In ancient Rome, the genius was a deity of domestic worship, private to families, related to the ability of male individuals to generate new life. The genius was usually also attributed with all the abilities judged superior to an individual’s normal abilities, such as intellect or creativity. ...

Unlike the Augustales, the flamines were priests assigned to a specific deity, from whom they took their name. Their task was to light and fan the flame on the altar during sacrificial rites; they could be picked out from the other citizens for the particular way they were dressed: they wore a pur...

The evolution of the figure of Asclepius, god of medicine, in Greek literature is very particular: Homer mentioned him in the 8th century BC for his widespread knowledge in the medical field, but he was still mortal; Pindar, three centuries later, called him the demigod son of Apollo and a mortal ...

From the Latin arŭla, a diminutive of ara, the word arula indicates a small altar usually made of terracotta. ...

The Eleusinian Mysteries were a feast in the Athenian religious calendar. Their diffusion during the imperial period testifies to the great influence that the culture of Ancient Greece had on Roman culture. The fasting, rituals, hymns and sacrifices that took place during these events were all i...

The cult of Demeter and Persephone is documented in Agrigento since the times of the ancient Greek colony by a monumental sacred area in the western part of the Hill of the Temples and divided into three separate terraces. The sanctuary was located in an area near Porta V, where numerous deposits w...

From the Greek προπύλαια, in classical architecture the propylaea indicates the portico in front of the gates of a temple, square, palace or city....

The sculptural decoration of the Hellenistic-Roman Sanctuary porticoes was represented by statues, elegantly dressed in togas, alternating with the columns. Only four of them are preserved, all headless, so it is not possible to identify who they depicted. From the refined clothing and prominent po...

Doric columns are distinguished from those of the other two orders (Ionic and Corinthian) by the absence of the supporting base, and by the shaft which has a bulge (entasis) at one third of its height. The function of the entasis is to correct the shrinking optical illusion created by a row of perf...

Founded in 580 BC by Rhodium-Cretan settlers from Gela, in less than a century Agrigento became a power known throughout the Mediterranean for its flourishing arts and sciences. The Doric temples that its inhabitants built still stand proudly on the southern slope of the hill. They were built usin...