The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, March 1844: Volume 23, Number 3Various
Philosophy
The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, March 1844: Volume 23, Number 3
Various
Periodicals
The ancient city of Agragas stood on an elevated platform or table of
land, three sides of which fell off in steep precipices; the fourth side
was surmounted by the lofty hill on which the modern city stands. These
steep precipices were the natural walls of the city, and were made more
available for defence by excavation on the inside, so as to leave a solid
wall of rock rising round the city. On the verge of this platform, which
gradually sinks from east to west, and on the side next the sea, which is
about a mile distant, are seen the remains of no fewer than six temples.
They stood in a general line, but at irregular intervals, and must have
formed one of the most magnificent spectacles that the art of man has ever
presented to the eye. The remains of three other temples exist, but they
lie at a distance from this grand range. On the eastern and highest part
of the platform, where the natural wall of which I have spoken makes an
angle, stood the Temple of Juno Lucina; next came the Temple of Concord;
next the Temple of Hercules, near which was the Temple of Jupiter, called
of the Giants; next came the Temple of Venus, and lastly that of Castor
and Pollux. The approach to the ruins of these temples from the modern
city is over the site of the ancient, now shaded by olive, almond, and
carruba trees. The Temple of Juno is a picturesque ruin; all the columns
on the northern side are standing, also several at the ends, and part of
the entablature; the rest of the building, corroded by time or entirely
prostrate, lies under an exuberant growth of flowers and shrubs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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