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The city of Selinunte, founded in the mid-seventh century BC by colonists from Megara Hyblaea, played a major role in the history of ancient Greece. The name of the city, Selinus, Selinon comes from a plant which grows spontaneously in the area. According to historical life of Selinunte was dotted with conflicts and wars in particular the city of Segesta, his bitter enemy in the expansion Selinunte who saw a threat to their survival. Selinunte quickly extended their domains and founded Heraclea Minoa and seizing a large area internal to the mouth of Platani. Until, exploded the conflict between Athens and Syracuse, who was born in Athens on the request for help from Segesta, during yet another territorial dispute with Selinus, call on Carthage. The siege lasted nine days and after a desperate resistance Selinunte was destroyed (409 BC). In the new political arrangements between Syracuse and Carthage, before being razed in the late third century BC, Selinunte was under the rule Punic. In the second half of the sixteenth century, the city was rediscovered by the historian Thomas Fazello. In 1823 the British undertook the archaeological excavations and has continued almost uninterrupted since then and are still being given the vastness of the area because most of the city is still underground.
The archaeological park of Selinunte, established since 1993, is considered the largest and most impressive of Europe covers 270 hectares and includes numerous temples, shrines and altars. Is one of the centers of greatest interest to scholars, archaeological and visitors in providing planning, military architecture temple, sculpture and funerary art a witness and an irreplaceable role in history and in the archeology of the ancient world. The uniqueness of Selinunte is given by the large amount of its ruins, by their size and their honor, all of which together is hard to find elsewhere in the Western world.
Greek civilization in the center of all the architecture was the temple, abode of divinity, the sacred and eternal.
The temples of Selinunte were constructed according to the canons of the order Doric architectural style greek oldest, whose main features are simplicity and essentiality, which give a sense of order and divine immortality.
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