Detail View: Archivision Base to Module 13: Akragas (Agrigento) [site]

Collection: 
Archivision Base to Module 13
Preferred Title: 
Akragas (Agrigento) [site]
Alternate Title: 
Akragas
Image View: 
View along the access road, looking east, with the Temple of Hera Lakinia in the distance at right
Creator: 
unknown (Greek (ancient))
Location: 
site: Agrigento, Sicily, Italy
Location Note: 
formerly Akragas
Date: 
ca. 580-200 BCE (inclusive)
Cultural Context: 
Greek (ancient)
Style Period: 
Greek (ancient)
Work Type 1: 
temple
Work Type 2: 
excavation (site)
Classification: 
architecture
Material: 
stone; limestone; tufa
Technique: 
construction (assembling)
Subjects: 
architectural exteriors; deities; mythology (Classical)
Description: 
Greek colony on the southern coast of Sicily. Believed to have been founded ca. 580 BCE from Gela, a city further down the coast, it flourished as an independent state until 406 BCE, when it was sacked by the Carthaginians. It maintained some degree of independence until the Roman conquest of Sicily in 210 BCE. The extensive town, lying some 2 km from the sea, was enclosed by walls following natural precipices and includes a steep acropolis now occupied by the modern settlement. Only a small part of the residential area has been excavated, dating to the Hellenistic and Roman periods; it was organized in regular, rectangular blocks after the Hippodamian system. The so-called Temple of Herakles, at the south-west edge of the city, was the earliest example of Doric monumental architecture from after 500 BCE and was perhaps founded by the tyrant Theron (reigned 488-472 BCE). Its plan reflects that of late Archaic temples in mainland Greece, such as the Temple of Apollo at Delphi: both have a colonnade of 6 by 15
Collection: 
Archivision Addition Module Two
Identifier: 
1A3-G-AG-1-B2
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.