THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO EPIKOURIOS AT BASSAE

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01. [ ENGLISH ]

THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO EPIKOURIOS AT BASSAE PAINTINGS

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THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO EPIKOURIOS AT BASSAE - THE BEST COLLECTION OF PODCASTS AND YOUTUBE VIDEOS FOR

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Temple of Apollo Epicurius

Located on a remote mountainside in the Peloponnese, the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae is an exceptionally large, well-preserved and mysterious Classical temple. It is unique in many ways, not least in its daring combination of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian elements. Its single Corinthian capital is the oldest known in the world.

History

The magnificent ancient temple visible today was not the first to stand on this rugged mountain site. Excavations have shown that the foundations of the Temple of Apollo reused blocks from at least one Archaic predecessor. Artifacts from the 7th, 6th, and 5th centuries have been discovered, including some terracotta decoration. Votive offerings of many periods have also been uncovered, dating all the way back to Geometric times.

The present Temple of Apollo Epicurius was built sometime between 450 and 400 BC, around the time of the Parthenon in Athens. Its style seems to indicate a date prior to the Parthenon, perhaps designed 450-440 BC with a completion date around 425 BC.1 (Other sources date it to shortly after the Parthenon.2) The ancient writer Pausanius attributed the design to Iktinos, architect of the Parthenon, but so far this has not been independently confirmed.

The temple's isolated location and unusual dedication (epikourios means "helper" or "protector") have kept scholars occupied for over 200 years. One explanation is that the villagers of nearby Figalos prayed to Apollo for protection from a plague and built the temple in gratitude for his assistance. Another theory is that Apollo was considered the protector of the Arcadians, especially mercenaries, who funded the temple.

Whatever the reason for its construction, the Temple of Apollo Epicurius was no modest, back-woods shrine. It is built on a grand scale with great precision and architectural creativity. Its combination of Doric and Ionic orders in a single structure was quite daring, and its Corinthian capital is the oldest known example in the ancient world.

The temple at Bassae remained well-preserved over the centuries, thanks primarily to its isolation. All but forgotten, it was too far up in the mountains for looting of materials to be practical anyway. The ancient ruin was not rediscovered until 1765, when the French architect Joachim Bocher stumbled on it by accident.

In 1811-12, British and German antiquarians poked around the ruins a bit and brought the metope sculptures back to their own countries. The cella friezes were bought by the British Government for £19,000 and placed in the British Museum, where they remain today.

The Greek Archaeological Society restored the temple from 1902 to 1906, re-erecting some fallen columns and restoring the cella walls. Another renovation was carried out in the 1960s, during which some fragments of the frieze were excavated.

A "temporary" protective tent was erected over the temple in 1987 that still remains in place today. It keeps out the extremes of the mountain weather, but obscures much of the architectural beauty of this celebrated Classical temple.

What to See

The Temple of Apollo the Helper stands on a rocky outcropping of Mt. Kotilion (Palaiavlachitsa) at an altitude of 3,710 feet (1131m). The many ravines (Βασσαι) surrounding the terrace give the site its general name. Locals refer to the temple as stous stylous ("the columns") or the Naos (after the innermost part of the temple). It is accessible by road and located 14.5km from the town of Andritsaina.

Made primarily of local gray limestone, the temple has a naturally cold appearance that reflects its windswept surroundings. In an unusual combination of materials, Doliana marble was used for the Ionic and Corinthian capitals of the limestone temple, as well as for the sculptured friezes. The cella friezes now in the British Museum depict battles between the Greeks and the Amazons and the Lapiths and Centaurs.

Standing on a platform of three steps, the Temple of Apollo Epicurius is oriented exactly north, departing from the usual eastern orientation. The peristyle (outer colonnade) consists of 15 Doric columns on the long sides and 6 Doric columns on the ends. The architrave has survived mostly intact, but the pediment and roof have long since disappeared. The sculptures of the pediment may have been taken to Rome in ancient times.1

While the exterior of the temple adheres strictly to the Doric order, the interior reveals an unusual combination of Classical orders: the inner shrine (naos) is enclosed within 10 Ionic columns embedded in low walls and a solitary Corinthian column stands at the southern end next to the adyton. The capital atop this column was the oldest known Corinthian capital in existence; sadly, it was accidentally shattered during excavations.

Among the many mysteries of this unique temple was whether it originally contained a cult statue. No base for an image has been found and some suggest that the unusual Corinthian column in the altar area was an aniconic representation of Apollo. However, Pausanius recorded that there was a bronze Apollo statue at Bassae, which was moved to the agora of Megalopolis in 369 BC and replaced by an acrolithic statue (wood with marble head and limbs). Part of a foot from a colossal marble statue of Apollo was discovered in the rear room of the temple, but it dates from the Hellenistic era, c.150-100 BC.

Construction and decoration

The temple is aligned north-south, in contrast to the majority of Greek temples which are aligned east-west; its principle entrance is from the north. This was necessitated by the limited space available on the steep slopes of the mountain. To overcome this restriction a door was placed in the side of the temple, perhaps to allow worshippers to face east or let light in to illuminate the statue.

The temple is of a relatively modest size, with the stylobate measuring 38.3 by 14.5 metres^[5] containing a Doric peristyle of six by fifteen columns (hexastyle). The roof left a central space open to admit light and air. The temple was constructed entirely out of grey Arcadian limestone^[6] except for the frieze which was carved from marble. Like most major temples it has three "rooms" or porches: the pronaos, plus anaos and an opisthodomos. The naos most likely once housed a cult statue of Apollo. The temple lacks some optical refinements found in theParthenon, such as a subtly curved floor, though the columns have entasis.^[7]

Fragment of a metope, depicting an Amazon, displayed at the British Museum.

The temple is unusual in that it has examples of all three of the classical orders used in ancient Greek architecture: Doric, Ionic, andCorinthian.^[1] Doric columns form the peristyle while Ionic columns support the porch and Corinthian columns feature in the interior. The Corinthian capital is the earliest example of the order found to date.^[1]

It was relatively sparsely decorated on the exterior.^[8] Inside, however, there was a continuous Ionic frieze showing Greeks in battle withAmazons and the Lapiths engaged in battle with Centaurs.^[9] This frieze's metopes were removed by Charles Robert Cockerell and taken to the British Museum in 1815. (They are still to be seen in the British Museum's Gallery 16, near the Elgin Marbles.^[9]) Cockerell decorated the walls of the Ashmolean Museum's Great Staircase and that of the Travellers Club with plaster casts of the same frieze.

Re-discovery and removal by the British

The Bassae Frieze has its own room at the British Museum.

Foot fragment of a colossal statue at Bassae, displayed at the British Museum

The temple had been noticed first in November 1765 by the French architect J. Bocher, who was building villas at Zante and came upon it quite by accident; he recognized it from its site, but when he returned for a second look, he was murdered by bandits.^[11] Charles Robert Cockerell and Carl Haller von Hallerstein, having secured sculptures at Aegina, hoped for more successes at Bassae in 1811; all Haller's careful drawings of the site were lost at sea, however.^[12]The site was explored in 1812 with the permission of Veli Pasha, the Turkish commander of the Peloponnese, by a group of British antiquaries who removed twenty-three slabs from the Ionic cella frieze and transported them to Zante along with other sculptures. Veli Pasha's claims on the finds were silenced in exchange for a small bribe, and the frieze was bought at auction by the British Museum in 1815. This frieze's metopes were removed personally byCharles Robert Cockerell. (They are still to be seen in the British Museum's Gallery 16, near the Elgin Marbles.^[9]) Cockerell decorated the walls of the Ashmolean Museum's Great Staircase and that of the Travellers Club with plaster casts of the same frieze.^[10] The frieze sculptures were published in Rome in 1814 and officially, by the British Museum in 1820. Other hasty visits resulted in further publications. The first fully published excavation was not begun until 1836; it was carried out by Russian archaeologists under the direction ofCarlo Brullo. Perhaps the most striking discovery was the oldest Corinthian capital found to date. Some of the recovered artefacts are on display at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.

In 1902, a systematic excavation of the area was carried out by the Greek Archaeological Society of Athens under archaeologist Konstantinos Kourouniotis along with Konstantinos Romaios and Panagiotis Kavvadias. Further excavations were carried out in 1959, 1970 and from 1975–1979, under the direction of Nikolaos Gialouris.

Quick Facts

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Description

The temple of Apollo Epikourios, one of the most important and most imposing temples of antiquity, stands in the bare and rocky landscape of Bassae. It is unique in the history of ancient Greek architecture because it combines a variety of novel ideas both in its external appearance and in its internal arrangements. Indeed, Pausanias considered it to be among the finest temples of the Peloponnese in terms of sheer beauty and harmony, second only to that of Tegea (8, 41, 8). The building is dated to 420-400 BC and is believed to be the work of Iktinos, who succeeded in combining masterfully several Archaic features imposed by the conservative tradition of the Arcadians with the characteristics of the new Classical style. The surviving temple is not the first one to have been constructed on the site. The earliest temple of Apollo erected in the late seventh century BC, possibly at the same location, was rebuilt at least twice in approximately 600 and 500 BC. Many architectural features from these two phases survive, including a large terracotta acroterion with ornate painted decoration, roof-tiles and antefixes.

The Classical temple was raised on bedrock, on a specially built terrace. Like several other temples in Arcadia, it is orientated east-west instead of the usual north-south, possibly because of local tradition. The building is of local grey limestone, with parts of the roof, the capitals of the cella and the sculptural decoration being of marble. This is the only known temple of antiquity to combine three architectural orders. It is Doric, peripteral, distyle in antis, with pronaos, cella, adyton and opisthodomos. The temple has six columns on the short sides and fifteen on the long sides, instead of the period's usual ratio of 6:13, which gave it the characteristic elongated shape of Archaic temples. Inside the cella, on either side was a series of five Ionic half-columns engaged in buttresses, which projected from the sidewalls dividing the space into niches. The last pair of half-columns divided the cella diagonally, not at right angles like the others. Between them stood a single column. Its capital, recorded in the drawings of the first modern travellers, is the earliest known example of a Corinthian capital in the history of Greek architecture (fragments of the capital are now in the National Archaeological Museum). According to one theory this column was in fact an aniconic representation of the deity in accordance with the earliest Arcadian traditions, while another theory suggests that the fifth pair of half-columns, which stood on either side of this one, was also Corinthian. The cult statue of Apollo was inside the adyton, which was located behind the Corinthian column. A door on the east wall led to the pteron, on the outside. The two-sloped roof had marble tiles of Corinthian type.

A Doric frieze of undecorated metopes and triglyphs ran along the outer fa?ades. Only the inner metopes of the short sides were decorated: those on the pronaos had depictions of Apollo's return to Olympus and those on the opisthodomos contained the rapture of the daughters of the Messenian king Leukippos by the Dioskouroi. The pediments may have been undecorated. The temple's main decorative feature was the marble Ionic frieze supported by the Ionic half-columns of the cella. This frieze was thirty-one metres long and consisted of twenty-three marble slabs, of which twelve depicted battles between Greeks and Amazons and the remaining eleven showed battles between Lapiths and Centaurs. The frieze was unearthed by foreign antiquaries in 1812 and sold to the British Museum in 1815. It may have been the work of Paionios, who also executed the celebrated statue of Nike at Olympia.

The temple remained in use into the Hellenistic and Roman periods, its roof being repaired several times. After the building was abandoned, the decaying roof caved in causing extensive damage, further aggravated by human intervention with the removal of the metal clasps used in its construction. The temple, identified in 1765 by French architect J. Bocher, was first explored by a group of antiquaries in 1812. In 1902-6, the Greek Archaeological Society excavated and restored parts of the temple. In 1975 the newly founded Committee for the Conservation of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios launched a program for the monument's conservation and restoration. The Committee was reformed in 1982 and the Ministry of Culture has been overseeing the difficult task of restoring the monument ever since. A shelter, which will be removed at the end of the works, was erected in 1987 to protect the temple against the region's extreme weather conditions.

Author

Olympia Vikatou, archaeologist

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Περιγραφή

Στο γυμνό, βραχώδες τοπίο των Βασσών βρίσκεται ένας από τους σημαντικότερους και επιβλητικότερους ναούς της αρχαιότητας, αφιερωμένος στον Επικούριο Απόλλωνα. Χαρακτηρίζεται από πλήθος πρωτοτυπιών τόσο στην εξωτερική όσο και στην εσωτερική του διαρρύθμιση, που τον καθιστούν μοναδικό μνημείο στην ιστορία της αρχαίας ελληνικής αρχιτεκτονικής. Ο Παυσανίας, μάλιστα, τον θεωρεί το δεύτερο μετά της Τεγέας πελοποννησιακό ναό σε κάλλος και αρμονία (8.41.8). Η ανέγερσή του τοποθετείται στο 420-400 π.Χ. και αρχιτέκτονάς του θεωρείται ο Ικτίνος, που σε αυτό το δημιούργημά του κατόρθωσε να συνδυάσει πολλά αρχαϊκά χαρακτηριστικά, που επέβαλλε η συντηρητική θρησκευτική παράδοση των Αρκάδων, με τα νέα γνωρίσματα της κλασικής εποχής. Ο ναός που βλέπει σήμερα ο επισκέπτης δεν είναι ο αρχαιότερος που κτίσθηκε στο χώρο. Ο πρώτος ναός του Απόλλωνα οικοδομήθηκε γύρω στα τέλη του 7ου αι. π.Χ., πιθανότατα στην ίδια θέση. Ακολούθησαν μία ή δύο οικοδομικές φάσεις του, γύρω στο 600 και γύρω στο 500 π.Χ., αντίστοιχα, από τις οποίες σώζονται πολυάριθμα αρχιτεκτονικά μέλη, όπως το κεντρικό δισκοειδές πήλινο ακρωτήριο με την πλούσια πολύχρωμη γραπτή διακόσμηση, κεραμίδια και πήλινα ακροκέραμα.

Ο κλασικός ναός έχει θεμελιωθεί πάνω στο φυσικό βράχο, σε ειδικά διαμορφωμένο πλάτωμα. Δεν έχει το συνήθη προσανατολισμό Α-Δ, αλλά Β-Ν, ίσως για λατρευτικούς λόγους, που συνδέονται με την αρκαδική θρησκευτική παράδοση, δεδομένου ότι και άλλοι ναοί στην περιοχή παρουσιάζουν τον ίδιο προσανατολισμό. Για την κατασκευή του έχει χρησιμοποιηθεί ανοιχτόχρωμος τοπικός ασβεστόλιθος, ενώ ορισμένα μέρη της οροφής, τα κιονόκρανα του σηκού και ο γλυπτός διάκοσμος είναι από μάρμαρο. Ο ναός είναι ο μοναδικός που συνδυάζει στοιχεία των τριών αρχιτεκτονικών ρυθμών της αρχαιότητας. Είναι δωρικός, περίπτερος, δίστυλος εν παραστάσι, με πρόναο, σηκό, άδυτο και οπισθόδομο. Έχει 6 κίονες στις στενές και 15 στις μακρές πλευρές, αντί της καθιερωμένης για την εποχή αναλογίας 6 x 13. Έτσι, η μορφή του είναι περισσότερο επιμήκης, όπως στους αρχαϊκούς ναούς. Στο εσωτερικό του σηκού, κατά μήκος των μακρών πλευρών υπάρχουν από πέντε ιωνικοί ημικίονες, που αποτελούν απόληξη κάθετων στον τοίχο τοιχαρίων, τα οποία διαμορφώνουν κόγχες. Το τελευταίο ζεύγος των ημικιόνων τέμνουν διαγώνια τον τοίχο του σηκού και όχι κάθετα όπως οι υπόλοιποι. Ανάμεσα σε αυτούς υπήρχε ένας κίονας, που έφερε το αρχαιότερο γνωστό ως σήμερα στην αρχαία ελληνική αρχιτεκτονική κορινθιακό κιονόκρανο, το οποίο γνωρίζουμε από τα σχέδια των πρώτων περιηγητών (θραύσματά του φυλάσσονται στο Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο). Κατά μία άποψη ο κίονας αυτός αποτελούσε ανεικονική παράσταση θεότητας, ακολουθώντας τις βαθιές λατρευτικές παραδόσεις της Αρκαδίας, ενώ σύμφωνα με ορισμένους μελετητές, κορινθιακοί ήταν και οι δύο διαγώνιοι ημικίονες εκατέρωθεν του κεντρικού κορινθιακού. Στο άδυτο, που βρισκόταν πίσω από τον κίονα αυτό, πιθανότατα φυλασσόταν το λατρευτικό άγαλμα του θεού. Στον ανατολικό του τοίχο υπάρχει θύρα, που οδηγούσε στο εξωτερικό πτερό, για την ύπαρξη της οποίας έχουν διατυπωθεί διάφορες ερμηνείες. Η στέγη του ναού ήταν δίρριχτη και η κεράμωση μαρμάρινη, κορινθιακού τύπου.

Το ναό περιέτρεχε εξωτερικά δωρική ζωφόρος με ακόσμητες μετόπες και τρίγλυφα, ενώ ανάγλυφη διακόσμηση έφεραν μόνο οι εσωτερικές μετόπες των στενών πλευρών. Οι έξι μετόπες του πρόναου απεικόνιζαν την επιστροφή του Απόλλωνα στον Όλυμπο από τις Υπερβόρειες χώρες, και του οπισθόδομου την αρπαγή των θυγατέρων του Μεσσήνιου βασιλιά Λεύκιππου από τους Διόσκουρους. Τα αετώματα δεν είναι βέβαιο ότι έφεραν γλυπτό διάκοσμο. Το βασικότερο διακοσμητικό στοιχείο του ναού ήταν η μαρμάρινη ιωνική ζωφόρος, που υπήρχε πάνω από τους ιωνικούς ημικίονες μέσα στο σηκό. Είχε συνολικό μήκος 31 μ. και αποτελείτο από 23 μαρμάρινες πλάκες. Στις 12 απεικονίζεται η Αμαζονομαχία και στις υπόλοιπες 11 η Κενταυρομαχία. Κατά την ανασκαφή του 1812 οι πλάκες βρέθηκαν σκεπασμένες με αρχιτεκτονικά μέλη στο σηκό και το 1815 μεταφέρθηκαν στο Βρετανικό Μουσείο, όπου και εκτίθενται σήμερα. Γλύπτης της ζωφόρου ίσως ήταν ο Παιώνιος, που φιλοτέχνησε στην Ολυμπία το περίφημο άγαλμα της Νίκης.

Ο ναός εξακολούθησε να χρησιμοποιείται στα ελληνιστικά και ρωμαϊκά χρόνια, οπότε γίνονταν επιδιορθώσεις στην κεράμωσή του. Η πρώτη σημαντική καταστροφή του σημειώθηκε όταν έπεσε η στέγη του, λόγω της φυσικής φθοράς των ξύλινων δοκών που τη συγκρατούσαν, ενώ σοβαρές ζημιές υπέστη και από την ανθρώπινη επέμβαση, που έγινε για την απόσπαση του μετάλλου των συνδέσμων. Ο ναός ταυτίσθηκε επιτυχώς το 1765 από το Γάλλο αρχιτέκτονα J. Bocher και η πρώτη συστηματική ανασκαφή του έγινε το 1812 από ομάδα αρχαιόφιλων επιστημόνων. Ανασκαφές και αναστηλωτικές επεμβάσεις ξεκίνησαν το 1902 από την Αρχαιολογική Εταιρεία, ενώ το 1975 συστάθηκε η Επιτροπή Συντηρήσεως του Ναού του Επικουρίου Απόλλωνος, που ανέλαβε τον προγραμματισμό και τη σύνταξη των σχετικών μελετών για τα έργα συντήρησης και αναστήλωσης. Το 1982 έγινε ανασύσταση της επιτροπής και το Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού ανέλαβε συστηματικά το εξαιρετικά δύσκολο έργο αποκατάστασης του μνημείου. Από το 1987 ο ναός προστατεύεται από τις αντίξοες καιρικές συνθήκες με ειδικό στέγαστρο, που θα απομακρυνθεί μετά την ολοκλήρωση των απαραίτητων εργασιών.

Συντάκτης

Ολυμπία Βικάτου, αρχαιολόγος

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01. [ ENGLISH ]