9/30/24: Agrigento's Astonishing Valley of the Temples!

Steven and I arrived late the night before in Agrigento, a coastal town in southcentral Sicily. This town is almost exclusively famous for its extraordinary Greek temples. But book lovers might know it as the setting for the Montelusa scenes in Andrea Camilleri's books about Inspector Montalbano.

Poor Steven had to navigate exceedingly narrow roads from the top of the old town where our apartment was located down to the old town center where the sights were.

We started our Agrigento tour at the Monastero di Santo Spirito, founded in 1299 and home to one of the most prestigious examples of Sicilian Baroque plaster decorations. The sublime works were created between 1709 and 1717 by Giacomo Serpotta, one of the most important European plasterers.

We wondered if these were bullet holes in the ceiling or just signs of natural aging.

From the Belvedere Domenico Modugno, we had a marvelous panoramic view of the Valle dei Templi, considered to have some of the world's finest and best-preserved Greek temples. The Archaeological and Landscape Park of the Valley of the Temples extends over 1,300 hectares and contains exceptional monumental and landscape heritage, including the ruins of the ancient Greek colony of Akragas, Agrigento's Greek name, and the surrounding territory to the sea. In 1997, the Valley of the Temples was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site because it was one of the main archaeological complexes in the Mediterranean and contains century-old olive and almond trees.

Akragas, one of the most important Greek colonies in Sicily, was founded in 580 BC as a majestic city competing with Carthage, just across the Sicilian Channel in present-day Tunisia, which we'd visit later on our trip. The site chosen for Akragas’ foundation was a plateau protected to the north by the Rupe Atenea and the hill of Girgenti and to the south by the long Hill of the Temples, and bordered by the Akragas and Hypsas rivers, which converged into a single stream to the sea.

We started our exploration at the top of the Hill of Temples, at the Temple of Juno Lacinia, located in the park's eastern section and built between 460 and 430 BC. Described as perhaps the most beautiful temple, it commands an exquisite view of the valley.

A view in the distance of the Temple of Concord, perhaps the best-preserved Greek temple in existence:

The walk between temples passed typical Mediterranean scrub vegetation and almond trees, a few of which were blooming.

A look up at modern Agrigento on the hill:

In the last decades of the 6th century BC, a massive 12 km long defensive wall with nine gates was built around Akragas. The colony became famous and powerful under the tyrant Theron, 488-471 BC,  who defeated the Carthaginians in the Battle of Himera, 480 BC, and again during the period of democracy, 471-406 BC, instituted by the philosopher Empedodes. The magnificent series of Doric temples on the southern hill of Agrigento was built during this period. A second conflict with the Carthaginians marked the end of a flourishing period, and Akragas was destroyed in 406 BC. 

As we walked along the cliff line, which acted as a natural defensive wall during the Greek period, we spotted numerous cavities cut into the rock face. They were tombs built between the 4th and 7th centuries AD.

A garden was set aside to honor the Righteous of the World, including martyrs who fought against the Mafia criminal phenomenon.

During the late Roman times and the first centuries of the Early Medieval period, the 4th to the 8th century AD, the Hill of the Temples' urban layout was greatly changed. Many surrounding areas on the outskirts of the inhabited settlement were converted into cemeteries. An example was this early Christian cemetery and arcosilium tombs from the 4th to the 7th century built into the southern city wall after it had lost its function as a defensive fortification. The term arcosilium refers to a type of grave common in Christian catacombs where the rectangular tomb is closed by a horizontal slab and sits in an alcove. Arcosilia generally consisted of two or three burials side by side or one above the other.

The Temple of Concord was given its name because of an inscription referring to Concord found nearby. Its almost perfect state of conservation was due to Bishop Gregory of Agrigento in 579 AD, who reused the monumental standing remains of the Temple of Concord and converted it into a Christian church dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. It was restored back to being a temple in the 18th century.

The temple, resting on a massive platform built to level the ground for its construction and a four-stepped base, was erected between 440 and 430 BC at the height of the Classical Age. The fluted columns were a main feature of Doric architecture.

A sign welcomed the comeback of the Girgentana breed of goats in the Valley of the Temples that were originally imported from northern Afghanistan by the Greeks according to some authors. The Girgenti goats, named after the city of Agrigento, were bred and selected in Sicily's southwestern area. It is the only animal endemic to the area. 

We wandered through a small garden that had lovely views looking back to the Temple of Concord.

We didn't stroll through another garden, the Garden of Peace, which included trees representing 21 countries. It seemed too political for our tastes. 

Villa Aurea was a country villa established in 1921 between the Temple of Concord and the Temple of Heracles by Sir Alexander Hardcastle, a British army captain. I read that Hardcastle had an insatiable passion for discovering ancient monuments in the Valley and also financed many of the excavations.

An aqueduct near the Temple of Eracle, also called Heracles or Hercules:

The Temple was attributed to the divine hero Hercules based on testimony by Cicero. The most ancient temple in Agrigento dates to the end of the 6th century BC. The Doric-style building rested on a base with three steps, six columns at the front, and fifteen along the sides. The remains of a monumental altar were found east of the temple. 

Since Hardcastle's intervention in 1921, multiple restorations have taken place, including the re-erecting of eight columns on the temple's south side and the Park Authority's conservation efforts from 2000 to 2006.

The Temple was rightfully famous because it contained a bronze statue by Myron and paintings by the renowned Greek painter Zeuxis that depicted Hercules and Athena and Hercules and the Snakes. Though the Temple had traces of renovation work carried out during Roman times, they didn't alter the original layout.

The grandeur of the fallen architectural components at the Temple of Zeus Olympios made us wonder what the colossal building must have inspired in people viewing it in ancient times. Wandering around the blocks of the perimeter walls, the column sections, and other architectural pieces was just magical. The term telamons was used by Romans to denote male statues used in architecture as supports. The Greeks called them atlantes, in reference to the mythical Atlas, to hold up the celestial spheres forever.

Not far from the Temple of Hercules was the Sanctuary of Olympian Jupiter, situated on a large plain stretching between the city walls and a wide road. The large piles of ruins, all that remains from what had been the greatest temple in the Greek Western world, have been investigated at different times by scholars and archaeologists. Part of the Temple and the famous telamons were still in situ in 1401, but the remains of the magnificent temple were plundered and used for the construction of the dock in nearby Porto Empedocle.

The Temple was begun after the 480 BC Battle of Himera but was not completed until the Carthaginians conquered the city in 406 BC. It also remained unfinished under Roman rule.

Remains of the Altar of the Temple of Zeus Olympios: In Greek religion, animals were sacrificed to the gods on an altar. The beasts, normally cattle or sheep, were slaughtered, and the meat was consumed by worshippers in sacred banquets. The fat was burned on the altar, so the smoke reached the deities on high. This altar, which faced the temple's entrance, was the most imposing of the 27 altars currently known in Agrigento. 

When it was built under Theron, 490-470 BC, this was the largest altar in the entire Greek world. It remained the largest in Magna Graecia until the Altar of Hieron II was constructed in Siracusa in the 3rd century BC. Grandiose ceremonies for Zeus Olympios were held, during which Theron's lordship over Agrigento was also celebrated. 

Telamon, derived from the Greek word meaning support or bearer, is an architectural term for a sculpted brawny male figure with arms aloft holding a cornice or a lintel. The origins of the telamons and their female equivalents, the caryatids, were also connected to the events of the Persian Wars, as they were interpreted as symbols of the defeated enemy.  The most widely accepted theory is that the telamons represented the Carthaginians defeated at the battles of Hymera and Gelo in 480 BC. Their humiliation was immortalized in stone. 

The figures comprised 12 blocks of local limestone, which were likely assembled before being sculpted. An almost complete telamon was reconstructed in 1812 and is now displayed at the Agrigento Regional Archaeology Museum. The Park Authority reassembled several telamons in 2009 in conjunction with the German Archaeology Institute of Rome. Seeing the telamons strewn about on the ground with no barriers around them was awe-inspiring. Imagine how appealing the huge stone figures would be to inquisitive children wanting to climb them!

We next explored the Temple of the Dioscuri, another typical example of Agrigento classicism with the three-stepped base, the portico consisting of 6x13 columns, and the central chamber or cella divided into three parts. However, the picturesque ruin has been described as an incorrect reconstruction with elements of different origins.

The Colymbetra, a narrow valley in the Valley of the Temples, was described as a large reservoir outside the city walls. It was cut into the rock at a depth of 15 meters and had three dams into which waters flowed from subterranean channels. The extensive water system was built by the Carthaginians who had been taken prisoner at the Battle of Himera.

It was also a delightful natural reserve, being used as a fish-breeding pond and home to a large variety of birds, including swans. After falling into disuse in the 1st century BC, it wasn't used again until the 12th century AD for the cultivation of sugar cane and citrus fruit. Since 1999, the Colymbetra has been converted into a magnificent garden with a wide variety of Mediterranean plants and citrus trees.

A vast area occupied a rocky spur near Colymbetra, where two sanctuaries stood: one dedicated to the Chtonic Deities below and the other to an unidentified goddess. Archaeologists have determined that the area was used from the Bronze Age, i.e., before Greek colonization, through the late Hellenistic-Roman age. The square altars were sacrifices to heavenly deities, whereas the round altars were sacrifices to underworld deities. 

I hope my text and photos make you agree with the ancient Greek lyric poet Pindar, who described Akragas in the 1st century BC as "the most beautiful city built by mortals." Steven and I found the temples and landscape astounding.

Next post: Exploring the Agrigento Regional Archaeological Museum's treasures.

Posted on January 14th, 2025, from back home in one of Denver's suburbs after being away visiting loved ones and cruising the high seas before that. Please remember to take care of yourself first so you have the energy and love to be available for your loved ones.