Agrigento was founded as a Greek colony, Akragas, in southwestern Sicily in the 6th century BCE, and is now protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as an outstanding example of Greek architecture and influence in the Mediterranean.
For a long time, archaeological research in Agrigento centered on the tempels but the Parco Archeologico e Paesaggistico della Valle dei Templi launched a new research program to more closely investigate the urban layout, public buildings, domestic architecture, water management, and the city’s identity during the Greek, Hellenistic, Roman and the late Antique periods. The project ‘Akragas – The quarter of Gate II’ directed by Dr. Ronaldo Gurgel Pereira (Proejct Director) of NOVA University Lisbon – CHAM, in collaboration with Dr. Vanessa Boschloos (Field Director), of Ghent University's Department of Archaeology contributes to this research program.
This new archaeological project in the Quarter of Gate II contributes to a better understanding of the general historical-archaeological framework of Punic presence in 4th century BCE Sicily.
Description:
Akragas (Agrigento, Sicily) was founded in c. 580 BCE by colonists from Rhodes and Crete who had founded the nearby city of Gela in the previous century. Fighting alongside Syracuse against Carthage, the city flourished after the Battle of Himera in 480 BCE. From this period onwards, Akragas was one of the major cities in the Mediterranean, known for its architectural splendour, especially its monumental Doric temples, over 12 km of fortifications and nine city gates. The city was attacked, besieged and then destroyed by the Carthaginians in 406 BCE.
In the course of archaeological investigations carried out since the early 1920s, traces of the destruction by the Carthaginians and the Punic presence in the city have been identified. The eastern and southern edge of the Rupe Atenea hill is demarcated by a ridge, where the so-called Gela Gate or City Gate II is located. This project examines a neighbourhood in this part of the archaeological park, traditionally called ‘the Punic Quarter’ or ‘the residential/artisanal quarter of Gate II’.
Between 1986 and 1989, part of an insula (Insula I) where artisanal and residential activities took place was excavated in this area. The limits of the insula have not yet been defined and the results were only partially published (De Orsola, D. 1991. Il quartiere di Porta II ad Agrigento, QuadAMess 6, 71-105).
This project proposes an updated architectural study for the protection and conservation of the structures in this part of the archaeological park, and will define the structure and extension of the insulae in relation to the urban grid. The objective is to understand the urban development of the area based on the evolution of domestic architecture, more specifically through:
1. The identification, study and analysis of data from the previous excavation of domestic structures in this area;
2. The analysis of construction techniques;
3. The definition of housing typologies, organisation and function of spaces, and their relation to the entire built area;
4. The study of the chronological development of domestic structures, also through new archaeological and stratigraphical investigations aimed at clarifying the absolute chronology of the construction phases;
5. The study of cultural reference models for construction typologies and the methods of reworking them according to territorial peculiarities;
6. And the preparation of general and detailed plans and three-dimensional documentation of previously excavated houses as well as of newly discovered structures.
The final result of the research will be an analytical evaluation, based on a detailed study of the buildings and the stratigraphy associated with the different construction phases, and of the importance of Italian models of domestic construction in the Greek and Punic environment.