Pictured is my friend and May 2018 tour participant, Dominic, doing his best Hercules imitation at the Cave di Cusa, the quarry for the city of Selinunte. Those limestone blocks were intended for the base of columns of one of the temples of the ancient Greek city, now an outstanding archaeological park. We’ll be spending…
Tag: limestone
Demeter’s Joy: Summer
Happy Summer! I present to you the magnificent Goddess of Morgantina, in celebration of the solstice. Scholars don’t know if she represents Aphrodite, Demeter, Persephone, or Hera. But her size (2.20-2.25 meters high), indicates that it was certainly a mystery cult statue of great importance. Personally, I believe that she is Persephone because her right…
Press It Good
In Sicily, the olive harvest for making olive oil is in full swing right now. Today, it is a highly technical process with stainless steel equipment exploited in squeaky clean, laboratory-type workshops. Before the modern press, this block of limestone, as one example, was the base of an olive mill. Imagine a series of wheel-shaped…