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Interior of the Doric temple at Segesta in Sicily

Interior of the Doric temple at Segesta

There are at least a thousand reasons to visit Sicily, the great island - indeed the largest in the Mediterranean - that forms the triangular football to the boot that is the Italian peninsula.

They are all very good reasons, including amazing landscapes, a uniquely complex and delicious cuisine, a history that is diverse and multifaceted beyond belief, excellent wines, a vast array of archaeological sites, an even vaster one of historical towns and villages. A great way to explore all of those aspects is our Exploring Sicily tour.

But one key reason to visit the island is missing from the list above: ancient Greek temples!

evocative Sicilian temple ruins

Not all Sicilian temples are well-preserved, but the ruins are very evocative, especially in spring!

Greek temples are one of the earliest well-defined expressions of what we now recognise as the Western tradition in architecture, and one of the most influential ones by a vast margin to this day. They go back to the 8th or 7th centuries BC, and, as the name entails, they are indeed a key achievement of the Archaic Greeks, originating in what is the south of modern Greece, where Greek temple architecture appears to have its main roots, probably derived from local wooden predecessors.

Doric Temples
The Greek mainland's architectural style is the Doric one, considered to be the most austere and "male" in character. On our Exploring Athens, we see no less than three key examples of that purest form of Greek temple: the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis, most emblematic of all Greek temples, the Temple of Hephaistos in the city's Agora, the best-preserved example in Greece (both are from the mid-5th century BC), and the wonderfully set temple of Aphaia on the island of Aigina, predating them by half a century.

Ionic temples
In the eastern Aegean and Asia Minor, temples were famous for their own development, the more elegant and "female" Ionic style, conceived about a century after the Doric one. The most prominent examples are at Samos, Ephesus and Didyma, all of them monumental in size. You can see one of our other posts about the great Ionic temples.

What's so remarkable about the Greek temples of Sicily then?

The short answer is simply that Sicily possessed a greater density of monumental temples than any other area of the Mediterranean, and now contains more well-preserved examples than anywhere else. Not only do they make for an unusually rich ensemble of particularly impressive ancient monuments, but moreover, each of them has its own distinctive character and peculiar features, its own history and its own specific setting within a town- or landscape.

Temple D (known as the Temple of Hera) at Agrigento in Sicily

The so-called Temple of Hera at Agrigento

The reason for Sicily's wealth in such a specific type of monument lies in the early history of the island. In the 8th century BC, Sicily became a target of Greek colonisation, which affected much of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Greek settlers, mostly from the city states of the Southern Greek mainland, set off to found a whole series of new cities in the island, including Syrakousai (modern Syracuse), Akragas (Agrigento), Messene (Messina) and Selinous (Selinunte). In fact, Sicily (and the south of the Italian mainland) received so many Greek colonies that the region was later called Megale Hellas or Magna Graecia ("Great Greece").

These settlers brought their Greek identity, lifestyle, culture and traditions with them, a package that also included their religion. The great temples of Sicily are the most striking expression of that package. First of all, they fulfilled the practical need of providing a place of worship or sanctuary with a house for the statue of the respective god or goddess. At the same time, the choice of an architectural type from the "motherland", the Doric temple, served as a clear indication of the colonists' background and cultural alignment. Soon, the size, format and individual characteristics also began to express the "new" cities' wealth, ambition and specific Sicilian identities.

Remains of the Temple of Apollo at Syracuse in Sicily

Remains of the Temple of Apollo at Syracuse (Wikimedia: Berthold Werner)

Syracuse (Syrakousai), founded by Corinthians in 733 BC, was originally limited to the small island of Ortygia, which is still the heart of its Old Town. Two major temples are found on the islet.

The temple of Apollo is one of the oldest among the Greek temples of Sicily, built before 550 BC. Although it is only partially preserved, its monumental character is still appreciable through the closely-placed thick columns, as is its already very Sicilian plan, with an adyton, an inner holy-of-holies housing the statue of Apollo, at the back of the internal sanctuary. An inscription on the front steps names Kleomenes as its architect and Epikles as the creator of the columns - such a proud commemoration of the builders would have been unthinkable in mainland Greece at that time.

Roman Catholic cathedral in Syracuse previously an ancient templeFor the modern visitor, the temple of Apollo at Syracuse is outshone by that of Athena, one of the most spectacular sights in Sicily. Erected by the local tyrant Gelon after a great victory over the Carthaginians in 480 BC, this was another monumental Doric temple, built of local limestone (which would have been covered in fine stucco), with a superstructure of marble imported from the Cyclades, some 900km (550mi) away.

What makes the temple of Athena unique, and not just among the temples of Sicily, is the fact that it still serves as a place of worship for its city after nearly 2,500 years. It was rededicated as a Christian church around AD 600, later served as a mosque, and now is Syracuse's Roman Catholic cathedral. Hidden behind an ornate baroque façade, the visitor finds what is essentially an Early Christian basilica built into and around the basic structure of a Late Archaic Doric temple.

Ancient Temple F at Agrigento/Akragas in Sicily

"Temple of Concordia"  at Agrigento/Akragas

Agrigento (Akragas) was settled by people from nearby Gela and from faraway Rhodes around 582 BC. The city flourished especially in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, after which it frequently changed hands between Greeks and Carthaginians before eventually falling to Rome.

During its heyday, Akragas appears to have spent a lot of resources on lavish architecture, a fact criticised by the 5th-century BC philosopher Empedocles, who was himself a citizen there: The Agrigentines live delicately as if tomorrow they would die, but they build their houses well as if they thought they would live for ever. Indeed, Akragas is known to have had at least ten large temples.

The most impressive of them today is the one traditionally called the Temple of Concordia, although its deity remains unknown. Dated to c. 425 BC, it is among the last of the Greek temples of Sicily to be completed. It counts as one of the three most completely preserved Greek temples across the ancient world (the others being the so-called Temple of Poseidon at Paestum near Naples and that of Hephaistos in Athens). The inner shrine, outer colonnades and pediments all survive in what is essentially their original state, showcasing the fine proportions of Classical architecture. Its good preservation is thanks to its early conversion into a Christian church.

A fallen antlantid from the Temple of Zeus at Agrigento/Akragas in Siciy

A fallen antlantid from the Temple of Zeus at Agrigento/Akragas

Also visible at Agrigento are substantial remains of three further large temples, including the structure known (probably falsely) as the Temple of Hera. The most noteworthy of them, however, must be the huge Temple of Olympian Zeus, of which only foundations and fallen masonry survive. Built by the local tyrant Theron (brother of the aforementioned Gelon) after the 480 victory, it was dedicated to the chief god. While modelled on the idea of the Doric temple, it was in fact a highly unusual structure for several reasons, including its huge dimensions (110 by 52m or 360 by 170ft), its partially walled-off colonnade, and the use of massive block-built "atlantids", relief figures of giants, to support the superstructure. Some scholars have interpreted the Temple of Olympian Zeus as a hybrid of a Greek Doric exterior and a more Carthaginian/Phoenician interior.

You can read more impressions and view more pictures in our post about the ancient temples at Agrigento.

ancient Temple C at Selinunte/Selinous in Sicily

Selinunte/Selinous: Temple C (Wikimedia: Janusz Rec?aw)

Selinunte (Selinous) is located in the far west of Sicily. It was founded in 628/627 BC by Sicilian Greeks from Gela, with some involvement from Megara near Athens. In many ways, it was an outpost among the Greek cities of Sicily, located close to the Phoenician/Carthaginian centres of power. This certainly did not stop its inhabitants from engaging in the construction of temples: we know of at least seven, several of them of massive dimensions.

Four were located on the acropolis, the hilltop citadel of the city. One of them, Temple C, is still very impressive. We do not know what deity was worshipped at Temple C, of which one side is preserved. It dates to before 550 BC. It shares some similarities with the slightly older temple of Apollo at Syracuse, such as the adyton at the western end of the sanctuary, housing a statue of its god or goddess. Nonetheless, its columns and overall proportions are more graceful. Especially impressive, however, are the grooves that allowed the huge bronze doors at its eastern end to open and close. It was approached via a monumental stairway of eight steps, the oldest we know in the Greek World. The museum at Palermo holds examples of its rich sculptural decoration.

ancient Temple E, the Temple of Hera, at Selinunte/Selinous in Sicily

Temple E, the Temple of Hera, at Selinunte/Selinous

A second group of three huge temples stood just to the east of Selinunte, by its harbour. Two, G and F, lie in ruins, but the third, temple E stands proud, partially as the result of modern reconstructions. This was the temple of Hera, wife (and sister) of Zeus and goddess of matrimony. From the mid-5th century BC, this temple incorporated a strong influence from the Greek motherland, where the style we now call "Classical" was then in full swing, while also following Sicilian architectural traditions. Temple E is characterised by a harmony of proportion that is unusual among the great temples of Sicily. Its sculptural decoration, while modest in quantity, is among the finest achievements of Greek art in Sicily. Overall, it is strongly reminiscent of the very slightly older and far less well-preserved temple of Zeus in Olympia, a site that would have been familiar to many Sicilian Greeks, due to the athletic competitions held there every four years.

The ancient Greek temple at Segesta in its glorious setting in Sicily

The temple at Segesta in its glorious setting

Segesta, inland from Sicily's northwestern extremity, is in a way the odd one out among the cities mentioned here. It was not the product of Greek colonisation, but founded in the mists of time by Elymians, a local Sicilian tribe. Throughout its history, it chose a role between the Greek and Carthaginian spheres, adopting aspects of Greek culture, but not necessarily allying itself with its Greek neighbours. Segesta was in constant conflict with nearby Selinous. Nevertheless, late in the 5th century BC, the Segestans engaged in the construction of a fine Doric temple on a hill outside their city, probably using expert builders from their rival and enemy Selinous. Perhaps due to the outbreak of war, it was never completed. Its remains look complete at first sight, with the exterior colonnades and pediments in place. On a closer look, one notes that the delicate column flutings and other sculptural details were not applied, and that the temple is lacking an interior sanctuary. With its relatively late date and in its incomplete state, the temple at Segesta is a fit point to end this post about the important architectural achievement that are the Greek temples of Sicily.

If you are interested in seeing these impressive monuments, along with prehistoric cemeteries, Phoenician settlements, Norman churches, baroque towns and much more, combined with fabulous food and wine, you should join us on one of our epic Exploring Sicily tours (for just 14 travellers)!

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