Selinus, the most westerly of the ancient Greek colonies on the S. W. coast of Sicily, at the mouth of the Selinus (now Madiuni) river. It was founded in the 7th century B. C., destroyed by the Carthaginians in 409 and rebuilt, but decayed after the removal of the inhabitants to Lilybaeum in 249. The ruins of the city of Selinus (now known as Selinunte and also as Madiuni) are 47 m. S. W. of Palermo, with vestiges of temples, one of which was dedicated to Heron, as shown by an inscription discovered in 1865. The largest were those on the hill E. of the city, outside the walls. One of these, with 8 columns in front and 17 on the sides, 359 ft. long and 162 ft. wide, is described in Swinburne's "Travels" (2 vols., 1777) as one of the most gigantic and sublime ruins imaginable. A new temple with many relics was discovered in 1874 by the architect Carellari, who continued his excavation in 1875. There is a fine collection of sculptured Selinuntine marbles in the museum of Palermo. - See Selinus unci sein Gebiet, by Reinganum (Leipsic, 1827), and Die Metopen von Selinunt, by Benndorf (Berlin, 1873).