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Selinunte, Sicily
Just a stop en route to Palermo…
Driving to Palermo, we paused at Selinunte. As one does in Sicily, for the land is dotted with such finds. These are ancient places I’ve never heard of before coming here, with a culture moulded by centuries of trade winds, wars and invasions.
Despite her wealth of history and art (and food!) Sicily remains far less crowded than her northern Italian counterparts.
Dating back to the late 8th C BCE, Selinunte was once a wealthy and powerful Greek city. The place even features in the myths of Greece. Sicily is associated with Homer’s Thrinacia, the island of Helios’ cattle. Thrinacia was later called Trinakria, a land of three headlands. This mythic imagery reflects Sicily’s distinctive triangular shape, which became of practical importance in navigating the Mediterranean.
Throughout the city were constructed seven temples, with an acropolis overlooking the sea. (This acropolis was built some 70 years before the famed Athenian Acropolis.) Some of the…
