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Agrigentum
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Agrigentum was a Greek colony and city of the Roman province of Sicily.
Its modern name is Girgenti.
Agrigentum (Aκράγας). The modern Girgenti. A city on the south coast
of Sicily, about two miles from the sea. It was celebrated for its wealth and
populousness, and was one of the most splendid cities of the ancient world. It
was founded by a Doric colony from Gela, about B.C. 579; was under the
government of the cruel tyrant Phalaris (about 560), and subsequently under that
of Theron (488- 472). It was destroyed by the Carthaginians (405 B.C.), and,
though rebuilt by Timoleon, never regained its former greatness. It came into
the power of the Romans in 210. It was the birthplace of Empedocles. There are
still gigantic remains of the ancient city, notably of its temple of Zeus.
Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities.
New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.
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Agrigentum AGRIGENTUM
AGRIGENTUM (Aκράγας1: Eth. and Adj. Aκραγαντeνος, Agrigentinus: Girgenti), one
of the most powerful and celebrated of the Greek cities in Sicily, was situated
on the SW. coast of the island, about midway between Selinus and Gela. It stood
on a hill between two and three miles from the sea, the foot of which was washed
on the E. and S. by a river named the ACRAGAS from whence the city itself
derived its appellation, on the W. and SW. by another stream named the HYPSAS
which unites its waters with those of the Acragas just below the city, and about
a mile from its mouth. The former is now called the Fiume di S. Biagio, the
latter the Drago, while their united stream is commonly knomn as the Fiume di
Girgenti (Plb. 9.27; Siefert, Akragas u. sein Gebiet, p. 20--22).
We learn from Thucydides that Agrigentum was founded by a colony from Gela, 108
years after the establishment of the parent city, or B.C. 582. The leaders of
the colony were Aristonous and Pystilus, and it received the Dorian institutions
of the mother country, including the sacred rites and observances which had been
derived by Gela itself from Rhodes. On this account it is sometimes called a
Rhodian colony. (Thuc. 6.4; Scymn. Ch. 292; Strab. vi. p.272, where Kramerjustly
reads Γελῴων for Ἰώνων; Plb. 9.27. Concerning the date of its foundation see
Schol. ad Pind. O. 2.66; and Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. p. 265.) We have very
little information concerning its early history, but it appears to have very
rapidly risen to great prosperity and power: [1.75] though it preserved its
liberty for but a very short period before it fell under the yoke of Phalaris
(about 570 B.C.). The history of that despot is involved in so much uncertainty
that it is difficult to know what part of it can be depended on as really
historical. [Dict. of Biogr. art. PHALARIS, vol. iii.] But it seems certain that
he raised Agrigentum to be one of the most powerful cities in Sicily, and
extended his dominion by force of arms over a considerable part of the island.
But the cruel and tyrannical character of his internal government at length
provoked a general insurrection, in which Phalaris himself perished, and the
Agrigentines recovered their liberty. (Diod. Exc. Vat. p. 25; Cic. de Off: 2.7;
Heraclides, Polit. 37.) From this period till the accession of Theron, an
interval of about 60 years, we have no information concerning Agrigentum, except
a casual notice that it was successively governed by Alcamenes and Alcandrus
(but whether as despots or chief magistrates does not appear), and that it rose
to great wealth and prosperity under their rule. (Heraclid. l.c.) The precise
date when Theron attained to the sovereignty of his native city, as well as the
steps by which he rose to power, are unknown to us: but he appears to have
become despot of Agrigentum as early as B.C. 488. (Diod. 11.53.) By his alliance
with Gelon of Syracuse, and still more by the expulsion of Terillus from Himera,
and the annexation of that city to his dominions, Theron extended as well as
confirmed his power, and the great Carthaginian invasion in B.C. 480, which for
a time threatened destruction to all the Greek cities in Sicily, ultimately
became a source of increased prosperity to Agrigentum. For after the great
victory of Gelon and Theron at Himera, a vast number of Carthaginian prisoners
fell into the hands of the Agrigentines, and were employed by them partly in the
cultivation of their extensive and fertile territory, partly in the construction
of public works in the city itself, the magnificence of which was long
afterwards a subject of admiration. (Diod. 11.25.) Nor does the government of
Theron appear to have been oppressive, and he continued in the undisturbed
possession of the sovereign power till his death, B.C. 472. His son Thrasydaeus
on the contrary quickly alienated his subjects by his violent and arbitrary
conduct, and was expelled from Agrigentum within a year after his father's
death. (Id. 11.53. For further details concerning the history of Agrigentum
during this period, see the articles THERON and THRASYDAEUS in the Dict. of
Biogr. vol. iii.)
The Agrigentines now established a democratic form of government, which they
retained without interruption for the space of above 60 years, until the
Carthaginian invasion in B.C. 406--a period which may be regarded as the most
prosperous and flourishing in the history of Agrigentum, as well as of many
others of the Sicilian cities. The great public works which were commenced or
completed during this interval were the wonder of succeeding ages; the city
itself was adorned with buildings both public and private, inferior to none in
Greece, and the wealth and magnificence of its inhabitants became almost
proverbial. Their own citizen Empedocles is said to have remarked that they
built their houses as if they were to live for ever, but gave themselves up to
luxury as if they were to die on the morrow. (D. L. 8.2.63.)
The number of citizens of Agrigentum at this time is stated by Diodorus at
20,000: but he estimates the whole population (including probably slaves as well
as strangers) at not less than 200,000 (Diod. 13.84 and 90), a statement by no
means improbable, while that of Diogenes Laertius (l.c.), who makes the
population of the city alone amount to 800,000, is certainly a gross
exaggeration.
This period was however by no means one of unbroken peace. Agrigentum could not
avoid participating--though in a less degree than many other cities--in the
troubles consequent on the expulsion of the Gelonian dynasty from Syracuse, and
the revolutions that followed in different parts of Sicily. Shortly afterwards
we find it engaged in hostilities with the Sicel chief Ducetius, and the conduct
of the Syracusans towards that chieftain led to a war between them and the
Agrigentines, which ended in a great defeat of the latter at the river Himera,
B.C. 446. (Diod. 11.76, 91, 12.8.) We find also obscure notices of internal
dissensions, which were allayed by the wisdom and moderation of Empedocles. (D.
L. 8.2.64-67.) On occasion of the great Athenian expedition to Sicily in B.C.
415, Agrigentum maintained a strict neutrality, and not only declined sending
auxiliaries to either party but refused to allow a passage through their
territory to those of other cities. And even when the tide of fortune had turned
decidedly against the Athenians, all the efforts of the Syracusan partisans
within the walls of Agrigentum failed in inducing their fellow-citizens to
declare for the victorious party. (Thuc. 7.32, 33, 46, 50, 58.)
A more formidable danger was at hand. The Carthaginians, whose intervention was
invoked by the Segestans, were contented in their first expedition (B.C. 409)
with the capture of Selinus and Himera: but when the second was sent in B.C. 406
it was Agrigentum that was destined to bear the first brunt of the attack. The
luxurious habits of the Agrigentines had probably rendered them little fit for
warfare, but they were supported by a body of mercenaries under the command of a
Lacedaemonian named Dexippus, who occupied the citadel, and the natural strength
of the city in great measure defied the efforts of the assailants. But
notwithstanding these advantages and the efficient aid rendered them by a
Syracusan army under Daphnaeus, they were reduced to such distress by famine
that after a siege of eight months they found it impossible to hold out longer,
and to avoid surrendering to the enemy, abandoned their city, and migrated to
Gela. The sick and helpless inhabitants were massacred, and the city itself with
all its wealth and magnificence plundered by the Carthaginians, who occupied it
as their quarters during the winter, but completed its destruction when they
quitted it in the spring, B.C. 405. (Diod. 13.80-91, 108; Xen. Hell. 1.5. 21）
Agrigentum never recovered from this fatal blow, though by the terms of the
peace concluded with Dionysius by the Carthaginians, the fugitive inhabitants
were permitted to return, and to occupy the ruined city, subject however to the
Carthaginian rule, and on condition of not restoring the fortifications, a
permission of which many appear to have availed themselves. (Diod. 13.114.) A
few years later they were even able to shake off the yoke of Carthage and attach
themselves to the cause of Dionysius, and the peace of B.C. 383, which fixed the
river Halycus as the boundary of the Carthaginian dominions, must have left them
in the enjoyment of their liberty; but though we find them repeatedly mentioned
during the wars of Dionysius [1.76] and his successors, it is evident that the
city was far from having recovered its previous importance, and continued to
play but a subordinate part. (Diod. 14.46, 88, 15.17, 16.9; Plut. Dio 25, 26,
49.) In the general settlement of the affairs of Sicily by Timoleon, after his
great victory over the Carthaginians on the Crimissus, B.C. 340, he found
Agrigentum in a state of such depression that he resolved to recolonise it with
citizens from Velia in Italy (Plut. Tim. 35.): a measure which, combined with
other benefits, proved of such advantage to the city, that Timoleon was looked
upon as their second founder: and during the interval of peace which followed,
Agrigentum again attained to such great prosperity as to become once more the
rival of Syracuse.
Shortly after the accession of Agathocles, the Agrigentines, becoming
apprehensive that he was aspiring to the dominion of the whole island, entered
into a league with the Geloans and Messenians to oppose his power, and obtained
from Sparta the assistance of Acrotatus the son of Cleomenes as their general:
but the character of that prince frustrated all their plans, and after his
expulsion they were compelled to purchase peace from Syracuse by the
acknowledgement of the Hegemony or supremacy of that city, B.C. 314. (Diod.
19.70,71.) Some years afterwards, in B.C. 309, the absence of Agathocles in
Africa, and the reverses sustained by his partisans in Sicily, appeared again to
offer a favourable opening to the ambition of the Agrigentines, who chose
Xenodocus for. their general, and openly aspired to the Hegemony of Sicily,
proclaiming at the same time the independence of the several cities. They were
at first very successful: the powerful cities of Gela and Enna joined their
cause, Herbessus and Echetla were taken by force; but when Xenodocus ventured on
a pitched battle with Leptines and Demophilus, the generals of Agathocles, he
sustained a severe defeat, and was compelled to shut himself up within the walls
of Agrigentum. Agathocles himself shortly afterwards returned from Africa, and
quickly recovered almost all that he had lost: his general Leptines invaded the
territory of Agrigentum, totally defeated Xenodocus, and compelled the
Agrigentines once more to sue for peace. (Diod. 20.31, 32, 56, 62.)
After the death of Agathocles, Agrigentum fell under the yoke of Phintias, who
became despot of the city, and assumed the title of king. We have very little
information concerning the period of his rule, but he appears to have attained
to great power, as we find Agyrium and other cities of the interior subject to
his dominion, as well as Gela, which he destroyed, in order to found a new city
named after himself. [GELA] The period of his expulsion is unknown, but at the
time when Pyrrhus landed in Sicily we find Agrigentum occupied by Sosistratus
with a strong force of mercenary troops, who however hastened to make his
submission to the king of Epeirus. (Diod. xxii. Exc. Hoesch. p. 495--497.)
On the commencement of the First Punic War, Agrigentum espoused the cause of the
Carthaginians, and even permitted their general Hannibal to fortify their
citadel, and occupy the city with a Carthaginian garrison. Hence after the
Romans had secured the alliance of Hieron of Syracuse, their principal efforts
were directed to the reduction of Agrigentum, and in B.C. 262 the two consuls L.
Postumius and Q. Mamilius laid siege to it with their whole force. The siege
lasted nearly as long as that by the Carthaginians in B.C. 406, and the Romans
suffered severely from disease and want of provisions, but the privations of the
besieged were still greater, and the Carthaginian general Hanno, who had
advanced with a large army to relieve the city, having been totally defeated by
the Roman consuls, Hannibal who commanded the army within the walls found it
impossible to hold out any longer, and made his escape in the night with the
Carthaginian and mercenary troops, leaving the city to its fate. It was
immediately occupied by the Romans who carried off 25,000 of the inhabitants
into slavery. The siege had lasted above seven months, and is said to have cost
the victorious army more than 30,000 men. (Diod. xxiii. Exc. Hoesch. p.
501--503; Plb. 1.17-19; Zonar. 8.10.) At a later period of the war (B.C. 255)
successive losses at sea having greatly weakened the Roman power in Sicily, the
Carthaginian general Carthalo recovered possession of Agrigentum with
comparatively little difficulty, when he once more laid the city in ashes and
razed its walls, the surviving inhabitants having taken refuge in the temple of
the Olympian Zeus. (Diod. l.c. p. 505.)
From this time we hear no more of Agrigentum till the end of the First Punic
War, when it passed under the dominion of Rome: but it must have in some degree
recovered from its late calamities, as it plays no unimportant part when the
contest between Rome and Carthage was renewed in the Second Punic War. On this
occasion it continued steadfast in its adherence to the Romans, but was
surprised and taken by Himilco, before Marcellus could arrive to its support (Liv.
24.35.): and from henceforth became the chief stronghold of the Carthaginians in
Sicily, and held out against the Roman consul Laevinus long after the other
cities in the island had submitted. At length the Numidian Mutines, to whose
courage and skill the Carthaginians owed their protracted defence, having been
offended by their general Hanno, betrayed the city into the hands of Laevinus,
B.C. 210. The leading citizens were put to death, and the rest sold as slaves. (Liv.
25.40, 41, 26.40.)
Agrigentum now became, in common with the rest of the Sicilian cities,
permanently subject to Rome: but it was treated with much favour and enjoyed
many privileges. Three years after its capture a number of new citizens from
other parts of Sicily were established there by the praetor Mamilius, and two
years after this the municipal rights and privileges of the citizens were
determined by Scipio Africanus in a manner so satisfactory that they continued
unaltered till the time of Verres. Cicero repeatedly mentions Agrigentum as one
of the most wealthy and populous cities of Sicily, the fertility of its
territory and the convenience of its port rendering it one of the chief
emporiums for the trade in corn. (Cic. Ver. 2.50, 62, 3.43, 4.33, 43.) It is
certain, however, that it did not in his day rank as a Roman colony, and it is
very doubtful whether it ever attained this distinction, though we find that it
was allowed to strike coins, with the Latin inscription AGKIGENTUM, as late as
the time of Augustus. (Eckhel, D. N. vol. i. p. 193.)2 If it really obtained the
title and privileges of a colony under that emperor, it must have soon lost
them, as neither Pliny [1.77] nor Ptolemy reckon it among the Roman colonies in
Sicily. From the time of Augustus we find no historical mention of it under the
Roman empire, but its continued existence is attested by the geographers and
Itineraries, and as long as Sicily remained subject to the Greek empire,
Agrigentum is still mentioned as one of its most considerable cities. (Strab.
vi. p.272; Plin. Nat. 3.8.14; Ptol. 3.4.14; Itin. Ant. p. 88; Tab. Peut.; Const.
Porph. de Prov. 2.10.) It was one of the first places that fell into the hands
of the Saracens on their invasion of Sicily in 827, and was wrested from them by
the Normans under Roger Guiscard in 1086. The modern city of Girgenti still
contains about 13,000 inhabitants, and, is the see of a bishop, and capital of
one of the seven districts or Intendenze into which Sicily is now divided.
The situation of Agrigentum is well described by Polybius (9.27). It occupied a
hill of considerable extent, rising between two small rivers, the Acragas and
Hypsas, of which the southern front, though of small elevation, presented a
steep escarpment, running nearly in a straight line from E. to W. From hence the
ground sloped gradually upwards, though traversed by a cross valley or
depression, towards a much more elevated ridge which formed the northern portion
of the city, and was divided into two summits, the north-western, on which
stands the modern city of Girgenti, and the north-eastern, which derived from a
temple of Athena, that crowned its height, the name of the Athenaean hill (δ
Ἀθηναῖος λόφος, Diod. 13.85). This summit, which attains to the height of 1200
feet above the sea, and is the most elevated of the whole city, is completely
precipitous and inaccessible towards the N. and E., and could be approached only
by one steep and narrow path from the city itself. Hence, it formed the natural
citadel or acropolis of Agrigentum, while the gentle slopes and broad valley
which separate it from the southern ridge,--now covered with gardens and
fruit-trees,--afforded, ample space for the extension and development of the
city itself: Great as was the natural strength of its position, the whole city
was surrounded with walls, of which considerable portions still remain,
especially along the southern front: their whole circuit was about 6 miles. The
peculiarities of its situation sufficiently explain the circumstances of the two
great sieges of Agrigentum, in both of which it will be observed that the
assailants confined all their attacks to the southern and south-western parts of
the city, wholly neglecting the north and east. Diodorus, indeed, expressly
tells us that there was only one quarter (that adjoining the river Hypsas) where
the walls could be approached by military engines, and assaulted with any
prospect of success. (Diod. 13.85.)
Agrigentum was not less celebrated in ancient times for the beauty of its
architecture, and the splendour and variety of its buildings, both public and
private, than for its strength as a fortress. Pindar calls it “the fairest of
mortal cities” (καλλίστα βροτεᾶν πολέων, Pyth. 12.2), though many of its most
striking ornaments were probably not erected till after his time. The
magnificence of the private dwellings of the Agrigentines is sufficiently
attested by the saying of Empedocles already cited: their public edifices are
the theme of admiration with many ancient writers. Of its temples, probably the
most ancient were that of Zeus Atabyrios, whose worship they derived from
Rhodes, and that of Athena, both of which stood on the highest summit of the
Athenaean hill above the city. (Polyb. l.c.) The temple of Zeus Polieus, the
construction of which is ascribed to Phalaris (Polyaen. v. 50.1), is supposed to
have stood on the hill occupied by the modern city of Girgenti, which appears to
have formed a second citadel or acropolis, in some measure detached from the
more lofty summit to the east of it. Some fragments of ancient walls, still
existing in those of the church of Sta Maria de' Greci, are considered to have
belonged to this temple. But far more celebrated than these was the great temple
of the Olympian Zeus, which was commenced by the Agrigentines at the period of
their greatest power and prosperity, but was not quite finished at the time of
the Carthaginian invasion in B.C. 406, and in consequence of that calamity was
never completed. It is described in considerable detail by Diodorus, who tells
us that it was 340 feet long, 160 broad, and 120 in height, without reckoning
the basement. The columns were not detached, but engaged in the wall, from which
only half of their circumference projected: so gigantic were their dimensions,
that each of the flutings would admit a man's body. (Diod. 13.82; Plb. 9.27.) Of
this vast edifice nothing remains but the basement, and a few fragments of the
columns and entablature, but even these suffice to confirm the accuracy of the
statements of Diodorus, and to prove that the temple must not only have greatly
exceeded all others in Sicily, but was probably surpassed in magnitude by no
Grecian building of the kind, except that of Diana at Ephesus. A considerable
portion of it (including several columns, and three gigantic figures, which
served as Atlantes to support an entablature), appears to have remained standing
till the year 1401, when it fell down: and the vast masses of fallen fragments
were subsequently employed in the construction of the mole, which protects the
present port of Girgenti. (Fazell. vol. i. p. 248; Smyth's Sicily, p. 203.)
Besides these, we find mention in ancient writers of a temple of Hercules, near
the Agora, containing a statue of that deity of singular beauty and excellence (Cic.
Ver. 4.43), and one of Aesculapius without the walls, on the south side of the
city (Cic. l.c.; Plb. 1.18), the remains of which are still visible, not far
from the bank of the river Acragas. It contained a celebrated statue of Apollo,
in bronze, the work of Myron, which Verres in vain endeavoured to carry off. Of
the other temples, the ruins of which are extant on the site of Agrigentum, and
are celebrated by all travellers in Sicily, the ancient appellations cannot be
determined with any certainty. The most conspicuous are two which stand on the
southern ridge facing the sea: one of these at the S. E. angle of the city, is
commonly known as the temple of Juno Lacinia, a name which rests only on a
misconception of a passage of Pliny (Plin. Nat. 35.9.36): it is in a half ruined
state, but its basement is complete, and many of its columns still standing. Its
position on the projecting angle of the ridge, with a precipitous bank below it
on two sides, gives it a singularly picturesque and striking character. A few
hundred paces to the W. of this stands another temple, in far better
preservation, being indeed the most perfect which remains in Sicily; it is
commonly called the temple of Concord, from an inscription said to have been
discovered there, but which (if authentic) is of Roman date, while both this
temple and that just [1.78] described must certainly be referred to the most
flourishing period of Agrigentine history, or the fifth century B.C. They are
both of the Doric order, and of much the same dimensions: both are peripfteral,
or surrounded with a portico, consisting of 6 columns in front, and 13 on each
side. The existing vestiges of other temples are much less considerable: one to
the W. of that of Concord, of which only one column is standing, is commonly
regarded as that of Hercules, mentioned by Cicero. Its plan and design have been
completely ascertained by recent excavations, which have proved that it was much
the largest of those remaining at Agrigentum, after that of the Olympian Zeus :
it had 15 columns in the side and 6 in front. Another, a little to the north of
it, of which considerable portions have been preserved, and brought to light by
excavation on the spot, bears the name, though certainly without authority, of
Castor and Pollux: while another, on the opposite side of a deep hollow or
ravine, of which two columns remain, is styled that of Vulcan. A small temple or
aedicula, near the convent of S. Nicolo, is commonly known by the designation of
the Oratory of Phalaris : it is of insignificant size, and certainly of Roman
date. The church of St. Blasi, or S.Biagio, near the eastern extremity of the
Athenaean hill, is formed out of the cella of an ancient temple, which is
supposed, but without any authority, to have been dedicated to Ceres and
Proserpine. (For full details concerning these temples, and the other ruins
still
PLAN OF AGRIGENTUM.
A A. Modern City of Girgenti.
B B. The Athenaean Hill.
C C. Ancient Walls of Agrigentum.
D. Ancient Port.
E. Modern Port.
F F. Ancient Burial Ground.
G G. River Hypsas (F. Drago).
H H. River Acragas (F. di S. Biagio).
1.Temple of Zeus Polieus.
2.of Athena (?).
3.of Ceres and Proserpine
4.Temple of Juno Lacinia.
5.of Concord.
6.of Hercules.
7.of Zeus Olympius.
8.of Castor and Pollux.
9.of Vulcan.
10.of Aesculapius.
11.called the Oratory of Phalaris.
12.Tomb of Theron.
13.Supposed site of Piscina described by Diodorus. [1.79]
visible at Girgenti, see Swinburne's Travels, vol. ii. p. 280--291; Smyth's
Sicily, p. 207--212; D'Orville's Sicula, p. 89--103; Siefert, Akragas, p.
24--38; and especially Serra di Falco, Antichità della Sicilia, vol. iii., who
gives the results of recent labours on the spot, many of which were unknown to
former writers.)
Next to the temple of the Olympian Zeus, the public work of which Diodorus
speaks with the greatest admiration (11.25, 13.72), was a piscina, or reservoir
of water, constructed in the time of Theron, which was not less than seven
stadia in circumference, and was plentifully stocked with fish, and frequented
by numerous swans. It had fallen into decay, and become filled with mud in the
time of the historian, but its site is supposed to be still indicated by a deep
hollow or depression in the S. western portion of the city, between the temple
of Vulcan and that of Castor and Pollux, now converted into a garden. Connected
with this was an extensive system of subterranean sewers and conduits for water,
constructed on a scale far superior to those of any other Greek city: these were
called Phaeaces, from the name of their architect Phaeax.
It was not only in their public buildings that the Agrigentines, during the
flourishing period of their city, loved to display their wealth and luxury. An
ostentatious magnificence appears to have characterised their habits of life, in
other respects also: and showed itself especially in their love of horses and
chariots. Their territory was celebrated for the excellence of its breed of
horses (Verg. A. 3.704), an advantage which enabled them repeatedly to bear away
the prize in the chariot-race at the Olympic games: and it is recorded that
after one of these occasions the victor Exaenetus was accompanied on his
triumphant entry into his native city by no less than three hundred chariots,
all drawn by white horses. (Diod. 13.82.) Not less conspicuous and splendid were
the hospitalities of the more wealthy citizens. Those of Theron are celebrated
by Pindar (01. 3.70), but even these probably fell short of those of later days.
Gellias, a citizen noted even at Agrigentum for his wealth and splendour of
living, is said to have lodged and feasted at once five hundred knights from
Gela, and Antisthenes, on occasion of his daughter's marriage, furnished a
banquet to all the citizens of Agrigentum in the several quarters they
inhabited. (Diod. 13.83, 84.) These luxurious habits were not unaccompanied with
a refined taste for the cultivation of the fine arts: their temples and public
buildings were adorned with the choicest works of sculpture and painting, many
of which were carried off by Himilco to Carthage, and some of them after the
fall of that city restored to Agrigentum by Scipio Africanus. (Diod. 13.90; Cic.
Ver. 4.43; Plin. Nat. 35.9. s. 36.) A like spirit of ostentation was displayed
in the magnitude and splendour of their sepulchral monuments; and they are said
to have even erected costly, tombs to favourite horses and to pet birds. (Diod.
13.82; Plin. Nat. 42. 64; Solin. 45.11.) The plain in front of the city,
occupying the space from the southern wall to the confluence of the two rivers,
was full of these sepulchres and monuments, among which that of Theron was
conspicuous for its magnitude (Diod. 13.86): the name is now commonly given to
the only structure of the kind which remains, though it is of inconsiderable
dimensions, and belongs, in all probability, to the Roman period.
For this extraordinary wealth Agrigentum was indebted, in a great measure, to
the fertility of its territory, which abounded not only in corn, as it continued
to do in the time of Cicero, and still does at the present day, but was
especially fruitful in vines and olives, with the produce of which it supplied
Carthage, and the whole of the adjoining parts of Africa, where their
cultivation was as yet unknown. (Diod. 11.25, 13.81.) The vast multitude of
slaves which fell to the lot of the Agrigentines, after the great victory of
Himera, contributed greatly to their prosperity, by enabling them to bring into
careful cultivation the whole of their extensive and fertile domain. The allies
on the banks of its river furnished excellent pasture for sheep (Pind. P. 12.4),
and in later times, when the neighboring country had ceased to be so richly
cultivated, it was noted for the excellence of its cheeses. (Plin. Nat. 11.42.
97.)
It is difficult to determine with precision the extent and boundaries of the
territory of Agrigentum, which must indeed have varied greatly at different
times : but it would seem to have extended as far as the river Himera on the E.,
and to have been bounded by the Halycus on the W.; though at one time it must
have comprised a considerable extent of country beyond that river; and on the
other hand Heraclea Minoa, on the eastern bank of the Halycus, was for a long
time independent of Agrigentum. Towards the interior it probably extended as far
as the mountain range in which those two rivers have their sources, the Nebrodes
Mons, or Monte Madonia, which separated it from the territory of Himera. (Siefert,
Akragas, p. 9--11.) Among the smaller towns and places subject to its dominion
are mentioned MOTYUM and ERBESSUS in the interior of the country, CAMICUS the
ancient fortress of Cocalus (erroneously supposed by many writers to have
occupied the site of the modern town of Girgenti), ECNOMUS on the borders of the
territory of Gela, and subsequently PHINTIAS founded by the despot of that name,
on the site of the modern Alicata.
Of the two rivers which flowed beneath the walls of Agrigentum, the most
considerable was the ACRAGAS from whence according to the common consent of most
ancient authors the city derived its name. Hence it was worshipped as one of the
tutelary deities of the city, and statues erected to it by the Agrigentines,
both in Sicily and at Delphi, in which it was represented under the figure of a
young man, probably with horns on his forehead, as we find it on the coins of
Agrigentum. (Pind. O. 2.16, Pyth. 12.5, and Schol. ad locc.; Empedocles ap. Diog.
Laert. 8.2.63; Steph. Byz. v. Ἀκράγας; Ael. VH 2.33; Castell. Numm. Sic. Vet. p.
8.) At its mouth was situated the Port or Emporium of Agrigentum, mentioned by
Strabo and Ptolemy; but notwithstanding the extensive commerce of which this was
at one time the centre, it had little natural advantages, and must have been
mainly formed by artificial constructions. Considerable remains of these, half
buried in sand, were still visible in the time of Fazello, but have since in
great measure disappeared. The modern port of Girgenti is situated above three
miles further west. (Strab. vi. pp. 266, 272; Ptol. 3.4.6; Fazell. 6.1. p. 246;
Smyth's Sicily, pp. 202,203.)
Among the natural productions of the neighbourhood of Agrigentum, we find no
mention in ancient authors of the mines of sulphur, which are at the [1.80]
present day one of the chief sources of prosperity to Girgenti; but its mines of
salt (still worked at a place called Aborangi, about 8 miles north of the city),
are alluded to both by Pliny and Solinus. (Plin. Nat. 31.7. s. 41; Solin. 5. § §
18, 19.) Several writers also notice a fountain in the immediate neighbourhood
of the city, which produced Petroleum or mineral oil, considered to be of great
efficacy as a medicament for cattle and sheep. The source still exists in a
garden not far from Girgenti, and is frequently resorted to by the peasants for
the same purpose. (Dioscorid. 1.100; Plin. Nat. 35.15. s. 51; Solin. 5.22 ;
Fazell. de Reb. Sicul. vi. p. 261; Ferrara, Campi Flegrei della Sicilia, p. 43.)
A more remarkable object is the mud volcano (now called by the Arabic name of
Maccalubba) about 4 miles N. of Girgenti, the phenomena of which are described
by Solinus, but unnoticed by any previous writer. (Solin. 5.24; Fazell. p. 262 ;
Ferrara, l.c. p. 44; Smyth's Sicily, p. 213.)
Among the numerous distinguished citizens to whom Agrigentum gave birth, the
most conspicuous is the philosopher Empedocles : among his contemporaries we may
mention the rhetorician Polus, and the physician Acron. Of earlier date than
these was the comic poet Deinolochus, the pupil, but at the same time the rival,
of Epicharmus. Philinus, the historian of the First Punic War, is the latest
writer of eminence, who was a native of Agrigentum.
The extant architectural remains of Agrigentum have been already noticed in
speaking of its ancient edifices. Besides these, numerous fragments of
buildings, some of Greek and others of Roman date, are scattered over the site
of the ancient city: and great numbers of sepulchres have been excavated, some
in the plain below the city, others within its walls. The painted vases found in
these tombs greatly exceed in number and variety those discovered in any other
Sicilian city, and rival those of Campania and Apulia.
But with this exception comparatively few works of art have been discovered. A
sarcophagus of marble, now preserved in the cathedral of Girgenti, on which is
represented the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus, has been greatly extolled by
many travellers, but its merits are certainly over-rated.
There exist under the hill occupied by the modern city extensive catacombs or
excavations in the rock, which have been referred by many writers to the ancient
Sicanians, or ascribed to Daedalus. It is probable that, like the very similar
excavations at Syracuse, they were, in fact, constructed merely in the process
of quarrying stone for building purposes.
The coins of Agrigentum, which are very numerous and of beautiful workmanship,
present as their common type an eagle on the one side and a crab on the other.
The one here figured, on which the eagle is represented as tearing a hare,
belongs undoubtedly
COIN OF AGRIGENTUM.
to the most flourishing period of Agrigentine history, that immediately
preceding the siege and capture of the city by the Carthaginians, B.C. 406.
Other coins of the same period have a quadriga on the reverse, in commemoration
of their victories at the Olympic games. [E.H.B]
1 The form ACRAGAS or AGRAGAS in Latin is found only in the Roman poets. (Verg.
A. 3.703; Sil. Ital. 14.210.)
2 Mommsen (Das Römische Müz-Wesen, p. 237) considers Agrigentum to have been on
the footing of a Colonia Latina, like Nemausus in Gaul. -
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.
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