Segesta (redirected from Aegesta)

Segesta (sĭjĕs`tə), ancient city of NW Sicily. Traditionally called a Trojan colony, it was the longstanding and bitter rival of Selinus. Athens undertook (415–413 B.C.) the disastrous expedition against Syracuse as an ally of Segesta in troubles growing out of a quarrel with Selinus. After this failure, Segesta got the help of Carthage, and Selinus was sacked (409). Thereafter Segesta was a Carthaginian dependency with some interruptions until the First Punic War, when it surrendered to the Romans. It declined in the 1st cent. B.C. Amid its ruins is a fine temple to Ceres.

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Segesta

Ancient city, northwestern Sicily. Located near modern Calatafimi, it was the chief city of the Elymi, a people of supposedly Trojan origin (see Troy). Culturally, the city was Greek, but it generally took the Carthaginian side against its Greek neighbours, and boundary disputes with Selinus were frequent. Early in the First Punic War, Segesta was allied with Rome. Its ruins include a well-preserved 3rd-century-BC theatre and a 5th-century-BC temple to Artemis.