186. Sicily's Greek Temples

Where: Sicily, Italy
When: March 30, 2013
With: Dave

After our day in Palermo, we were happy to get out into the countryside to see more of the island. I have to say, Sicily (outside of the cities) was one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. Rolling green hills giving way to blue ocean and sky while covered in an array of wild flowers. It's no surprise that several civilisations fought to make this home over the years. While the Italians won out in the end, Sicily is actually home to more Greek temples than Greece. And that was the main item on our agenda for Day 2.

We left Palermo early on our way to our first stop, Segesta. This city was thought to be founded by a mix of the Elymian people (those indigenous to Sicily) and Ionian Greeks. It had a tumultuous history,  engaging in constant war with its neighboring tribes, eventually aligning itself with Carthage and eventually being captured by the Romans, who let it be a free state as it was assumed that both civilisations were descendants of Troy.

In the 5th century BC, a Doric temple was built just outside the city. It's speculated that it was never completed, but even so, it's been incredibly well-preserved. It sits on top of a hill of wildflowers, and there's a bit of a hike to reach it, but the view as you climb keeps you going.

At the top. You can walk around the entire perimeter of the temple and observe it from all angles.

Afterwards, we set off on a hike to the top of a neighboring hill that contains the rest of Segesta's ruins. The hike was long and strenuous, but the stunning views distracted us from how tiring it was. Wildflowers grew everywhere, completely overflowing into our path in many places. Behind us sat mountains and a view of the temple.

While at the top, there was a great theater, honestly, I wouldn't have cared if the only ruin there was a stone since the hike alone was worth the trip. However, looking out at the view the theater patrons would have had while watching their shows makes me again appreciate the ingenuity of the Greeks and their understanding of the concept of location, location, location.

After Segesta, we headed diagonally across the island to the southeast corner in Agrigento for one of the most famous set of ruins on Sicily, the Valley of Temples. While its more of a ridge into the ocean than a valley, it's filled with temples, and you get the point. Agrigento sits unromantically on a hilltop over looking it.

Everything here was built between the 5th and 4th century BC. There are four main temples still standing, to various degrees of in-tact-ness.

First, the Temple of Juno, which makes for a cool drive as you approach the site.

The next and most complete is the Temple of Concordia.

Look at those two crazy kids (and who is that Greek god? Must be the one they worshipped with this temple)

Random bronze sculpture of in front of the Concordia that Dave kept calling Hercules...even though it's not

The third temple, the Temple of Heracles, lays mostly in ruins. Luckily, Dave was there to help with the clean-up.

After these initial temples, which all line a long walking path through the site, you come to a road. You have to cross the road to enter the second part of the site that's referred to as the Olympeon Field.  This is where a huge Greek Temple once stood, the Temple of Zeus. While its no longer there, just seeing the size of the base makes you realise how large it must have been.

Now, the massive area is mostly a bunch of ruins, with few remnants of what was there. These large statues of men were believed to hold a roof up at one point.

The final temple of this site, all the way at the end, is the reconstructed Temple of Castor and Pollux. It's small, but the lil' guy is holding his own over here. 

At that point, we decided to grab a good seat to watch the sun go down behind the temples. First, we had some fun with shadows.

The sunset was beautiful, but the lighting wasn't ideal for photos. 

But we got one final one of the Temple of Concordia to say good night with. 

I have to say, after this day, when we saw only a fraction of the Greek temples that Sicily has to offer, I would agree that Greece has some stiff competition in this arena.