The ruins of the temple of Jupiter Olimpio (Zeus for the Greeks) are the testimony of one of the largest Doric temples of classical antiquity; unfortunately the area, probably already damaged in ancient times by earthquakes, was used as a quarry since the Middle Ages (the cava gigantum mentioned in archival documents) and in the 18th century for the construction of the Porto Empedocle pier.
According to the historian Diodorus Siculus, construction began immediately following the battle of Himera, the great victory of the Greek cities of Sicily over the Carthaginians, in 480 BC. Again, according to the historian, the construction of the temple was never completed, because it still had no roof at the time of the conquest of the city of Akragas by the Carthaginians in 406 BC.
The very original architectural building was placed on a gigantic rectangular platform, on which stood a base of five steps, the last of which was twice as high as the others, to form a sort of podium and isolate the temple from the surrounding environment .
The temple was enclosed by a wall enclosure, characterized on the outside by seven semi-columns of the Doric order on the short sides and fourteen on the long sides; to these corresponded, inside, as many rectangular semi-pillars. The hypothetical height of the semi-columns has been estimated at more than eighteen metres.
Outside, colossal figures of Giants (the Telamons), about eight meters high and caught in the act of supporting the entablature of the temple with the strength of their arms, were placed in the spaces between the semi-columns on shelves about eleven meters high.
Inside this very tall building - very similar to a fence - there was a completely original cell, as it had no roof, probably interpreted by Diodorus Siculus as a sign of the incompleteness of the construction. The coverage, in fact, was probably limited to the corridors around the cell.
The fronts were decorated to the east with sculptures depicting a struggle between the gods and the Giants (Gigantomachia) and to the west with the taking of Troy (Iliupersis).
The remains of the monumental rectangular altar are visible a short distance from the eastern front of the temple. Source: parcodellavalledeitempli.it
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