As we scampered down the hills of Segesta to head back to the bus, I couldn’t help but feel like I was an extra in the Sound of Music. The stunning landscape of Segesta presented nearly every shade of green to my hungry eyes as I tried to take it all in. As we frolicked the fields, I was reminded of descriptions of the nature of Sicily in Book V of the Aeneid. The scenery of these games is mentioned as being amidst a “gramineum campum” (line 286; a grassy field). This grass is noted as being “viridis” (line 330; fresh/green) in contrast to the red blood which sabotages Nisus’ victory. This brilliance of color in Sicily is also mirrored in Cavalleria Rusticana, the first film that we watched with the Italian class. Cavalleria Rusticana features several scenes that take place in green, grassy sprawls of land, just like the ones here in Segesta. The Aeneid also notes that the two Sicilians competing in the footrace, Helymus and Panopes, are uniquely “adsueti silvis” (line 301; accustomed to forests). The rustic nature of Sicilians is also reflected in the film, as the characters sing as they frolick across the hillsides, tending to their animals and completing their farm work. As a Classics major who can usually be found cramped up in the Stacks, translating hundreds of lines of Latin and trying to imagine the scenes which ancient authors describe, it was truly extraordinary to be able to actually experience the breathtaking Sicilian countryside which Vergil had promised.
Theater, Segesta
In Segesta we also visited the remains of an ancient theater, situated on the hilltop just beyond the unfinished temple. Originally constructed by Sicilian Greeks, the theater is carved within the hillside, utilizing the natural declining slope of the ridge to its own advantage. In this way, the theater wonderfully conforms to the surrounding landscape and is very much in harmony with the topography of the region. In later periods, the theater was used by the Romans, who, unlike the Greeks, sought to dominate the landscape through their superior engineering. This difference is best highlighted by the use of the scene frons, which was the decorated, architectural background of a Roman theater stage. The scaenae frons was a permanent, often elaborate structure that stretched multiple stories into the sky. This building was influenced by the much simpler, Greek equivalent known as the skene, which was not permanent and typically only one story tall. It was incredible to think that such a structure as the scaeneae frons would completely block out the breathtaking view that we enjoyed as we sat in the theater seats.
Sicily: The Bread Basket of the Roman Republic
After the sack of Syracuse in 212 BC, the Romans reigned in Sicily for the next six centuries. Due to the island’s advantageous climate and fertile soil, Sicily offered a prosperous source of grain. Sicily was agriculturally exploited in order to supply the Roman Republic with wheat, an act which likely hindered the economic development of the island. Nevertheless, due to the island’s status as a “breadbasket” for Rome and the fruitful abundance of the island, the cult of Demeter became prominent throughout Sicily. In his Metamorphoses, Ovid even places the myth of Persephone’s abduction by Hades and Demeter’s ensuing search for her daughter in Sicily. As we walked up and down the streets of Palermo, I couldn’t help but notice the ubiquitous statues and plaques celebrating the goddess Demeter. Below are but three of many representations of Demeter and grain that can be found throughout the city of Palermo.
Post #5: Agrigento
Salve guys! Welcome back to the states, hope you’re over jet lag by now ( I know when I studied abroad, it took me at least a day to recover). This picture is from the Temple of Juno at Agrigento, which I’m sure you guys visited. It was raining while I was there, as you can see from the rainjacket (#llbeans4life). Hopefully it didn’t rain for you guys? Anyways, back to academic things.
Quick pop quiz: what kind of temple is this behind me?
If you said Doric, you’re totally right! You can tell from the columns behind me, which are fluted, and the plain capitals, although it’s a tad hard to see in these columns. The Temple of Juno was built between 460-440 BC, and lies east of the Temple of Concord on a rise in Agrigento. It was built after the Battle of Himera by the Gelians who founded Akragas (Agrigento’s Greek colony name), and actually still has traces of the beating (well, perhaps more like burning) that it took from the Carthaginians in 406 BC.
Also notable in the Agrigento archaeological park is the Temple of Zeus. This temple (see below for one of its capitals that we’re standing on) has the distinguished mark of having some of the largest Doric capitals in Sicily, although unfortunately most of the temple is not standing today. However, it was planned to be the main temple in Akragas and was situated by the city’s agora* for that reason. It was first started in the 580’s, but doesn’t appear to have been finished when the Carthaginians came to call, and post-Carthaginians in the early 400’s, it was allowed to fall into disrepair. The whole city never really fully recovered after the Carthaginians’ attack. The Romans soon came to claim Akragas for their own in 210 BC, and renamed it Agrigentum (a more Latin sounding name). From there, it clearly was only a letter change away from the Italian Agrigento town that many tourists flock to today.
*For those of you Latin scholars such as myself, the agora was the civic and commercial hub of any Greek settlement.
Works Cited:
Centro Class Lecture Notes, Sicily Trip. Professor Fagan. October 2016.
“Akragas (Site).” Perseus. Web. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Akragas&object=site>.
La Zisa
Jet-lagged, hungry, and admittedly a bit cranky, our first day in Sicily was doubtlessly a daze for all. The architectural wonder that is La Zisa certainly did not subtract from our conviction that this trip was but a dream and Sicily a fantasy land.
Derived from the Arabic term “al-aziza” meaning “the gorgeous,” La Zisa was built in the twelfth century and designed to serve as a summer retreat for the Norman Kings ruling Sicily at that time. The partnership between the Norman King William I, who financed the construction, and the Arab architects responsible for the Islamic architecture demonstrates how eagerly the Normans appropriated the style of the pre-existing Arabic culture. An example of such Moorish decoration can be seen in the main hall. Throughout the palace but notable here in the main hall are cavities in the wall filled with Arabic stalactite work, a typical Islamic ornamental design known as mocárabe.
Interestingly, on the ceiling of the main hall was a painting featuring several Classical gods, demonstrating the eclectic design of the palace due to the many rulers throughout Sicily’s history. Some of the gods and goddesses painted on the fresco can be recognized by their famous attributes: Poseidon brandishing his trident, Phoebus with his lyre, Mercury with his caduceus, winged sandals, and winged cap, Minerva dressed in her warrior garb, Hercules with his club and lion skin, the nude Venus with her naked son Cupid, and the blacksmith Vulcan with his hammer.
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