We spent the morning at the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento. Agrigento was the cultural centre of Greek civilisation on Sicily. Syracuse was larger... a much more important base both militarily and commercially... but if you are the art lover... monument builder... poet and artist... Agrigento was the place for you. Even before creating a colony, the Greeks were visiting Agrigento (or whatever name they called it - Agragas, I think)... trading and getting along very well with the indigenous tribe... Sicani. The two groups even built a couple of small temples... that both (different) religious groups used... just as a demonstration of good faith.
Around 582 BC, the Greeks moved in and established a colony. They had a couple of decades to sort out a town plan... build reasonable defences for the city.... and importantly... secure a water supply. They did not enslave the local tribes... so grand buildings were few and far between. The one that did make the top seven in antiquity was the Temple of Zeus ... definitely on Socrates' Grand Tour! Much later, the Cartheginians racked the Temple... Cartheginians have a lot to answer for around Agrigento... they were the al Queda of its day... having a culture of destruction with no positive contribution to make.
Construction in the Valley of the Temples gained momentum in the 6th century BC. Who better to provide the slave labour than those pesty Cartheginians. They had a colony on the other side of the island... where Palermo is today. Our hero... Theron had learned a few tricks from his father... the tyrant Phalarus. One trick I'm sure you will find amusing... to persuade opponents to change their minds, Dad would put them in the belly of a statue shaped as a dog... made of bronze... light a fire under the belly of the statue... and see how long it took for the opponent to change his/her mind... there... I thought you would be amused. Young Theron decided to teach the Cartheginians a lesson... routed the enemy quite easily... collected 2,500 slaves and a mountain of gold... and made it home in time for tea.
Now Theron had the labour and the money to tackle some serious temple building. He had a unique stage on which to build his contribution to history. He focused his efforts on the Temple of Juno. He must have imported architects from Athens and they would have been the best. His Doric columns were the envy of the world... he used relatively soft stone... but painted the surface with a preservative that reduced erosion. He chose the most prestigious spot on the promontory... and did a marvellous job. Some 70 years after completion, the Cartheginians racked the city once more... burned the wooden roof of the temple that caused the pillars to fall... total destruction. The Temple was rebuilt shortly thereafter... it has been destroyed and rebuilt a few times... but still looks great today.
The most complete of the Temples is dedicated to Concord... built around 450 BC. This remarkable building has been used by succeeding civilisations... including the Christians... who did a sensitive job of preserving the exterior while reinforcing the strength of the buildings.
There are other temples of note... but one has an interesting story... we are talking about the temple to the brothers Castor and Pollux... one was a God... the other a mortal. Eventually, the mortal died. .. and his brother god went to Zeus (the head god) and pleaded to let his brother live... "Can't be done", said Zeus , "but you can died now and let your mortal brother live". The god brother saw some downside in this arrangement and tried to negotiate a better deal. "OK", said Zeus , "You can take turns at being alive and dead. Caster, you can be day... and Pollux, you can be night." And that is how we got day and night... believe it or not.
Agrigento looks back on two additional periods of great prosperity... the period of Arabic rule and the period of Norman rule. The Arabs brought lots of great new crops (citrus, wheat varieties - some specialised for pasta production... and eventually coffee)... and taught the locals the techniques of irrigation. Prosperity followed... Arabic influence in all types of culture (building, cooking, art, etc) followed. The Normans also rated a favourable mention. They came to convert... not to conquer. The period of their reign was peaceful... the population got on with life... and had a good time. This view of the Normans is interesting... in England, I had the impression that they were good at building square castles... but not much else.
All in all... an interesting day.
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