Selinunte - Temple C

The visitor's eye is immediately drawn to the massive row of columns belonging to Temple C, the oldest and largest temple on the Acropolis. Built around 550 B.C. on the highest piece of ground, its base measures 23.94m/78.5ft by 63.72m/209ft and has a periptery of six columns by 17 which are 8.43m/27ft 8in tall. The earliest columns are monolithic in construction, the later ones formed from tambourine sections. The distances between the columns differs by as much as 23cm/9.25in, and the number of flutings varies between 16 and 20. In 1927, 14 columns on the north side, some complete with entablature, were re-erected and form an impressive backdrop. If this temple could be rebuilt exactly as it was, with its original "untamed vividness", the sheer power thus expressed would be further emphasized by the rich terracotta cladding on the tympanum and roof cornice. A huge Gorgon's head painted in garish colors dominates the east tympanum; there is a reconstruction in the Museum in Palermo. This 2.75m/9ft high relief in clay is on a par with the limestone relief of the Gorgon to be found on the Temple of Artemis on Corfu. On the entablature below this gable at the entrance end were sculptured metope panels dealing powerfully with their subjects: viewed from the front, the foursome of Apollo, Perseus and the Gorgon, Hercules and the Kerkopes (now in the Palermo Museum).

On entering the temple the visitor climbs up eight steps to the frontal columns, then comes upon a second row of pillars which, together with the flight of steps, serve to emphasize the entrance end, and will then enter the long naos, which is four times as long as it is wide. Beyond the pronaos, which could be closed off by means of a triple-sectioned bronze door, lies the long, narrow cella with the adyton, where the religious symbols were kept and which only the priest could enter.