18 March 2024 – Valley of the Temples

Miles driven today = 0

Total Miles to date = 2,462

When we got up this morning we were a bit concerned that Lisa would be confined to barracks for the day.  She’s not yet over the cold she has been nursing for a few days now and also had a bit of an upset stomach but thankfully she managed to soldier through.  Days like today are always so much more enjoyable when you can share them with your nearest and dearest.

We had already decided to stay a second night here and to catch the bus to the temples when one of our neighbours approached us last night and gifted us some unused bus tickets.  So we hopped on the 9:50am No.2, which didn’t exactly drop us at the gates but they were less than a 10 minute walk away.

We entered the fenced off area via the ticket office in the car park we were unable to get into yesterday at the Western end of the site.  And what a difference a day makes.  Gone were the throngs of yesterday and we were able to wander and take photos almost without interruption.  There were a few tour parties including one from the Colombian National Ballet but they all appeared to be walking in the opposite direction and didn’t hinder our progress.

The Greek walled city of Akragas was founded here in 580 BC and it quickly became the primary seat of power in Sicily as the Greeks forced the Carthaginians into a relatively small area to the western end of the island.  In the background here you can see the modern city of Agrigento, where an Acropolis is believed to have stood in Greek times.

The first Temple we came across was the “Temple of the Discouri”, meaning the Sons of Zeus.  Most of the Temple’s stonework lies scattered on the ground but a small corner was reconstructed in 1896.  However they got the jigsaw pieces a bit wrong as more recent investigation shows that the stones used come from different periods.

Nearby is a large “Sanctuary” area where the foundations of numerous buildings can be seen including this circular temple.

There is very little left standing of the enormous Temple of Olympian Zeus, which was supposedly the largest temple in the Greek western World.  Construction started in 480 BC but it was never actually completed.  It was still largely intact as recently as the early 15^th Century but its stone was subsequently plundered and in the 19^th Century large amounts were simply chucked in the Sea to create a new harbour, thereby effectively destroying one of antiquity’s great wonders.

A lot of the stones had this curious horseshoe pattern carved into them.  We weren’t sure whether this was decorative or formed part of some sort of interlocking system to hold the stones in place.

The Temple was surrounded by these huge “telemones”.  They were all precisely 7.63 metres tall with arms bent above their heads as though supporting the huge weight of the temple roof.

Another of the telemones.  This time prone on the ground.

This was the altar to the front of the temple.  There were 27 known altars in Akragas.  Sheep and cattle were often sacrificed to the Gods here.  The meat was consumed in sacred banquets while the fat was burnt so that the smoke rose to the Gods.

The Tomb of Theron lies outside of the City wall and formed part of a large cemetery from the Roman era.

The Temple of Hercules was built in the late 6^th Century BC.

It was then restored and adapted by the Romans, who used it as a “Capitolium” dedicated to their Gods Jupiter, Juno & Minerva.

The only relatively modern building in the Valley is Villa Aurea, which was built by a British Army Captain, Sir Alexander Hardcastle, in the 1920s as his retirement home.

He managed to build it slap bang on top of a Necropolis and there are tomb entrances very close to the back door.

It does have some very nice mediterranean gardens though.

A fine specimen of Cactus Mickymousei.

The view looking down to the coast and our temporary home at San Leone.

The Temple of Concord was so named due to an inscription being found nearby which praised the harmonious way the people of Akragas went about their lives.  It was built at the peak of the Classical age 440-430 BC and would have originally been faced with pure white stuccos and marble crownings.

It’s the best preserved of the Temples in the valley, predominantly because in 579 AD the Bishop of Agrigento converted it into a Christian Church.

This bronze looked remarkably similar to Igor Mitoraj’s “Fallen Angel” which we saw in Pisa.  But there was nothing to indicate whether it was indeed by the same sculptor.

I don’t think this olive tree would have been around when the temples were built but I wouldn’t mind betting it is many centuries old nonetheless.

This rock wall formed a natural defence to the City in Greek and Roman times but then between the 4^th and 7^th Centuries AD the inhabitants dug these tombs into the rocks.

More burial sites carved directly into solid rock.

Our final port of call was the Temple of Juno Lacinia which is at the highest point at the Eastern end of the valley.  It was built between 460 and 430 BC.

The golden era of Akragas lasted barely a Century.  The Carthaginians didn’t like the fact that they were no longer Sicilian top dogs and pushed back.  They sacked the city in 406 BC and then again 200 years later.  It is thought that some of the red marking on the Temple's stonework may be as a result of fire damage during this second conquest.

There is a fair bit more to see here.  There is a museum housing all sorts of finds from the site and there is also an extensive area of Roman archeology but we have already seen plenty of that on this trip and it was all a bit of a hike away from the Temples.  Plus we were hot and hungry and with Lisa not fully firing on all cylinders we stopped at the site café for a sandwich before making our way back to the bus stop and on to the van.  It's an amazing place though and it has been well worth spending the extra day here in order to see it in relative peace and quiet.

19 March 2024 - Plastic & Beach