city state · Italy
Segesta
Origins
Segesta was the main town of the Elymians, a people of north-western Sicily who claimed Trojan descent; Thucydides says they were Trojan refugees joined by Phocians. The city grew on Monte Barbaro in the 7th century BCE and became increasingly Hellenised while keeping close ties with the Phoenicians of Motya and Panormus.
Rule and society
Segesta minted coins with Greek legends and wrote its own Elymian language in Greek letters, known from short inscriptions. Its unfinished Doric temple of the late 5th century BCE and its hilltop theatre are among the best-preserved Greek monuments in Sicily. Its long border dispute with Selinous led it to seek Athenian help in 416 BCE, prompting the Sicilian Expedition, and then Carthaginian help, which ended in the destruction of Selinous in 409 BCE.
Decline and legacy
Agathocles of Syracuse massacred many citizens in 307 BCE. In the First Punic War Segesta went over to Rome, citing shared Trojan ancestry, and after 241 BCE it was a privileged free town of Roman Sicily. It was abandoned in the Middle Ages.
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Segesta was a vassal of Punic Empire409 BCE – 260 BCE
- Segesta was a vassal of Roman Republic260 BCE – 241 BCE
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Segesta. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/segesta
- MLA
- “Segesta.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/segesta. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Segesta.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/segesta.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Segesta’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/segesta (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻