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Helorus was founded as a very early colony from Syracuse in the 8th century BC, to protect a river crossing, and begin the process of expansion which saw Syracuse soon become the unchallenged dominant power in south east Sicily.
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Today, apart from the obvious foundations of a temple, the ruins appear fairly incomprehensible to the casual visitor - and there's no museum on site to help. When I first went there in 1963 a storm was about to break - my speculations about the remains were cut short by a wish to get well clear of the dirt access road before it became a sea of mud. I was not quite successful, as you can see from the picture above. Summer visitors to Sicily can have little concept of the ferocity of the autumn weather here: from the second week of October until early November there is a month of thunderstorms (which can last all day and all night) and torrential rain. Roads quickly become rivers - in the more remote areas they can become impassable as mud is washed down from the hillsides.
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