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SELINUS (EeXsvoiis)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 608 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SELINUS (EeXsvoiis) , an See also:ancient See also:city on the S. See also:coast of See also:Sicily, 27 M. S.E. See also:direct from Lilybaeum (the See also:modern See also:Marsala) and 7 M. S.E. of See also:Castel Vetrano, which is 74 M. S.S.W. of See also:Palermo by See also:rail. It was founded, according to See also:Thucydides, in 628 B.C. by colonists from See also:Megara Hyblaea, and from the See also:parent city of Megara (see SICILY: See also:History). The name, which belonged both to the city and to the See also:river on the W. of it, was derived from the See also:wild See also:celery 1 which grows there abundantly, and which appears on some of its coins (see See also:NUMISMATICS, See also:Greek, § " Sicily "). We hear of boundary disputes with See also:Segesta as See also:early as 58o B.C. Selinus soon See also:grew in importance, and extended its See also:borders from the Mazarus to the Halycus. Its See also:wealth is shown by the fact that several of its temples belong to the first See also:half of the 6th See also:century B.C. Its See also:government was at first oligarchical, but about 510 B.C. a See also:short-lived despotism was maintained by Peithagoras and, after him, Euryleon (See also:Herod. V. 43, 46).

In 48o B.C. Selinus took the Carthaginian See also:

side. After this it seems to have enjoyed prosperity: Thucydides (vi. 20) speaks of its wealth and of theto, and an overwhelming force (the Siceliot cities delaying too much in coming to the See also:rescue) under See also:Hannibal took and destroyed the city in 409 B.C.; the walls were razed to the ground; 6000 inhabitants were killed, 5000 taken prisoners, and only 2600 escaped to See also:Agrigentum (Acragas) 3 In 408 Hermocrates, returning from See also:exile, occupied Selinus and rebuilt the walls; and it is to him that the See also:fine fort on the See also:neck of the See also:acropolis must be attributed. Hence he attacked See also:Motya and Panormus and the See also:rest of Punic Sicily. He See also:fell, however, in 407 in an See also:attempt to enter See also:Syracuse, and, as a result of the treaty of 405 B.C., Selinus became absolutely subject to See also:Carthage, and remained so until its destruction at the See also:close of the first Punic See also:War, when its inhabitants were transferred to Lilybaeum. It was never afterwards rebuilt, and See also:Strabo (vi. p. 272) mentions it as one of the See also:extinct cities of Sicily. The ancient city occupied a See also:sand-See also:hill See also:running N. and S.; the S. portion, overlooking the See also:sea, which was the acropolis, is surrounded by fine walls of See also:masonry of rectangular blocks of See also:stone, which show traces of the reconstruction of 408 B.C. It is traversed by two See also:main streets, running N. and S. and E. and W., from which others diverged at right angles. There are, however, some traces of earlier buildings at a different See also:orientation. Only the S.E. portion of the acropolis, which contains several temples, has been excavated: in the rest private houses seem to predominate.

The deities to whom the temples were dedicated not being certainly known, they are as a See also:

rule indicated by letters. In all the large temples the See also:cella is divided into two parts, the smaller and inner of which (the See also:adytum) was intended for the cult See also:image. The opisthodomus is sometimes omitted. All of them See also:lie in a See also:state of ruin, and, from the disposition of the drums of the columns, it is impossible to suppose that their fall was due to any other cause than an See also:earthquake. See also:Temple C is the earliest of those on the acropolis. It had six columns at each end (a See also:double See also:row in the front) and seventeen on each See also:long. side. From it came the three archaic metopes now in the museum at Palermo, which are of See also:great importance in the history of the development of See also:art, showing Greek See also:sculpture in its See also:infancy. Portions of the coloured terra-See also:cotta slabs which decorated the See also:cornice and other architectural members have also been discovered. Next to it on the N. lies temple D, both having been included in one See also:temenos, with other buildings of less importance: to the E. of D is a large See also:altar. B is a small temple of comparatively See also:late date; while A and 0 lie on the S. side of the main See also:street from E. to W. in another peribolos. Table of Measurements of the Temples (in feet). A.

B. C. O. D. E. F. G. Length excluding 132 311 2094 .. 1834 2221 203 362 steps Breadth excluding 531 181 781 •• 771 83 8o4 1644 steps . . Length of cella . . 941 .. 1361 ..

129 1631 (?) 2261 (?) Breadth of cella 281 .. 341 • • 324 463 304 69 Height of columns 231 (?) • • 284 • • 27i • - • • 331 with capitals . . See also:

Diameter of columns 41 .. 61 .. 6 63 54 83 (I11) at bottom Number of columns 36 4 42 36 (?) 34 38 36 46 in peristasis . . Class . . . . Peripteros- Prostylos- Peripteros- .. Peripteros- Peripteros- Peripteros- Pseudo-dipteros- hexastylos tetrastylos hexastylos hexastylos hexastylos hexastylos - octostylos Approximate date . 48o B.C. After 240 581 B.C. 480 B.C.

570—554 B.C. Soon after 570—554 B.C. B.C. 480 B.C. treasures in its temples, and the city had a See also:

treasury of its own at See also:Olympia. , A dispute between Selinus and Segesta (probably the revival of a similar See also:quarrel about 454, when an Athenian force appears to have taken See also:part 2) was one of the causes of the Athenian expedition of 415 B.C. At its close the former seemed to have the latter at its See also:mercy, but an See also:appeal to Carthage was responded 1 The plant was formerly thought to be wild See also:parsley. It is now generally agreed that it is celery. 2 Cf. See also:Timaeus, fr. 99, with Diod. xi. 86 and I.G. xiv. p.

45, No. 268. At the N. end of the acropolis are extensive remains of the fortifications of Hermocrates across the narrow neck connecting it with the rest of the hill. In front of the See also:

wall lies a deep See also:trench, into which several passages descend, as at the nearly contemporary fort of Euryelus above Syracuse (q.v.). Outside this again lies a projecting semicircular See also:bastion, which commands the entrance from the exterior of the city on the E., a winding trench approached by a pair of double gateways, which are not vaulted but covered by the See also:gradual See also:projection of the upper courses. Capitals and triglyphs a The figures are those of Diodorus (xiii. 58), but seem strangely small. from earlier buildings have been used in the construction of these fortifications: from their small See also:size they may be mostly attributed to private houses. A way across the curving trench leads to an open space, where the See also:Agora may have been situated : beyond it See also:lay the See also:town, the remains of which are scanty, though the See also:line of the walls can be traced. Outside the ancient city, on the W. of the river Selinus, lie the ruins of a temple of See also:Demeter, with a propylon leading to the sacred enclosure: the temple itself has a cella with a narrow See also:door and without columns. A large number of votive terra-cotta figures, vases and lamps were found in the course of the excavations. The earliest temple must have been erected soon after the See also:foundation of the city, while the later See also:building which superseded it See also:dates from shortly after 600 B.c.

The propylon, on the other See also:

hand, may date from after 409 B.C. On the hill E. of Selinus, separated from it by a small See also:flat valley, lies a See also:group of three huge temples. No other remains have been found See also:round them, though it seems improbable that they stood quite alone and unprotected. It is likely that they were outside the town, but stood in a sacred enclosure. All of them have fallen, undoubtedly owing to an earthquake. The See also:oldest of the three is F. A peculiarity of the construction of this temple is that all the intercolumniations were closed by stone screens. In it were found the See also:lower parts of two metopes. Next in date comes the huge temple G, which, as an inscription proves, was dedicated to See also:Apollo; though it was never entirely completed (many of the columns still remain unfluted), it was in use. The columns vary somewhat in diameter (more than even the difference caused by fluting would See also:warrant) and three different types of See also:capital are noticeable. The See also:plan is a curious one: despite the See also:comparative narrowness of the cella, it had two rows of ten columns in it, in line with the front angles of the inner See also:shrine. The third temple, E, has been proved by the See also:discovery of an inscription to have been dedicated to See also:Hera.

It is famous for its fine metopes now in the museum at Palermo, belonging to the beginning of the 5th century B.C. See R. Koldewey and O. Puchstein, See also:

Die griechischen Tempel in Unteritalien and Sicilien (See also:Berlin, 1899), 77-131. (T.

End of Article: SELINUS (EeXsvoiis)

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