Eckerd in Italy

Agrigento and the Valle Dei Templi

Today, we visited the town of Agrigento. It was established in the 6^th century BCE by the Greeks, who called it Akragas. We saw this temple on the road on our way to the town, which is located on the southern coast of Sicily, 100 miles north of Tunisia.

The main attraction in Agrigento is the Valle dei Templi, an archeological site which includes remains of seven Doric temples. The temples of Hercules, Concordia, and Hera are remarkably located directly in a row. The temple pictured above is the Temple of Hera, and was built in the 5^th century BCE.

Above is the Temple of Concordia, an extremely well-preserved temple built in the 5^th century BCE. It has six columns on the front and 13 on each side.

Above is the Temple of Heracles, which was destroyed by an earthquake and only has eight columns standing today. It was built in the 5^th century BCE and was originally six columns by 15.

Pictured is the phenomenal Temple of Zeus, the largest Doric temple ever constructed. The image provided does not do it justice; we could have walked around in the remains for a while. It was built to celebrate the city-states’ victory over Carthage. The temple is characterized by Telamons, gargantuan stone statues holding up the temple. There were eight of them in total.

Caroline, Sam, Aundra, Maria