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<< Our Photo Pages >> Caltabellotta - Ancient Temple in Italy in Sicily (Sicilia)

Submitted by ivanjohnson on Tuesday, 16 October 2007  Page Views: 10556

Roman, Greek and ClassicalSite Name: Caltabellotta
Country: Italy
NOTE: This site is 0.484 km away from the location you searched for.

Region: Sicily (Sicilia) Type: Ancient Temple
Nearest Town: Palermo  Nearest Village: Caltabellotta
Latitude: 37.579118N  Longitude: 13.215302E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
no data

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Caltabellotta
Caltabellotta submitted by ivanjohnson : Altar (with later wall on cliff edge) These altars are all on the east side of the town. This is altar 1. The other side of that wall and handrail on the right is a spectacular sheer cliff that I recall being even more death defying (i.e. higher) than the other two on the opposite ridge. (Vote or comment on this photo)
These photos are from the hilltop town of Caltabellotta in southern Sicily, approximately 20 km. northeast of Sciacca. There are several absolutely spectacular sacrificial altars carved into the solid rock on or near the summits of the several rock pinnacles that rise above the town, some featuring roughly 100 meter sheer vertical drop-offs from the altars to the hillsides far below. "Very spectacular and beautiful" would not be an overstatement.

To the west of the San Pellegrino church in a cow pasture is a very interesting site that the locals call "The Temple of Daedalus".

I have written more about an other site in this town on another page.

There are Sican caves all over the area and numerous other pre-Roman looking structures. From an adjacent hilltop it looked like there was possibly another altar at the summit of the pinnacle rock which is surrounded by the San Pelligrino monastery/fortress but I wasn't able to get to it because the monastery/fortress was locked up and it totally controls access to that summit. Tunneling under that monastery is the Cave of the Dragon (Grotte del Drago?)- a large long cave where Saint Pelligrino "defeated the serpent". The cave has a life-size medieval fresco on its wall of Mary Magdelane sucking the blood from the wound on Christ's abdomen. So they defeated the 'serpent' but then they're fine with drinking fresh blood from the wound. Old habits die hard. What a town. Anyone who knows anything at all about these structures is encouraged to contact me at:
ivanjohnsonx@yahoo.com

Ivan Johnson
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Caltabellotta
Caltabellotta submitted by ivanjohnson : Site in Sicilly: Locations of the cliff-edge Sican altars. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Caltabellotta Temple of Cronos
Caltabellotta Temple of Cronos submitted by ivanjohnson : The alleged "Temple of Daedalus"? That's what a woman in the town told me. She seemed at least well versed in the local legends. If anyone knows anything about this ruin please contact me. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Caltabellotta
Caltabellotta submitted by ivanjohnson : Altar 2 looking the other way up the cliff toward altar 3 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Caltabellotta
Caltabellotta submitted by ivanjohnson : A third altar up the ridge from the second altar, which can be seen here in the background (6 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Caltabellotta Temple of Cronos
Caltabellotta Temple of Cronos submitted by ivanjohnson : Closer southwest view of carved stone "altar" and the more intact of the two circular structures. (1 comment)

Caltabellotta Temple of Cronos
Caltabellotta Temple of Cronos submitted by ivanjohnson : Another wide view of the main part of the ruin looking roughly southwest.

Caltabellotta
Caltabellotta submitted by ivanjohnson : Altar 2 wider showing the town below.

Caltabellotta
Caltabellotta submitted by ivanjohnson : This is the cliff along the edge of which altars 2 and 3 sit, taken from the pinnacle where altar 1 is. Altar 3 is the very white area just in front of the last tree on the left on the far ridge; altar 2 is in front of the fourth and fifth trees to it's right.

Caltabellotta Temple of Cronos
Caltabellotta Temple of Cronos submitted by ivanjohnson : Closer view of alleged "Temple of Daedalus" megalithic-looking carved stones.

Caltabellotta
Caltabellotta submitted by ivanjohnson : The steps take you up to this altar. On the other side of the handrail is a vertical ±60 meter cliff. Spectacular! (1 comment)

Caltabellotta
Caltabellotta submitted by ivanjohnson : Steps up to another altar on the edge of a sheer cliff. (1 comment)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 731m WSW 250° Caltabellotta Temple of Cronos* Ancient Temple
 13.6km NNW 332° Mount Adranone* Ancient Village or Settlement
 21.4km SSE 164° Heraclea Minoa* Ancient Village or Settlement
 33.5km W 272° Selinous Temple F* Ancient Temple
 33.5km W 272° Selinous Temple of Apollo* Ancient Temple
 33.6km W 272° Selinous Temple of Hera* Ancient Temple
 34.4km W 271° Selinous Temple A and O* Ancient Temple
 34.4km W 271° Selinous Temple C* Ancient Temple
 34.4km W 271° Selinous Temple D Ancient Temple
 34.4km W 271° Selinous* Ancient Village or Settlement
 40.2km SE 143° Villa di Durrueli* Ancient Village or Settlement
 43.2km N 358° Monte Iato Ancient Village or Settlement
 43.9km W 276° Cave di Cusa* Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
 45.2km SE 135° Temple of Vulcanus* Ancient Temple
 45.5km SE 135° Temple of Dioscuri* Ancient Temple
 45.6km SE 133° Ekklesiasterion of Phalaris* Ancient Village or Settlement
 45.7km SE 134° Temple of Jupiter (Sicily)* Ancient Temple
 46.0km SE 134° Valley of the Temples* Ancient Temple
 46.2km SE 134° Tomb of Theron* Ancient Temple
 46.3km SE 132° Temple of Demeter* Ancient Temple
 46.3km SE 134° Temple of Concordia* Ancient Temple
 46.7km SE 135° Temple of Asclepius* Ancient Temple
 46.9km SE 133° Temple of Juno* Ancient Temple
 52.5km NW 320° Segesta* Ancient Village or Settlement
 63.5km NNE 26° Solunto* Ancient Village or Settlement
View more nearby sites and additional images

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"Caltabellotta" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Re: Caltabellotta by ivanjohnson on Saturday, 23 February 2008
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Hi John

I found out about Caltabellotta by researching back from Ravenscroft's "Spear of Destiy", a cheesy source perhaps but it did yield interesting tidbits of in(ternet)formation and led me to Caltabellotta which is just fantastic.

If I recall correctly Landulf of Capua allied with the Saracens and got banished so he basically started doing black magic at Qalat-al-Ballut which allegedly involved human sacrifice. Then much later Crowley is supposed to have toured western Sicily, allegedly doing magick at the Temple of Venus at Erice, and possibly also checking out Landulf's redoubt in Caltabellotta. And there's all the other stuff in town like the Cave of the Dragon and that 'Daedalus'-whatever ruin.

I'm sort of a fan of many Old Ways so I was interested in the fascinating stories which oppose weird covert Christian sexual subtext and pagan sacrificial ritual, etc. There's an undeniable mystery to it.

What kind of stories have you heard? What is Caltabellotta's 'evil' reputation? I'm fascinated that such a beautiful place seems to have acquired that reputation.

[ Reply to This ]

Re: Caltabellotta by Anonymous on Saturday, 23 February 2008
my family is from caltabellotta and i have been tracking the legends for several years now. i have come across a recent scholarly text, "lelegenda de san pellegrino" by mario colletti.

i would love to share some hoistory as i am considering a novel. calta is indeed somewhat
diabolical. we have recently uncovered the facts of my great grandmothers murder by the local mafiosi.

john piazza
piaz4@aol.com
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Caltabellotta by Aluta on Tuesday, 16 October 2007
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Spectacular is right! Thank you for these.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Caltabellotta by ivanjohnson on Tuesday, 16 October 2007
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Additional info & coordinates:

Hello

First, let me reiterate that I have NO positive knowledge that this ruin is in fact related to Daedalus. That is just a legend that was told to me by a non-expert civilian in the town. Though she seemed to know the legends well, there was no way to assess its validity so calling it the "alleged Temple of Daedalus" would be more prudent at the outset. I want to make clear that its correct name is not known to me.

Here's all the info:

I have pinpointed the places in my Caltabellotta photos using normal Google Maps - Satellite View (NOT Google Earth). The coordinates below are very accurate in Google Maps, but I don't know how accurate or repeatable Google Maps' data or display is. These coordinates place the green center arrow's point in the center of the named structure (on my computer) at full magnification.

The "alleged Temple of Daedalus" on Google Maps can be arrived at by typing 37.5769 N, 13.2075 E into the search box. This puts the center arrow right in the center of the temple at full magnification.

More legend: I forgot to mention in my post that the woman who told the story also said that there were baths involved in the Daedalus legend, and one can see two circular structures at the site one of which is visible in my wide photo, and both visible in the Google Maps satellite photo. Could these be the baths where King Minos was slain by Daedalus' daughters under the influence of Cronus?

Now the altars. The first altar with the later-added wall on the cliff edge is at 37.57995 N, 13.2191 E just beside the ruins of one of the Norman fortresses. A really cool winding staircase carved into the solid rock leads up to it. There is also a stone plaque dated 1906 in honor of a Mr. G.C.S. (C.C.S.?) Southworth of Deer Isle "who first appreciated the international ideals of this [section?]" on the rock opposite this altar. I Googled him up but didn't find anything that enlightened.

The second (and most fascinating) altar with the little curved staircase leading up to it, the curved bench and the handrail on the cliff edge is at 37.57882 N, 13.21975 E . This altar is one of the best megalithic items I have ever seen.

The third altar with the side by side asymmetrical sets of steps up to a wide common platform is at 37.57866 N, 13.22018 E , also perched on the sheer cliff edge.

More legend: the local woman also said many people believe that there is a semicircular amphitheater still buried at 37.5778 N, 13.2115 E which is a short walk east from the "Daedalus" site. I walked through this hillside field and it does look fairly uniformly conical and of the correct topology to have possibly been an amphitheater.

This is only the main Greek era stuff. Caltabellotta is packed with fascinating ancient stuff, weird legend, and a fascinating hint of diabolism in the town's history.

Enjoy all that

Ivan
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