We left Agrigento at 8.30 this morning to visit the remains of Eraclea Minoa, a small town about 45 minutes drive away. The road travels through vinyards and fields of olive and citrus trees. Eraclea Minoa stood above a cape of white stone, which was used for some of the buildings, such as the theatre. This was a pity in a way, because, though the stone is an attractive colour, it was very friable, and has not weathered well.
According to the historian Diodorus, the town was founded by King Minos of Crete, who chased Daedalus (who had escaped from Crete) to Sicily and landed here. Greeks settled here in the 6th century BC, and the town kept the name, calling it Eraclea Minoa.
The town flourished in the 5th century BC, especially after 480 BC; being then very close to the sea, it became quite rich. It was sacked by the Carthaginians in 409 BC but seems to have continued in occupation for around another three centuries. It was eventually covered by a landslide, which helped to preserve some of it. It was partly excavated in the 1950s, but is largely untouched since then.
There are remains of some houses, and the theatre. The theatre is hard to photograph because it is covered by a roof to try and protect the fragile stone from further erosion.
It is in a beautiful and romantic setting, looking over towards the sea, and in the distance you can see a beach, a curve of pale sand with low breaking surf.
We wandered round the jumble of walls that were once buildings - probably people's houses, but it was difficult to identify anything. We also looked in the tiny museum, which had some nice ceramics and some collections of amphorae.
After that, we headed back to Agrigento for a look at the museum there.
The museum is housed in what used to be a monastery. The attached Norman church of San Nicola has a wonderful Gothic doorway; the door is currently being painted, hence the scaffolding.
The interior of tne church is refreshingly un-baroque!
The museum contains finds dating back to pre-history. This gold cup is 7th century BC
The vase collection, dating from the 6th to the third century BC, is quite outstanding. You can see cabinet after cabinet of masterpieces, each one an exceptional painting. And there seems to have been very little restoration, they have been wonderfully preserved. It's just a shame that none of my photographs was similarly outstanding!
There were many more votive figures dedicated to Demeter, who was especially associated with Sicily. Most of the figures are quite boring, but I could not resist the rather self-contained smile on this head.
One of the treasures of the museum is this early statue of a Greek youth. He probably dates to around 480BC.
He is what is referred to as an ephebe - we might say a youth. He hasn't yet started his military training, so he hadn't many muscles. And being of quite an early period, he hasn't really any expression on his face.
Another of the museum's treasures is a this krater, made in Gela, which isn't far away.
It also dates to the 5th century BC, and illustrates the scene from Homer where Achilles encounters the Amazon Penthesilea in battle and kills her, at the same moment as falling in love with her.
I could include a lot more photos here, there are lots of interesting things in the museum, and some of them are really beautiful. But I don't want to end up posting what looks like a museum catalogue.
It was lunch time by then, so we drove to the beach for lunch, and some of us went swimming. The beach was completely deserted, and the water was quite cold. I did a bit of screaming as I went in.
In the late afternoon we returned to the hotel for a shower and a rest (in Paul's case) and for time to write this (in my case). Before we go out for supper, we are having another lecture.
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