Temple of Olympian Zeus

The Temple of Olympian Zeus (Olympeion) was the most ambitious building project of ancient Agrigento, begun to celebrate a famous military victory and never finished. Today it lies in a dramatic field of tumbled column drums and architectural fragments — the deliberate ruin of something that was immense. The reconstructed telamon, a 7.5-metre giant figure that served as a column support, lies flat on the ground in the western section of the Valle dei Templi park, giving a visceral sense of the temple's scale.

The structure would have been unlike any other Doric temple: between its columns stood these colossal Atlas figures supporting the entablature, while the outer colonnade itself was engaged (attached to the walls) rather than free-standing. The original design appears never to have been tested in practice. The site is within the archaeological park and best understood with a guide or at minimum the excellent bilingual information panels.

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A story
The Temple of Zeus at Agrigento was begun in 480 BC to celebrate the Greek victory over Carthage at the Battle of Himera. It was the largest Doric temple ever attempted in the ancient world — larger even than the Parthenon. Construction was still underway when Carthage sacked Akragas in 406 BC and never resumed. The half-finished building was used as a quarry for centuries; much of the stone of Porto Empedocle's harbour walls came from here.

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