Steps rising to the floor of the vast Ancient Greek Temple of Olympian Zeus in the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento, Sicily, Italy, are surmounted by tumbled heaps of cut stone blocks and column drums dislodged by earthquakes or in wars with Carthage. The Doric temple, one of the world’s largest, was built around 480 BC to serve the Greek port city of Akragas.
Agrigento, Sicily, Italy: Ancient Greek column drums and blocks of cut stone, dislodged by warfare and earthquakes, are piled along the edges of the vast rectangular stepped base of the ruined Temple of Olympian Zeus in the Valle dei Templi or Valley of the Temples, the site of the ancient Graeco-Roman city of Akragas or Agrigentum. The temple is one of the world’s largest Doric structures. Estimates of its size vary, but it was probably about 113 meters (370 ft) long, (185 ft) wide and between 20m (66 ft) and 30m (98 ft) high. It was built to celebrate the 480 BC Greek victory over Carthage at Himera and its builders may have been Carthaginian captives used as slave labour. Carthage faced further humiliation because the 38 colossal Atlas telamons helping to support its upper structure are believed to have portrayed defeated ‘barbarian’ Carthaginians. The temple was still roofless when Carthage took revenge in 406 BC, badly damaging it as they sacked the city. Earthquakes then wrecked the temple and much of the stonework vanished from the site, both in the medieval period and in the 1700s. It became a quarry for building work in the town of Agrigento and also for breakwaters and jetties at the nearby seaport of Porto Empedocle. Akragas, founded around 580 BC by Greek colonists from Gela, Rhodes and Crete, was a prosperous port and leading city of Magna Graecia or Greater Greece. Its growth stalled after it was sacked by Carthage and although it did thrive again, it never regained its former status. In the 3rd century BC, it changed hands several times as Rome and Carthage fought the Punic Wars. The Romans triumphed, renaming it Agrigentum, but after Rome fell, the city was ruled in turn by Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Saracens and Normans. The ruins, now open to visitors, are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Size: 2832px × 4256px
Location: Valley of the Temples, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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