AGRIGENTUM, in Ancient Geography, a city on the «nith coast of Sicily, part of the rite of which is now occupied by a town called Girgenti, from the old name. (See Gibgentl) It was founded by a colony from Gela, 582 B.c An advantageous situation, a free government, and an active commercial spirit raised the city to a degree of wealth and importance unknown to the other Greek settlements, Syracuse alone excepted. The prosperity of Agrigentum was interrupted by the usurpation of Phalaris which lasted about fifteen years. He met with the common fate of tyrants, and after his death the Agrigentines enjoyed their liberty for sixty years; at the expiration of which term Theron usurped the sovereign authority. The moderation, justice, and valour of this prince preserved him from opposition. He joined his son-in-law Gelon, king of Syracuse, in a victorious war against the Carthaginians. Soon after his decease, 472 b.c., his son Thrasydeus was deprived of the diadem, and Agrigentum restored to her old democratical government, which she retained till the Carthaginian invasion in 406 B.C. During this interval of prosperity were executed most of those splendid public works which excited the admiration of succeeding ages, and caused Empedocles to remark “that the Agrigentines built their dwellings as though they were to live for ever, and indulged in lu xury as if they were to die on the morrow.” The total number of the inhabitants at this period was estimated by Diodorus at 200,000. The power of the Agrigentines now experienced a terrible reverse. They were attacked by the Carthaginians in 406 B.C., their armies routed, their city taken, and their race almost extirpated, scarcely a vestige of their material greatness being left. Although some of the fugitive inhabitants ...