The province of Agrigento is located in the southwest of Sicily. According to the legend, it was founded by Deadalus, protagonist of Greek mythology and inventor of the Knossos labyrinth and of the hollow cow for Minos‘ wife, Pasiphaë. We have already concerned with Bull of Phalaris, now let’s describe these other two inventions in outline. The former, the labyrinth, was built by Minos, king of Crete, in Knossos (Greece), to keep the so-called Minotaur confined in it. The Minotaur was the fruit of Pasiphaë’s infidelity with a divine bull and, consequently, he was a mythical creature with the head and the tail of a bull and the body of a man. The latter, the hollow cow, was designed for Pasiphaë’s will, in order to live her secret passion for the divine bull.

However, according to history, Agrigento was founded in 580 BC by Rhodian and Cretan colonists, Aristinoo and Pistillo, as a colony of Gela. Several tyrants governed the town, such us: the known Phalaris (580 – 554 BC) and Theron (488 – 472 BC), who made the town a notable cultural and military centre. Agrigento was conquered by different peoples over the centuries: by the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs (they really improved the local trade, industry and called the town “Girgenti“) and, ultimately, the Normans. The Normans arrived in Agrigento in 1087 and, after a painful resistance, the town surrended. The current “Agrigento” dates back only to 1927.

Bibliographical reference

Di Giovanni, G., 1998, Agrigento: The head of the Valley and the City of Temples, Edizioni Di Giovanni, Agrigento

Touring Club Italiano, 1997, Guida d’Italia: Siracusa e Agrigento, Touring Editore s.r.l., Milano

Electronic reference

https://www.worldhistory.org/agrigento/?visitCount=2&lastVisitDate=2021-4-1&pageViewCount=3 [Last accessed 16/04/2021]

https://www.worldhistory.org/Minotaur/?visitCount=2&lastVisitDate=2021-4-1&pageViewCount=3 [Last accessed 16/04/2021]

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Daedalus-Greek-mythology ]Last accessed 16/04/2021]

https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/agrigento_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/ [Last accessed 16/04/2021]