The Temple of Heracles (Tempio di Eracle) is one of the monuments in the famous Valley of the Temples near Agrigento. It is probably the oldest of the temples in the valley. Some of the fallen columns were resurrected in 1924.
Temple of Hercules Agrigento
Useful information
Opening hours and admission Temple of Hercule and Valley of the Temples. Heracles is the Greek, Hercules the Roman name of the God to whom the temple is dedicated.
History and description
The Temple of Heracles is located at the beginning of Via dei Templi, near the parking lot along the SS118 road. It was built at the end of the 6th century BC and is probably the oldest one of the temples in the valley.
This can be inferred from its elongated floor plan and less elegant structure.
The Tempio di Eracle was a so-called peripteros, a temple with a central space surrounded by a row of free standing columns at the sides. There were six columns on the facade and the total number was 28. The pronaos, like the opistodomo (the space at the back), had two columns at the front and walls at the sides.
Eight of the columns were resurrected in 1924. Four of them still have a capital. Part of another column was still standing.
There are some ruins of what used to be an altar on the east side of the temple.
There is also a kind of ditch, with notches left by chariot wheels in the rock.