Selinunte and Segesta

Continuing our tour of Greek sites, we left southern Sicily and proceeded to the western Sicilian province of Trapani to visit Selinunte and Segesta.

Most of the temples here (there were many) are now piles of rubble. Only the Temple of Hera has been restored, yet it too is again starting to crumble.

Each temple, or in most cases, piles of the original temple itself are identified by a letter. This is Temple F.

There was a large discussion amongst teachers as to whether it is appropriate/disrepectful of our students to climb on the ruins. The legal reality is that climbing is not allowed but the rangers turn a blind eye. In addition, there are no barriers to prevent any person from getting to the temples themselves.

My opinion was that our students wouldn't be damaging the temples and their approach to getting on them was not to try and move them (no way they could) nor as a sign of superiority, but one of experiencing the scale and immensity of these temples.

The last word was made by the director and he said no, however, some of the daughters of the teachers did manage to run around in the temple ruins.

The temple at Segesta.

Only when you climb up to it, do you realize how amazingly well sited this temple was. Nature....everywhere.

In Segesta, which was one of the highlights of the trip for me, was a climb up to an amazingly well preserved and sited Greek theater. Here's the entrance....

.....and here's the theater itself and the amazing panorama.

Throughout the trip, each student and faculty member was asked to perform 10-15 lines from Vergil's Aeneid. We were asked to explain our lines, read it in Latin and then do an interpretive reading of the English translation. In most places, the lines referred to actions at that site or descriptions of it.

Here's what the readers in Segesta were looking at. I have to admit that I came into this year thinking that "classical" studies were a fairy tale, but now, having seen the sites that are in the canon, I'm turning into a true believer.