Temple F, Selinus

Temple F at Selinus in Sicily is a Greek temple of Magna Graecia of the Doric order [1]. It was probably dedicated to Dionysus or Athena and is one of the three temples on the East Hill [1]. The temple's dating is very uncertain, but it probably belongs to the middle of the sixth century BC [1]. The temple has six columns at the front and fourteen on the flanks and represented a development of the very elongated archaic temple to a more balanced form which was becoming the norm on the Greek mainland as well [1]. The colonnade contained a wider pteron than usual in temples built in Sicily and, as a result, a rather narrow naos with an adyton at the rear and a pronaos with four columns [1]. The intercolumniation of the peristasis was closed with high masonry barriers [1]. The barriers are about half the height of the columns and were perhaps built in a second phase of construction, perhaps in order to transform the peristasis into a cultic area [1]. In 1823, during excavations, two half metopes carved in tufa were discovered, depicting Dionysus and Athena respectively [1].