The other day I read that the
almond trees in Agrigento were in blossom and my thoughts returned to the
marvelous archeological zone near the city called the Valley of the Temples. The name always
struck me as odd because the famous Greek temples are high on a ridge
overlooking the sea a few miles away. But there are temples galore.
The almond blossoms had fallen by the end of May last year when we were there and the trees were laden with green almonds.
Ancient contorted olives trees add to the beauty of the scene.
The almond blossoms had fallen by the end of May last year when we were there and the trees were laden with green almonds.
Ancient contorted olives trees add to the beauty of the scene.
The area was settled by Greeks
around 580 B.C. and followed the same pattern of conquest and culture as most locations in the area:
Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans and the rest. The Greek temple builders
named it Akragas. The name changed over time until 1927 when Mussolini decided
that it should be Agrigento.
We began our walk at the top of the
hill on a hot day to traverse the Via Sacra which parallels the remains of the
original city walls, honeycombed in places with the remains of Byzantine tombs.
The first golden-hued temple is the Temple of Hera of which not much remains but lonely pillars reaching toward the sun.
Next is the magnificent Temple of Concord, the best preserved of all Greek temples outside of one in Athens. It was supposedly named Concord in honor of couples who came to worship on their wedding day to ensure a peaceful marriage. The temple owes its state of preservation to the oddly named 6th century bishop of Agrigento, Saint Gregory of the Turnips, and was only restored in the 18th century. I thought the tourists should be wearing Greek-style clothing like those on painted vases to complete the picture.
The first golden-hued temple is the Temple of Hera of which not much remains but lonely pillars reaching toward the sun.
Next is the magnificent Temple of Concord, the best preserved of all Greek temples outside of one in Athens. It was supposedly named Concord in honor of couples who came to worship on their wedding day to ensure a peaceful marriage. The temple owes its state of preservation to the oddly named 6th century bishop of Agrigento, Saint Gregory of the Turnips, and was only restored in the 18th century. I thought the tourists should be wearing Greek-style clothing like those on painted vases to complete the picture.
Nearby, a bronze statue of Icarus
by Igor Mitoraj lies on the ground as if he had just tumbled from the sky when
the sun melted the wax that held his wings together. Beware of flying too close
to the sun as his father, Daedalus, the legendary founder of Akragas, warned.
The statue seems a perfect foil to the temples, stripped bare of their
ornamentation but still standing defiant after 2500 years while the heedless Icarus died. What buildings of our day
will last that long or will some of ours fall to earth for failure to
heed warnings?
The nearby Villa Aurea has a memorial to a Captain Alexander Hardcastle in the courtyard. He showed
up in 1921 to provided money for excavations in the area and restored the
villa as his home. He lived there with his brother until he went broke and died in an
insane asylum. The villa is now used for exhibitions but I dreamed of living there in the midst of all this beauty.
The Temple of Herakles is a heap of
enormous building blocks, and following that is the remains of the Temple of
Olympian Zeus, once the largest Doric-style temple in the Greek world. Not much
is left but a few columns and a gigantic statue (telemone), one of many that once stood along the sides of the building. All but this one and one in the museum, now swept away by time and history.
As we left the Via Sacra portions
of a temple called Castor and Pollux shimmered in the sun. The only guard was a sleeping dog.
The "temple" was in fact erected in 1836 from leftovers, and despite its unauthentic provenance, it is the perfect vision of the romanticism of the Classical world. and the symbol of the city.
The "temple" was in fact erected in 1836 from leftovers, and despite its unauthentic provenance, it is the perfect vision of the romanticism of the Classical world. and the symbol of the city.
The wonderful archeological museum
contains the finds from the temples along with finely painted Greek vases,
statuary and marvels from the Romans and Byzantines who all had their day in the
sun but ultimately fell to earth.
All photographs copyright Judith Works
All photographs copyright Judith Works
