Cacti Near Temple E at Selinunte, 2005

Selinunte is an ancient Greek archaeological site in the south province of Trapani, in the island of Sicily. Selinunte is the modern Italian name for the ancient Selinus.

The archaeological site contains five temples centered on an acropolis. Of the five temples, only temple E, the so-called "Temple of Hera" has been re-erected.

According to the Athenian historian Thucydides, Selinus was founded by people from Megara Hyblaea, a city on the east coast of Sicily, in the 7th century BC. The city had a very short life (about 200 years). During this time its population grew to a total of about 25,000. A wealthy trade center, Selinus was envied by the Carthaginians.

Selinus had an almost permanent conflict with Segesta, which allied itself with Athens. However, the Athenians were defeated by the Syracusans, and Segesta now asked help from Carthage. Diodorus Siculus tells that the Carthaginian commander Hannibal (not to be confused with his more famous namesake), in 409 BC destroyed Selinus after a war that counted about 16,000 deaths and 5,000 prisoners. The city was besieged for nine days by an army of 100,000 Carthaginians.

Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selinunte