Selinunte, Sicily – A Greek City by the Sea

Few ancient cities in Sicily occupy a setting as memorable as Selinunte. Spread across a wide plateau overlooking the Mediterranean, olive trees, palms, wildflowers and open sky surround its Doric columns, ruined walls and vast fields of fallen stone.

The Greeks knew the ancient city as Selinous. Colonists from Megara Hyblaea, a Greek settlement on the eastern coast of Sicily founded during the seventh century BCE, it. According to the historian Thucydides, the expedition was led by Pammilus, or Pamillus, who came from Megara in mainland Greece to act as the city’s founder.

As the oikist, or official founder, Pammilus would have overseen the settlement of the colonists, the division of land, and the establishment of the city’s sacred areas. His role was therefore not simply that of an expedition leader. He helped lay the foundations of the new community and its connection with the wider Greek world.

Selinous became the westernmost major Greek colony in Sicily and eventually developed into a wealthy and powerful city-state.

Its name likely originates from selinon, the Greek word for the wild celery or parsley that grew in the area. The plant became a symbol of the city and appeared on its ancient coins.

Selinous prospered through agriculture and trade. Its position on the south-western coast placed it close to important Mediterranean Sea routes, while the surrounding land supported the production of grain, olives, and wine. The city’s growing wealth most clearly expressed itself through its monumental temples and carefully planned streets.

Today, the archaeological park extends across approximately 377 hectares. It contains the remains of the Acropolis, the Agora, residential areas, fortifications, sanctuaries, and several magnificent Doric temples. The scale of the site makes it clear that Selinunte was not merely a religious centre, but a complete and carefully organised city.

The first impression of Selinunte upon walking through it is one of space. The ruins spread across several hills and valleys instead of remaining in a compact area. Paths lead between broken walls, temple foundations, and rows of columns, while the blue waters of the Mediterranean remain visible beyond the ancient city.

Empedocles and the waters of Selinunte

One of the most fascinating people associated with Selinunte was the philosopher, poet, and physician Empedocles. He was born in Akragas, modern Agrigento, and was one of the brilliant thinkers of the pre-Socratic world.

Empedocles believed that all matter was formed from four eternal elements: earth, air, fire, and water, brought together and separated by the opposing forces of Love and Strife. His ideas combined philosophy, natural observation, religion, and medicine.

An ancient account records that the people of Selinunte suffered from disease caused by foul-smelling and unhealthy waters near the city. Empedocles is said to have arranged, at his own expense, for neighbouring streams to be redirected or combined with the polluted water. According to the story, this improved the water and brought the outbreak to an end.

This account was written centuries after Empedocles lived, so it should be approached with caution. Nevertheless, the story became an important part of Selinunte’s history. It also reflects the reputation Empedocles enjoyed as a man who understood nature and could apply that knowledge to improve human life.

The marshes around Selinunte would have presented a genuine threat to public health, and the archaeological park itself continues to recognise the tradition that Empedocles carried out drainage or land-reclamation works in the area.

Rulers and political struggle

Selinunte did not always experience peaceful governance. Like many ancient Greek cities, it experienced periods of political conflict and tyranny.

Towards the end of the sixth century BCE, the city was ruled by a tyrant named Peithagoras. A Spartan adventurer called Euryleon helped the people of Selinunte overthrow him, but then seized power for himself. His rule was brief. The citizens rebelled and killed him, even though he had sought protection at the altar of Zeus in the Agora.

This episode provides a rare glimpse into the political life of the city. Behind the temples and monumental buildings were citizens struggling overpower, freedom, and the form their government should take.

The magnificent temples

Many of Selinunte’s temples are known only by letters because their original dedications remain uncertain. On the Eastern Hill stand Temples E, F, and G, three of the most impressive monuments at the site.

Temple E, associated with the goddess Hera, was built during the fifth century BCE. Its long rows of columns and raised entrance show the balance and strength of Greek Doric architecture. Although it is one of the best-preserved buildings at Selinunte, its present appearance is partly the result of reconstruction using original stone during the twentieth century.

Nearby lie the enormous remains of Temple G. Begun during the sixth century BCE but never finished, it was one of the largest Greek temples ever attempted. Its columns stood over 16 metres high, and the entire building measured approximately 109 metres in length.

Great column drums and carved stone blocks now lie scattered across the ground, revealing both the ambition of its builders and the immense physical effort required to construct such a monument.

The disorder of Temple G is as impressive as a standing temple. Its fallen columns allow visitors to see the individual pieces that once formed part of a building of extraordinary size. The ruins have the appearance of a vast stone workshop abandoned before every detail could be completed.

Destruction and survival

Selinunte’s wealth and position also brought conflict. Its long rivalry with the neighbouring city of Segesta eventually drew it into the wider struggles between the Greek cities of Sicily and Carthage.

In 409 BCE, a large Carthaginian army led by Hannibal Mago besieged and captured Selinous. Ancient accounts describe terrible loss of life and the enslavement of thousands of inhabitants. Although parts of the city were later reoccupied, Selinous never fully recovered its former power.

After the destruction, another important figure entered the city’s story. Hermocrates, a general and political leader from Syracuse, gathered survivors and other displaced people and made Selinunte a base for his military operations against Carthage.

From the ruined city, Hermocrates led attacks into Carthaginian territory and attempted to rebuild his political reputation in Sicily. The repaired fortifications visible at Selinunte are partly connected with this later period of occupation.

Selinunte later remained under Carthaginian influence before being finally abandoned around the middle of the third century BCE, during the First Punic War.

Over the centuries, windblown earth, vegetation, and the movement of the landscape gradually covered sections of the abandoned city. This long period of neglect helped preserve much of its ancient street plan beneath the ground.

A result of Selinous being mostly buried and forgotten was that the city was frozen in time, similar to the fate of Pompeii.

Cave di Cusa

Around eleven kilometres north-west of Selinunte lies Cave di Cusa, the quarry from which much of the stone for the temples was extracted.

Here, enormous circular column drums remain partly cut from the bedrock. Others lie abandoned along the route towards the city, as though the workers simply put down their tools and never returned.

The quarry was in use from the sixth century BCE until the Carthaginian conquest brought work to a sudden end. Stone pieces at different stages of production remain where workers left them, allowing visitors to understand how workers cut and prepared blocks, columns, and capitals.

Cave di Cusa provides a remarkable connection between the finished temples and the people who built them. It reveals the skill of the stoneworkers and the enormous human effort behind Selinunte’s monuments.

A city beneath the open sky

Very little of Selinunte remains intact, yet the scale of the ruins still reveals the importance of the ancient city. Across the site, broken walls, collapsed temples, and scattered stone mark centuries of prosperity, conflict, and eventual abandonment.

The stories of Pammilus, Empedocles, Peithagoras, Euryleon and Hermocrates also remind us that Selinunte was more than a collection of monuments. It was a living city shaped by founders, philosophers, rulers, soldiers, craftspeople, and ordinary citizens.

Its position beside the Mediterranean adds to its character. Warm stone, open fields, and distant blue water surround the ruins, making the ancient city appear inseparable from the Sicilian landscape.

At Selinunte, history is not confined to a museum. It remains beneath the open sky, among grass, stone, and the distant sound of the sea.

View a selection of images of Selinunte

All images, text and content are copyright Steven Sklifas.