Couple stele from the Stele field in the Temple of Zeus

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THE SANCTUARY OF ZEUS MEILICHIOSThe field of stelesThe field of steles comprises a large area situated north of the holy precinct of Demeter Malophoros. In the middle of the field, we find the most significant architectural feature of this site, that is, the so-called "three bethel altar", named after the Semitic terms "bêt el" meaning "the god's house" and thus referring to it as a representation of the divinity itself.The altar has a parallelepiped shape and is positioned on a high base; it is characterised by three trapezoidal stone slabs arranged sideways and it dates back to a period between the 6th and the 4" century BC. A distinctive feature of this field is the presence of hundreds of votive offerings, mostly marked by lithoi, i.e. stones of different shapes that may be coarse or roughly shaped and sometimes bear inscriptions.The offerings - mainly pottery, clay figures, oil lamps and weaponry - are sometimes surrounded by enclosures made of stones, among which there are some roughly shaped altars.It is possible to read on some of the steles the epiclesis (i.e. epithet) Milichios, Melichios or Meilichios meaning "as sweet as honey", which allows us to identify Zeus as the divinity worshipped in this locality as the god of the aristocratic groups of the city.We are clearly dealing with a worship of familiar and associative nature that is deeply connected with purification concepts; the worship of Zeus and Demeter Malophoros provides evidence of the tight link between Selinus and the cities from where its founders came, i.e. Megara Nisaea (Greece) and Megara Hyblaea (Sicily), where the same divinities were worshipped with particular devotion.The TempleThe second stage of the locality's human development, which approximately started after the devastation occurred in the year 409 BC, is characterised by the destruction of the eastern part of the field of steles, where new "monumental" buildings were subsequently built. It is not possible to ascertain to which divinities such buildings were dedicated.The remains of two porches, located out in the open, are still preserved today, together with parts of the elevation of a little temple of the "dystilos-in-antis" type, i.e. a temple with two columns between its antae.Within the enclosing wall (i.e. the peribolos), opposite the main façade of the temple, there are two parallelepiped-shaped stone altars resting on a three-step base. Nearby, there used to be (today they are not visible any more) three little wells covered by perforated tuff slabs, which provided the holy water needed for the sacrifices.Several steles were found inside the peribolos wall, most of which represent in a naturalistic or stylised manner a divine couple, which is interpreted as a representation of Zeus/Demeter or Hades/Persephone.