Editing Agrigento (section)

===Archaic period ===
The territory under Akragas's control expanded to comprise the whole area between the [[Platani (river)|Platani]] and the [[Salso]], and reached deep into the Sicilian interior. Greek literary sources connect this expansion with military campaigns, but archaeological evidence indicates that this was a much longer-term process which reached its peak only in the early fifth century BC.<ref name=Adornato>{{cite journal |last1=Adornato |first1=Gianfranco |title=Phalaris: Literary Myth or Historical Reality? Reassessing Archaic Akragas |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=2012 |volume=116 |issue=3 |pages=483–506 |doi=10.3764/aja.116.3.0483 |s2cid=190232495}}</ref> Most other Greek settlements in Sicily experienced similar territorial expansion in this period.{{sfn|de Angelis|2016|pp=94–101}} Excavations at a range of sites in this region inhabited by the indigenous [[Sicani|Sican]] people, such as [[Monte Sabbucina]], [[Gibil-Gabil]], [[Vasallaggi]], San Angelo Muxano, and [[Mussomeli]], show signs of the adoption of Greek culture.{{sfn|de Miro|1962|pp=143–144}} It is disputed how much of this expansion was carried out by violence and how much by commerce and acculturation.{{sfn|de Miro|1962|pp=143–144}} The territorial expansion provided land for the Greek settlers to farm, native [[Slavery in ancient Greece|slaves]] to work these farms,{{sfn|de Angelis|2016|pp=56–60}} and control of the overland route from Acragas to the city of [[Himera]] on the northern coast of Sicily.{{sfn|de Waele|1971|p=6}} This was the main land route from the [[Straits of Sicily]] to the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]] and Acragas' control of it was a key factor in its economic prosperity in the sixth and fifth centuries BC, which became proverbial. Famously, [[Plato]], upon seeing the living standard of the inhabitants, was said to have remarked that "they build like they intend to live forever, yet eat like this is their last day."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwZpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA307 |title=The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths |date=14 February 2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9781400884674}}</ref> Perhaps as a result of this wealth, Acragas was one of the first communities in Sicily to begin minting its own coinage, around 520 BC.

Around 570 BC, the city came under the control of [[Phalaris]], a semi-legendary figure, who was remembered as the archetypal [[tyrant]], said to have killed his enemies by burning them alive inside a bronze bull. In the ancient literary sources, he is linked with the military campaigns of territorial expansion, but this is probably anachronistic. He ruled until around 550 BC.{{sfn|de Waele|1971|pp=68–69, 77–78}}<ref name=Adornato/> The political history of Acragas in the second half of the sixth century is unknown, except for the names of two leaders, Alcamenes and Alcander.{{sfn|de Waele|1971|p=166}} Acragas also expanded westwards over the course of the sixth century BC, leading to a rivalry with [[Selinus]], the next Greek city to the west. The Selinuntines founded the city of [[Heraclea Minoa]] at the mouth of the Platani river, halfway between the two settlements, in the mid-sixth century BC, but the Acragantines conquered it around 500 BC.{{sfn|de Miro|1962|pp=144–146}}