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Here lie the ruins of three temples on which decorative fragments are identifiable. Re-erected in modern times, Temple E is an example of balanced Doric order.

The only octastyle temple at Selinunte (all others are hexastyle), Temple G is one of the four largest Greek temples in the world. Its columns alone are more than 16 m (52 ft) high. It was left unfinished in 480 BC-note some unfluted columns.

The original walls, built of large blocks of stone, were reinforced after the city was sacked by Carthage in 409 BC, and a second circle built around 305 BC.

The promontory was levelled by the first settlers, allowing them to build sacred buildings; commercial and residential structures followed.

Temple A and its twin, Temple O, of which only the base remains, were built in Doric style around 480 BC, making them the most recent ruins on the site.

Built on a rise, this was the most important temple. It was decorated with polychrome stone and terracotta elements.

Behind Temple D you can see remains of shops, each with two rooms, a courtyard and stairs that led to the shopkeepers’ apartments on the upper floors. At the east corner are remains of a stoa, or colonnaded marketplace .

Of great importance for the defence of Selinunte, the 7-m (23-ft) high North Gate was protected by a sophisticated fortification composed of three bastions and a double line of walls. After sustaining damage in 409 BC, the earlier ring of walls was reinforced.

This funerary sanctuary dedicated to Malophorus, the pomegranate-bearing goddess, was in use from the 7th to the 3rd centuries BC.

Selinunte’s metopes with scenes from Greek mythology are now found in the Archaeological Museum in Palermo (see Museo Archeologico). The carved metopes from Temples E and F are outstanding examples of Classical style.