The first temples and the cult of Demeter and Persephone

Phalaris, the terrible tyrant

Phalaris was the first tyrant of Akragas. He probably reigned from 570 to 554 BC, for sixteen years.
Despite the fact that under his leadership the city considerably expanded its territorial boundaries, sources tell of a cruel and controversial individual accused of taking power by force. One day, he was asked to build a Temple dedicated to Zeus on the city Acropolis ;
During the Thesmophoria festival, while the Akragantine people were celebrating, he armed the labourers who were working on his site and ruthlessly ordered them to attack the city and its inhabitants. No one expected an attack at a time of celebration and therefore it was not difficult for Phalaris to seize power.
Another story passed on about the tyrant is that of his famous bull: it is said that Phalaris asked an Athenian blacksmith and smelter, Perillo, to create a torture machine that he himself had designed. It was a bronze bull, hollow inside, where the tyrant would throw people he wanted to torture and kill inside. A fire was lit under the bull and the victims were literally roasted inside it, where their tormented screams echoed through the air like roars. History has it that the wickedness of Phalaris knew no limits: once the bull was built, the tyrant had Perillo, the same craftsman who had built it, to be the first to try it.
When his tyranny fell – thought to have been at the hands of Telemachus, Theron’s ancestor – in revenge, he too was shut inside the bull and a great fire lit beneath it.

The Eleusinian mysteries

The Temple of Asclepius

The Temple of Hera Lacinia

Theron, tyrant of the arts and victories

Sacrifices for the goddesses that made the fields fertile

The Kolymbetra Garden

The walls of Akragas in the fifth century BC

Reinforcement of natural ramparts

The Temple of Concordia

Phalaris, the terrible tyrant

The Akragas building sites

The Sanctuary of Asclepius: a place of welcome for the sick

The most beautiful city of mortals

The Temple of Demeter

The lively decorations of the temple

A monument for the victory over Carthage: the Temple of Olympian Zeus

Empedocles, the political philosopher

The cult of Demeter and Persephone

Vegetation in the Gardens

Akragas in the beginning

The Twelve Labours of Heracles

From pagan cults to Christian worship: the Church of St. Gregory

The sanctuary of the chthonic deities

The Temple of Heracles