Temple of Aphaia

Ariel of Hamble
Jim and Valerie SHURVELL
Wed 26 Sep 2012 09:55

Temple of Aphaia

 

Friday, 21st September, 2012.

 

We took the bus from the harbour through the mountains and towns to Aphaia which is above the coastal town of Agia Marina.  The Temple of Aphaia is reported to be one of the best preserved Doric temples in Greece.  The present temple dates from around 490BC but the site is known to have been a place of worship from the 13th century BC.  In 1901 the German archaeologist Adolf Furtwangler found an inscription to the goddess Aphaia disproving theories that the temple was dedicated to Athena.  Although smaller the building is similar to the temple of Zeus which we saw at Olympia which was built 30 years later.

 

The museum was open so we were able to spend some times looking at the sketches they had on display plus the reconstruction of the way the roof was built including the timber which was supporting the roof tiles.

 

We had to wait approximately an hour and half for the next bus to take us back to town so we sat and enjoyed a snack and looked across the bay of Agia Marina and watched the boats come and go.

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