The bouleuterion, the hall of the council of representatives of the people, was built between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The structure was rectangular, with columns at the front, which enclosed a semicircular cavea open to the east. The six rows of seats in the sta...

The ekklesiasterion of Agrigento was built around the 4th-3rd century BC and originally would have been circular in shape. Today only a portion of the cavea remains, which is semicircular in shape and has nineteen concentric rows of steps. [caption id="attachment_13632" align="aligncenter" width...

Demeter and Persephone were the goddesses associated with the fertility of nature and humankind. Legend has it that Persephone, Demeter’s daughter, was kidnapped by Hades and taken to the realm of the dead. Despaired by her disappearance, Demeter managed to get her daughter back, but since she ha...

In Roman cities, these terms indicated the streets running north-to-south (cardo) and east-to-west (decumanus). The cardo maximus and the decumanus maximus were the two main streets of the settlement, and the point where they intersected was usually the forum. ...

Originally created as a market place, with the passing of time the forum would become a proper meeting point where all citizens would go to participate in the administrative, political and economic affairs of the territory. The most important cities had more than one: the forum boarium for cattle ...

Remote sensing is the remote measurement of an object or environment, carried out by aircraft but also more increasingly by satellites. The result of the process is an image created by scanning different types of electromagnetic waves collected by a device equipped with sensors, which processes th...

Pietro Griffo was an important Italian scholar and archaeologist. Appointed Superintendent of Antiquities in Agrigento in 1941, he dedicated himself fully to the research and preservation of the important archaeological findings of the Valley of the Temples. He oversaw protection of the temples du...

Giulio Schmiedt. Military topographer and certified aeroplane observer. After the Second World War, he pursued his career at the IGM (Italian Military Geographic Institute). He specialised in aerial photography, first for military then for archaeological purposes. He took on a teaching post in To...

Aerial photogrammetry is a photogrammetry technique. It consists of aerial shots that make it possible to detect characteristics of the ground that are not visible at ground level. In archaeology, this investigative tool is fundamental for identifying traces of underground remains that are not vis...

From the Greek πλατεῖα (platêia), the plateies were main roads running east to west. In the Hippodamus urban plan, they intersected the minor streets perpendicularly to create regular quadrangular blocks....