DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.656#0032
28
to have been the ancient port, of which a few vestiges are still
discoverable among the heaps of accumulated sand. The river
Selinus', now called the Maduini, is at a short distance to the
westward, and the Hypsa*, the modern Belici, between two and
three miles to the eastward of the ruins.
On the hill to the eastward of the valley are the remains of
three temples, without any signs whatever of other ruins, a cir-
cumstance which has led to the conclusion, perhaps not altoge-
ther satisfactoiy, that these temples were without the city walls.
These are the ruins most visited and generally alluded to by tra-
vellers; and which, from their enormous masses and grand ap-
pearance, have acquired, from the modern inhabitants of the
neighbourhood, the title of " / Pilieri dci Giganti."
The western hill is supposed to have been the Acropolis, and
is probably the spot where the founders planted their colony.
Here the remains of a wall3, nearly a mile in circuit, inclose a
space entirely covered with the ruins of buildings, but, with the
exception of three temples, described in the sequel, in so con-
fused a state as to render it impossible to ascertain their original
purpose, without t^i^^ioC, iudi^ou&and extensive excavations.
i> U.C.L LIBRAR/
Of the temples on the eastern hill, the principal (marked F,
1 Said to l)o so called from nxnev, apium, or parsley, n hiei grew there in abundance:
the leaf of this plant is represented uri many of the Sclinuntian coins. .Sue Sicilian Veteri-
Nummi, Tab. i.xv. and lxvi.
* This river is represented on the ancient coins of Selinus, under the figure of an old
man. Bunnannus, Tab. xm.
1 There can be but little doubt that these arc the remains of the nail built by Hermo-
cratcs, after the destruction of the city by the Carthaginians. See Dioit. Sic. lib. xm, 63.
to have been the ancient port, of which a few vestiges are still
discoverable among the heaps of accumulated sand. The river
Selinus', now called the Maduini, is at a short distance to the
westward, and the Hypsa*, the modern Belici, between two and
three miles to the eastward of the ruins.
On the hill to the eastward of the valley are the remains of
three temples, without any signs whatever of other ruins, a cir-
cumstance which has led to the conclusion, perhaps not altoge-
ther satisfactoiy, that these temples were without the city walls.
These are the ruins most visited and generally alluded to by tra-
vellers; and which, from their enormous masses and grand ap-
pearance, have acquired, from the modern inhabitants of the
neighbourhood, the title of " / Pilieri dci Giganti."
The western hill is supposed to have been the Acropolis, and
is probably the spot where the founders planted their colony.
Here the remains of a wall3, nearly a mile in circuit, inclose a
space entirely covered with the ruins of buildings, but, with the
exception of three temples, described in the sequel, in so con-
fused a state as to render it impossible to ascertain their original
purpose, without t^i^^ioC, iudi^ou&and extensive excavations.
i> U.C.L LIBRAR/
Of the temples on the eastern hill, the principal (marked F,
1 Said to l)o so called from nxnev, apium, or parsley, n hiei grew there in abundance:
the leaf of this plant is represented uri many of the Sclinuntian coins. .Sue Sicilian Veteri-
Nummi, Tab. i.xv. and lxvi.
* This river is represented on the ancient coins of Selinus, under the figure of an old
man. Bunnannus, Tab. xm.
1 There can be but little doubt that these arc the remains of the nail built by Hermo-
cratcs, after the destruction of the city by the Carthaginians. See Dioit. Sic. lib. xm, 63.