We arise and we’re off to Selinunte. We learn that the writer Pirandello is from here, as well as the ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles. Agrigento was famous for being wealthy, Plato disapproved of their lifestyle, he said “they build as if they would live forever, the eat as if they will die tomorrow.” Empedocles started a Democratic Party here and did some engineering, helped to drain a swamp which reduced malaria, cane up with the four elements (earth, fire, water, fire). He was also a Pythagorean, as Pythagoras had a cult of reincarnation with a strict diet and study of music which they saw as the thematic basis of the universe. Pythagoras thought he was one level before being a god, and he died by the jumping into Mt. Etna.
We go by a huge beach with almost no one on it, it is only 9:00am. We are en route to Selinunte, the largest archaeological site in the world, here on the west side of the island, the Arabic “side”, being close to Tunisia. One of Madeleine’s professors at William and Mary, Dr. Andrew Ward, works at a dig at Selinunte. We pass by the town of Caltabalata, far up the hill, where the treaty was signed between France (Anjou) and Spain (Aragon), who had been fighting over Sicily. On the road, we pass over several tall viaducts built over fairly level land, part of the jobs programs locally. Douglas also give us a bit of background on the role of the Mafia and corrupt politicians in construction locally.
We arrive in Selinunte, named for Selinas, or celery, dedicated to Aphrodite. This established 680BCE , and they got wealthy trading with Carthage. It was the third largest Greek city in Sicily. Only 15% of Selinunte has been excavated, mostly in the artisanal and temple districts. We begin at the end of a path across a large flat area with a great view of Temple E, from around 600BCE, in the Archaic age. We can easily observe the apparent curve of the flat area at the base. The temple is 6 columns by 15 columns, a bit “too long.” There is a lot of concrete from the 1950s reconstruction. Because of this, we are allowed to walk all over it. Nearby is the remains of Temple F, with a few columns standing. Finally, Temple G is all destroyed but for part of one column, all these were destroyed by the Carthaginians. We even see one top of a Doric column flat on the ground. The western Sicilian Greeks in 409BCE were besieged by the Carthaginians, 16,000 were killed and an equal number taken into slavery, and the temples and the city flattened to take their power. Because of the recent battle with Athens, Siracusa was weakened and unable to help. After this, the area declined, was a minor Roman area, minor Byzantine, and minor medieval. The reason most of the stones are still here is that there is no nearby city at which people would have otherwise reused the stone. The largest, Temple G was 113mx50m, and could fit a football field inside. Many of the fallen columns still show the clean breaks of the column drums.
We depart this area and walk through a small valley to the other side, across a dry area that was once the inlet of the port, a swampy area with a lot of malaria which was endemic to this area. We take a nice walk across this low area, with a good breeze blowing. We come to the defensive walls built around 200BCE, after the second time the Carthaginians attacked, and walk up the path to a lovely overlook over the sea. I check with staff in the small office to see where Madeleine’s professor, Dr. Andrew Ward, is digging; they speak only Italian but I get enough of the directions to find him, I think.
We walk up the main broad street of the area, flanked by the last temples and wealthier homes. Up near the acropolis Temple R, we find Prof. Andrew Ward, actively working with the dig team. We chat with him briefly, he is very nice, tells us about how they are digging between the 600-400BCE area, and there are even earlier Bronze Age and Mesolithic finds as well. We continue up the broad Main Street, we see how the cross streets cleanly bisect the main street, and we can go in a few of the remains of homes with entries, small courtyards and rooms beyond. We come to the main gate in the wall, which would have allowed defenders to shoot down at invaders, and meander back on a path to the van. We are off to a quarry to see how some of the stones were carved from the rock. We stop at a roadside place for lunch to go, we got a vegetable panini with anchovies for me, arancIni one with ham and cheese and one with ragu for Barney, plus two Messina beers which were light and cold. The quarry is called Cave de Cusa, and we have lunch there in the coolness of the quarry. It is beautiful, quiet, and filled with the remains of stone drums intended for columns. On the cobblestoned road back to the main road, we are surrounded by lovely gray- green olive trees.
We continue on to Marsala, through fields of olive trees and many vineyards. This area remained part of the Roman Empire when the Byzantines ran it for nearly 300 years. The governor wanted tobreak off from the Byzantine empire, meanwhile the Arabs were on the march in North Africa. He asked for help from the Abassayid Arabs in Tunisia, he got 10,000 mercenaries who came and then took over starting in 827 CE. Within 10 years they had taken Palermo, which had been a very tiny town, and they made it into a major trade center. They established the Emirate here, and the Arab culture was the most advanced at that time, so people were happy for them to take over. The Arabs brought new agriculture here, and many Arab names (like Caltagirone, castle of the sprites) remained even after the Norman Christians arrived. The Arabs also introduced durum (hard) wheat, as what had been grown here was soft wheat. With hard wheat you could make pasta, so pasta was invented here in Sicily (like semolina or hard wheat, couscous). The Arabs brought in sugar which came to North African from South Asia, thus came about candied fruit, sweetened ricotta cheese (cannolo, also invented by the Arabs). They also introduced eggplant, citrus, mulberry (also silk), and pistachio for nut sauces. They also introduced things which did not work well, such as cotton and date palms. They also introduced printing here and thus to Europe. They had poets, playwrights, musiciaas, scientists, doctors of medicine and more. This the western part of Sicily is called the Arab one-third of Sicily. Here there are wide streets and colorful buildings, more like North Africa.
The Arab word for port is mars, add alla and you get Marsala. Then later the English made this into almost a company town when they had a significant amount of Marsala manufacture and shipping here. The Florio family were also major manufacturers, and became one of the dominant business families in all of Italy. Marsala and this area of the coast was filled with wine-related businesses, shipping, manufacturing, and more. The streets of Marsala ran red with wine during the Allied bombing because the thought that the large buildings on the coast were military, when they had been for Marsala. Eventually the Florio family third generation had the wastrel sons who almost bankrupted the company, it was mostly sold to Cinzano, which made Marsala into a cooking wine in most of the 20th century. Only Marsala Superiore is the real dessert wine (not Marsala Fine). Marsala is a seaside, prosperous, laid back town. There are still Spanish fortifications here. Also here is Cantine Pelligrino, cantine meaning manufacture, for another type of drink. It is fairly wide open with broad green areas between apartment blocks, and is also a yachting area. In the distance we can see the Egafi Islands, and farther beyond the horizon is the tip of Tunisia. The road we are on is called the salt road, because there were sea salt pans here, since the time of the Cathaginians in 700BCE, up through the current time. Also here were windmills to move the water with an Archimedes screw from section to section to refine the salt. The windmill was invented in Iran, was taken by the Arabs into North Africa , brought to Sicily, and then much later, taken by the Spanish who then ruled Sicily to the other area they ruled, The Netherlands. We see a lot of folks in the very shallow water here, or sitting on the beaches. Garibaldi also landed in Marsala with 1,000 volunteers on the way to Rome.
In the area just north of Marsala was a miliitary naval base for the Carthaginians, the main city was called Mozia, and there was a whole city here on an island in the protected lagoon. At one point, DIonysius attacked and won Mozia, and the refugees founded Marsala. Eventually the Romans took over, but they did not use this area for much more than sea salt. In the 18th century, the Whitaker family (English) bought the island, and one of the men was an amateur archaeologist who knew the history of this area and established a dig there. A magnificent ancient Greek sculpture brought here during the ancient Greek era was found some years ago. We board a small boat for the short trip over to the island, near a salt museum. There are piles of terra-cotta tiles which are used to cover the salt as it finishes drying.
At the island, we walk to the former house, now a museum, after seeing a variety of artifacts from the area, we see the amazing Charioteer statue, considered one of the most beautiful in the world. It is early Classical, somewhat severe, with a contraposto pose. You can see the muscles and bones thruogh the tunic, and he has the tight band across his chest, which charioteers would, as a metal ring was in the middle to keep the reins close. His missing right arm was probably raised in celebration of his victory, the left arm is gone but for the hand on the hip. The tunic is clinging to him, as he was bathed in sweat after the race. Even the fabric pulls across the muscular back. The statue was found in 1979, partly sticking out of the ground. We also see a display of the special shell called porpora from which came a rich purple dye, often used only by royalty or aristocrats. From this came the Roman name for the Phoenicians, as they we the ones who had access the these shells. In another room are a whole set of small tombstones for children. In the last large room is Whitaker’s own collection, everything from small perfume and makeup bottles to oil lamps to arrowheads to silver jewelry. It is amazing to think that all of this came from this one small island. We motor back to the mainland with a nice breeze cooling us.
We stay tonight at the Baglio Oneto, now a winery, but once a private estate with its own security. There is an outlook tower to watch for pirates that still stands. The rooms are spacious and elegant, with balconies overlooking the pool. Our dinner will be here tonight in the courtyard. Now we’ll go to the pool to cool off.
The dinner in the courtyard was lovely, and the weather had cooled down. I had marinated sardines and a very nice veal scaloppini, with an almond parfait for dessert. Barney has a fried cheese appetizer with vegetable jams, the veal, and chocolate semifreddo for dessert. It was a lovely evening and we all stayed a while enjoying the mild weather. Richard showed us his photo book from his India trip, and his photos were amazing.
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