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The exact opposite of Selinus, bristling with ruins, Segesta – its ancient
Elymian rival – appears like an absence, in which there emerge two
magnificent “cathedrals”, the Doric temple theatre. Four kilometres from
Calatafimi, at the end of a short uphill road, west of the ancient
settlement, the big temple appears in solitude, in its aristocratic
imposingness. It is perfectly preserved, but it was never completed, and
no one knows why. At the eastern extremily there is the Greek theatre.
Dating from the second half of the 2nd century BC, but altered
by the Romans, the theatre could contain 40.00 spectators.
Erice, Entella and
Segsta (or Egesta) were the three main towns of the Elymi, and Segesta
became the most powerful, as well as being famous for its sulphurous and
curative springs. Much of what we know of its history concerns continual
quarrels with Selinus over the congines marked by the upper course of the
river Mazaro.
(English
extract by “Civiltà antiche”,
Azienda
Provinciale
Turismo
Trapani)
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