Temple of Apollo (Syracuse)

The Temple of Apollo, Apollo and Artemis Temple is an ancient Greek temple in Syracuse in Sicily. The temple is located at the entrance to the old town of Ortigia.

History

The BC was built around 570 Temple is the oldest known major Greek temple in Sicily. He is one of the first large Doric peripteral ( dipteral temples ) Wholesale Greece and emerged at about 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 rebuilt in Byzantine times to a Christian church. The Arabs converted the church into a mosque then. The Christian population built the mosque back to the Basilica of SS Salvatore. The church was divided, the pointed arch entrance is left. The remains of the church and the temple were included in the construction of a barracks.

Was discovered in the Temple, 1860. Between 1939 and 1942, the temple was excavated.

The temple had at build a length of 58.10 m and a width of 24.50 m. Originally, there were six columns on the short side and 17 on the long side. The temple has a long cella, which is shared by two rows of columns into three aisles.

The columns

The monolithic columns of peristasis are very close to each other on the long sides. They have shallow fluting and no Entasis. The column spacing of the long sides is less than the column diameter. Two columns on the south and eastern parts of the columns are still standing. The columns were decorated with polychrome mosaics. Fragments are exhibited in the Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi.