Abingdonian 2020

13 www.abingdon.org.uk Michaelmas Term rulers. To begin with, we visited the local museum and its extensive collection of artefacts from its time under Greek, Carthaginian and Roman rule, which impressed upon us the multicultural history of the city. Afterwards, we were taken to see Agrigento’s landmark temples — or rather what’s left of them — in the famous ‘Valley of Temples’ (a misnomer: it is in fact a ridge). First stop was the temple of Hera Lacinia, followed by a visit to the remarkably well-preserved temple of Concordia (its comparative lack of disrepair owes to the fact that it was converted into a church in 597 CE). But most striking of all was the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This temple, which would have been 113 metres long and 20 metres high, is believed to have been the largest Greek temple ever constructed in the Doric style; had it ever been fully finished, it would likely have rivalled any Mediterranean architectural work of the time. It is widely held that the temple was constructed as a monument to the Greek victory against the Carthaginians at the battle of Himera in 480 BCE, which is often, probably spuriously, claimed to have occurred on the same day as the legendary Greek victory against the Persian Achaemenid empire at the battle of Salamis. The temple was initially being built by the enslaved Carthaginian prisoners-of-war from Himera, but this construction was cut short by the Carthaginian sack of Agrigento in 406 BCE (a fate that could have perhaps been avoided had the resources that were used on the temple instead been put into the city’s defenses). Once we had contented ourselves at a nearby gelateria, we travelled across the island to Erice, where we checked into the rather ironically-named Hotel Moderno. Erice is especially high up, being about 750 metres above sea level, and during a night-time wander of the town we were struck by the seemingly all-encompassing fog, which greatly enhanced the town’s already quaint feel. Erice, formerly called Eryx, was originally a Carthaginian colony, and was known for its links with the goddess Venus. Erice also overlooks the site of the Battle of the Aegates Islands in 241 BCE, which was the last clash of the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage, responsible for the end of Carthage as the premier power in the Mediterranean, a mantle which would be taken up by Rome. Thus, we were indeed in a place with a great deal of history to it. Day six of the trip was taken up by our visits to Selinunte and Segesta, which had been bitter rivals in antiquity. Our first destination was Selinunte, where we took our fill of several Doric temples, which, although their names are now lost to the ages, were all impressive to see. The temples also provided a fine backdrop for a talk from some of the Lower Sixth on the history of the ancient city-state, which left a sizable mark on the island in its own right. Selinunte was also taken as an opportunity for the Abingdonians to try and gather the best photos in a bid to triumph in the now infamous, though perhaps not entirely glorious, photo contest, spurred on by Dr Burnand’s bribes of chocolate. After getting lunch at a road-side restaurant that a horde of flies had, much to the displeasure of everyone, colonized, we made our way to Segesta. The legends state that Segesta was founded by a contingent of Aeneas’ Trojan companions who refused to go to Italy with him; perhaps due to this (claimed) shared heritage with Rome, Segesta became an unwavering ally of Rome in her wars against Carthage. Upon completing a somewhat tedious trek up a hill, we arrived at Segesta’s Greek theatre. The theatre, commanding a powerful view of the surrounding area, enabled us to clearly see not only the hurriedly-constructed temple (owing to the Segestans’ successful desire to dupe the Athenians about how wealthy they actually were), but also a ridge from which thousands of Segestans were allegedly catapulted during one of many sacks of the city. This penultimate day concluded in traditional fashion with a hotly contested quiz. Split into five teams, the quiz saw the 30 Abingdonians go head-to-head in a Star Wars-dominated movie round, cryptic crosswords with a classical spin, and a couple of picture rounds, ranging from busts of Homer and Thucydides to images of the Parthenon. The lead switched back and forth repeatedly over the course of the quiz, but after one final change in fortune, victory was afforded to one of the more steadily consistent teams in the contest, captained by Tristan Tonks. The final day was spent travelling, with our flight from Palermo departing at 10.15 am. Fortunately, we enjoyed a largely undelayed return journey, though almost all the other flights were cancelled. Despite fears that our baggage had been lost at the last hurdle, we arrived back at school with few issues, thereby wrapping up a thoroughly enjoyable trip. We are all extremely grateful to all the teachers who helped to run the trip, and also to our bus driver in Sicily, Salvatore (especially when he was on time). But particular thanks must go to Dr Burnand, for planning and running such a memorable trip. Jakob Hobbs, 6KJY and Seb Watkins, 6AGH