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AGRIGENTUM (Gr. 'Arcpayas, mod. Girge...

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 424 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AGRIGENTUM (Gr. 'Arcpayas, mod. See also:Girgenti (q.v.)) , an See also:ancient See also:city on the See also:south See also:coast of See also:Sicily, 21111. from the See also:sea. It was founded (perhaps on the site of an See also:early Sicanian See also:settlement) by colonists from See also:Gela about 582 B.C., and, though the lastest city of importance founded by the Greeks in Sicily, soon acquired a position second to that of See also:Syracuse alone, owing to its favourable situation for See also:trade with See also:Carthage and to the fertility of its territory: See also:Pindar (Pyth. xii. 2) calls it KaXXiara f3poredv iroMcov. The buildings for which it is famous all belong to the first two centuries of its existence. See also:Phalaris, who is said to have roasted his enemies to See also:death in a brazen See also:bull (Pindar, Pyth. i. 184), ruled as See also:tyrant from 570 to 554. What See also:form of See also:government was established after his fall is uncertain; we know only that, after a See also:long See also:interval, Theron became tyrant (488–473); but his son Thrasydaeus was expelled after an unsuccessful See also:war with See also:Hiero in 472 and a See also:democracy established. In the struggle between Syracuse and See also:Athens (415–413) the city remained absolutely neutral. Its prosperity continued to increase (its See also:population is given at over 200,000) until in 405 B.C., despite the help of the Siceliot cities, it was captured and plundered by the Carthaginians, a See also:blow from which it never.entirely re-covered. It was colonized by See also:Timoleon in 338 B.C. with settlers from See also:Velia in Lucania, and in the See also:time of the tyrant Phintias (289–279) it had regained some of its See also:power.

In the First Punic War, however, it was sacked by the See also:

Romans (261) and the Carthaginians (255), and finally in the Second Punic War by the Romans (210). But it still retained its importance as a trading and agricultural centre, even in the See also:Roman See also:period, exporting not only agricultural products but textile fabrics and See also:sulphur. In the See also:local museum are tiles used for stamping cakes of sulphur, which show that the mines, at any See also:rate from the 3rd See also:century, were imperial See also:property leased to contractors. The site is one of See also:great natural strength and remarkable beauty, though quite unlike that of other See also:Greek cities in Sicily. The See also:northern portion of it consists of a lofty See also:ridge with two summits, the westernmost of which is occupied by the See also:modern See also:town (985 ft.), while the easternmost, which is slightly higher, bears the name of See also:Rock of See also:Athena, owing to its See also:identification in modern days with the See also:acropolis of Acragas as described by See also:Polybius, who places upon it the See also:temple of See also:Zeus Atabyrius (the erection of which was attributed to the See also:half mythical Phalaris) and that of Athena.' It must be confessed that the available space (about 70X20 yds.) on the eastern See also:summit (where there are some remains of ancient buildings) is so small that there would be only See also:room for a single temple, which must have been occupied by the two deities jointly, if the new theory is correct (see Notizie degli scavi, 1902, 387 and reff.). In the modern town, on the other See also:hand, the remains of one temple are to be seen in the See also:church of S. Maria dei Greci, while the other is generally supposed to have occupied the site of the See also:cathedral, though no 1 E. A. See also:Freeman, See also:History of Sicily (See also:Oxford, 189r), i. 433, accepts the name " Rock of Athena " and yet puts the acropolis on the site of the modern town, arguing further that the cathedral See also:hill was an acropolis within an acropolis (II. and XVII.). BmaymaRer sc. traces of it are visible.

But whichever of these two summits was the acropolis proper,2 it is certain that both were included in the See also:

circuit of the city walls. On the See also:north both summits are defended by cliffs; on the south the ground slopes away somewhat abruptly from the eastern summit towards the See also:plateau on which the town stood, while the western summit is separated from this plateau by a valley traversed by a See also:branch of the Hypsas [mod. Drago], the deep See also:ravine of which forms the western boundary and See also:defence of the city. On the See also:east of the city is the valley of the Acragas [See also:Fiume S. Biagio], from which the city took its name and which, though shallower than that of the Hypsas, still affords a sufficient obstacle to attack, and the two unite a little way to the south of the town; at the mouth was the ancient See also:harbour, small and now abandoned. The most famous remains of the ancient city are the temples, the most important of which form a See also:row along the See also:low cliffs at the south end of the city. All are built in the Doric See also:style, of the local porous See also:stone, which is of a warm red See also:brown See also:colour, full of fossil shells and easily corroded when exposed 'to the See also:air. It should be noted that their traditional names, with the exception of that of Zeus and that of Asclepius, have no See also:foundation in fact, while the attribution of the temple in antis, into the See also:cella of which the church of S. Biagio has been built, is uncertain3 They are described in R. Koldewey and O. Puchstein, See also:Die griechischen Tempel in Unteritalien and Sicilien (See also:Berlin, 1899), 138-184. Of all these temples the See also:oldest is probably that of Heracles, while the best preserved are those of See also:Hera and See also:Concordia, which are very similar in dimensions; the latter, indeed, 2 Some writers See also:place Kamikos, the city of the mythical Sican Kokalos, on the site of Acragas or its acropolis; but it appears to have lain to the north-See also:west, possiblyat Caltabellotta, tom. north-east of See also:Sciacca.

We hear of it even in the Punic See also:

Wars as a fortified See also:post of Acragas (E. A. Freeman, Hist. of Sic. i. 495). 2 The attribution to See also:Demeter is supported by the See also:discovery of votive terra-cottas, representing Demeter and Kore in the neighbourhood, while the conjecture that it was dedicated to the See also:river-See also:god Acragas rests on its position above the river, in the valley of which, indeed, a statue which may represent the deity has been discovered. AGRIGENTUM (Girgenti) Reference to buildings to Girgeatt. 1. See also:Santa Maria del Creel 2. Cathedral One Mile q I See also:Wall Contours at intervals of 70 metres = 32'8 feet. lacks nothing but its roof, owing its preservation to its See also:conversion into the cathedral in 597 by See also:Gregory II., See also:bishop of Girgenti. Both temples belong to the best period of the Doric style and are among the finest in existence. In front of the former, as in front of those of Heracles and Zeus, stood a huge See also:altar for burnt offerings, as long as the See also:facade of the temple itself.

The cello of the temple of Heracles underwent considerable modifications in Roman times, and the discovery in it of a statue of Asclepius seems to show that the cult of this deity superseded the See also:

original one. In the See also:colossal temple of Zeus the huge Atlantes (figures of See also:Atlas), 25 ft. in height, are noticeable. They seem to have stood in the intercolumniations half-way up the outside wall and to have supported the See also:epistyle. The collapse both of this temple and of that of Heracles must be attributed to an See also:earthquake; many fallen blocks of the former were removed in 1756 for the See also:AGRIPPA construction of the harbour of See also:Porto Empedode. The four columns erected on the site of the temple of See also:Castor and See also:Pollux are a modern (and incorrect) restoration in which portions of two buildings have been used. Of that of See also:Hephaestus only two columns remain, while of that of Asclepius, a mile to the south of the town, an anta and two pillars are preserved. It was in the latter temple that the statue of the god by See also:Myron stood; it had probably been carried off to Carthage, was given to the temple by P. Scipio See also:Africanus from the spoils of that city and aroused the cupidity of See also:Verres. The other remains within the city walls are of surprisingly small importance; near the picturesque church of S. Nicolo is the so-called See also:Oratory of Phalaris, a See also:shrine of the 2nd century B.C., 27: ft. long (including the See also:porch) by 231 ft. wide; and not far off on the east is a large private See also:house with See also:white tesselated pavements, probably pre-Roman in origin but slightly altered in Demeter Hera See also:Con- Heracle. Zeus. Castor Unnamed Hephae- Asclepius.

Athena. (Acragas?). Lacinia. cordia. and near stus. Pollux. Castor and Pollux. Length excluding 90? 125 129* 220 361 steps' Breadth 404 554 554 83 173i •• 67: 511 301 45 Length of Cella . 93 9611 156 332 91 • • • • Breadth of cella . 32% 31i 454 1441 33 •• •. Height of columns 21 22 33 624? 19i ..

with capitals See also:

Diameter of 4i 4i 61 14 4 •• 5 3i 44 columns at bottom Original number of .. 34 34 38 38 34 columns . Class In antis. Perip- Perip- Peripteros Pseudo Peripteros Peripteros Prostylos Perip- teros teros hexastylos. peripteroshexastylos. hexastylos. pseudo- teros. hexa- hexa- hepta- peripteros. stylos. stylos. stylos. Approximate date 450 B.C. 480—440 440—420 500 B.C. 450 B.C.

338–210 .. after 338 before 210 488–472 B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. the Roman period (R. P. See also:

Jones and E. A. See also:Gardner in See also:Journal of Hellenic Studies, See also:xxvi., 1906, 207). See also:Foundations of other buildings are to be seen in other parts of the site, but of little See also:interest.

The huge fishpond, spoken of by Diodorus as being 7 stadia in circumference (xi. 25), is to be seen at the south-west corner of the city; it is an enormous excavation in the rock with drains in its sides, at the bottom of which there is now a flourishing See also:

orange See also:garden. The See also:line of the city walls can be distinctly traced for most of the circuit, but the actual remains of them are inconsiderable. On the east and west the ravines already mentioned afforded, in the See also:main, a sufficient See also:protection, so that a massive wall was unnecessary, while near the south-eastern See also:angle a breastwork was formed by the excavation of the natural rock; which in later times was honeycombed with tombs. E. A. Freeman attributes the See also:southern portion of the walls to Theron (Hist. of Sic. ii. 224), but the question depends upon the date of the temple of Heracles; and if Koldewey and Puchstein are right in dating it so early as 500 B.C., it is probable that the wall was in existence by that time. See also:Close to this temple on the west is the site of the See also:gate known in later times as the Porta Aurea, through which the modern road passes, so that no traces now remain. Tombs of the Greek period have mainly been found on the west of the town, outside the probable line of the walls, between the Hypsas and a small tributary, the latter having been spanned by a See also:bridge, now called See also:Ponte dei Morti, of which one massive See also:pier, 45 ft. in width, still exists. Just outside the south wall is a Roman See also:necropolis, with massive tombs in See also:masonry, and a See also:Christian See also:catacomb, and a little farther south a See also:tomb in two stories, a mixture of Doric and Ionic See also:architecture, belonging probably to the 2nd century B.c., though groundlessly called 1 Dimensions in See also:English feet. Polybius ix.

27 KKT=L T6 TaXOS EirL TWTpaS &KpOrb/See also:

LOU K0.1 1 pLppc.7OS, * See also:pie airo.voDt j 1 XNpOTOLq/Tou.the Tomb of Theron. A See also:village of the See also:Byzantine period has been explored at Balatizzo, immediately to the south of the modern town (Notizie degli Scavi, 1900, 511-520). The walls of the dwellings are entirely cut out of the natural rock. See J. Schubring, Historische Topographie von Akragas (See also:Leipzig, 187o) ; R. Koldewey and O. Puchstein, op. cit. ; C. Hulsen in Pauly-Wissowa, Encyclopiidie, i. x 187. (T.

End of Article: AGRIGENTUM (Gr. 'Arcpayas, mod. Girgenti (q.v.))

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