This summer, 10 Students and two faculty members are traveling to Italy to examine the Etruscan, Greek, Roman, medieval, renaissance and modern footprints on the Italian peninsula and in Sicily. Please enjoy this blog post below from Sophia ’26 where she shares how students explored ancient temple ruins at Selinunte, connected classical texts to history, and reflected on the region’s archaeological and cultural significance during a sunny, adventure-filled day.
Today was an action-packed day in the outdoors and in the sun! We had a later morning today, and left the hotel at around 10 A.M, and took an hour drive to a quarry. As we entered the quarry, we saw the carvings of column drums for temples in the stone. These column pieces were to be used in the creation of an unfinished temple we saw later in the day. We had some time to journal and enjoy the nature around us before heading back to the bus.
After driving for half an hour, we settled into lunch, and had some sandwiches and cold beverages. We walked to the Archeological Site at Selinunte next, and we were met by three temples. One was rebuilt by archeologists to be standing, one was in ruins, and the last was the ruins of the unfinished temple that had material from the quarry. We explored the inside of the first, standing temple, appreciated the grandeur of it, and snapped a couple of pictures. We then found some shade and translated some Latin from Vergil’s The Aeneid, and some Greek from Cassius Dio’s Roman History. We learned about Selinunte’s history, as well, and connected it to that of Segesta, yesterday’s temple site. The two civilizations were enemies, and Segesta allied with the Carthaginians to destroy Selinunte. So, we visited these ruins next, and climbed around the ancient stone. We walked to the Acropolis next, and noted a mosaic of a goddess in some of the rock. After golf-carting back to the parking lot, we headed back to the hotel before departing for dinner at a pizzeria.
Tomorrow will be a travel morning to Agrigento, before a visit to the Valley of Temples!
