Cella remains inside E pseudo-peristyle with a giant (telamon) in distance...

Tumbled blocks of temple at west end, looking E; note lifting cuttings, Ak...

Restored telamon from the Temple of Zeus Olympios at Agrigento, from NE. A...

Capital of half column, Temple of Zeus Olympios, Akragas, Agrigento

Hollow pillars (stairs?) at SE, looking NE, Akragas, Temple of Zeus Olympi...

Northwest corner of the cella wall, from NE, Temple of Zeus Olympios, Akra...

Context: Akragas
Type: Temple
Summary: Monumental temple, built of ashlar blocks; the largest temple built in the Greek world.
Dimensions:

112.6 x 56.3

Architectural Order:

Doric

Plan:

Over the foundations and the five-stepped crepidoma, in place of the traditional colonnade there extended a solid wall, strengthened at regular intervals by Doric half columns on the exterior and pilasters on the interior.

History:

Built after the victory of Himera 480 B.C., this temple was part of a grandiose building program undertaken at Akragas. It was unfinished at the time of the Carthaginian destruction in 406 B.C.

Other Notes:

Between the half columns, at mid height up against the solid wall, stood colossal statues of Telamons, 7.65 m high, with arms bent at head level as if supporting an architrave. The facades were decorated with sculptural representations of the Gigantomachy and the Fall of Troy.

Sources Used:

PECS, 23-6

Other Bibliography:

E.A. Freeman, History of Sicily (1891). A. Holm, Storia della Sicilia nell'antichità (1896-1900). Koldewey and Puchstein, Die Griechischen Tempel in Unteritalien und Sizilien (1899). B. Pace, Arte e civiltà della Sicilia antica (1935-1949). J. Berard, La colonisation grecque le l'Italie Méridionale et de la Sicile dans l'antiquité (1957). G.E. Rizzo, Monete greche della Sicilia (1946). T.J. Dunbabin, The Western Greeks (1948). L. Pareti, Sicilia antica (1959). M.I. Finley, Ancient Sicily (1968). G. Schubring, Topografia storica di Agrigento (1888). P. Marconi, Agrigento, topografia ed arte (1929). P. Marconi, Agrigento Arcaica (1933). P. Griffo, Ultimi scavi e scoperte in Agrigento (1946). P. Griffo and G. Schmiedt, Agrigento antica dalle fotografie aeree e dai recenti scavi (1958). P. Griffo, Agrigento-Cuida ai monumenti e agli scavi (1962).