At the north end of the acropolis are extensive remains of the fortifications of Hermocrates across the narrow neck connecting it with the rest of the hill. In front of the wall lies a deep trench, into which several passages descend, as at the nearly contemporary fort of Euryelus above Syracuse (q.v.). Outside this again lies a projecting semicircular bastion, which commands the entrance from the exterior of the city on the east, a winding trench ap proached by a pair of double gateways, which are not vaulted but covered by the gradual projection of the upper courses. Capitals and triglyphs from earlier buildings destroyed to make room for them have been used in the construction of these fortifications : from their small size they may be mostly attributed to private houses, but a small temple was also destroyed, fragments of five metopes of which are at the museum at Palermo (c. 500 B.c.). A way across the curving trench leads to an open space, where the Agora may have been situated : beyond it lay the town, the remains of which are scanty, though the line of the walls can be traced.
Outside the ancient city, on the west of the river Selinus, lie the ruins of a temple of Demeter Malophoros, with a propylon leading to the sacred enclosure : the temple itself has a cella with a narrow door and without columns; outside and in front of it was a large altar 52 ft. long. A large number of votive terra-cotta figures, vases and lamps were found in the course of the excava tions. The earliest temple must have been erected soon after the foundation of the city, while the later building which superseded it dates from shortly after 600 B.C. The propylon, on the other
hand, may date from after 409 B.C.
On the hill east of Selinus, separated from it by a small flat valley, lies a group of three huge temples. No other remains have been found round them, though it seems improbable that they stood alone and unprotected. It is likely that they were outside the town, but stood in a sacred enclosure. All of them have fallen, undoubtedly owing to an earthquake. The oldest of the three is F. A peculiarity of the construction of this temple is that all the intercolumniations were closed by stone screens. In it were found the lower parts of two metopes. Next in date comes the huge temple G, which, as an inscription proves, was dedicated to Apollo ; though it was never entirely completed (many of the columns still remain unfluted), it was in use. The plan is a curious one : despite the comparative narrowness of the cella, it had two rows of ten columns in it, in line with the front angles of the inner shrine. The blocks of stone were quarried from the Cave di Cusa, 8 m. to the north-west, where similar blocks intended for it may still be seen in the quarry. The third temple, E, has been proved by the discovery of an inscription to have been dedicated to Hera. Its fine metopes now in the museum at Palermo belong to the beginning of the 5th century B.C. The cemeteries lay east of the acropolis, north of the city, and west of the temple of Demeter.
See W. B. Dinsmoor, The Architecture of Greece (London, 1927, 79 sqq., 193 sqq.).