Editing Segesta (section)

==The temple==
[[File:Cole Thomas The Temple of Segesta with the Artist Sketching 1843.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|right|Segesta Temple in [[Thomas Cole]]'s painting from 1843]]
On a hill just outside the site of the ancient city of Segesta lies an unusually well-preserved [[Doric order|Doric]] temple. Some think it to have been built in the 420s BC by an Athenian architect, despite the city not having any Greek population.<ref>Scully, Vincent. 1969. The earth, the temple, and the gods; Greek sacred architecture. New York: Praeger.</ref> The prevailing view is that it was built by the indigenous [[Elymians]].<ref>Lo Monaco, Annalisa. ''Il Tempio di Segesta sembra Greco ma è un’antichissima testimonianza degli Elimi''. vanillamagazine.it</ref><ref>Riva, Alessandro; Barbera, Ferruccio. 2005. ''Iconica: Contemporary Art and Archaeology in Sicily''. Edizioni Charta Srl.</ref> The temple has six by fourteen columns on a base measuring 21 by 56&nbsp;metres, on a platform three steps high. Several elements suggest that the temple was never finished. The columns have not been [[Fluting (architecture)|fluted]] as they normally would have been in a Doric temple, and there are still [[Boss (architecture)|bosses]] present in the blocks of the base (used for lifting the blocks into place but then normally removed). The temple also lacks a [[cella]], any ornamentation, altar or deity dedication, and was never roofed over.<ref>Grinnell, Isabel Hoopes. 1943. Greek temples.</ref> The temple was never completed due to the war between Segesta and Selinunte.<ref>Riva, Alessandro. Barbera, Ferruccio. 2005. Iconica: Contemporary Art and Archaeology in Sicily. Edizioni Charta Srl.</ref> It managed to escape destruction by the Carthaginians in the late 5th century BC.