Selinunte

Selinunte is one Sicily’s most important settlements of Greek origin. Founded in the second half of the 7th century B.C. by colonists from Megara Hyblaea, Selinunte spearheaded the spread of Greek influence towards western Sicily, the final frontier to the west, in close contact with the territories dominated by the Punic of Carthage and of the Elymian cities of Segesta and Entella. The antique center is located along the southwest coast near Trapani, covering an area of 2.5 square kilometers on three hillsides surrounded by two rivers, the Modione river (formerly “Selinus�) to the west, and the Cottone river to the east.

 

For two centuries Selinunte was a powerful center, with its own mint for the coining of money and a numerous population (nearly 80,000 inhabitants). In 409 B.C. Selinunte was destroyed and, after a desperate resistance, fell under Carthaginian dominion. In 250 B.C. with the Roman conquest of western Sicily, the city was abandoned and its inhabitants were transferred to Lilybeo (the antique Marsala).