The northern portion of it consists of a lofty ridge with two summits, the westernmost of which is occupied by the modern town (985 ft.), while the easternmost, which is slightly higher, bears the name of Rock of Athena, owing to its identification in modern days with the acropolis of Acragas as described by Polybius, who places upon it the temple of Zeus Atabyrius (the erection of which was attributed to the half mythical Phalaris) and that of Athena.'
Nicolo is the so-called Oratory of Phalaris, a shrine of the 2nd century B.C., 274 ft.
Thus among those who became "tyrants" in the Greek world he gained his position as one of the old nobility, like Phalaris of Agrigentum, and Lygdamis of Naxos; but unlike Orthagoras of Sicyon, who had previously been a cook.
A notable one was the Epistles of Phalaris, a late Greek forgery, demonstrated to be such by Bentley in a treatise which is a model of what such a demonstration should be.
The most famous if not the first 1 is Phalaris of Acragas (Agrigentum), whose exact date is uncertain, whose letters are now cast aside, arid whose brazen bull has been called in question, but who clearly rose to power very soon after the foundation of Acragas.
