According to Virgil, the ancient city of Segesta was founded by the Sicilian king Acestes and those from Aeneas’ band who decided to stay behind in Sicily as he pushed on to the Italian peninsula. The Segestans were constanly quarreling with Selinunte and in 415 BC they asked the Athenians for support against their rivals, thus precipitating the ill-fated Athenian Expedition against Syracuse, which ended up contributing to the end of the Golden Age of Athens. Today, the ruins of the city, including a well preserved temple and the stunning theater pictured here, are situated 300 meters above sea level on top of Monte Barbaro. The theater is carved into the hill itself, in the traditional Greek fashion of creating human space out of the natural landscape. Theatergoers are afforded a beautiful view of the valley that stretches out to the Mediterranean in the distance.