The telamons of the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Agrigento have often been interpreted as the mythical equivalent of the defeated Carthaginians: just as Zeus had thwarted the giants’ attempt to overthrow his authority and seize his power, Theron had stopped the Carthaginians’ invasion.
In the same way, just as Zeus had condemned the giant Atlas to hold the sky on his shoulders, the Telamons of the temple, symbolically the Carthaginians, were forced to hold up the structure’s architrave, which represented the weight of the defeat inflicted upon them by Theron.
