Fifth Gate

The Fifth Gate, on the southern side of the fortifications of Akragas, was one of the main monumental entrances to the city, because it led directly to the great Sanctuary of the Chthonic deities ('Earth deities'). The gate was crossed by a carriageway (the grooves of which are still clearly visible today) that fed into the east-west sacred road (plateia), which crossed the Collina dei Templi ('Hill of the Temples') leading to the Second Gate. The access to the gate was protected on the western side by a monumental rectangular tower, as well as by two smaller towers on either side of the gate. West of the Fifth Gate is a small temple (sacellum) erected to consecrate the fortifications, as was also the case for other gates. The construction of the gate dates back to the last twenty years of the 6th century B.C., but later modifications to improve its defensive features are documented and date to the end of the 4th and to the 3rd centuries B.C. The walls were originally constructed using regular-shaped blocks of local calcarenite, while rough or used stone blocks and cruder building techniques were adopted for the later modifications. A fifteen-metre-deep well was found in the vicinity of the gate. This well leads to an underground passage that splits into two tunnels, which end up: to the north in the valley of the Kolymbethra, the 'wonderful pool' built during the 5th century B.C. to collect the waters from many aqueducts, and to the south outside the city walls. Next to the external part of this section of the fortifications, to the west of the gate, is an industrial quarter with furnaces.

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Testo di: Valentina Calì
admin by Tommaso Guagliardo