An agora of almost 33 thousand square meters, the largest in the ancient world, was discovered in Selinunte. On the acropolis also the remains of what was perhaps the sacred place of the very first Greek colonists of Selinunte, who arrived in the wake of the founder Pammilo from Megara Hyblea, were discovered.
The agora of Selinunte
Also found amulets and objects of great refinement equal to other finds found in Delphi in Greece. These are the discoveries of the last excavation campaign led by Clemente Marconi in the Sicilian archaeological park, an enterprise that saw two international missions work together for the first time. To be precise, the team of the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University and that of the University of Milan with the team of the Germanic Archaeological Institute. Marconi reiterates that these are discoveries that shed new light on the fascinating history of the Magna Graecia colony. The Sicilian archaeological park is the largest in Europe with its 270 hectares of nature and majestic ruins overlooking the sea.
Thanks to an intervention on the vegetation studied by the Germanic Institute, the boundaries of the agora, of enormous dimensions, emerged: the double of Piazza del Popolo in Rome. The shape is vaguely trapezoidal with a single monument in the center, a tomb, perhaps that of the founder. “The empty basin impresses with its breadth and its dense mystery”. So the director of the Archaeological park of Selinunte, Felice Crescente. A space “that gives the idea of the magnificence of this city and its extraordinary essence”, comments the councilor for culture Alberto Samonà.
The largest archaeological park of antiquity
"After two years affected by the pandemic, in June the digging started at full speed and the results - Marconi underlines - went far beyond expectations". The starting idea was to be able to date the construction period of two of the most recent temples of the acropolis, called A and O, considered twins.
The excavation showed that A was built before O and that the construction of the latter was probably interrupted due to a landslide. The most important discovery, however, was that of a water fault under the foundations of temple A. Un detail that confirms the hypothesis that the first Greek colonists settled in this southern portion of the Acropolis. In this area, therefore, the ancient town Selinus belonging to the Great Greece.
(Photo Ansa)
