Selinunte Archaeological Park, Cave di Cusa and Pantelleria. Archaeological area of Selinunte

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The colony was founded around 650 BC by the inhabitants of Megara Hyblaia and called Selinous taking  the name from selinon, the wild parsley that still grows along the banks of the river which brings the  same name, known by its modern name of Modion.
The urban area was built on two hilly plateaus bordered on  the west by the Selinus-Modionand the Gorgo-Cottone river on the east side.
On the southern plateau, facing the sea, stands the fortified acropolis, where there are templar buildings and dwellings, while further north on the hill in  Manuzza,the polygonal agora and a huge area of settlement have been identified.

The presence of the two rivers, whose estuary  was used in both cases as a canal and a port, had to ensure to the city flourishing trade, which determined its
development for about two and a half centuries.

In the eastern part of the Acropolis there are several temple structures with colonnades: the oldest buildings are Temples C and D, dating from around the middle of the 6th century BC. later, during the first half of the next century, Temples A and O were also erected.
Temple B, which dated about the middle of the 3rd century BC, was a building without a colonnade and it chronologically closes the series of temples built on the Acropolis.

Proceeding eastwards, past the Gorgo-Cottone, the Eastern Hill hosts a large sacred area: here you can enjoy the remains of Temple G, a building dedicated to Zeus and also one of the largest Greek temples ever built.
 Its construction was started at the end of the VI century BC and probably never completed.
Temple F, dated  about a decade later, presents more modest plan solutions but it was decorated with sculpture of the highest order.
Metopes depicting Athena and Dionysus grappling with the Titans are famous and now hosted in Antonino Salinas Museum in Palermo.