Athena Review Image Archive ™
Agrigento: Sanctuary of the Cthonic Divinities, plan
Agrigento: Plan of the Sanctuary's development (Athena Review Image Archive)
The Sanctuary of the Underworld (Cthonic) Divinities is located at the western end of the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento, near Gate 5. Various shrines to the earth gods Dionysios, Demeter, and her daughter Persephone or Kore are contained within an enclosure bounded on the north and east by an L-shaped portico. The shrines were fully enclosued by a fortification wall, portions of which survive on the west side.
Archaeological excavations have found evidence of early shrines to the earth goddesses from the 7th century BC. Such early features include a pair of altars on the north side of the compound, one round and one square. A total of four temples existed in the Sanctuary, including two unfinished temples dating to the 6th century; the fifth century temple now named for Castor and Pollux; and a Late Hellenistic or Roman temple.
The plan here shows development and changes in the Sanctuary from the sixth through 4th centuries BC.
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