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“..ναῶν δὲ ὅσοι Πελοποννησίοις εἰσί, μετά γε τὸν ἐν Τεγέᾳ προτιμῷτο οὗτος ἂν τοῦ λίθου τε ἐς κάλλος καὶ τῆς ἁρμονίας ἕνεκα…”
“Of all the temples of the Peloponnese, after the temple of Tegea, this one could take the first place for the beauty of the marble and the harmonious ensemble“
Pausanias, Description of Greece, VIII 41, 8
At a glance
Built at an altitude of 1,130 m, in the remote, mountainous Arcadian landscape of Bassae, Phigaleia, in today’s Ilia, the Temple of Apollo Epicurius is one of the best-preserved temples of the classical era, with conservative and at the same time innovative features and is considered a milestone in the history of ancient Greek architecture.
Iktinos
The famous Athenian architect Iktinos built the temple dedicated mainly to Apollo, god of Light and Reason during the years of the Peloponnesian War (420 – 400 BC).
Phigaleia
It was a votive offering by the inhabitants of the Arcadian city of Phigaleia. The remains of the city are located at a distance of approximately 13 kilometres southwest of Bassae.
UNESCO
It was the first of the Greek monuments to be included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1986.
Bassae
The name Bassae means “wooded ravines”. The site lies on Mount Kotilion, part of the mountainous landscape of Mount Lykaion in Arcadia, a region associated with ancient cult traditions.
Corinthian order
In the monument, the three ancient architectural orders—the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian—are masterfully combined. The Corinthian order makes its appearance for the first time in the history of architecture
Pausanias
We owe the unique testimony and description of the great temple of Bassae to Pausanias, the great traveler and writer of the 2nd century AD.
“And suddenly, as you round a bend in the mountain, the famous temple of Apollo Epicurius rises unexpectedly before you. As soon as you see it, built from the very stones of the mountain, you sense the profound affinity between the landscape and the temple. Like a piece of the mountain, stone from its stone, the temple seems inseparably embedded among the rocks: a rock itself, yet one over which the spirit has passed. Carved and set in place in this way, the columns express the essence of all this mountain austerity and solitude. You feel that the temple is the head of the landscape, its sacred, enclosed precinct, where its mind keeps watch in shelter. Here, too, ancient art, continuing and perfectly expressing the landscape, does not startle you. Deftly and calmly, along a human path, it leads you to the summit without leaving you breathless.”
Nikos Kazantzakis
Writer
Temple of Apollo Epicurius
Features
Orientation
The Classical temple was built on the natural rock, on a specially shaped plateau. It does not have the usual E-W orientation, but N-S, perhaps for cultic reasons connected with the Arcadian religious tradition, since other temples in the area show the same orientation.
Construction material
The temple was built mainly of local grey limestone. Marble was also used in the sculptural decoration.
Conservatism
Its exaggerated longitudinal axis with 15 columns on the long sides and 6 on the narrow ones, characterizes the temples of the Archaic era, instead of the 13×6 rule that had prevailed at the time of its construction.
Temple of Apollo Epicurius
Sculptural decoration
Doric frieze
The temple had an exterior Doric frieze with undecorated metopes and triglyphs, while only the interior metopes of the narrow sides were decorated in relief. The six metopes of the pronaos depicted the return of Apollo to Olympus from the Hyperborean countries, and the abduction of the daughters of the Messinian king Leucippus by the Dioscuri. It is uncertain whether the pediments carried sculptural decoration.
Ionic frieze
A prominent decorative element of the temple was the marble Ionic frieze and surrounded the interior of the cella, above the Ionic semi-columns. The frieze had a total length of 31 metres and consisted of 23 marble slabs. Twelve of them depict a battle between Greeks and Amazons and the remaining eleven a battle between Lapiths and Centaurs.
The elongated cella is divided into two parts. Its main chamber has two rows of five Ionic engaged columns attached to the side walls. The earliest known example of a Corinthian capital stood between the southernmost engaged columns, which are generally described as Ionic, although some scholars consider them Corinthian.
Restoration work
Damage to the temple at Bassae has resulted from several factors, including harmful human interventions, foundation failure and the resulting subsidence and deformation. These have caused the columns of the peristyle to lean significantly and the architrave blocks to become distorted. Harsh weather conditions and earthquakes have also contributed to the deterioration of the monument.
In the frame of the restoration project, from 2001 and until November 2023, the following works have been carried out:
1341
reinforced welds of large fragments and supplements of architectural members
226
is the total of carved supplements attached on ancient members
270
is the total number of architectural members that have been restored and reinstalled in the monument
13
are the entirely new members that have been carved and placed in the ancient temple