Quaestors were minor magistrates of ancient Rome. They had administrative powers of supervision and management over finance and the treasury. To take up office, it was necessary to be 28 years old for patricians and 30 for plebeians. The quaestors’ service could take place in Rome or be loca...

Praetors were originally two magistrates working in Rome with judicial functions mainly in civil matters. With the expansion of Roman rule there was a need, for the first time in 227 BC, to appoint two others to the administration of Sicily and Sardinia. The Roman provinces over which they had j...

Among the ancient Greeks, Heracles – Hercules for the Romans – was considered a hero and symbol of strength and courage. His temple in Agrigento was the oldest in the city, built in the 6th century BC, one of the first in Akragas. Inside the cella (shrine) there was a bronze statue of the god w...

Lilybaeum, in the archaeological area of Capo Boéo in Marsala, was an important city in Sicily that was fundamental under Roman rule. According to Diodorus it was founded in 397 BC by exiles who had fled from Motya – an island opposite the coast inhabited by Punic traders – after Dionysius of ...

In Verrem is the work written by Cicero in 70 BC against Gaius Verres, governor of Sicily from 73 to 71 BC, accused of extortion. Called into question by the Sicilians themselves, who were tired of the abuse and suppression of the praetor, the orator maximus, with only his first two speeches, featu...

Gaius Verres was born around 115 BC to an aristocratic family, probably of Etruscan origin. His cursus honorum (course of honour) began in 84 BC in Cisalpine Gaul, where he held the office of quaestor. From his first assignment he was accused of appropriating public money, but this did not prevent...

In ancient Rome, it was common for landowners to exploit prisoners for work in the fields. As in the rest of Italy, in Sicily the slaves were also subjected to terrible living conditions and increasing harassment. In 136 BC, Sicily took centre stage in the First Servile War: from Enna the revolt...

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German writer, poet and playwright, visited the Valley of the Temples during his trip to Sicily in 1787, where he produced several writings on the wilderness and the monumental temples of Akragas, which still evoke the feelings the author experienced “at the point whe...

Salt, in ancient times, was considered such a treasure that it was called “white gold”. In Realmonte in the province of Agrigento, there is the Salgemma salt mine, still in operation today, whose deposit was formed around 6 million years ago. Through a path of galleries and tunnels, 30 metres ...

The term Civitas Decumana meant all the cities which, under Roman rule, were obliged to send one tenth of their harvest to Rome and the rest of Italy. After the Second Punic War, the Roman consul forced the Sicilians to lay down their arms and devote themselves to agriculture, in particular the cu...