Editing Selinunte (section)

==History==

[[File:Temple E Selinunte975.jpg|thumb|Marinella di Selinunte and Temple E as seen from the acropolis of Selinunte.]]
[[File:Temple E Selinunte914.jpg|thumb|Temple E as seen from its side]]
[[File:Selinos didrachm ANS 685 670331.jpg|thumb|[[Didrachm]] coin from Selinunte bearing a ''selinon'' (celery) leaf, {{circa|515}}–470&nbsp;BC.]]

Selinunte was one of the most important of the [[ancient Greece|Greek]] colonies in Sicily, situated on the southwest coast of that island, at the mouth of the small river of the same name, and 6.5&nbsp;km west of the Hypsas river (the modern [[Belice River|Belice]]). It was founded, according to the historian [[Thucydides]], by a colony from the Sicilian city of [[Megara Hyblaea]], under the leadership of a man called [[Pammilus]], about 100 years after the foundation of Megara Hyblaea, with the help of colonists from [[Megara]] in Greece, which was Megara Hyblaea's mother city.<ref>Thucydides vi. 4, vii. 57; [[Scymnus]] 292; [[Strabo]] vi. p. 272.</ref> The date of its foundation cannot be precisely fixed, as Thucydides indicates it only by reference to the foundation of Megara Hyblaea, which is itself not accurately known, but it may be placed about 628&nbsp;BC. [[Diodorus]] places it 22 years earlier, or 650&nbsp;BC, and [[Hieronymus]] still further back in 654&nbsp;BC. The date from Thucydides, which is probably the most likely, is incompatible with this earlier date.<ref>Thucydides vi. 4; Diodorus Siculus xiii. 59; Hieronymus ''Chron.'' ad ann. 1362; Clinton, ''Fast. Hell.'' vol. i. p. 208.</ref> The name is supposed to have been derived from quantities of wild [[celery]] ({{langx|grc|σέλινον|(selinon)}})<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dse%2Flinon σέλινον], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref> that grew on the spot. For the same reason, they adopted the celery leaf as the symbol on their coins.

Selinunte was the most westerly of the Greek colonies in Sicily, and for this reason they soon came into contact with the [[Phoenicians]] of western Sicily and the native Sicilians in the west and northwest of the island. The Phoenicians do not at first seem to have conflicted with them; but as early as 580&nbsp;BC the Selinuntines were engaged in hostilities with the non-Greek [[Elymian]] people of [[Segesta]], whose territory bordered their own.<ref>Diodorus Siculus v. 9.</ref> A body of emigrants from [[Rhodes]] and [[Cnidus]] who subsequently founded [[Lipara]], supported the Segestans on this occasion, leading to their victory; but disputes and hostilities between the Segestans and Selinuntines seem to have occurred frequently, and it is possible that when Diodorus speaks of the Segestans being at war with the [[Marsala|Lilybaeans]] (modern Marsala) in 454&nbsp;BC,<ref>xi. 86. Lilybaeum was only founded in 396 BC</ref> that the Selinuntines are the people really meant.

The river [[Mazarus]], which at that time appears to have formed the boundary with Segesta, was only about 25&nbsp;km west of Selinunte; and it is certain that at a somewhat later period the territory of Selinunte extended to its banks, and that that city had a fort and emporium at its mouth.<ref>Diodorus Siculus xiii. 54.</ref> On the other side Selinunte's territory certainly extended as far as the [[Halycus]] (modern [[Platani (river)|Platani]]), at the mouth of which it founded the colony of [[Heraclea Minoa|Minoa]], or Heracleia, as it was afterward called.<ref>[[Herodotus]] v. 46.</ref> It is clear, therefore, that Selinunte had already achieved great power and prosperity; but very little information survives about its history. Like most of the Sicilian cities, it passed from an [[oligarchy]] to a [[tyranny]], and about 510&nbsp;BC was subject to a despot named Peithagoras, who was overthrown with the assistance of the [[Sparta]]n Euryleon, one of the companions of [[Dorieus]]. Euryleon himself ruled the city, for a little while, but was speedily overthrown and put to death by the Selinuntines.<ref>Herodotus v. 46.</ref> The Selinuntines supported the Carthaginians during the great expedition of [[Hamilcar]] (480&nbsp;BC); they even promised to send a contingent to the Carthaginian army, but this did not arrive until after Hamilcar's defeat at the [[Battle of Himera (480 BC)|Battle of Himera]].<ref>Diodorus Siculus xi. 21, xiii. 55.</ref>

The Selinuntines are next mentioned in 466&nbsp;BC, co-operating with the other cities of Sicily to help the [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracusans]] to expel [[Thrasybulus of Syracuse|Thrasybulus]].<ref>Diodorus Siculus xi. 68</ref> Thucydides speaks of Selinunte just before the [[Athens|Athenian]] expedition in 416 BC as a powerful and wealthy city, possessing great resources for war both by land and sea, and having large stores of wealth accumulated in its temples.<ref>Thucydides vi. 20.</ref> Diodorus also represents it at the time of the Carthaginian invasion, as having enjoyed a long period of tranquility, and possessing a numerous population.<ref>Diodorus Siculus xiii. 55.</ref> The walls of Selinunte enclosed an area of approximately {{convert|100|ha}}.<ref name=danner /> The population of the city has been estimated at 14,000 to 19,000 people during the fifth century BC.<ref name=zucht />

===The Sicilian Expedition===
{{main|Sicilian Expedition}}

In 416&nbsp;BC, a renewal of the earlier disputes between Selinunte and Segesta led to the great Athenian expedition to Sicily. The Selinuntines called on Syracuse for assistance, and were able to blockade the Segestans; but the Segestans appealed to Athens for help.<ref>Thucydides vi. 6; Diodorus Siculus xii. 82.</ref> The Athenians do not appear to have taken any immediate action to save Segesta, but no further conflict around Segesta is recorded. When the Athenian expedition first arrived in Sicily (415&nbsp;BC), Thucydides presents the general [[Nicias]] as proposing that the Athenians should proceed to Selinunte at once and compel the Selinuntines to surrender on moderate terms;<ref>Thucydides vi. 47</ref> but this advice was overruled and the expedition sailed against Syracuse instead. As a result, the Selinuntines played only a minor part in the subsequent operations. They are, however, mentioned on several occasions providing troops to the Syracusans; and it was at Selinunte that the large [[Peloponnesia]]n force sent to support [[Gylippus]] landed in the spring of 413&nbsp;BC, having been driven over to the coast of Africa by a tempest.<ref>Thucydides vii. 50, 58; Diodorus Siculus xiii. 12.</ref>

===Captured by Carthage===
{{main|Battle of Selinus}}
The defeat of the Athenian armament apparently left the Segestans at the mercy of their rivals. They surrendered the frontier district that was the original subject of dispute to Selinunte. The Selinuntines, however, were not satisfied with this concession, and continued their hostility against them, leading the Segestans to seek assistance from Carthage. After some hesitation, Carthage sent a small force, with the assistance of which the Segestans defeated the Selinuntines in a battle.<ref>Diodorus Siculus xiii. 43, 44.</ref> The Carthaginians in the following spring (409&nbsp;BC) sent over a vast army containing 100,000 men, according to the lowest ancient estimate, led by [[Hannibal Mago]] (the grandson of Hamilcar that was killed at [[Himera]]). The army landed at Lilybaeum, and directly marched from there to Selinunte. The city's inhabitants had not expected such a force and were wholly unprepared to resist it. The city fortifications were, in many places, in disrepair, and the armed forces promised by Syracuse, Acragas (modern [[Agrigento]]) and [[Gela]], were not ready and did not arrive in time. The Selinuntines fought the Carthaginians on their own and continued to defend their individual houses even after the walls were breached. However, the enemy's overwhelming numbers made resistance hopeless, and after a ten-day siege the city was taken and most of the defenders put to death. According to sources,  16,000 of the citizens of Selinunte were killed, 5,000 were taken prisoner, and 2,600 under the command of [[Empedion]] escaped to Acragas.<ref>Diodorus Siculus xiii. 54–59.</ref><ref name="Diodorus Siculus xiii. 59, 114">Diodorus Siculus xiii. 59, 114.</ref> Subsequently, a considerable number of the survivors and fugitives were gathered together by [[Hermocrates]] of Syracuse, and established within the walls of the city.<ref>Diodorus Siculus xiii. 63.</ref> Shortly after, Hannibal destroyed the city walls, but gave permission to the surviving inhabitants to return and occupy it as tributaries of Carthage. A considerable part of the citizens of Selinunte took up this offer, which was confirmed by the treaty subsequently concluded between [[Dionysius I of Syracuse|Dionysius]], tyrant of Syracuse, and the Carthaginians, in 405&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Diodorus Siculus xiii. 59, 114"/>

===Destruction===

The Selinuntines are again mentioned in 397&nbsp;BC when they supported Dionysius during his war with Carthage;<ref>Diodorus Siculus xiv. 47</ref> but both the city and territory were again given up to the Carthaginians by the peace of 383&nbsp;BC.<ref>Diodorus Siculus xv. 17</ref> Although Dionysius reconquered it shortly before his death,<ref>Diodorus Siculus xv. 73</ref> it soon returned to Carthaginian control. The Halycus River, which was established as the eastern boundary of the Carthaginian dominion in Sicily by the treaty of 383&nbsp;BC, seems to have generally continued to have been the border, despite temporary interruptions; and was again fixed as the border by the treaty with [[Agathocles]] in 314&nbsp;BC.<ref>Diodorus Siculus xix. 71.</ref> This last treaty expressly stipulated that Selinunte, as well as Heracleia and Himera, were subjects of Carthage, as before. In 276&nbsp;BC, however, during the expedition of [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus]] to Sicily, the Selinuntines voluntarily joined Pyrrhus, after the capture of Heracleia.<ref>Diodorus Siculus xxii. 10. Exc. H. p. 498.</ref> By the [[First Punic War]], Selinunte was again under Carthaginian control, and its territory was repeatedly the theater of military operations between the Romans and the Carthaginians.<ref>Diodorus Siculus xxiii. 1, 21; [[Polybius]] i. 39.</ref> But before the close of the war (about 250&nbsp;BC), when the Carthaginians were beginning to pull back, and confine themselves to the defense of as few places as possible, they removed all the inhabitants of Selinunte to Lilybaeum and destroyed the city.<ref>Diodorus Siculus xxiv. 1. Exc. H. p. 506.</ref>

It seems that it was never rebuilt. [[Pliny the Elder]] mentions its name (''Selinus oppidum''<ref>iii. 8. s. 14</ref>), as if it still existed as a town in his time, but [[Strabo]] distinctly classes it with extinct cities. [[Ptolemy]], though he mentions the river Selinus, does not mention a town of the name.<ref>Strabo vi. p. 272; Ptolemy iii. 4. § 5.</ref> The Thermae Selinuntiae (at modern [[Sciacca]]), which derived their name from the ancient city, and seem to have been much frequented in the time of the [[ancient Rome|Romans]], were situated at a considerable distance, 30&nbsp;km, from Selinunte: they are sulfurous springs, still much valued for their medical properties, and dedicated, like most thermal waters in Sicily, to [[San Calogero]]. At a later period they were called the Aquae Labodes or Larodes, under which name they appear in the [[Antonine Itinerary|Itineraries]].<ref>Antonine Itinerary p. 89; [[Tabula Peutingeriana]]</ref>