Selinus

Selinus (or Selinous, modern: Selinunte), located on the south-west coast of Sicily, was founded in the mid-7th century BCE by Greek colonists from Megara Hyblaea on the eastern side of the island. Selinus was the most western Greek colony on Sicily, and it became an important polis or city-state in the Classical period. The site covered an unusually large and well-planned urban and sacred area, the latter once having at least ten separate temples from the 6th to 5th century BCE. The site also acquired extensive fortifications of which long sections, and especially the North Gate, survive today. The Temple of Hera, Temple C to an unknown deity (perhaps Apollo), and several other sacred buildings also survive and their spread across the valleys of the site indicates the impressive size and status Selinus once enjoyed in the ancient Mediterranean.