e southern wall of the city. To the west of them, parted from them by
a gate, which, in Roman times at least, bore, as at Constantinople and
Spalato, the name of Golden, rose the mightiest work of Akragantine
splendor and devotion, the great Olympieion itself. Of this gigantic
building, the vastest Greek temple in Europe, we happily have somewhat
full descriptions from men who had looked at it, if not in the days of
its full glory, yet at least when it was a house standing up, and not a
ruin. As it now lies, a few fragments of wall still standing amid
confused heaps of fallen stones, of broken columns and capitals, no
building kindles a more earnest desire to see it as it stood in the days
of its perfection.

[Illustration: CITY AND BAY OF NAPLES WITH VESUVIUS IN THE DISTANCE
Courtesy International Mercantile Marine Co.]

[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THESEUS AT ATHENS]

[Illustration: PALERMO, SICILY, FROM THE SEA
Courtesy L. C. Page & Co.]

[Illustration: GREEK THEATER AT SEGESTA, SICILY]

[Illustration: TEMPLE OF CONCORD, GIRGENTI, SICILY]

[Illustration: TEMPLE OF JUNO AT GIRGENTI, SICILY]

[Illustration: AMPHITHEATER AT SYRACUSE, SICILY]

[Illustration: GREEK TEMPLE AT SEGESTA, SICILY
Courtesy L. C. Page & Co.]

[Illustration: HARBOR OF SYRACUSE, SICILY
Courtesy L. C. Page & Co.]

[Illustration: THE SO-CALLED "SHIP OF ULYSSES" OFF CORFU
Courtesy Houghton, Mifflin Co.]

[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THE OLYMPIAN ZEUS AT ATHENS
Courtesy Houghton, Mifflin Co.]

[Illustration: THE PLAIN BELOW DELPHI
Courtesy Houghton, Mifflin Co.]

[Illustration: THE ROAD NEAR DELPHI
Courtesy Houghton, Mifflin Co.]

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE STADIUM AT OLYMPIA
Courtesy Houghton, Mifflin Co.]

[Illustration: THRONE OF MINOS IN CRETE
(Minoan civilization in Crete antedates the Homeric age--perhaps by many
centuries) Courtesy Houghton, Mifflin Co.]

SEGESTE[37]

BY JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

The temple of Segeste was never finished; the ground around it was never
even leveled; the space only being smoothed on which the peristyle was
to stand. For, in several places, the steps are from nine to ten feet in
the ground, and there is no hill near, from which the stone or mold
could have fallen. Besides, the stones lie in their natural position,
and no ruins are found near them.

The columns are all standing; two which had fallen, have very recently
been raised again. How far the columns rested on a socle