Temple of Apollo Epicurius, Bassae, Greece

Related people

Robert Livesey (was created by)
Iktinos (architect)

Date

450-425 BCE ca.

Description

The plan is hexastyle peripteral, with fifteen columns on its flanks. Most of the building is constructed of grey limestone, but marble was used for the sculptures and the more decorative areas. The temple faces north and the statue of Apollo was placed in an adyton, or inner sanctuary, partially screened off from the naos proper and lighted from a large opening in the eastern side wall. On both sides of the naos are Ionic half-columns, attached to spur walls, the resulting recesses had coffered stone ceilings. Between the adyton and the naos was a single, free-standing column with a Corinthian capital. This is most likely one of the first instances known of the Corinthian Order. The naos had a coffered timber ceiling. The celebrated sculptured marble frieze over the half-columns represented battles of Centaurs and Lapiths and Athenians and Amazons. --Information from: Palmes, J. C. (1975). Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture (18th Edition). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 229. The Archivision Collection of Ancient Sites was funded by the Jack Martin Balcer Library Endowment. Keywords: Arcadia, Greece, Ictinus, Ionic.

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