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