Segesta

Segesta

Segesta includes an impresive Doric temple and a theatre high on the hill overlooking the remains of the ancient city. The temple looks perfect. Only the roof is missing. It was actually never finished. Started in 424BC, it stands unfinished.

It is a long, long twenty-minutes walk up the hill to the threatre. There is a bus that, when it is working, shuttles tourists from the bottom to the top of the hill. The walk, however, is worth it. Take you time, enjoy the views, look back the temple.

It is throught that an architect from Athens built this beautiful well preserved Greek Dopric temple somewhere around 420 BC. The Doric order was one of the three orders of Greek and Roman architecture (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian). This temple, which fortunately survived the destruction that ensued during the Carthaginian sacking of Segesta, is a wonderful building from that architectural era.

Some writing suggests this temple was never actually finished, as the columns have not been flutted as would normally be done as part of the finishing process. Also, there is no naos, or inner chamber.