The Doric temple is situated on a hill just outside the ancient city of Segesta. It was built in 420 BC despite the city not having a large Greek population. This temple is meant to be the best preserved temple from its time so it was on the ‘must see’ list and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
You really wouldn’t believe the location of this temple, the views surrounding it are fabulous and you do have to wander what made them build a temple in the middle of nowhere.
The temple has six by fourteen columns on a base measuring 21 x 56 meters.
Apparently several elements suggest the temple was never finished. The columns have not been fluted as they normally would have been in a Doric temple and there are still tabs present in the blocks of the base (used for lifting the blocks into place but then normally removed). The temple was also never roofed and has no altar.
We were lucky that it wasn’t very busy when we arrived and we had the temple almost to ourselves.
It was such a lovely couple of hours admiring this master piece.
