Traces of Ancient Greek decoration on reconstructed fluted standing Doric columns of the Temple of Heracles or Hercules in the Valley of the Temples, the site of the prosperous port city of Akragas at Agrigento, Sicily, Italy. The structure, destroyed by earthquakes, was the earliest temple at Agrigento and it was once almost as large and impressive as the Parthenon in Athens.
Agrigento, Sicily, Italy: patches of Ancient Greek plaster and white paint survive on the fluted shafts of columns that supported the entablature of the Temple of Heracles or Hercules, built in the late 500s BC and the oldest Doric temple in the Valley of the Temples, site of the port city of Akragas. The Temple of Heracles was almost as large as the Parthenon in Athens, but like other Agrigento temples, earthquakes caused its collapse and the site was quarried for stone. The eight upright columns on its south side were raised in 1923 by an amateur archaeologist, the former British naval officer Sir Alexander Hardcastle (1872-1933). He was so enchanted by Agrigento’s beauty that he moved there, spending his fortune on excavations and restoration works. The temple’s attribution to Heracles probably derives from Roman statesman Cicero’s reference to a temple dedicated to the Greek god and hero in Agorà, immediately north of Agrigento. He also told of a bronze statue of Heracles which had a highly polished chin and lips due to the caresses and kisses of devotees. The building has a stepped base that once bore 15 columns on each long side and six columns at each end. The temple is now protected as part of the Valle dei Templi archaeological park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Akragas, founded circa 580 BC by Greek colonists, became a wealthy leading city of Magna Graecia or Greater Greece thanks to its thriving port. Its prosperity stalled when Carthage sacked it in 406 BC and although it recovered, it never regained its former status. The city later changed hands several times as Rome and Carthage fought the Punic Wars. The victorious Romans renamed it Agrigentum and granted Roman citizenship to its Greek-speaking people, but after Rome fell, it was ruled in turn by Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Saracens and Normans.
Size: 2678px × 4016px
Location: Valley of the Temples, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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