DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.656#0018
the number and grandeur of their sacred structures, but, with re-
gard to their tutelar deities, the objects of their more especial
adoration, to whom the temples were consecrated, history has left
us no positive information. That Hercules was ranked among the
number of their divinities, and was held by them in particular
veneration, may be inferred from the coins of Selinus, on which
the head and attributes of that hero are frequently represented'.
A similar conclusion respecting Bacchus may be drawn, though
less satisfactorily, from the circumstance of a statue of that
demi-god being preserved in the treasury of the Selinuntians at
Otympia*. This statue was remarkable for having the face, feet,
and hands made of ivory. The existence of a treasury at
Olympia particularly consecrated by the Selinuntians to Jupiter,
and an altar also sacred to him in the agora of their own city*,
are proofs that they were not wanting in devotion to the "father
of all the gods". With regard to illustrious citizens we are still
more ignorant. Telestes is the only Selinuntine name of note
which has reached posterity. He was a noble dithyrambic poet1,
and flourished about the period of the fall of his native city. His
verses were much esteemed ; on one occasion they procured him
the honour of being crowned victor at Athens5: and when Alex-
ander the Great, in the distant provinces of Asia, commanded a
selection of works of the best authors to be sent to him, the
poems of Telestes and Philoxenus6, with the history of Philistus,
and the tragedies of Euripides, Sophocles, and /Esehylus, formed
' Sec Sicilia; Veteria Nummi. Tab. lxv.
1 Herod, lib. v. 47. ' Died. Sic. lib. xiv.
' Philoxenus, a poet of Cythcra. Mis witty and
ul' Dbiivs'ms tin' tyrnul i- iTdii'ially familiar.
Pausan. Post Eliac. c. xix.
s Parian Chron. Ep. lxi
like tri.ii!ment of the v
gard to their tutelar deities, the objects of their more especial
adoration, to whom the temples were consecrated, history has left
us no positive information. That Hercules was ranked among the
number of their divinities, and was held by them in particular
veneration, may be inferred from the coins of Selinus, on which
the head and attributes of that hero are frequently represented'.
A similar conclusion respecting Bacchus may be drawn, though
less satisfactorily, from the circumstance of a statue of that
demi-god being preserved in the treasury of the Selinuntians at
Otympia*. This statue was remarkable for having the face, feet,
and hands made of ivory. The existence of a treasury at
Olympia particularly consecrated by the Selinuntians to Jupiter,
and an altar also sacred to him in the agora of their own city*,
are proofs that they were not wanting in devotion to the "father
of all the gods". With regard to illustrious citizens we are still
more ignorant. Telestes is the only Selinuntine name of note
which has reached posterity. He was a noble dithyrambic poet1,
and flourished about the period of the fall of his native city. His
verses were much esteemed ; on one occasion they procured him
the honour of being crowned victor at Athens5: and when Alex-
ander the Great, in the distant provinces of Asia, commanded a
selection of works of the best authors to be sent to him, the
poems of Telestes and Philoxenus6, with the history of Philistus,
and the tragedies of Euripides, Sophocles, and /Esehylus, formed
' Sec Sicilia; Veteria Nummi. Tab. lxv.
1 Herod, lib. v. 47. ' Died. Sic. lib. xiv.
' Philoxenus, a poet of Cythcra. Mis witty and
ul' Dbiivs'ms tin' tyrnul i- iTdii'ially familiar.
Pausan. Post Eliac. c. xix.
s Parian Chron. Ep. lxi
like tri.ii!ment of the v