The History - Segesta
A short but intense life The origins - Thucydides tells that Selinunte was founded in 628 BC by people coming from Megera Hyblaea, a Greek colony near Augusta (Syracuse). Shortly far from the sea, on a very fertile promontory between two rivers, they found the better place to settle. Suddenly Selinunte was one of the wealthiest and magnificent cities of Magna Graece thanks to buoyant trade. Wars and alliances - Its power obviously worried nearby towns. Segesta in particular felt threatened. The war between Selinunte Segesta mingled with the war between Greeks and Carthaginians to conquer the island. At first Selinunte form an allinace with the Carthaginians because Segesta was allied with Athens. Later on the situation changed and in 409 BC the Carthaginians, on demand of Segesta, destroyed the magnificent Selinunte. Since then Selinunte lost definitively its freedom. The ruin – Selinunte was rebuilt but it did not last too much. In 250 BC, after the first Punic war, the Carthaginians destroyed Selinunte for the second time, concentrating on Lylibeo, today’s Marsala, once known for its fortifications. A short life that however was enough to be remembered and admired by the following generations.
|
