Ill 



AGRIGENTTJM. 



AHMEDNUGGUR. 



slavery. At a later period of the war, B.C. 255, the Carthaginian 

 general Carthalo recovered Agrigentum and reduced it to ashes. At 

 the end of the war the city, which had in some degree recovered from 

 its late calamities, became subject to Rome, and regained some of its 

 former prosperity. In the second Punic war it continued faithful to 

 Rome, but was surprised by Himilco, who made it the chief stronghold 

 of the Carthaginians in Sicily, even after the other cities had been 

 reduced by the Romans. At length, in B.C. 210, the city was put into 

 the hands of Ljevinus by treachery, and became permanently subject 

 to Rome ; but was treated with much favour, so that it became one of 

 the most wealthy and populous cities of Sicily, and a great emporium 

 fur the corn trade. (Liv. xxv. 40 ; xxvi. 40 ; Cicero ' Ver.' ii. 50, 62 ; 

 iii. 43 ; iv. 33, 43.) Under the Roman empire, and as long as Sicily 

 remained under the Greek empire, Agrigentum continued to hold ite 

 rank as one of the most considerable cities of the island. The Saracens 

 took it in A.D. 827, and held it till 1086, when it was wrested from 

 them by Roger Guiscard the Norman. For an account of the modern 

 town, gee GIRGENTI. 



The situation of Agrigentum is said to be one of the most beautiful 

 in Sicily. " At the foot of the high mountains which bound the plains 

 of the Akragas, a low ridge of hills extends from east to west. The 

 southern side gently slopes towards the river, while the northern and 

 western sides fall much more steeply towards the Hypsas, which still 

 flows, though with a current much diminished." (Wilkins's ' Magua 

 Graei 



The most remarkable objects mentioned by Diodorun in his account 

 of the town (xiii. 82.), are the temple of Jupiter Olympius; and 

 an artificial lake, 7 stadia, or nearly a mile in circumference, and 20 

 cubiU or 30 feet deep, fed constantly by running streams, and well 

 stocked with fish, which were eaten at the public entertainments; 

 the pond was also a favourite haunt of swans. This, before the time 

 of the historian, was filled with mud, owing to neglect of the sub- 

 terraneous sewers and conduits connected with it, and turned into 

 orchard or garden ground, which afforded a considerable revenue to 

 the town. He also mentions the tomb of Theron as a considerable 

 work. The temple of Jupiter is said by Diodorus to have been the 

 largest in the island ; indeed, exoept the temple of Ephesus, it was the 

 largest Grecian building applied to sacred purposes. Its dimensions, a* 

 given by him, are height, exclusive of the platform, 120 feet ; length 

 340 ; breadth 160. It was of the Dorio order, but apteral, that is, it 

 had no external portico, the interval between the columns being 

 filled up by wall. The columns are engaged, that is, little more than 

 half their mass projects from the wall. The circumference of the 

 external and visible part is 20 feet, the diameter 18 feet. The echinus 

 of each (that is, the swelling part of the capital) was formed by two stones, 

 each a quarter of the whole capital, had the pillar been disengaged. Two 

 of them at least remain, each weighing (by computation we presume) 

 21 ^ ton*. These enormous massed were raised to the height of 70 feet 

 from the ground. The fluting! of the columns are wide enough to 

 contain a man's body. When the town was first taken by the Cartha- 

 ginians, the temple was completed except the roof, and this deficiency 

 was never supplied. On the eastern pediment was sculptured the War 

 of the Giants : on the western, the Siege of Troy. Within, the temple 

 was divided into what we may call a nave and two aisles ; and the 

 height of the nave was 18 feet more than the height of the nave of St. 

 Paul's, in London, and its breadth 2 feet 2 inches greater. The walls of 

 the interior were strengthened by massive pilasters, supporting an entab- 

 lature upon which stood a row of Atlanteg, as the Greeks called male 

 figure* when thug applied. These colossal figures were about 25 feet 

 high, and supported an upper entablature, which rose about 110 feet 

 above the floor of the temple. The style of the sculpture approaches 

 that of the /Eginetan marbles; the giants must, however, be con- 

 siderably later in date. Fazellus says, that "one part connected 

 with three giant* and some columns was long standing, but fell, 

 December 9, 1301, and the common people still call the spot the 

 Palace of the Giant*." 



Of thi splendid building, with the exception of the basement, 

 scarcely one stone remains upon another. Traces of the walls, however, 

 have been discovered by excavation, enough to enable the architect to 

 determine the ground-plan with accuracy. Not a single column 

 remains standing, but two capitals are still visible on the ground, 

 (one with a portion of the entablature attached), which excite the 

 wonder of the visitor by their gigantic size. 



At the S.E. angle of the ancient city stand the remains of a temple, 

 formerly dedicated to Juno Lucina. Farther to the west, stands the 

 Temple of Concord, in better preservation, owing to its having been 

 converted into a Christian church. It was restored according to the 

 original design, by Ferdinand IV., king of Naples. The portico is 

 perfect, and the columns are in good preservation. Both these temples 

 are of the Doric order, and nearly of the same size and plan; they date 

 mot probably fn >:ntury, B.C., the most flourishing period 



ry of Agrigentum. Both are peripteral, or Burrounded by 



P" rt Inmns in front and 13 on each side, 



'"' 1 '' ""s are about the same length 124 feet, breadth 64. 



m tli- immediate edge of an abrupt rock, and form 



Mtriking objects from tlif p1;iin lx-low. The following view of 



them a taken from Wilkins's 'Magna Gratia.' Of the Temple of 



Hercules, which hud 15 columns in the side and 6 in front, and was 



the largest of the temples remaining after that of Zeus, above described 

 but one pillar remains ; of that of jEsculapius, only three. The area o 

 the fish-pond is still visible ; it is now a garden, as in the time of Diodorus. 

 Other remains of antiquity exist, and among them, one is said to be the 

 tomb of Theron. Many painted vases of beautiful workmanship have 

 been found in the tombs. A sarcophagus, on which the story of Phaedra 

 and Hippolytus is sculptured, is preserved in the Cathedral of Girgentl. 

 Under the hill on which the modern city stands are extensive catacombs, 

 referred by some to the ancient Sicanians. 



liuins of Agrigentum. 



Many stories of the extraordinary wealth and profuseness of the 

 Agrigentines are told, which are not without interest ; they may be 

 summed up in the pithy observation of Empedocles, himself a native 

 of the city, that "the Agrigentines built as if they were to live for 

 ever, and feasted as if they were to die on the morrow." The town 

 was mainly indebted for its great wealth to the extraordinary fertility 

 of its territory in corn, wine, and oil, for which the adjacent country is 

 still distinguished. The soil was cultivated by slaves. 



The port of Agrigentum was at the mouth of the Akragas, which 

 river received the Hypsos a little below the south wall of the city. 

 The Akragas flowed along the eastern side, the Hypsas along the 

 western side of the hill on which the city stood. 



AHANTA, the name of a small district lying along the Gold Coast, 

 in Africa, which is, like the whole of the Gold Coast, subject to the 

 sovereign of Ashantee. In Bowdich's map it occupies the space along 

 the coast lying between 3" and 2" 10' W. long., and its breadth from 

 north to south is very inconsiderable. On the west of it is the river 

 which the Portuguese call Ancoba, and the natives Seenua, beyond 

 which is the district called Amanahea ; to the north is Warsa ; and to 

 the east are the districts of Assin and Fantee, from which it is divided 

 by the river Praar or Boosempra. Ahauta is itself divided into three 

 districts, Amanfoo, Adoom, and Poho. Its chief town is Boossooa. At 

 the town of Succondee, on the coast, there used to be an English settle- 

 ment, but it has been abandoned. There are also two or three Dutch 

 trading forts along the coast. The principal projection of the coast is 

 Cape Three Points. The district of Amanfoo is stated by Bowdich to 

 abound in Sne gold. (Bowdich's Motion to Ashantee, p. 216, &c.) 



AHMED ABAD, a fortified city, situated on the banks of the Suber- 

 matty, in 23" 1' N. lat., 72 36' E. long. ; 321 miles N. by W. from 

 Bombay, and 1284 miles W. from Calcutta. It lies in a district of the 

 same name in the province of Qujerat, or Guzerat, and presidency of 

 Bombay. This city is of great antiquity ; it was formerly the Moham- 

 medan capital of the province, and was celebrated us well for the 

 number and beauty of its religious and other public buildings, as for 

 the extent of its commerce and manufactures. This prosperity it lost 

 under the sway of the Mahratta chieftains, who mined it by exacting 

 enormous duties and taxes. The East India Company came into 

 possession of the city in 1818, and has restored to some extent its 

 former prosperity by a more liberal policy. The population exceeds 

 100,000. There is a government school, which, with five others in 

 the same eollectorate or district, had 413 pupils in 1842 ; and in the 

 same year the pupils ip the native schools amounted to G674. 



AHMEDNUGGUR, a strongly fortified city in the province of 

 Aiiningabad, in the presidency of Bombay, is situated on the left bank 

 of the river Seena, a feeder of the Kistna, in 19" 5' N. lat., 74 53' E. 

 long. ; about Ibl miles E. by N. from Bombay, and 1119 miles W.S.W. 

 from Calcutta. 



This city was founded in 1493 by Ahmed Nizam Shah, who residde 

 here until his death in 1508. After a series of revolutions, Ahmed- 

 nuggur in 1634 became a part of the Mogul empire, and so continued 

 until the death of Aurungzebe in 1707. It was then seized by the 



