#TempleTuesday - The Temple of Concordia, one of the best-preserved ancient Greek temples in the world and the crown jewel of the Valley of the Temples archaeological park in Agrigento in Sicily. Built around 440–430 BC during the height of the Greek colony of Akragas, it is a masterpiece of Doric architecture.
The Temple of Concordia is designed in the classic Greek peripteral style, featuring a rectangular sanctuary surrounded by a colonnade of 34 Doric columns. It has remained almost intact because it was converted into a Christian basilica in the 6th century AD. Later restorations removed many of these Christian additions, allowing the ancient temple to be revealed once again. Despite its modern name, the temple was not originally dedicated to the Roman goddess Concordia. This name comes from a Latin inscription discovered nearby during the Renaissance, and the temple's original dedication remains unknown.
He won the Olympics. The Pythian Games. The Nemean Games. The Isthmian Games.
Agias of Pharsalos - one of the most decorated pankration champion of ancient Greece.
AI reconstruction based on his marble statue, 336 BC.
#AncientGreece#AIArt#GreekMythology#Olympics
#AncientSiteSunday - The Argive Heraion in Greece, the main sanctuary of Argos. Regarded as one of the best-preserved and most picturesque sites in the Argolid, its ruins are located 8 kilometres northeast of Argos on the slopes of Mount Euboea. The goddess Hera, the patron deity of the city of Argos, was worshipped here, and this sanctuary was the most renowned centre for her worship.
The Argive Heraion was built over the remains of a Mycenaean settlement, and archaeological evidence suggests that cultic activity at the site dates back as early as the 10th century BC. The sanctuary occupied three artificial terraces on a site above the Argive Plain. The upper terrace was constructed using large Cyclopean blocks, possibly dating to the late Geometric period (760–700 BC).
The Old Temple of Hera was one of the earliest colonnaded temples in Greece. It was destroyed by fire in 423 BC and has almost completely disappeared. After the fire, a New Temple of Hera was built by the architect Eupolemos of Argos. The famous chryselephantine statue of Hera by Polykleitos was housed in the temple’s cella. Strabo compared it to Pheidias’s giant chryselephantine sculpture of Zeus at Olympia, saying it was smaller and cheaper to make.
The sanctuary remained important during the Roman period. According to Pausanias, Hadrian dedicated a peacock in gold and precious stones at the Argive Temple of Hera in AD 124 (peacocks were regarded as birds sacred to Hera). Before him, Nero dedicated a purple cloak in AD 67.