Alexander’s missed voyage to conquer the West

Alexander always planned ahead, far ahead even. He was a true genius juggling many problems, projects, and strategies (see: Eyewitness accounts of Alexander's life). 

His most significant projects, or at least their outlines, were put on paper, as we may conclude from the to-do list the king left upon his death, as mentioned by Diodorus. We have no reason to believe Alexander’s ambition was a utopian dream. After all, conquering the then-known world in less than ten years is a superhuman achievement. Nobody before or after Alexander succeeded. Nothing could stop Alexander – except his own death. 

It has been generally accepted that Alexander aimed to conquer the western Mediterranean, and the idea is consistent with his character. However, Diodorus’ text may be a list of ideas rather than real plans, as we all would imagine. 

Besides his plan to build colossal temples and a mausoleum for his father, there was the project to build a thousand warships, larger than triremes, in Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, and Cyprus. This construction had already started while Alexander was in Babylon and alive. He planned to conquer Carthage. On the way, along the coast of Libya, he would create a string of safe havens and shipyards. Eventually, this strategy would lead him to Iberia and Magna Graecia, including Sicily, where many Greek colonists had established themselves centuries earlier. 

In the end, the Romans attacked the Carthaginians in Sicily in the First Punic War, 60 years after Alexander’s death. A second war shifted their terrain to Iberia, which was largely occupied by the Carthaginians (see: Carthage Antique, des origines jusqu’à l’invasion Vandale). We can only guess how Alexander would have handled the confrontation, especially since the power of Carthage was different in his days. 

On his way to Carthage, Alexander would need to secure the hinterland to protect his newly built harbors along the North African coast. To this effect, he conceived the construction of a road as far as the Pillars of Heracles (Gibraltar). The project materialized 2,500 years later when Mussolini built a 2,000 km-long highway, the Litoranea, running from Tunisia all the way to the Egyptian border (see: Cyrene, founded by the Greeks). We may wonder whether this was Alexander’s megalomania or far-sightedness. 

Greek immigrants searching for fertile lands and a better life had already colonized a significant part of the western Mediterranean. Around 600 BC, the Phocaeans (from modern Foça), who fled Asia Minor after a siege by the Persians, established themselves in southern France, where they founded the city of Massalia, modern Marseille. By 575 BC, these settlers founded regional colonies in Agde (Agathe Tyche), Antibes, Nice (Niké), and Monaco. 

With time, these colonists went further inland and spread all over Provence. The city of Arelate, modern Arles, occupied a strategic position where goods traveled up and down the River Rhone after they had been transhipped from Massalia. Most of those settlements are best known by their Roman names: Orange, Vaison-la-Romaine, and Glanum, although their origin was much older. 

A photographer friend of mine, Andrew Squires, explored Provence. His vision was to create images of the region, including Glanum, that translate the remains into what it once was. He published a splendid work of art as an iBook (with Apple) under the name Provence Mysterious. 

The Phoceans from Massalia, about the same time as they expanded in Provence, created circa 550 BC the trading post of Emporion, Roman Ampurias, and Rhoda, modern Rossas in Spain. Both cities, connected by a long sandy beach, served as stopover ports in the Greek expansion in the western Mediterranean. Geographically speaking, Emporion occupies the southwestern end of the Golfe de Lion, opposite Massalia. 

The first colonization of Magna Graecia happened earlier than elsewhere in that part of the Mediterranean. It started in Cumae, founded around 740 BC by emigrants from Chalcis and Kyme. Spartans emigrated to Taras, later named Tarentum. It was soon followed by new colonies established by the Achaeans in Metapontum, Sybaris, and Croton. In 733 BC, Greek settlers from Corinth arrived on the small island of Ortygia and founded Syracuse.

In the 6th century BC, Athenian settlers founded Thurii. Around 580 BC, colonists from Gela (Sicily), Crete, and Rhodes founded Akragas (Agrigento). 

Many of these initially Greek colonies became influential cities in their own right, creating their own towns. A good example is Sicily, where the new colonies fought the Carthaginians, the Romans, and each other, seeking their own ideals (see: Syracuse rivaled Athens to be the most powerful city). 

In 535 BC, Phocaean refugees established the colony of Elea, home of the Eleatic School created by the philosopher Parmenides (see: Magna Graecia, the forgotten Greek legacy). In 433 BC, the colony of Tarentum founded Herakleia, and the Achaeans founded Poseidonia, Roman Paestum. 

These relentless fluxes of Greek emigrants were no secret to Alexander and his contemporaries, meaning he was well aware and informed about the western Mediterranean – something we tend to forget! 

An excellent example of the high skills and wealth in the western Mediterranean is the so-called Riace bronzes retrieved off the coast of Calabria ( see: More about Magna Graecia: a testimony from Calabria). Archaeologists disagree on whether they represent warriors, athletes, or gods. Consequently, they are called “Riace A,” created between 460 and 450 BC, and “Riace B,” between 430 and 420 BC. Let’s keep in mind that these statues are the kind of artwork that existed a century before Alexander. 

Although extensive, the above-mentioned list of Greek colonists in the western Mediterranean is far from complete but long enough to prove their impressive presence. They often were caught in the expansionist attacks of the Carthaginians and, alternatively, of the Romans. Alexander would have to face both sooner or later. With his seasoned Macedonians, he would have created a Greek/Hellenistic world instead of the Latin one that Rome imposed on Western Europe. How different our world would have been!

Cheesecake, Olympian style

Even in antiquity, appropriate nutrition was part of the Olympic Games as the competitors expected that it would improve their performances. After their strenuous efforts, however, they felt – like our modern athletes – that they deserved some indulgence. One of these was what we would call nowadays, a cheesecake, i.e. a kind of flour cake layered with cheese and honey, the best of which came from Attica.

[Picture from the Quarzy Newsletter of Feb 2018]

As early as 250 BC, Archestratus of Gela wrote a gastronomic guide “Life of Luxury”. Unfortunately only fragments of his book have survived but one such scrap is recommending the cheesecake made in Athens as being the best, although the recipe is not being disclosed.

As always, the Romans were keen to copy the Greeks, including their cheesecake recipe which Cato the Elder in 160 BC included in his “De Agri Cultura” in five different variations. There was the vaillum, a sweet version and a savory one called libum often made as an offering to the gods. Both types were made with a simple mixture of flour and cheese that could be eaten with a spoon.

A fancier version was the placenta cake, alternating layers of dough, cheese, and honey and spiced with bay leaves. Occasionally this cake was sprinkled with black poppy seeds. Out of curiosity, we may want to experiment and create this placenta cake according to Cato’s original recipe:

Shape the placenta as follows: place a single row of tracta [a type of dough] along the whole length of the base dough. This is then covered with the mixture [cheese and honey] from the mortar. Place another row of tracta on top and go on doing so until all the cheese and honey have been used up. Finish with a layer of tracta…place the placenta in the oven and put a preheated lid on top of it. (with thanks to the Quarzy Newsletter of Feb 2018).

Orichalcum in the news again!

Orichalcum, a most precious metal considered second only to gold, was highly valued in antiquity but has rarely survived. This means that the recent discovery of 47 ingots of orichalcum off the south coast of Sicily deserves to be highlighted.

[Picture from Archaeology News Network]

In a previous blog (see: Mystery about the precious orichalcum solved?), I mentioned how 39 ingots had been recovered off the south coast of Sicily from a ship that sunk in the sixth century BC just before entering the harbor of Gela. In the same blog, I explained that orichalcum is basically composed of copper and zinc that result in brass with a very shiny finish that looks like gold.

This recent recovery comes from the same area as the previous one near the entrance to the harbor of Gela, together with two Corinthian helmets, several archaic amphorae and one round bottom flask manufactured in Massalia (modern Marseilles in France). The artifacts have been dated to the end of 7^th/early 6^th century BC.

The ingots of orichalcum which vary in size from 17 to 32 cm and in weight from 254 to 1340 grams have been analyzed and revealed to be made from 80% of copper and 20% of zinc with traces of lead and nickel.

This discovery confirms, if needed, the richness of a city like Gela where many specialized craftsmen must have been working to produce objects of great value.

Sicily and the Sea, temporary exhibition in Amsterdam

The exhibition Sicily and the Sea is a real treat! It is presently running at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam and can be visited till 17 April 2016.

It has, in fact, a collection of finds from several Greek and Roman ships that sank, generally during a storm, around the island of Sicily. The names of most of these places are not well-known, but there are plenty of maps to clarify the locations.

The objects retrieved from shipwrecks come from a wide area around the Mediterranean island: the Gela shipwreck is a Greek merchant ship of 17x6m, with a crew of 3 or 4, dating from 500-480BC, that sailed from mainland Greece to the Sicilian colonies; the Capistello shipwreck is an Italian merchant ship of 20m long, with a crew of 3 or 4, dating from 300-280 BC, that sailed from Campania to North Africa; the Levanzo shipwreck is Roman, with a crew of 3 or 4, dating from 275-300 AD, that sailed from North Africa to Rome; and the Scauri shipwreck is Sicilian,  with a crew of 2 or 3 crew, dating from about 450AD.

Exhibited are, for instance, a cargo of red colored vessels retrieved from the Panarea shipwreck, dated to 400-350BC; copper ingots found off Pantelleria dating from around 1500 BC; a bronze Phoenician statuette from around 1000 BC found off the coast of Sciacca; a Corinthian helmet found off Camarina and dated to between 600 and 500BC; a lovely Pyxis with a painted marriage ceremony from Centuripe and dated 3^rd century BC. There is more, of course, like this Greek bowl with stamped decoration found near the Lipari Islands and dated to the 3^rd century BC; a quite unusual Greek terracotta altar or incense burner recovered from a ship off the Panarea Islands and dated to the 3^rd century BC together with some votive anchors; a marble male torso that could be either Greek or Roman, and might represent one of the Dioscuri found off Marsala and dated to 200–1 BC; a Sicilian-Greek Hercules found off Catania from the 2^nd century BC; and a rare Carthaginian hoard of bronze coins found off Pantelleria, dated 264-241 BC. The list is simply too long, for there are also some ship’s anchors and a choice of amphorae of all sizes and shapes, not forgetting the cute Phoenician or Egyptian glass beads with a human face.

The most remarkable pieces, however, are the three ships' rams, one Carthaginian and two Roman. The Carthaginian ram is unique, the only one ever recovered from the bottom of the sea. They all belong to the fierce battle that ended the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage in 241 BC near the Egadi Islands, south of Sicily. Here, underwater archaeologists have recently recovered ten Roman battering rams and one Carthaginian. This means that the three battering rams that are shown at this exhibition are by themselves reason enough to go to Amsterdam. There is no way to distinguish the Carthaginian battering ram from the Roman ones; it seems to come down to their respective inscriptions. How unique to see this!

A full set of my pictures is available in my album Sicily and the Sea (please click).

Mystery about the precious orichalcum solved?

Orichalcum is a very unusual metal, which the ancient Greeks claimed to be found only in Atlantis, the sunken legendary city. It is basically composed of copper and zinc, resulting in brass with a very shiny finish that looks very much like gold.

A full load of 39 ingots of orichalcum has been recovered off the south coast of Sicily from a ship that sank in the 6th century BC just before entering the harbor of Gela. It probably came from Greece or Asia Minor, and it was likely caught in a storm – the main danger for ships sailing the Mediterranean.

The precious orichalcum was long considered to be a mysterious metal and is known from ancient texts, but only a few objects have survived. Plato mentioned orichalcum as a legendary metal, second only to gold in value, that was mined in Atlantis and used there to cover not only the inside walls of the Temple of Poseidon but also its floors and columns. According to another theory, it was invented by Cadmus, a Greek mythological founder of Thebes.

Recent analysis has revealed that orichalcum is an alloy that closely resembles brass and was obtained through the reaction of zinc ore, charcoal, and copper in a crucible. Examining the 39 ingots, they contained 75-80 percent of copper, 15-20 percent of zinc, and small percentages of nickel, lead, and iron. This theory is, however, being refuted by a professor from Rio de Janeiro, stating that they are an alloy of copper, zinc, and lead, believing that orichalcum has its roots in the Peruvian Andes from a civilization that lived there from 1200 to 200 BC – maybe a little too far away from home to be true?

Well, there is still so much we do not know, from Atlantis to (in this case) the Peruvian Andes. These ingots may simply be added to that list, but the find by itself is quite exciting, in any case!

[Pictures from Archaeology News Network]

The Battle of Himera, a major confrontation

The history of Sicily is a very complicated one. To simplify things, I like to state that the Greeks colonized the island starting as early as the 8th century BC and that their success was such that it raised the envy and jealousy of the Carthaginians, which led to repeated quarrels and battles. Of course, this is a very simplistic explanation because “the Greeks” came from different cities and city-states in the motherland, where they fought among themselves: Corinth, Athens, and Sparta, or from the islands of Rhodes and Crete. By the fifth century BC, mainland Greece suffered from two nearly consecutive invasions by the mighty Persian army, the first in 492-490 BC, which ended with the Battle of Marathon under Darius I, and the second led by King Xerxes I in 480-479 BC, which was settled with the Battle of Plataea and the naval Battle of Mycale. At the same time, the Carthaginians had reached an agreement with the Persians to reduce the Greeks in Sicily, meaning that Persia was, although indirectly, attacking simultaneously on two fronts.

The Carthaginians may have seized the opportune moment now that Sicily was divided among their allies (Selinus (Selinunte) and Himera) and their enemies (Syracuse and Akragas (Agrigento)). They had already conquered several cities on the west and north coasts of the island, like Motya and Panormos (Palermo), and now saw their chance to extend their power further eastward. Carthage had a powerful general Hamilcar, who led both military and naval forces on his warships across the Libyan Sea.

Terillos of Himera was his ally against Syracuse, a tyrant who lacked popular support. In 483 BC, the situation changed as Theron, tyrant of Akragas, deposed Terillos and added Himera to his own realm. Himera was now in the adverse camp, and it is not surprising that Terillos asked the Carthaginians for help to fight against his enemies. He had, however, to wait almost three years before Hamilcar decided to organize an expedition against Sicily.

I am being taken to the very heart of this decisive battle by Michael Metcalfe as I am travelling around Sicily on a tour organized by Peter Sommer Travels “Exploring Sicily”. Before arriving at Himera, I was captivated by Michael’s lively re-enactment of entering the Castle of Eurialo, and I took in the reasons for the solid defenses against the Carthaginians at Motya and Gela. As the tour moved on, the rich historical remains of Syracuse and the sacred area around the sanctuaries of Agrigento, Selinunte, and Segesta have all been mentally reconstructed – even the quarry of Cave di Cusa abandoned since the Carthaginian invasion, looked very real. With my fellow-aficionados, we now flock around Michael to hear how this major battle between the Sicilian allies and Carthage evolved.

As so many times before, Michael is quoting from Diodorus Siculus, a Sicilian historian who lived in the first century BC, and he is voicing the full action. We are actually standing opposite Himera inside the remains of a Doric temple, believed to be the Temple of Victory, built as a celebration just after the war. On the left was the encampment of the Carthagian navy, and on the right the one reserved for their landforces. As always, the figures in antiquity were very much inflated, and Diodorus is no exception when he mentions that 300,000 men and 200 warships went underway together with a fleet of 3,000 and more merchantmen to transport the supplies. Modern historians have calculated that 200 ships is a fair amount, and since they could never have held 1,500 men each, they concluded that 150 men per vessel is about right. This would bring the total number of soldiers to 30,000, i.e., 1/10th of what is being reported. The same logic can be applied to the merchantmen, which would reach 300 instead of 3,000.

Holding Diodorus’ account in hand, Michael tells us how the army had suffered badly from a storm during which Hamilcar lost the vessels carrying his horses and chariots. He first made a halt in the harbor of Panormos (modern Palermo), where he spent three days repairing the storm damage and resting his troops. From here, he marched towards Himera, with the fleet escorting him along the way. Here, the warships were hauled ashore, and the encampments were surrounded by a deep ditch and wooden palisade. After the army supplies were unloaded, the merchants were sent back with orders to bring in more grain and other goods from Libya and Sardinia. Hamilcar then marched on Himera, located on the slope ahead of us, with the pick of his troops, killing many of the Himerans who had ventured out of the city walls. Hamilcar’s daring action scared Theron, the ruler of Akragas, whose role it was to protect Himera, and he decided to send an urgent message to Syracuse for help. Gelon of Syracuse had a huge army in readiness, and as soon as he received the call from Theron, he marched from Syracuse with 50,000 infantry and over 5,000 cavalry according to Diodorus, although 10,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry sounds more reasonable – a large force anyway. Watching the arrival of Gelon’s men must have been quite comforting to the Himerans, who I picture standing on the roofs of their houses or on a safe spot on the city walls.

While setting up his own encampment outside the city (and Michael points to the plain behind us), Theron sent his cavalry out against the Carthaginians, roaming the countryside in search of easy plunder. At least 1,000 men were rounded up and made prisoners. At this stage, and as strange as it may seem, the inhabitants of Himera came to respect Gelon and despise the Carthaginians.

Gelon, who by now was generally accepted as a man of outstanding generalship and clear insight, started to look for an easy way to outwit his enemy without having to sacrifice the lives of his own men. He knew that Hamilcar was preparing for a lavish sacrifice to the gods, and he felt that this was his chance to set the enemy’s fleet afire. Luck was on his side when horsemen reached him with a message that was intercepted from a courier on his way to deliver letters from the people of Selinus to the enemy camp. These letters mentioned that they would send their cavalry on the day Hamilcar had asked for them. A chance opportunity for Gelon since that day was the same as the one planned for the Carthaginian sacrifices. The tyrant of Syracuse sent out a cavalry of his own, ordering them to take a wide loop and making it look as if they were the couriers coming from Selinus. Once inside the Carthaginian stockade, their instructions were to kill Hamilcar and set his ships afire.

From our vantage point inside the temple, it feels as if we can overlook the entire operation, and we hold our breath together with the people of Himera, who are living between hope and fear. Scouts had been posted high up the surrounding hills, for they would signal when the horsemen arrived inside the enemy’s camp.

At sunrise, the fake friendly cavalry rode up to the Carthaginians and was admitted inside the camp by the guards as their supposed allies. They rode straight up to the place where Hamilcar was holding his sacrifice, killed the general, and set fire to the ships. At this point, the scouts in the hills gave the signal, and Gelon advanced with his entire army in close order. The Carthaginians were entirely taken by surprise, trumpets sounded the alarm, and a fierce battle developed. But when the flames of their burning ships rose high into the sky, and the news of Hamilcar’s death started to spread among his men, most Carthaginians got disheartened, and the Greeks took courage. Gelon had given instructions that no one should be taken alive, and the carnage of the fugitives must have been horrendous. Since the heat of the battle was probably fought at the very spot where we are listening to this vivid story, I stare at my feet, realizing the soil must have been soaked in blood – an uneasy feeling to say the least, even after so many centuries. Reasonable figures mention that 30,000 men were killed or wounded, and certainly not all casualties fell in the enemy camp. Wow, what a place to be standing!

The temple that is our vantage point was, in fact, built by the Carthaginians taken captive on the orders of Gelon of Syracuse. Its dedication to Niké/Victory is uncertain, for it may as well have been built in honor of Athena. In any case, it was destroyed and burnt to the ground soon after its completion, and most likely in 409 BC when the Carthaginians attacked the city of Himera again.

After his victory, Gelon rewarded the brave cavalry that had killed Hamilcar and gave out decorations to other valorous combatants. The prisoners were shared proportionally among his allies, who employed them as laborers on public works. Akragas got most of the workforce, mainly because many of the Carthaginian soldiers had fled into the interior, inside Akragas’ territory in particular. They were the men who quarried the stones (like at Cave di Cusa) and who worked on the construction of many temples, the biggest being the Temple of Zeus (see: The Valley of the Temples at Akragas, Sicily). They were also forced to dig out the extravagant swimming pool in Akragas, which served as a water reservoir and a pond for fresh fish. This pond did not last long since it was drained approximately one century later to eventually become a garden where the Arabs cultivated their oranges, the Kolymbetra Garden.

Peace had returned to Himera, but it was short-lived. The Carthaginians had not forgotten their bitter defeat, and they attacked again in 409 BC when Sicily was torn apart by internal conflicts. This time, Himera was razed to the ground and never rebuilt.

So much for the proud city of Himera and so much for this unique experience: Thank you, Michael!

The Valley of the Temples at Akragas, Sicily

My first glance at these temples is quite exciting as I discover them on a high ridge above the road, playing hide and seek with the passing trees. According to my map, the string of temples at Akragas (modern Agrigento) is located between two rivers, the Hypsas and the Akragas, but why this place high up the ridge is called “The Valley of the Temples” I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense to me.

Roughly, all these temples were built within a period of one hundred years, somewhere between 500 BC for the Temple of Heracles and 400 BC for the enormous Temple of Zeus. The 6th and 5th centuries BC were definitely the most prosperous times for Akragas, which was founded as a colony of Gela in 580 BC to become one of the leading cities of Magna Graecia, with a population of as many as 100,000 to 200,000 people. The Carthaginians captured the city in 406 BC and burnt it to the ground, selling its inhabitants as slaves. Soon afterwards, Akragas fell victim to the disputes between Rome and Carthage during the First Punic War. After besieging the city and defeating the Carthaginians in 261 BC, the inhabitants were once again sold as slaves, this time by the Romans. Six years later, the Carthaginians recaptured the city, but in the end, they had to surrender it to Rome, ending the Second Punic War. In 210 BC, the Romans took possession of Akragas and renamed it Agrigentum, although Greek was still the common language. Those were hard times for such a proud city!

The temples we see here today do not tell this gruesome story and only testify to Magna Graecia’s grandeur. The best known is the Temple of Concord, simply because this is the best preserved sanctuary of the Greek world after the Temple of Hephaistos in Athens. It was built around 430 BC and suffered only slight damage from the Carthaginian invasion. It is a rather standard construction in Doric style, counting 6x13 columns nearly 7 meters high, that has kept its cella nearly intact thanks to the fact that it was converted into a church. This sounds familiar after seeing what has been done to the Temple of Apollo in Syracuse, with that difference, however, that here, except for the arches in the nave, the building has been entirely stripped of its Christian additions. Its location is absolutely superb as it shines there at the end of the Sacred Road, even without the coat of original white stucco that was enhanced with red, blue, green, and yellow details. It must have been visible from quite a distance!

When I enter ”The Valley of the Temples”, my first stop, however, is at the Temple of Hera, clinging to the edge of the cliff. For security reasons, I am not allowed inside. It is slightly smaller and about 20 years older than the Temple of Concord, although it has as many columns. This temple is in poorer condition, with only parts of the columns and the cella walls still standing, as it suffered from the (still visible) devastating Carthaginian fires in 406 BC. In fact, it is surprising that so much of the temple has survived after all.

As this Temple of Hera lies on higher ground, I have an excellent view over the city walls, which are generally an extension of the steep cliff that has been hollowed out to leave only a wall of some sort. More to the right and parallel to this wall runs the said Via Sacra that leads to the Temple of Concord and beyond that to the Temple of Heracles and across the modern road to the enormous Temple of Zeus. It is a beautiful walk among the blossoming trees and high grasses, overlooking the valley below.

Passing the Temple of Concord, I reach the end of the Via Sacra at the Temple of Heracles, which has only one row of nine columns left to fuel my imagination. This is by far the oldest temple of Akragas, built around 500 BC, and is a little larger than the two previous ones, counting originally 6 by 15 columns. It also has suffered badly from the Carthaginian destruction of 406 BC, and traces of fire are still visible. In its heyday, it contained a painting by the most famous artist of the ancient world, Zeuxis. I wonder what this must have looked like.

Across the modern road are the ruins of the Temple of Olympian Zeus that defy my wildest imagination. It was built in Doric style by the Carthaginians taken prisoners during the battle of Himera in 480 BC and measures as much as 110x53m, i.e., a double square, and for that reason it is unique among the Greek temples. It counted 7x14 columns, rounded on the outside and square on the inside, a staggering 4m across and 16.7m high. In between stood statues of colossal Telamones  (male caryatids), 38 pieces in all. A few of these Telamones or parts of them have been recovered and give an idea of the oversized proportions of the temple. Archaeologists have not yet agreed on the final layout of this temple, which has suffered from repeated earthquakes and from quarrying for several local projects. This Temple of Zeus was not finished in 406 BC when the Carthaginians arrived, and we know that it was converted into a fortress in 255 BC so the inhabitants and the Roman garrison could take shelter here from the Carthaginian attack. Walking among these huge blocks, it is very difficult to mentally reconstruct this sanctuary, and the remains of a few Telamones stretched out in their full length around the temple add to the general confusion about its true proportions. Luckily, the local museum shows a model reconstruction of the temple, at least one of the possibilities, putting things more or less in perspective. The benefit of visiting these remains lies in the details. When you see the sheer size of the triglyphs or the large U-shaped incisions on some of the stones that were used to lift the enormous blocks, you can somehow visualize the biblical proportions of this temple that certainly deserves the addition of Olympian to the name of Zeus.

Further to the west are the poor remains of the city of Akragas from the 6th century BC, divided by three five-meter-wide north-south streets. Much of the city was rebuilt in Hellenistic times, but only the base of the walls remains visible. At the far end of this plain dotted with patches of flowers of all colors, one can see the Sanctuary of the Chthonic Divinities (the gods of the earth), in which two temples of the 7th century BC have been erroneously assembled together in 1836. It is easy to recognize the two large altars in front of this reconstruction, belonging to the same period, a round and a square one. There are more remains of other temples, but I can't properly figure them out.

Behind this section of the Chthonic Sanctuary lies a small valley that separates me from the two columns that belong to the Temple of Hephaistos, which I can see among the trees. Down below lies the so-called Kolymbetra Garden, where a pool was dug by the same Carthaginian prisoners mentioned above, taken at Himera in 480 BC. It was meant to serve as a water reservoir and a pond for fresh fish. This pond was rather short-lived as approximately one century later, it was drained to become a garden where Arabs cultivated oranges. Unfortunately, there is no time to visit the Garden or the poor remains of the Temple of Hephaistos.

The site of Akragas and its “Valley of the Temple” covers an area of approximately 4.5 x 3 kilometers, and this means that even a full day’s visit is not enough to see it all. 

But a stop at the local museum is an absolute must, if only to see the one original re-erected Telamon. I feel dwarfed next to this enormous statue, and even next to the three rescued Telamon-heads! Together with the abovementioned reconstruction of the Temple of Zeus, these definitely are the highlights of the museum. Yet several other artifacts deserve attention. For a start, there is a terracotta Dinos with a triangular pattern from Gela belonging to the end of the 7th century BC, a pattern that still stands as a symbol for the triangular shape of Sicily and that is reproduced in colorful copies for tourists. Then there is a lovely marble head of a veiled goddess, probably Demeter from the end of the 5th century BC; a marble statue of a warrior in a style typical for 480-475 BC; a delicate statue of a young athlete, smaller than life-size and thought to be victorious at the Olympic Games dated to 480 BC; a small headless statue of Aphrodite bathing and wringing her hair in late Hellenistic style from Rhodes; fragments of Archaic architectural terracotta elements from the sixth century BC, probably belonging to the Temple of Zeus; a rather static Kouros-head from around 450 BC; and a wide range of terracotta heads, amphorae and craters from the fifth and fourth century BC. Quite a number of showcases are not lit, whether this is for economic reasons or because of some defect, I don’t know.

Strangely enough, this museum is partially built over what once was the Hellenistic ekklesiasterion that could hold 3,000 citizens for assemblies. It looks very much like an eroded semi-circular theatre, as it was leveled to accommodate the foundations of a later Roman temple. The 13th-century church of San Nicola, built with materials from nearby Roman constructions, does not help to get a clear view of this area.

I take one last glance back at where I came from. “The Valley of the Temples” with the Temple of Concord is beautifully framed by the trees in the foreground. What a place to truly taste the past!

[Click here to see all my pictures of Agrigento]

[Click here to see all my pictures of the Museum of Agrigento]

Syracuse rivaled Athens to be the most powerful city

Syracuse always had a magical sound, tucked away down south of Italy on the island of Sicily, that, like no other, was and still is at the crossroads between east and west, north and south. This strategic location not only shows on the map of the Mediterranean but more so when you visit the island. That is precisely what I finally did after dreaming about it since my teenage years. Finding myself in the very heart of Syracuse, it is hard to describe what I feel or expect. I’m totally overwhelmed, as if floating on some imaginary sea, the currents taking me to the core of its great past.

It may come as a surprise to learn that Syracuse once rivaled Athens for its power over the Greek world, but as part of Magna Graecia, this was Greece away from Greece, which we have to approach from a totally different angle. Syracuse was the very first city to be settled in Sicily, and it was the Corinthians who, in 733 BC, disembarked on the small island of Ortygia just off the coast. It was soon attached to the mainland by a causeway, creating two practical harbors, one on the southwest and one on the northeast. Syracuse grew quickly and then created its own colonies, like Akrai, Kasmenai, Heloros, and Kamarina.

With its expansion came the need for some form of government. Not being happy with the Corinthian aristocrats who imposed themselves from the onset, Syracuse turned to Gelon, tyrant of neighboring Gela, a colony of Rhodians and Cretans that had settled as early as 688 BC. Gelon took his task seriously and moved the larger part of Gela’s population to Syracuse, which became his capital in 485 BC. The Syracusans must have felt they made the right decision, for Gelon was able to defeat the Carthaginians at nearby Himera five years later. However, it must be said he did so with the help of his father-in-law, Theron of Akragas (modern Agrigento). This at least kept the matter in the family. The victorious Gelon had taken thousands of prisoners of war, whom he now enslaved. The finest artisans among them built a temple at the summit of Ortygia dedicated to Athena to thank her for this victory. It probably was finished in 480 BC.

We can still admire this temple in the old town of Syracuse as an integral part of the cathedral (Duomo), whose façade was rebuilt in 1728-1754 in Sicilian-Baroque style after several earthquakes had damaged the Norman entrance. Isn’t it amazing that a place of worship has been used and reused continuously for 2,500 years? This temple was erected in the Doric style, six columns wide and fourteen deep, with doors inlaid with ivory and gold. The larger-than-life statue of Athena would have ruled over the inside, an imposing figure made of Paros marble with her face, hands, feet, and weapons of pure gold. The tympanum of the temple was enhanced with a golden shield that reflected the sunlight, a landmark to the sailors. A refined statement of the city’s wealth, no doubt, till it was taken down by a too-greedy Roman politician, Caius Verres, some four hundred years later.

In Byzantine times, the temple was converted into a church, and the cella walls were pierced to create open arches while the space between the columns was walled up. Under the Arabs, the church became a mosque. Traces of this period can be seen on the outside walls where the Muslims added crenellations above the Greek triglyphs and metopes. Upon their arrival, the Normans raised the roof and inserted narrow windows. The chestnut ceiling is a later Spanish addition (using the hard chestnut wood from the Etna region). I read all this information but still need to figure out what to expect from this sanctuary that is right around the corner from my hotel.

The Baroque façade flanked by statues of the apostles Peter and Paul, carved in pure Carrara marble, doesn’t betray what the inside has in store for me. Once I cross the threshold of the Duomo, I am stepping into another world. It literally takes my breath away as I’m immediately confronted with the interior of a Greek temple – or at least as close as one can come to it. I’m standing in the temple’s opisthodomos, looking into the north apse between the outer columns (now walled) and the wall of the cella. The Byzantines have opened that up to let the light flow through the inner sanctuary. The narrow windows the Normans inserted near the capitals of the Doric columns filter the late-afternoon sunlight. There are more windows above the vaulted walls of the inner cella, where stylish chandeliers add to the eerie atmosphere of this church. It is hard to figure out which part is Greek, Byzantine, or Norman, but the result is absolutely superb and harmonious. Along both sides of the modern nave, we can read the Latin inscription “Ecclesia Syracusana prima Divi Petri filia et prima post Antiochenam Christo dicata.” In other words, “The church of Syracuse is the first daughter of divine Peter and the first to be dedicated to Christ after Antioch,” i.e., a confirmation that this is the oldest Christian community in Europe.

Two columns from the original opisthodomos of the cella flank the entrance door. Another twelve columns on the north and nine on the south side are still in situ, sturdy Doric fluted columns almost nine meters high and two meters in diameter! The twelve columns of the north side are also visible from the Via Minerva, around the corner of the piazza. They include their architrave and triglyphs above which the Muslim crenellation has been added.

The floor of the Duomo is covered with colored marble, and I wonder about the dating of the different designs, interrupted by colorful tombstones that carry coats of arms. The main altar is typical 16th century with a painting of the Nativity of the Virgin, which I find somewhat out of place, as much as I am absorbed by the antique Greek remains. In the eastern corner is a chapel, the Cappella del Crocifisso, with ceiling frescos that remind me of the Sixteen Chapel at a very early stage. There are two more chapels along the south wall, but these are unfortunately closed at the time of my visit.

Walking back to the entrance, I get an unexpected glimpse of the north aisle and notice three commanding statues positioned in the perfect place between the columns and the openings in the cella-wall. They could well be antique gods or goddesses as far as I am concerned, but on closer look, they are 15th-century statues of St Lucy, a Madonna with Child, and St Catherine of Alexandria, made in pure white Carrara marble.

                  

Amazing how this amalgam of architectural styles and religions can trick the eye and the mind. A true jewel, though …

[Click here to see all the pictures of Akrai]