Atlas to guard the Temple of Zeus
in Sicily again
AGRIGENTO, Italy – The Valley of
the Temples archaeological park in Agrigento, Sicily, announced that the statue
of Atlas will rise again at the Temple of Zeus.
“The re-installment of the statue
of Atlas is the culmination of a more comprehensive restoration,” says Roberto
Sciarratta, director of the Valley of the Temples archaeological park.
Sciarratta added that “it is an extraordinary project, which belongs to the
world but which was born here in the Valley of the Temples.”
The Valley of the Temples is located
on Sicily’s southern coast in the area the Romans called Magna Graecia, or
“Greater Greece,” a region that ran from the western tip of Sicily to
modern-day Apulia at the “heel of the boot” formed by the Italian peninsula.
Settlers brought Hellenic civilization to the region around 800 years BCE. The
local Italic peoples became Hellenised and adopted Greek culture. Greek is
still spoken in parts of Italy because of the Hellenic diaspora.
The Valley of the Temples is the
result of massive efforts by the 100,000 or so local inhabitants, whom Plato
would describe as building like they would live forever and partying like it
was their last day. The building in the Valley – which might be better referred
to as a ridge – represents some of the best-preserved examples of art and
architecture surviving from Magna Graecia, despite ancient attacks by Carthage.
The archeological site was
re-discovered in the 19th century, and it remains a site of excavation and study.
The Valley contains seven temples
with Doric columns, including temples to Asclepius, Castor and Pollux,
Concordia, Heracles, Hephaestus, and Juno Lacinia, along with the Temple of
Olympian Zeus. There were also temples of Demeter and Athena, as well as
chthonic gods.
The Temple of Concordia is the best
preserved of the temples, likely because it was converted to a church around
600 CE. The site was not only ravaged by ancient wars but also exploited as a
source of brick and stone for building early parts of the surrounding city and
a nearby Roman marina, now the harbor at modern Porto Empedocle about three
miles southwest of Agrigento. During the Roman period, Agrigento was called
Girgenti, and prior to that, Akragas.
The Temple of Olympian Zeus is the
largest of the set and was never completed. It was likely founded to
memorialize the Battle of Himera in 460 BCE, when the cities of Akragas and Syracuse defeated the
Carthaginians.
Architecturally different than
the other temples, the Temple of Olympian Zeus – regrettably, now mostly rubble
along the Olympieion field – was the largest in the complex, being about 570
feet (112 meters) by 184 feet (56 meters) in size. It did not have freestanding
Doric columns. Instead, because of the size and weight of the bands over the
columns, continuous stone curtains were used to support the weight. The columns
were immense, as high as 63 feet (19 meters) tall.
While the temple is still being
excavated, there appears to have been a succession of gates at the temple site,
as well as at the main sanctuary and a series of smaller sanctuaries to various
other gods. There appears to have been a paved sacellum, the holy enclosure, as
well as a tholos, a central rounded structure built upon steps that might serve
as a central stage.
Giant Atlases supported the
weight of the curtain columns from the exterior. They were sculpted in the form
of a man and were used in-between columns to help reinforce the temple
structure. The Atlases appear to have appear to have been recessed along the
temple curtains’ edges. The Atlases alternated between bearded and
clean-shaven, all nude with their arms outstretched above their heads forming
the support. The statues bear the name of Titan who holds up the sky.
The Atlases have seen damage from
both weather and human attack over the centuries, and they have not survived in
complete form. One of the Atlases will soon be reconstructed and placed at the
entrance of the temple park during the coming year.
Sciaretta said that it has taken
some ten years to get to the point that the Atlas can be displayed again. “In
the last decade, we’ve recovered and cataloged numerous artifacts that were
once a part of the original structure,” he said. “The goal is to recompose
piece-by-piece the trabeation [post and lintels] of the Temple of Zeus to
restore a portion of its original grandeur.”
Sciaretta said, “The idea is to
reposition one of these Atlases in front of the temple, so that it may serve as
a guardian of the structure dedicated to the Father of the Gods.”