Alexandria's founded by Alexander

Alexandria's founded by Alexander the Great (by year BC): 334 Alexandria in Troia (Turkey) - 333 Alexandria at Issus/Alexandrette (Iskenderun, Turkey) - 332 Alexandria of Caria/by the Latmos (Alinda, Turkey) - 331 Alexandria Mygdoniae - 331 Alexandria (Egypt) - 330 Alexandria Ariana (Herat, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria of the Prophthasia/in Dragiana/Phrada (Farah, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria in Arachosia (Kandahar, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria in the Caucasus (Begram, Afghanistan) - 329 Alexandria of the Paropanisades (Ghazni, Afghanistan) - 329 Alexandria Eschate or Ultima (Khodjend, Tajikistan) - 329 Alexandria on the Oxus (Termez, Afghanistan) - 328 Alexandria in Margiana (Merv, Turkmenistan) - 326 Alexandria Nicaea (on the Hydaspes, India) - 326 Alexandria Bucephala (on the Hydaspes, India) - 325 Alexandria Sogdia - 325 Alexandria Oreitide - 325 Alexandria in Opiene / Alexandria on the Indus (confluence of Indus & Acesines, India) - 325 Alexandria Rambacia (Bela, Pakistan) - 325 Alexandria Xylinepolis (Patala, India) - 325 Alexandria in Carminia (Gulashkird, Iran) - 324 Alexandria-on-the-Tigris/Antiochia-in-Susiana/Charax (Spasinou Charax on the Tigris, Iraq) - ?Alexandria of Carmahle? (Kahnu)

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

The Temple of Zeus in Agrigento in all its glory

When visiting a temple, it is never easy to imagine how it once looked with all the columns and walls intact and all the painted friezes and reliefs. That’s why these short 3D reconstructions come in so handy.


The Temple of Zeus in Agrigento (ancient Akragas) is the largest ever built in Italy – once Magna Graecia – and one of the largest in antiquity after the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus and the Temple of Apollo in Didyma (see: The Valleys of the Temples at Akragas). 

It was built in 480 BC to celebrate the Battle of Himera when the 
Greek colonists beat the Carthaginians once and for all.

The most remarkable feature of this temple is without doubt the huge Telamone figures (male caryatides) that stood in between the colossal columns of which only a rubble of drums has survived since most remains have been re-used for other constructions like the western pier of nearby Porto Empedocle in the 17th century.

Thanks to the efforts of a local architect we now have images of what the Temple of Zeus looked like in the fifth century BC, outside and inside. The composition is based on the description left by Diodorus and on studies made by great archaeologists like Pirro Marconi.

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