Acropolis of Selinunte

The Acropolis of Selinunte occupies the main hilltop of the ancient city, surrounded on three sides by the sea and looking out over what was once one of the richest cities in the western Mediterranean. The remains of several temples stand on the acropolis — designated by the letters A, B, C, D, and O by archaeologists — in varying states of preservation. Temple C is the oldest and largest, dating to around 560 BC; its few standing columns are visible from across the park.

The acropolis also preserves remains of the ancient street grid, the city walls, and various sacred and domestic buildings. Walking through this landscape of fallen columns and dressed stone gives an impression of the scale of the catastrophe that ended the city — Selinunte was not abandoned gradually but destroyed in a single event, and the ruins reflect this violent ending rather than centuries of gradual decay.

things to do sight
A story
Selinunte was named after the wild celery (selinon in Greek) that grew along the local river banks — the plant appeared on the city's coins. When the Carthaginians attacked in 409 BC, the siege was so ferocious that the city fell in nine days, and the destruction was total: the temples were toppled, the population massacred or enslaved. The ruins lay largely untouched for two millennia; the first serious archaeological survey was not made until 1823.