2023-08-24 16:20:30
Time.news – A lion’s head in precious marble, perfect, intact, splendid: it is the outlet of a marble sima, or the upper end of the roof of a still unidentified or never known temple, and was found in Selinunte during the archaeological research conducted by the University of Bochum on the ship traffic of the eastern port.
Archaeologist Jon Albers was already responsible for the discovery of the complex of furnaces along the bed of the ancient river that flowed into Selinunte: and it was precisely in one of these spaces – probably an ancient warehouse on the road that led to the ancient port – that the German mission discovered this component that usually crowned the entablature.
“We have found a large block of marble, perhaps from Paros in Greece, which constitutes an upper section of the temple. An initial indication tells us that in sima – Albers explains to Time.news – another temple, on which specialists who came from Paros. The marble arrived pre-worked, and was finished here in Selinunte for a temple that we do not yet know”.
Another hypothesis “with a 50% probability”, added Albers, indicates that the sima belongs to Temple E, of which “we do not know the original sima”. The indications in the hands of the archaeologists do not indicate, however, a “perfect” correspondence with Temple E. “Perhaps it belonged to temple E – underlines Albers – or to a temple that we do not yet know”.
The sima had the dual function of beautifying the temple and of collecting rainwater which was then drained by spouts in the shape of a lion’s head. In the 6th century BC these decorations were made in terracotta, but already in the following century the first sima were made in stone. Some of them are already known, very large (about 70 cm in height) from the Temple of Heracles in Agrigento and from the Temple of Victory in Himera, made of high quality local limestone.
This new find from Selinunte is also impressive, at around 62cm (weighing over 250kg), and is clearly larger than other examples from the region. But it is made of marble, an extremely rare and precious material at the time, which was imported from the Greek islands, perhaps from Paros. So far, only nine 5th-century temples with a Greek marble sima are known in all of southern Italy and Sicily, discovered mainly in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The sima just found in Selinunte, and extremely well preserved, is an artifact that has not been completed: although the block is much better preserved than other similar ones, and even the lion’s head is in better condition, the distinctive water spout had not yet been incorporated.
The rear mane of the lion is also missing (which could have been applied with a different material, given the residual traces on the marble), and also the decoration in the upper part of the slab was not finished. Precisely for these conditions, the sima not only suggests the existence of a hitherto unknown marble roof in Sicily, but also allows us to better understand the production processes of these architectural elements.
And since it was found in the port area and in the immediate surroundings of the furnace district of ancient Selinus, it allows us to put forward hypotheses both on the commercial contacts of the city and on the technical skills of the inhabitants. From next Saturday the newly discovered sima will be exhibited at the antiquarium of Baglio Florio in the Selinunte Archaeological Park.
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