Temple of Apollo (Syracuse)
The Temple of Apollo or Temple of Apollo and Artemis is a Greek temple in Syracuse in Sicily . The temple is located at the entrance to Ortigia old town.
history
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The beginning of the 6th century BC The temple was built in the 3rd century BC and is the oldest known larger Greek temple in Sicily . It is one of the first great Doric peripteral temples (ring hall temples) in Greater Greece and was built around the same time as the temple of Corfu .
Modifications to the steps of the entrance and an incision for a baptismal font indicate that the temple was converted into a Christian church in Byzantine times. The Arabs then converted the church into a mosque. The Christian population rebuilt the mosque into the basilica SS. Salvatore. The church fell into disrepair, the ogival entrance remained. The remains of the church and the temple were included in the construction of a barracks.
The temple was discovered in 1860. From 1939 to 1942 the temple was excavated.
Dimensions
At the time of construction, the temple was 58.10 m long and 24.50 m wide. Originally there were six columns on the narrow side and 17 on the long side. The temple has a long cella that is divided into three aisles by two rows of columns.
The columns
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The monolithic columns of the peristasis are very close together on the long sides. They have flat fluting and no entasis . The column spacing of the long sides is smaller than their column diameter. Two columns on the south side and parts of the east columns are still preserved. The columns were decorated with polychrome mosaics. Fragments are exhibited in the Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi .
literature
- Gottfried Gruben : The temples of the Greeks. 3. Edition. Hirmer, Munich 1980, pp. 266-269
Web links
- Temple of Apollo in the Arachne archaeological database
Coordinates: 37 ° 3 ′ 50 ″ N , 15 ° 17 ′ 35 ″ E