DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.846#0105
102 GonrbiUon's Travels in Sicily, in 1819.
Ancient Walls and Tombs of Agrigentum.
If we may rely on Diodonis the exterior wails of Agrigentum
were not less than 105 feet in height, and seventy stadia,
or eight English miles, in circumference. In their present
state they are scarcely ten feet high. The greater part of these
walls were hewn in the base of the solid rock, as well as the
city itself, and they still present to the eye an appearance of
such solidity, that one feels surprised that the hand of time and
man should have succeeded in overthrowing them. I was
struck with admiration at the sight of these memorable ruins
and walls, which, after having been drenched with the blood of
their defenders, have for so long a period preserved their noble
remains.
The superstition of this ancient people, says a modern tra-
veller, (Borcb,) and their inborn respect for valour, led them
to establish a custom highly flattering to their love of glory.
They decreed, that all those who had merited the applause of
their country should, on their death, be buried within these
spacious walls; so that their heroic shades, starting from the
bosom of their city, might strike terror into their enemies, and -
continue, even beyond the grave, defenders of their republic.
Temple of Jupiter Olympius,
The site of the ruins of this temple, known under the-name
of Jupiter Olympius, appears to correspond exactly with the
description left us by Cicero. They are in fact situated at a
very short distance from those of the supposed Temple of Her-
cules ; and the Roman orator informs us, that the two buildings
were separated only by the road to the forum.
Some part of this celebrated temple was destroyed before the
whole of it was completed, and it fell entirely to the ground on
the 9lh of December, 140] ; and, had it not been for a fortunate
circumstance, of which I shall speak hereafter, it would at this
day have presented only a mere mass of ruins.
We are ignorant of the precise date of the erection of this
temple, not only the largest and most magnificent in Sicily,
but superior perhaps to any in Greece itself. The most probable
calculations refer it to the year 416, before Christ, or the 90tb
Olympiad, about eighty years after the building of the famous
temple of the same name at Olympia. Diodorus fixes the in-
terruption of the work in the third year of the 93d Olympiad,
about fifteen years from its first commencement. I have before
mentioned the date of its destruction. According to the same
author, this temple was about 340 feet in length and sixty feet
in width, and its height, independent of the steps, 120 feet,
Ancient Walls and Tombs of Agrigentum.
If we may rely on Diodonis the exterior wails of Agrigentum
were not less than 105 feet in height, and seventy stadia,
or eight English miles, in circumference. In their present
state they are scarcely ten feet high. The greater part of these
walls were hewn in the base of the solid rock, as well as the
city itself, and they still present to the eye an appearance of
such solidity, that one feels surprised that the hand of time and
man should have succeeded in overthrowing them. I was
struck with admiration at the sight of these memorable ruins
and walls, which, after having been drenched with the blood of
their defenders, have for so long a period preserved their noble
remains.
The superstition of this ancient people, says a modern tra-
veller, (Borcb,) and their inborn respect for valour, led them
to establish a custom highly flattering to their love of glory.
They decreed, that all those who had merited the applause of
their country should, on their death, be buried within these
spacious walls; so that their heroic shades, starting from the
bosom of their city, might strike terror into their enemies, and -
continue, even beyond the grave, defenders of their republic.
Temple of Jupiter Olympius,
The site of the ruins of this temple, known under the-name
of Jupiter Olympius, appears to correspond exactly with the
description left us by Cicero. They are in fact situated at a
very short distance from those of the supposed Temple of Her-
cules ; and the Roman orator informs us, that the two buildings
were separated only by the road to the forum.
Some part of this celebrated temple was destroyed before the
whole of it was completed, and it fell entirely to the ground on
the 9lh of December, 140] ; and, had it not been for a fortunate
circumstance, of which I shall speak hereafter, it would at this
day have presented only a mere mass of ruins.
We are ignorant of the precise date of the erection of this
temple, not only the largest and most magnificent in Sicily,
but superior perhaps to any in Greece itself. The most probable
calculations refer it to the year 416, before Christ, or the 90tb
Olympiad, about eighty years after the building of the famous
temple of the same name at Olympia. Diodorus fixes the in-
terruption of the work in the third year of the 93d Olympiad,
about fifteen years from its first commencement. I have before
mentioned the date of its destruction. According to the same
author, this temple was about 340 feet in length and sixty feet
in width, and its height, independent of the steps, 120 feet,