Rings of stone slabs mark the foundations of a tholos, an ancient domed structure encircled by columns, in the Valle dei Templi or Valley of the Temples at Agrigento in southern Sicily, Italy. Seven monumental Doric temples dating from about 580 BC survive here amid the ruins of the Graeco-Roman city of Akragas or Agrigentum.
Agrigento, Sicily, Italy: inner ring of foundation stones of a tholos, a domed structure encircled by columns, in the Valley of the Temples, the remains of the ancient Graeco-Roman port city of Akragas, now preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Tholoi such as the Temple of Apollo at Delphi occur all over the classical world. While some had central altars and had a sacred role, others were built for different uses. This tholos lies southwest of the Valley’s Temple of Olympian Zeus. Akragas was founded on Sicily’s southern coast around 580 BC by Greek colonists from Gela, Rhodes and Crete. It became a prosperous leading city of Magna Graecia, minting its own coins. It was described by Greek poet Pindar as the “most beautiful city of those inhabited by man” and Plato, on seeing how its people lived, said: “they build like they intend to live forever, yet eat like this is their last day.” The city, ruled by tyrants, was sacked by Carthage in 406 BC. It never regained its former status, but rose again after the Greek general, Timolean, invaded Sicily in 344 BC. The Romans captured Akragas in 261 BC, selling its people into slavery. Although Carthage recaptured it in 255 BC, it finally reverted to Rome and was renamed Agrigentum. Most of its people continued to speak Greek, but became Roman citizens. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Agrigentum was ruled in turn by Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines and Normans. Coastal raids by Saracen pirates led to much of the lower city being abandoned, and the Saracens captured it in 828 AD. After the Normans conquered Sicily, its name changed again, to Girgenti. Ancient Akragas covered a vast area, much of it not yet excavated. Its seven monumental Doric temples, built in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, are among the largest and best-preserved ancient Greek buildings outside of Greece itself.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Valley of the Temples, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 580, 5th, 6th, agrigento, agrigentum, akragas, ancient, archaeological, archaeology, architecture, bc, building, carthage, carthaginians, century, circles, circular, city, classical, colonists, colony, , dei, domed, excavated, foundation, foundations, founded, graecia, graeco-roman, greco-roman, greece, greek, greeks, heritage, italian, italy, kerr, magna, mythology, park, port, prosperous, province, punic, remains, rings, roman, romans, rome, sacred, sicilian, sicily, site, slabs, southern, stone, stones, structure, temples, templi, terence, tholoi, tholos, unesco, valle, valley, wars, world
