediscovered in the 16th Century by Tommaso Fazello. A fruitless dig was made in 1809-10 by the British Consul-general in Sicily Robert Fagan but systematic excavations only began in 1822 by the Englishman William Harris and Samuel Angell. Harris and Angell found the famous metopes of Temples C and E but Harris died of malaria while excavating at the site and Angell was killed by bandits on a subsequent visit. B.C. Archaeology will be leading a tour of Malta and Sicily which includes a visit to Selinunte. ANCIENT SICILY & MALTA: ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY A tour exploring the antiquities of Malta and Sicily led by Dr Michael Birrell Includes: Valetta, Hagar Qim, Syracuse, Piazza Armerina, Agrigento, Selinunte, Palermo, Taormina 7th - 28th May 2016 $8200.00 including airfares from Australia. For the itinerary see:bcarchaeology/sicily-malta.html
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:08:41 +0000
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