Alex Hardcastle and the ancient Greek Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Dioscuri Valley of the Temples, Sicily -- Photo: ALAMY
Posted on 11/29/2010 7:55:28 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Alexander Hardcastle spent a decade searching for the fabled theatre, which is said to be buried beneath the remains of Akragas, a city established by Greek colonists six centuries before Christ on the southern coast of Sicily... Hardcastle, a former soldier who had served with the Royal Engineers in the Boer War, believed that remains of the stone-built theatre had survived, despite Akragas being shaken by earthquakes, sacked by the Carthaginians and plundered for its stone. The Harrow-educated gentleman scholar, who was born in Belgravia, spent a fortune on the quest between 1920 and 1930, but lost all his money when his family's bank collapsed in the wake of the financial crash of 1929. He died in poverty in a mental asylum in the town of Agrigento, which overlooks the ancient site, in 1933. He had achieved a restoration of the city, partly rebuilding temples, uncovering perimeter walls and clearing ancient roads, but found no trace of the legendary theatre.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Alex Hardcastle and the ancient Greek Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Dioscuri Valley of the Temples, Sicily -- Photo: ALAMY
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That’s gonna suck if they keep on digging and never find that theatre.
They’ll find something. Although maybe not as layered as Greece and points east, it’s layered enough!
According to Thucydides, Akragas was founded 153 years after Syracuse, or about 581 B.C., but some would date its founding a little earlier, about 600. Its ancient rulers included the tyrant Phalaris (tyrant 570-554), famous for the metal bull inside which he would roast his enemies to death, and for the tyrant Theron (488-472). The city was sacked by the Carthaginians in 406/405, by the Romans in 261, by the Carthaginians again in 255, and by the Romans again in 210, at which time the inhabitants were enslaved. Rough neighborhood.
Sounds like Camden, New Jersey.
Maybe some’more GREMBLA pots.
The Greeks built a theatre in Los Angeles 2,500 years ago ? Well, you learn sumtin new ever’ day.
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