ABSTRACT
Temple O and its neighbour, Temple A, seem to have been intended to form an ensemble of two ostensibly identical temples, which were to embellish the long-established city-sanctuary on the acropolis of the Greek colony of Selinous (Selinunte, Sicily, Italy) around the middle of the 5th century BC. The exposed remains of the so-called Temple O, in particular, offer a snapshot of the building site of a Classical temple, because the foundations had not even been finished when the construction project was abandoned. This exceptionally advantageous situation is ideal for studying the initial construction process of a large-scale Greek building project and is further enhanced by the fortunate fact that the neighbouring Temple A, very similar in size and floor plan, had been completed just before Temple O was abandoned and is therefore – alongside other temples of Magna Graecia – an excellent reference point for architectural analysis.
