The place
Room XV of the museum is dedicated to Gela, the motherland of Akragas. Between 689 and 687 BC, a group of men from the islands of Crete and Rhodes, led by Antiphemus and Entimus, arrived on the southern coast of Sicily to found one of the oldest Greek colonies on the island, near the mouth of the Gela River, from which the city takes its name.
The vast hinterland formed by the river plain stretching to the hills to the north and west quickly became the territory conquered by the Geloi who, to counter the eastward expansion of Selinunte (established around 630 BC in the westernmost part of the southern coast of Sicily), founded a new colony halfway between Gela and Selinunte around 580 BC, a new colony: Akrágas, which soon became autonomous. This was the moment of maximum political expansion for Gela, which later came to control the entire eastern area, towards Syracuse.
Many ancient areas have been discovered thanks to archaeological excavations conducted in the city, despite the difficulties of research due to the fact that medieval and modern settlements have overlapped with the more ancient ones. There are recognizable areas of habitation, sanctuaries, a section of city walls at Capo Soprano, and necropolises, one of which is the source of the only precious artifact on display in the center of the room. On the walls are photographic reproductions of the most important artifacts found during the research and preserved in Gela's rich Archaeological Museum.
