Next to the temple of the Olympian Zens, the public work of which Diodorus speaks with the greatest admiration (xi. 25, xiii. 72), was a piscina, or reservoir of water, constructed in the time of Theron, which was not leas than seven stadia in circumference, and was plentifully stocked with fish, and frequented by numerous swans. It had fallen into decay, and become filled with mud in the time of the historian, but its site is supposed to be still indicated bf a deep hollow or depression in the S. western portion of the city, between the temple of Vulcan and that of Castor and Pollux, now converted into a garden. Connected with this was an extensive system of subterranean sewers and conduits for water, constructed on a scale far superior to those of any other Greek city: these were called Phaeaces, from the name of their architect Phaeax. It was not only in their public buildings that the Agrigentines, during the flourishing period of their city, loved to display their wealth and luxury. An ostentatious magnificence appears to have characterized their habits of life, in other respects also: and showed itself especially in their love of horses and chariots. Their territory was celebrated for the excellence of its breed of horses (Virg. Aen. iii. 704), an advantage which enabled them repeatedly to bear away the prize in the chariot-race at the Olympic games: and it is recorded that after one of these occasions the victor Exaenetus was accompanied on his triumphant entry into his native city by no less than three hundred chariots, all drawn by white horses. (Diod. xiii. 82.) Not less conspicuous and splendid were the hospitalities of the more wealthy citizens. Those of Theron are celebrated by Pindar (Ol. iii. 70), but even these probably fell short of those of later days. Gellias, a citizen noted even at Agrigentum for his wealth and splendour of living, is said to have lodged and feasted at once five hundred knights from Gela, and Antisthenes, on occasion of his daughter's marriage, furnished a banquet to all the citizens of Agrigentum in the several quarters they inhabited. (Diod. xiii. 83, 84.) These luxurious habits were not unaccompanied with a refined taste for the cultivation of the fine arts: their temples and public buildings were adorned with the choicest works of sculpture and painting, many of which were carried off by Himilco to Carthage, and some of them after the fall of that city restored to Agrigentmn by Scipio Africanus. (Diod. xiii. 90; Cic. Verr. iv. 43; Plin. H. N. xxxv. 9. s. 36.) A like spirit of ostentation was displayed in the magnitude and splendour of their sepulchral monuments; and they are said to have even erected costly tombs to favourite horses and to pet birds. (Diod. xiii. 82; Plin. H. N. 42. 64; Solin. 45. § 11.) The plain in front of the city, occupying the space from the southern wall to the confluence of the two rivers, was full of these sepulchres and monuments, among which that of Theron was conspicuous for its magnitude (Diod. xiii. 86): the name is now commonly given to the only structure of the kind which remains, though it is of inconsiderable dimensions, and belongs, in all probability, to the Roman period. |
For this extraordinary wealth Agrigentum was indebted, in a great measure, to the fertility of its territory, which abounded not only in com, as it continued to do in the time of Cicero, and still does at the present day, but was especially fruitful in vines and olives, with the produce of which it supplied Carthage, and the whole of the adjoining parts of Africa, where their cultivation was as yet unknown. (Diod. xi. 25, xiii. 81.) The vast multitude of slaves which fell to the lot of the Agrigentines, after the great victory of Himera, contributed greatly to their prosperity, by enabling them to bring into careful cultivation the whole of their extensive and fertile domain. The vallies on the banks of its river furnished excellent pasture for sheep (Pind. Pyth. xii. 4), and in later times, when the neighbouring country had ceased to be so richly cultivated, it was noted for the excellence of its cheeses. (Plin. H. N. xi 42. 97.) It is difficult to determine with precision the extent and boundaries of the territory of Agrigentum, which must indeed have varied greatly at different times: but it would seem to have extended as far as the river Himera on the E., and to have been bounded by the Halycus on the W.; though at one time it must have comprised a considerable extent of country beyond that river; and on the other hand Heraclea Minoa, on the eastern bank of the Halycus, was for a long time independent of Agrigentum. Towards the interior it probably extended as far as the mountain range in which those two riven have their sources, the Nebrodes Mons, or Monte Madonia, which separated it from the territory of Himera. (Siefert, Akragas, p. 9—11.) Among the smaller towns and places subject to its dominion are mentioned Motyum and Erbessus, in the interior of the country, Camicus, the ancient fortress of Cocalus (erroneously supposed by many writers to have occupied the site of the modern town of Girgenti), Ecnomus on the borders of the territory of Gela, and subsequently Phintias, founded by the despot of that name, on the site of the modern Alicata, Of the two rivers which flowed beneath the walls of Agrigentum, the most considerable was the Acragas, from whence according to the common consent of most ancient authors the city derived its name. Hence it was worshipped as one of the tutelary deities of the city, and statues erected to it by the Agrigentines, both in Sicily and at Delphi, in which it was represented under the figure of a young man, probably with horns on his forehead, as we find it on the coins of Agrigentum. (Pind. Ol. ii. 16, Pyth. xii. 5, and Schol. ad locc.; Empedocles ap. Diog. Laert. viii. 2. § 68; Steph. Byz. v. Άκραγας; Aelian. V. H. ii. 33; Castell. Numm. Sic. Vet. p. 8.) At its mouth was situated the Port or Emporium of Agrigentum, mentioned by Strabo and Ptolemy; but notwithstanding the extensive commerce of which this was at one time the centre, it had little natural advantages, and must have been mainly formed by artificial constructions. Considerable remains of these, half buried in sand, were still visible in the time of Fazello, but have since in great measure disappeared. The modern port of Girgenti is situated above three miles further west. (Strab. vi. pp. 266, 272; Ptol. iii. 4. § 6; Fazell. vi. 1. p. 246; Smyth's Sicily, pp. 202, 203.) Among the natural productions of the neighbourhood of Agrigentum, we find no mention in ancient authors of the mines of sulphur, which are at the |
Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/95
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