SUMMARY

The project, planned for five years (2019–2024), aims at investigating the gymnasium and a bath building that are both located in the center of the ancient city of Agrigento. While the temples and sanctuaries of Agrigento have long attracted interest in research, the city has only recently come into focus thanks to an impressive program launched by the Parco Archeologico e Paesaggistico della Valle dei Templi di Agrigento (see e.g. Caliò et al. 2017; Caminneci – Parello 2019; Caminneci et al. 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018a, 2018b, 2019a, 2019b, 2020). The FU project contributes to this new program and to gaining a deeper knowledge of the ancient city of Agrigento. It is carried out under direction of Monika Trümper in cooperation with the Parco Archeologico e Paesaggistico della Valle dei Templi di Agrigento.

STATE OF RESEARCH

The gymnasium in Agrigento is one of the most important, if not the most important gymnasium in Sicily and the western Mediterranean more generally, because of its size, design, and chronology (fig. 1). The building was excavated in 1960, 1991-1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, and 2004//2005. Results were published in preliminary reports by various authors (Griffo 1963; De Waele 1971; Moretti 1976; Fiorentini 1992, 1993/1994, 1997/1998) and two final reports by Graziella Fiorentini (Fiorentini 2009, 2010). Fiorentini proposed convincingly that the gymnasium was built in the late Hellenistic period when the city saw a major monumentalizing transformation, but this cannot yet be substantiated by evidence. Stratigraphy and inscriptions (fig. 2) suggest that the currently visible remains belong to the Augustan period, when the gymnasium was significantly remodeled, if not built (Trümper 2020a). The excavated part covers in east-west direction one insula lot of 35m width, between two cardines, whereas the north-south extension is unknown (fig. 3). Currently, the gymnasium is located right next to and partially even cut by a ravine, one of the two major seasonal rivers of the city (figs. 1, 4); but the topographical situation in antiquity remains to be determined. According to the new plan of Agrigento, the gymnasium also covered an east-west oriented plateia, and was bordered by insulae of extended width to the east (Fiorentini 2009, 97–102; 2011, 99–100). If the gymnasium had covered two insulae in north-south direction, it would have been about 300 m long. Despite extensive excavation and publications, several questions remain open:

1. Extension and design of the gymnasium (accessibility, potential palestra building)

2. Chronology

3. Idiosyncratic features (water management and unusual features)

4. Urban context (significance in the urban space)

The facts that few gymnasia/palaestra have been securely identified in the archaeological record of Sicily and other regions of the western Mediterranean and that none of them includes a race-track complex underline the importance of the complex in Agrigento (Trümper 2018, 2020b). Therefore, it seems particularly worthwhile and important to further explore this building and to answer the above-mentioned questions.

Closely related to the gymnasium, which commonly served for the athletic and intellectual training of male citizens and the grooming and training of the body, are bath buildings, particularly in the Imperial period when lavish baths and gymnasia were even merged (Trümper 2015, 2019). A small bath building dating to the late antique period has recently been identified and excavated by the Parco Archeologico e Paesaggistico della Valle dei Templi di Agrigento in the Quartiere ellenistico-romano (Caminneci – Parello 2019). Traces of another small bath building have been identified in a yet unexplored olive grove to the north of the Tempio ellenistico-romano. Two apses, traces of pools and a channel suggest that this was a bath building. The size and wall technique speak for a late date, comparable to that of the bath building in the Quartiere ellenistico-romano. The building requires further research in order to better assess its size, design, date and urban context.

SIGNIFICANCE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

The Freie Universität Berlin began a new research project in October 2019, in cooperation with the Parco Archeologico e Paesaggistico della Valle dei Templi di Agrigento. A first campaign served to survey the terrain of both buildings and materials stored in archives. Based on this survey a geophysical survey was carried out in October 2020 in cooperation with Stephen Kay and Elena Pomar from the British School at Rome: the survey covered the area of the gymnasium and the bath building to the north of the Tempio ellenistico-romano, with the aim to reconstruct urban infrastructure in these areas (Figs. 5-6). At the same time, an architectural survey was carried out in cooperation with Antonello Fino from the Politecnico to include all structures that are currently visible in one plan. A third pillar of the research in 2020 was the identification of documentation and findings, stored in the archive of the Parco Archeologico e Paesaggistico della Valle dei Templi di Agrigento. Until today, no findings have been published to support the chronology of the gymnasium. The findings will be studied for the crucial phases and contexts of the gymnasium to put the chronology on stable grounds.

TEAM

• Antonello Fino, Politecnico Bari
• Stephen Kay, British School at Rome
• Thomas Lappi, Freie Universität Berlin
• Elena Pomar, British School at Rome
• Paola Santospagnuolo, Freie Universität Berlin
• Monika Trümper, Freie Universität Berlin

 

This project could not be carried out without the generous permission, support and cooperation of the Parco Archeologico e Paesaggistico della Valle dei Templi di Agrigento. Particular thanks are owed to Dr. Maria Concetta Parello and Arch. Roberto Sciarratta, direttore del Parco.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brienza 2017 : E. Brienza, Per una nuova pianta di Agrigento antica, in: L. M. Caliò – V. Caminneci – M. Livadiotti – M. C. Parello – M. S. Rizzo (eds.), Agrigento. Nuove ricerche sull'area pubblica centrale (Rome 2017) 25–30

Caliò et al. 2017: L. Caliò – V. Caminneci – M. Liviadiotti (eds.), Agrigento. Nuove richerche sull'area pubblica centrale. (Rome 2017)

Caminneci – Parello 2019: V. Caminneci – M. C. Parello, Agrigentum (Agrigento). L'impianto termale, in: M. Medri – A. Pizzo (eds.), Le terme pubbliche nell'Italia romana (II secolo a.C. - fine IV d.C.). Architettura, tecnologia e società (Roma 2019) 21–32

Caminneci et al. 2015: V. Caminneci – M. C. Parello – M. S. Rizzo (eds.), Agrigento romana. Scavi e ricerche nel quartiere ellenistico romano. Campagna 2013. (Palermo 2015)

Caminneci et al. 2016: V. Caminneci – M. C. Parello – M. S. Rizzo (eds.), Paesaggi urbani tardoantichi. Casi a confronto. Atti delle Giornate gregoriane, VIII edizione (Bari 2016)

Caminneci et al. 2017: V. Caminneci – M. C. Parello – M. S. Rizzo (eds.), La persistenza della memoria. Vivere il paesaggio storico. IX Giornate Gregoriane (Rome 2017)

Caminneci et al. 2018a: V. Caminneci – M. C. Parello – M. S. Rizzo (eds.), Agrigento ellenistico-romana. Coscienza identitaria e margini di autonomia. Atti della Giornata di studi (Bari 2018)

Caminneci et al. 2018b: V. Caminneci – M. C. Parello – M. S. Rizzo (eds.), La città che produce. Archeologia della produzione negli spazi urbani. Atti delle Giornate Gregoriane X edizione (Bari 2018)

Caminneci et al. 2019a: V. Caminneci – M. C. Parello – M. S. Rizzo, Il contributo degli scavi del teatro di Agrigento per una rilettura degli edifici teatrali della Sicilia ellenistica. - in: M. Trümper – G. Adornato – T. Lappi (eds.), Cityscapes of hellenistic Sicily (Rome 2019) 101–112

Caminneci et al. 2019b: V. Caminneci – M. C. Parello – M. S. Rizzo (eds.), Theaomai. Teatro e società ellenistica. Atti delle XI Giornate gregoriane (Firenze 2019)

Caminneci et al. 2020: V. Caminneci – M. C. Parello – M. S. Rizzo (eds.), Le forme dell'acqua. Approvvigionamento, raccolta e smaltimento nella città antica. Atti delle Giornate Gregoriane XII edizione (Bologna 2020)

De Waele 1971: J. de Waele, Acragas Graeca. Die historische Topographie des griechischen Akragas auf Sizilien, Archeologische studien van het Nederlands Historisch Instituut te Rome, 3 volumes (Den Haag 1971)

Fiorentini 1992: G. Fiorentini, Agrigento. Agorà inferiore e ginnasio nei recenti scavi, QuadAMess 7, 1992, 5–9

Fiorentini 1993/1994: G. Fiorentini, Attività di indagini archeologiche della Soprintendenza Beni Culturali e Ambientali di Agrigento, Kokalos 39/40, 1993/1994, II 1, 717–733

Fiorentini 1997/1998: G. Fiorentini, Problemi e linee di ricerca archeologica in territorio di Agrigento e provincia, Kokalos 43/44, 1997/1998, 3–15

Fiorentini 2009: G. Fiorentini, Il ginnasio di Agrigento, SicAnt 6, 2009, 71–109

Fiorentini 2010: G. Fiorentini, Il ginnasio, in: E. De Miro – G. Fiorentini (eds.), VI. Agrigento Romana. Gli edifici pubblici civili (Pisa 2010) 71–95

Griffo 1963: P. Griffo, Contributi epigrafici agrigentini, Kokalos 9, 1963, 163–184

Moretti 1976: L. Moretti, Epigraphica, 14. Un ginnasio per Agrigento, RFil 104, 1976, 182–186

Trümper 2015: M. Trümper, Modernization and Change of Function of Hellenistic Gymnasia in the Imperial Period: Case-studies Pergamon, Miletus, and Priene, in: P. Scholz – D. Wiegandt (eds.), Das Kaiserzeitliche Gymnasium. Berlin (2015) 167–221

Trümper 2018: M. Trümper, Gymnasia in Eastern Sicily of the Hellenistic Period. A Reassessment, in: U. Mania – M. Trümper (eds.), Development of Gymnasia and Graeco-Roman Cityscapes (Berlin 2018) 43–73 < DOI: 10.17171/3-58-3>

Trümper 2019: Development of Bathing Culture in Hellenistic Sicily, in: M. Trümper – G. Adornato – Th. Lappi (eds.), Cityscapes of Hellenistic Sicily, Rome (2019) 347–391

Trümper 2020a: M. Trümper, Water Luxury in the Gymnasium of Agrigento, in: V. Caminneci – M. C. Parello – M. S. Rizzo (eds.), Le forme dell’acqua. Approvvigionamento, raccolta e smaltimento nella città antica. XII Giornate Gregoriane, Agrigento (Bologna 2020) 171–184

Trümper 2020b: M. Trümper, Gymnasia in Hellenistic and Roman Sicily – A Critical Reassessment of Typology and Function, in: L. Fuduli – V. Lo Monaco (eds.), Megiste kai ariste nesos. Symposion on the Archaeology of Sicily. University of São Paulo, 3-5 April 2019 (Rome 2020) 47–71