Grande Albergo Maugeri. Selinunte
The Greek city of
Selinunte, built in the 7th century BC, has a short (about 200 years) yet busy life. Stretched on a very big area, it covers two hills and the surroundings of them.
On the
eastern hill there are three temples, called "E", "F" and "G". The academics gave these simple names because they didn't know whom deities the temples were dedicated.
Temple G should be dedicated to Apollo according to its measure (one of the biggest religious buildings of the classical Age), but it was never completed yet when the city was destroyed. Nowadays the whole area is filled up with a heap of fallen masses. The long period of the construction lasted about 40 years and this led to different Doric styles of the temple. In
Cusa's quarries, where the Selinuntines took the blooks to build the temples, you can still see the grooves in the blocks and that means that the builders were forced to abandon the place leaving the temple incomplete.
Temple F, in ruins, was the smallest and probably dedicated to Athena.
Temple E dates back to the 5th century BC. An earthquake destroyed it and in 1960s it was rebuilt. The Archaeological Museum of Palermo houses its gorgeous metopes.
On the
western hill, rounded by walls, you can see the Acropolis with its houses, religious and public buildings.
The oldest temple on this side is
Temple C, dating back to the 6th century BC, probably dedicated to Apollo or Eracle. Its metope and the Gorgone's head, the best examples of Selinunt sculputure, are in the Archaeological Museum of Palermo.
There are only few remains of
Temples A, B, D and O.
On the western side of the Acropolis there was a sacred area where shrines and temples are:
Malophoros Shrine, dedicated to Demetra Malophoros, (that means "who carries the pomegranates) goddess of vegetation and protectress of farmers, was rounded by the temenos, a sacred enclosure and near the Modione river, where the port and the emporium were.
Temple M, dated back to the 6th century BC, was a big fountain for celebration fed by a source.
