Temple C, Selinus

Temple C at Selinus, is a Greek temple of Magna Graecia in the Doric style [1]. It was one of the most ancient of the temples at Selinus, having probably been built on the acropolis a little after the middle of the sixth century BC, although its dating is controversial [1]. The temple was the object of archaeological research in the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century and later the remains of a long stretch of the northern colonnade received anastylosis in 1929 [1]. Temple C was probably used as an archive (hundreds of seals have been recovered from it) and was dedicated to Apollo, as shown by an inscription, not to Heracles [1]. The building has a peristyle colonnade around the naos, with six columns at the front and seventeen on its long sides, leading to a very elongated floor plan, far from the canonical 1:2 proportion, but paralleled by some other archaic temples [1]. Three metopes survive in full: a frontal view of a quadriga being driven vigorously by Helios, Perseus decapitating Medusa while Athena looks on, Heracles carrying the captured Cercopes on his shoulders [1].