Worshipping Athena at Akragas: Archaeological Evidence from Temple D (20 min)

Presenters

Gianfranco Adornato, Scuola Normale Superiore; and Maria Concetta Parello, Parco Archeologico e Paesaggistico della Valle dei Templi di Agrigento

Abstract

Starting from the pandemic year, in 2020 the archaeological team of the Scuola Normale Superiore, under the supervision of the Archaeological Park of Agrigento, has been conducting an excavation in the area of Temple D within the UNESCO site of the Valle dei Templi in the Greek ancient city of Akragas. The project focuses on Temple D, mistakenly related to the cult of Hera Lacinia or Lucina as reported in a misleading passage by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder. The association between literary sources and the monument has been proposed by Tommaso Fazello in his De rebus Siculis decades duae in 1558. Since then the temple has been attributed to the goddess Hera. During the excavation in the foundation trench of the temple, two terracotta fragments, a helmeted head and a left arm, of two different statuettes, were found. The hand is closed, perhaps holding an object, like a scepter or a spear. It is much easier to identify the helmeted female head as Athena and reconstruct it as a promachos figure or a seated goddess. The discovery of these two fragments allow us to question the deity and the attribution of the temple to Hera on the basis of literary sources. It is the first time that a detectable goddess (the cult of Athena at Akragas is mentioned in literary sources without a specific location) is attested in a more tangible materiality in the sanctuary on the southern hill of the city.

  AIA-3E