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Selinunte
122km
(76 miles) SW of Palermo, 113km
(70 miles) W of Agrigento, 89km
(55 miles) SE of Trapani.
Selinunte was established in the seventh century BC by
migrant settlers from Megara
Hyblaea
or ancirnt Syracuse set out
to build a new colony. They
erected a city of power and
prestige filled with temples. This
caught the attention of its
neighbours and a lot of
Selinunte's history involves
seemingly endless conflicts with
the Elymi people of Segesta.
Hannibal virtually leveled the
city in 409 B.C. when he joined in
the skirmishes on the side of
Segesta and the city never
recovered its former glory and
ultimately fell into decay.
Guy
de Maupassants’ comments on the
ruins at Selinunte was "an
immense heap of fallen columns,
now aligned and placed side by
side on the ground like dead
soldiers, now having fallen in a
chaotic manner." The only
reason to visit Selinunte is for
its ruins, and certainly
not for the unattractive modern
towns Mazara del Vallo and
Castelvetrano that have grown
around it.
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