In the plain are seen the fragments of the temple of Æsculapius: part of two columns and two pilasters, with an intermediate wall, support the end of a farm-house, and were probably the front of the cells.
Towards the west are the gigantic remains of the temple of Jupiter Olympus, minutely described by Diodorus Siculus. It may literally be said, that it has not one stone left upon another; and it is barely possible, with the help of much conjecture, to discover the traces of its plan and dimensions. Diodorus calls it the largest temple in the whole island; but adds, that the calamities of war caused the work to be abandoned before the roof could be put on; and that the Agrigentines were ever after reduced to such a state of poverty and dependence, that they never had it in their power to finish this superb monument of the taste and opulence of their ancestors. The length of this temple was 370 Greek feet, its breadth 60, and its height 220, exclusive of the foundation; the extent and solidity of its vaults and underworks, its spacious porticos and exquisite sculpture, were suited to the grandeur of the whole.
The next ruin belongs to the temple of Castor and Pollux: vegetation has covered the lower parts of the building, and only a few fragments of columns appear between the vines. This was the point of the hill where the wall stopped on the brink of a large fishpond, spoken of by Diodorus: it was cut in the solid rock thirty feet deep, and water was conveyed to it from the hills. In it was bred a great quantity of fish, for the use of public entertainments; swans, and various other kinds of wild fowl, swam along its surface, for the amusement of the citizens; and the great depth of water prevented an enemy from surprising the town on that side. It is now dry, and used as a garden.
On the opposite bank are two tapering columns without their capitals, placed in a tuft of carob trees. Monte Toro, where Hanna encamped with the Carthaginian army, before the Roman consuls drew him into an engagement that ruined his defensive plan, is a noble back-ground in this picturesque group of objects.
The whole space, comprehended within the walls of the ancient city, abounds with traces of antiquity, foundations, brick arches, and little channels for the conveyance of water; but in no part are there any ruins that can be presumed to have belonged to places of public entertainment. This is the more extraordinary, as the Agrigentines were fond of shows and dramatic performances; and the Romans never dwelt in any place long, without introducing their savage games.
We conclude this division of Curiosities by a description of the Ancient Grandeur of Carthage.—At the third Punic war, Carthage appears to have been one of the first cities in the world. It was no less than 360 stadia, or forty-five miles, in circumference, and was joined to the continent by an isthmus, twenty-three stadia, or three miles and a furlong, in breadth. On the west side projected a long tract of land, half a stadium broad; which shooting out into the sea, separated it from a lake, or morass, and was strongly fortified on all sides by rocks and a single wall. In the middle of the city stood the citadel of Byrsa, having on the top of it a temple sacred to Æsculapius, seated upon rocks, to which the ascent was by sixty steps. On the south side the city was surrounded by a triple wall, thirty cubits high; flanked all round by parapets and towers, at equal distances of 480 feet. Every tower had its foundation sunk thirty-two feet deep, and was four stories high, though the walls were but two: they were arched; and in the lower part, corresponding in depth with the foundations above-mentioned, were stalls, large enough to hold 300 elephants, with their fodder, &c. Over these were stalls and other conveniences for 4000 horses; and there was likewise room for lodging 20,000 foot and 4000 cavalry, without incommoding the inhabitants. There were two harbours, which had one common entrance, seventy feet broad, and shut up with chains. The first was appropriated to the merchants, and included in it a vast number of places of refreshment, and all kinds of accommodations for seamen. The second, as well as the island of Cothon in the midst of it, was lined with large quays, in which were receptacles for sheltering 220 ships of war. Over these were magazines of all sorts of naval stores. The entrance into each of these receptacles was adorned with two marble pillars of the Ionic order, so that both the harbour and island represented on each side two magnificent galleries. Near this island was a temple of Apollo, in which was a statue of the god, of massy gold; and the inside of the temple was lined with plates of the same metal, weighing 1000 talents. The city was twenty-three miles in circumference, and contained 700,000 inhabitants.
“All that remains, (says Dr. Shaw,) of this once famous city, are,—the area of a spacious room upon one of the hills on which it stood, commanding the south-east shore, with several smaller ones at a little distance from it; the common sewers, which time has not in the least injured or impaired; and the cisterns, which have shared only in a small degree the general ruin of the city.”