Images in this gallery are from ancient Akragas, modern day Agrigento, on the central south coast of Sicily, 129km from Palermo and home to the UNESCO World Heritage listed site 'Valley of the Temples' which has the finest examples of Greek temples and largest known assemblage of colonnaded temples in the Greek world.
It was founded in 581 BC by Greeks colonists from the nearby city of Gela, founded a century earlier by settlers from the Greek islands of Rhodes and Crete. It...
more »Images in this gallery are from ancient Akragas, modern day Agrigento, on the central south coast of Sicily, 129km from Palermo and home to the UNESCO World Heritage listed site 'Valley of the Temples' which has the finest examples of Greek temples and largest known assemblage of colonnaded temples in the Greek world.
It was founded in 581 BC by Greeks colonists from the nearby city of Gela, founded a century earlier by settlers from the Greek islands of Rhodes and Crete. It was part of Gela's Hellenization expansionist plans along the coast, however the new city soon begun to rise above and outshine its mother city.
The masterminds of the city's growth were primarily its first two tyrant rulers, Phalaris and Theron, who at different stages fortified the city, supplied it with water, expanded the territory, provided economic strength and stability and began and continued its famous building program.
The golden age of ancient Akragas was in the 5th century BC when it became one of the most prosperous and beautiful cities in the ancient Mediterranean world. It population grew to over 200,000, literature and the performing arts flourished and it had successes in the Olympic Games.
Nearly all the famous temples of the city were all built during this period, including the largest Doric Temple of the ancient Greek world, the monumental Temple of Olympian Zeus, built to celebrate the victory over the Carthaginians at Himera in 480 BC in northern Sicily, affirming Greek supremacy in Sicily.
In 406 BC, ancient Akragas suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the returning Carthaginians, who sacked and burned the city after a siege of eighth months.
The city recovered and was rebuilt, however it was only the shadow of the splendid city that the ancient Greek poet Pindar described as "the fairest and most beautiful city inhabited by mortals".
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