Giant 26-Foot Atlas Rises Up in Sicily

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Atlas statue at the Temple of Zeus in Agrigento

Photograph: Sicilian Regional Governing administration

In the 8th century BCE the Greeks colonized Sicily and even currently this heritage can be viewed in the remarkable ancient ruins that protect the island. Now, one towering statue returns to glory as it requires place at Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples Park. Immediately after 20 many years of research and restoration, a 26-foot telamon—or atlas—has been lifted up on the web-site of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

When by no means concluded, this temple was the greatest Doric temple ever built. Telamons, large figures that act as the male equal of a caryatid, ended up sandwiched among the columns with their arms upright as even though they were being keeping up the setting up. Also named atlases or atlantids, these unbelievable figures crumbled with the relaxation of the building after a collection of earthquakes and other disasters.

In 1812, a British architect named Charles Robert Cockerell uncovered the heads of one of the atlases lying at the web page. Given that then, numerous fragments have been found out, but reconstruction of these statues was hardly ever tried right up until 2004. At that issue, archeologists began actively sweeping the internet sites for parts of the sculptures and cataloged above 90 fragments.

Reconstruction of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Archeological Museum of Agrigento (Image: poudou99 by using Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.)

These fragments belonged to 8 distinct telamons. Two-thirds of a single telamon’s parts ended up uncovered and shaped the basis for the titan that was raised up. Archaeologists connected the fragments to a 39-foot-tall board, with just about every piece sitting down on a metallic shelf. Modern reconstructions swap the lacking items and are easily identifiable due to their diverse texture.

Even though the shift to assemble and screen the atlas was criticized by some archeologists, who felt that it was in weak style, officers in Sicily have a various mentality.

“The get the job done we have carried out on the atlas and the Olympian place is part of our mission to protect and increase the Valley of the Temples,” claimed regional cultural assessor Francesco Paolo Scarpinato. “Bringing these stone colossi back again to light-weight has often been one of our key targets.”

h/t: [Smithsonian Magazine]