The story of this place
Standing alone on a windswept hilltop in western Sicily, the Doric temple of Segesta is one of the best-preserved Greek temples anywhere—yet it was never completed. Built around 420 BC by the Elymians, a non-Greek people who adopted Greek styles, its 36 columns still lack the fluting normally carved last, and it has no roof or interior walls, suggesting work stopped abruptly, perhaps when war with rival Selinunte intervened. Some scholars think it was a grand facade meant to impress Greek allies rather than a functioning shrine. Its solitary golden stone against green hills has entranced travellers for centuries. Nearby, a superbly sited Greek theatre looks out over the mountains toward the distant sea.