Page 539 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

various stages of the process, with unfinished pieces poignantly abandoned, the

work interrupted when Selinus was devastated in 409 BC. The most impressive
pieces are those stone drums and column sections that remain in place where they
were being excavated. A couple are 6m high and 2m across, with a narrow groove
dug all the way around in which the stonemasons had to work – the reflected heat
must have been appalling. Other rock sections indicate clearly where drums have
already been cut – parts of the site look as though someone has been through with a

giant pastry-cutter.

The east group

Shrouded in the wild celery that gave the ancient city its name, the east group temples
are in various stages of reconstructed ruin. The most complete is the one nearest the

sea (Temple E), probably dedicated to Hera (Aphrodite) and re-erected in 1958. A
Doric construction, almost 70m by 25m, it remains a gloriously impressive sight, its
soaring columns gleaming bright against the sky, its ledges and capitals the resting
place for flitting birds. Temple F, behind, is the oldest in this group, from around 550
BC, while the northernmost temple (Temple G) is an immense tangle of columned
wreckage, 6m high in places and crisscrossed by rough footpaths. In Sicily, the only

temple larger than this is the Tempio di Giove at Agrigento.

The acropolis

The road leads down from the East Group, across the (now buried) site of the old
harbour, to the second part of excavated Selinus, the acropolis, containing what
remains of the other temples (five in all), as well as the well-preserved city streets

and massive stepped walls that rise above the duned beach below. These huge walls
were all constructed after 409 BC – when the city was sacked by the Carthaginians –
in an attempt to protect a limited and easily defensible area of the old city.

Temple C stands on the highest point of the acropolis, giving glorious views out
over the sparkling sea. Built early in the sixth century BC (and probably dedicated to
Apollo), it originally held the finest of the metopes (decorative panels) that are now in

Palermo’s archeological museum. Its fourteen standing columns were re-erected in the
1920s: other fallen columns here, and at the surrounding temples, show how they were
originally constructed – the drums lying in a line, with slots and protrusions on either
side that fitted into each other. The buildings immediately behind temples C and D
were shops, split into two rooms and with a courtyard each.

The rest of the site

At the end of the main street beyond stands the north gate to the city – the tall blocks
of stone marking a gateway that was 7m high. Behind the north gate stood the rest of