Gareus temple
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The Gareus Temple is located in Uruk in Iraq and probably dates to the 1st century AD. It is one of the very few surviving cult buildings from the Parthian period in Babylonia . The temple is made of fired bricks and consists of only one room. The external dimensions are 10.7 × 13.7 m. The former height is unknown, but the remains of the building are still a few meters high. The outer sides are each decorated with four half-columns with Ionic capitals and niches in between, which are arched at the top. In front of the temple's facade is a row of six pillars. The building was once plastered and decorated with a frieze showing mythical creatures.
The temple once stood in a fortified area that was built over over time. There is also a bathroom under the buildings. The actual temple was partially restored in 1972.
An inscription was found near the temple that names the otherwise unknown god Gareus . For this reason the building is ascribed to this god. The remains of various statues were found in the temple area, two bronze feet may belong to the former cult image.
literature
- Arno Kose: Uruk: Architektur IV, From the Seleucid to the Sasanid period . Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 1998, ISBN 3-8053-1898-7 , pp. 291-335