2. “Termini Imerese” takes its name from the
Latin Thermae Himerenses or “Hot
Springs of Himera”. Imera was the name
that ancient Greeks gave to the first
settlement they founded near the present
Termini Imerese.
It was the birthplace of the poet
Stesichorus.

3. A Greek colony of
remarkable importance, it
had the role of hellenistic-
outer harbour towards the
Sicilian Chartaginian west.
As a matter of fact to the
east of Himera stood the
rich colonies of Zancle
(that later changed its
name into Messina),
Siracusa, Myles (Milazzo
today), while to the east
the hegemony of Carthage
was dominant.

4. Its foundation, according to Tucidide,
was due to a group of Calcidesi from
Zancle, under the leadership of Euclide,
Simo and Saccone, and to a Syracusan
exiled people because of a civil war.
But, according to some scholars, the
new colonies may have enlarged a pre-
existing site

5. The different origins of the population of Himera have made
the customs and traditions of the town different from the
Greek ones. In addition to the Gods of Olympus, they tended
to worship rivers and springs of water, as in the Sicani's
tradition; while on a linguistic point of view, the influences of
Doric and Corinthian dialect brought along by the Syracusans
are clear.

6. Its importance, is also
due to its access to the
Tyrrhenian Sea and to
the consequent
possibility of trade with
Etruria and Spain which
provided great
quantities of silver used
to mint the coin. This
peculiarity distinguished
it from the other Greek
colonies.

7. Yet, it was this closeness to the
sea which sealed its fate. In
480 B.C. Terone, tyrant of
Akragas, invaded Himera and
put Terillo, tyrant of Himera to
flight. The latter called the
Carthaginians for help, who
arrived in Sicily with a great
military force, led by
Hannibal.Terone asked Gelone
of Syracuse to intervene and
thus they managed to defeat
the Carthaginians. Temples
were built and coins were
minted to celebrate the victory
that, according to the tradition,
took place on the scene of the
famous battle of Salamina.

8. The military success brought a period of
peace and prosperity during which the
town could develop both artistically and
culturally.
This phase was interrupted in 408 when
Hannibal, Amilcare's grandson decided
to avenge the defeat suffered by his
ancestors. After sacking Selinunte, he
directed to Himera, no more protected
by the Syracusan army.

9. This time the Carthaginians had the best:
Himera was completely destroyed and its
inhabitants were killed or deported to
Carthage. This once and for all ruined the
town. Some years later, on reward, the
deported were allowed to come back to Sicily
and populate Thermae, founded by the
Carthaginians in 407 B.C., together with
other colonists of African origin.

10. Himera was constituted by three districts:The
northern and southern districts rose on the plain,
where the most northern part hosted the sacred
area (which does not include the Temple of
Victory). To the North-East there were the houses
of the eastern suburb and on the western side the
necropolis.

11. As in other ellenistic
centres, the canon
of orthogonality was
strictly respected.
The streets were
parallel and
equidistant. The
absence of a central
intersection makes
us suppose that the
squares and the
public buildings
were placed in
areas destined to
housing without
spoiling the urban
tissue.

12. Of the sacred area, which
was isolated from the
housing structure of the
town, The main
elements are four
temples and an altar.The
most considerable part
of the finds is constituted
by the temple of Victoria
which presents features
similar to the
Agrigentinian temples,
thus suggesting that the
workers who were in
charge with its
construction came from
Akragas.
It is said it was built in 480 B.C. on the field
where the battle was fought that's why it was
called “temple of the Victory”
It is a temple of Doric style probably
dedicated to Zeus which precedes the call
and a pronaos at the back of the cell equal
for size and dimension.

13. During the excavations facing
the temples 56 lion-headed
shaped gutters were found,
probably the work of different
sculptors. Other excavations in
the themeneos (the sacred
area) brought to light a couple
of bronze greaves together
with fragments of weapons
now kept at the Regional
Archaelogical Museum of
Palermo.

14. By the early 5th century BC,
the strategic importance of the
site attracted Theron of
Akragas who expelled the
tyrant Terillus.
Theron’s victory led to nearly a
century of Greek supremacy in
Sicily. However in 409, the
Carthaginians,under Hamilcar’s
nephew Hannibal, returned and
destroyed the town.

15. The archeological site of
ancient Himera is best
known for the remains of its
Temple of Victory located at
the mouth of the River
Imera about eight
kilometres east of Termini
Imerese, in the district
called Buonfornello.

16. It is a Doric structure built to
commemorate the defeat of the
Carthaginians,Carthaginian
prisoners supplied the labour for
its construction.
To the south of the temple was
the town’s necropolis.
Some artefacts recovered from
this site are kept in Palermo’s
Museo Archeologico Regionale.
Today there is a huge industrial
complex nearby.