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Temple of Hephaestus

January 01, 1970

The Temple of Hephaestus or Hephaisteion (also "Hephesteum" or "Hephaesteum"; Ancient Greek: Ἡφαιστεῖον, Greek: Ναός Ηφαίστου, and formerly called in error the Theseion or "Theseum"; Ancient Greek: Θησεῖον, Greek: Θησείο), is a well-preserved Greek temple dedicated to Hephaestus; it remains standing largely intact today. It is a Doric peripteral temple, and is located at the north-west side of the Agora of Athens, on top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill. From the 7th century until 1834, it served as the Greek Orthodox church of Saint George Akamates. The building's condition has been maintained due to its history of varied use.

Temple of Hephaestus/Theseion
Ναός Ηφαίστου/Θησείο
Location within Athens
General information
Architectural styleAncient Greek and Doric
Town or cityAthens
CountryGreece
Coordinates37°58′32.22″N 23°43′17.01″E / 37.9756167°N 23.7213917°E / 37.9756167; 23.7213917
Construction started449 BCE
Completed415 BCE

Name edit

Hephaestus was the patron god of metal working, craftsmanship, and fire. There were numerous potters' workshops and metal-working shops in the vicinity of the temple, as befits the temple's honoree. Archaeological evidence suggests that there was no earlier building on the site except for a small sanctuary that was burned during the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BCE. The name Theseion or Temple of Theseus was attributed to the monument in modern times under the mistaken assumption that it housed the remains of the Athenian hero Theseus, brought back to the city from the island of Skyros by Kimon in 475 BCE, but refuted after inscriptions from within the temple associated it firmly with Hephaestus.

Construction edit

After the battle of Plataea, the Greeks swore never to rebuild their sanctuaries destroyed by the Persians during their invasion of Greece, but to leave them in ruins, as a perpetual reminder of the war. The Athenians directed their funds towards rebuilding their economy and strengthening their influence in the Delian League. When Pericles came to power, he envisioned a grand plan for transforming Athens into the centre of Greek power and culture. Construction started in 449 BCE, and some scholars believe the building not to have been completed for some three decades, funds and workers having been redirected towards the Parthenon. The western frieze was completed between 445–440 BCE, during which time the statue of Athena Hephaistia had been added to the shrine next to the cult statue of Hephaestus,[1] while the eastern frieze, the western pediment and several changes in the building's interior are dated by these scholars to 435–430 BCE, largely on stylistic grounds. It was only during the Peace of Nicias (421–415 BCE) that the roof was completed and the cult images were installed.

Description edit

Many architects have been suggested but, without firm evidence, one refers simply to The Hephaisteion Master. The temple is built of marble from the nearby Mt. Penteli, excepting the bottom step of the krepis or platform. The architectural sculpture is in both Pentelic and Parian marble. The dimensions of the temple are 13.71 m north to south and 31.78 m east to west, with six columns on the short east and west sides and thirteen columns along the longer north and south sides (with each of the four corner columns being counted twice).

 
Doric colonnade facing the Agora

The building has a pronaos, a cella housing cult images at the centre of the structure, and an opisthodomos. The alignment of the antae of the pronaos with the third flank columns of the peristyle is a design element unique to the middle of the 5th century BCE.[citation needed] There is also an inner Doric colonnade with five columns on the north and south side and three across the end (with the corner columns counted twice).

The decorative sculptures highlight the extent of mixture of the two styles in the construction of the temple. Both the pronaos and the opisthodomos are decorated with continuous Ionic friezes instead of the more typical Doric triglyphs, supplementing the sculptures at the pediments. In the pediments, the Birth of Athena (east) and the Return of Hephaistos to Olympos (west), and, as akroteria, the Nereids Thetis and Eurynome (west) accompanied by Nikai, the two ensembles are dated to ca. 430 and ca. 420–413 BCE respectively. The frieze of the pronaos depicts a scene from the battle of Theseus with the Pallantides in the presence of gods while the frieze of the opisthodomos shows the battle of Centaurs and Lapiths.[2]

Only 18 of the 68 metopes of the temple of Hephaestus were sculpted, concentrated especially on the east side of the temple; the rest were perhaps painted. The ten metopes on the east side depict the Labours of[3] Heracles. The four easternmost metopes on the long north and south sides depict the Labours of Theseus.

According to Pausanias, the temple housed bronze statues of Athena and Hephaestus. An inscription records payments between 421–415 BCE for two bronze statues but it does not mention the sculptor. Tradition attributes the work to Alcamenes. Pausanias described the temple in the 2nd century:

Above the Kerameikos [in Athens] and the portico[4] called the King's Portico is a temple of Hephaistos. I was not surprised that by it stands a statue of Athena, because I knew the story about Erikhthonios [i.e. the first king of Athens, a son of Hephaistos and Athena, birthed by Gaia the Earth].[5]

In the 3rd century BCE a small garden of pomegranate, myrtle, and laurel trees and shrubs was planted around the temple.

The sanctuary would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.

Church edit

 
Temple of Hephaestus
 
Festival in Athens in front of the Temple of Hephaestus, 1805, painted by Edward Dodwell

Around CE 700, the temple was turned into a Christian church, dedicated to Saint George. Exactly when the temple was converted to a Christian church remains unknown. There are assumptions however that this possibly occurred in the 7th century.

Adding all kind of adjectives in the names of the churches, or the commemorated saints, is commonplace in Greek-orthodox tradition. The characterization as Saint George "Akamates" has been given many explanations. One states that it probably derives from the name of Akamantas, the son of Theseus and[6] Pheadra, later transformed to Akamatos, and later still to Akamates. Another is based on the literal sense of the word akamates (= flaneur, or loiterer), because during the Ottoman Era the temple was used only once a year, on the day of the feast of St. George. A third option is that the name is from Archbishop of Athens Michael Akominatos, who might have been the first to celebrate a Divine Liturgy in the church.

The last Divine Liturgy in the temple took place on 21 February 1833, during the celebrations for the arrival of Otto of Greece to his new kingdom. In the presence of the Athenians and of many others the bishop Neophytos Talantiou of Atalante gave a speech.

19th century edit

When Athens became the official capital of Greece in 1834, the publication of the relevant royal edict was made in this temple that was the place of the last public turnout of the Athenians. It was used as a burial place for non-Orthodox Europeans in the 19th century, among whom were many philhellenes who gave their lives in the cause of Greek War of Independence (1821–1830). Among those buried in the site was John Tweddel, a friend of Lord Elgin, while excavations also revealed a slab from the grave of George Watson with a Latin epitaph by Lord Byron. In 1834, the first King of Greece, Otto I, was officially welcomed there. Otto ordered the building to be used as a museum, in which capacity it remained until 1934, when it reverted to its status of an ancient monument and extensive archaeological research was allowed.

Works modeled on, or inspired by, the Temple of Hephaestus edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Parke, H. W. (1986). Festivals of the Athenians. Ithaca, New York. pp. 92–93. ISBN 0-8014-9440-0. OCLC 13525662.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ Stewart, Andrew (October–December 2018). "Classical Sculpture from the Athenian Agora, Part 1: The Pediments and Akroteria of the Hephaisteion". Hesperia. 87 (4). The American School of Classical Studies at Athens: 681–741. doi:10.2972/hesperia.87.4.0681. JSTOR 10.2972. S2CID 192675877.
  3. ^ Poo, Seneca, Lucius Annaeus Philosophus (4 December 2017). Hercules. ISBN 978-0-674-99717-2. OCLC 1044746939.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Poo(-sun). Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. 2003. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.j779000.
  5. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 14. 6 (trans. Jones)
  6. ^ Athena. Athena. OCLC 1257260714.
  7. ^ Simpson, Donald H. (1957). (PDF). Melita Historica. 2 (2): 77. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2017.

Further reading edit

  • Cruciani, C. 1998. I Modelli del Moderato. Naples.
  • Dinsmoor, W. 1941. "Observations on the Hephaisteion", Hesperia Supplements V. Baltimore.
  • Gottlieb, Carla (1957). "The Pediment Sculpture and Acroteria from the Hephaisteion and Temple of Ares in the Agora at Athens". American Journal of Archaeology. 61 (2): 161–165. doi:10.2307/500354. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 500354.
  • Koch, Herbert (1955). Studien zum Theseustempel in Athen. Berlin.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Harrison, E. (1977). "Alkamenes Sculptures for the Hephaisteion". American Journal of Archaeology. 81: 137–78. doi:10.2307/503175. JSTOR 503175. S2CID 191390829.
  • Olsen, E. (1938). "An Interpretation of the Hephaisteion Reliefs". American Journal of Archaeology. 42 (2): 276–87. doi:10.2307/499672. JSTOR 499672. S2CID 191412064.
  • Thompson, Homer A. (1949). "The Pedimental Sculpture of the Hephaisteion". Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. 18 (3): 230–268. ISSN 0018-098X. JSTOR 146756.
  • Thompson, H. (1962). "The Sculptural Adornment of the Hephaisteion". American Journal of Archaeology. 66 (3): 339–47. doi:10.2307/501469. JSTOR 501469. S2CID 193064420.
  • "The Temple of Hephaestus" by Leo Masuda Architectonic Research Office

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Temple of Hephaestus in Athens.
  • High-resolution 360° Panorama of the Temple of Hephaestus | Art Atlas

January 01, 1970
temple, hephaestus, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, march, . This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Temple of Hephaestus news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2016 Learn how and when to remove this message The Temple of Hephaestus or Hephaisteion also Hephesteum or Hephaesteum Ancient Greek Ἡfaisteῖon Greek Naos Hfaistoy and formerly called in error the Theseion or Theseum Ancient Greek 8hseῖon Greek 8hseio is a well preserved Greek temple dedicated to Hephaestus it remains standing largely intact today It is a Doric peripteral temple and is located at the north west side of the Agora of Athens on top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill From the 7th century until 1834 it served as the Greek Orthodox church of Saint George Akamates The building s condition has been maintained due to its history of varied use Temple of Hephaestus TheseionNaos Hfaistoy 8hseioTemple of Hephaestus AthensLocation within AthensGeneral informationArchitectural styleAncient Greek and DoricTown or cityAthensCountryGreeceCoordinates37 58 32 22 N 23 43 17 01 E 37 9756167 N 23 7213917 E 37 9756167 23 7213917Construction started449 BCECompleted415 BCE Contents 1 Name 2 Construction 3 Description 4 Church 5 19th century 6 Works modeled on or inspired by the Temple of Hephaestus 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksName editHephaestus was the patron god of metal working craftsmanship and fire There were numerous potters workshops and metal working shops in the vicinity of the temple as befits the temple s honoree Archaeological evidence suggests that there was no earlier building on the site except for a small sanctuary that was burned during the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BCE The name Theseion or Temple of Theseus was attributed to the monument in modern times under the mistaken assumption that it housed the remains of the Athenian hero Theseus brought back to the city from the island of Skyros by Kimon in 475 BCE but refuted after inscriptions from within the temple associated it firmly with Hephaestus Construction editAfter the battle of Plataea the Greeks swore never to rebuild their sanctuaries destroyed by the Persians during their invasion of Greece but to leave them in ruins as a perpetual reminder of the war The Athenians directed their funds towards rebuilding their economy and strengthening their influence in the Delian League When Pericles came to power he envisioned a grand plan for transforming Athens into the centre of Greek power and culture Construction started in 449 BCE and some scholars believe the building not to have been completed for some three decades funds and workers having been redirected towards the Parthenon The western frieze was completed between 445 440 BCE during which time the statue of Athena Hephaistia had been added to the shrine next to the cult statue of Hephaestus 1 while the eastern frieze the western pediment and several changes in the building s interior are dated by these scholars to 435 430 BCE largely on stylistic grounds It was only during the Peace of Nicias 421 415 BCE that the roof was completed and the cult images were installed Description editMany architects have been suggested but without firm evidence one refers simply to The Hephaisteion Master The temple is built of marble from the nearby Mt Penteli excepting the bottom step of the krepis or platform The architectural sculpture is in both Pentelic and Parian marble The dimensions of the temple are 13 71 m north to south and 31 78 m east to west with six columns on the short east and west sides and thirteen columns along the longer north and south sides with each of the four corner columns being counted twice nbsp Doric colonnade facing the Agora The building has a pronaos a cella housing cult images at the centre of the structure and an opisthodomos The alignment of the antae of the pronaos with the third flank columns of the peristyle is a design element unique to the middle of the 5th century BCE citation needed There is also an inner Doric colonnade with five columns on the north and south side and three across the end with the corner columns counted twice The decorative sculptures highlight the extent of mixture of the two styles in the construction of the temple Both the pronaos and the opisthodomos are decorated with continuous Ionic friezes instead of the more typical Doric triglyphs supplementing the sculptures at the pediments In the pediments the Birth of Athena east and the Return of Hephaistos to Olympos west and as akroteria the Nereids Thetis and Eurynome west accompanied by Nikai the two ensembles are dated to ca 430 and ca 420 413 BCE respectively The frieze of the pronaos depicts a scene from the battle of Theseus with the Pallantides in the presence of gods while the frieze of the opisthodomos shows the battle of Centaurs and Lapiths 2 Only 18 of the 68 metopes of the temple of Hephaestus were sculpted concentrated especially on the east side of the temple the rest were perhaps painted The ten metopes on the east side depict the Labours of 3 Heracles The four easternmost metopes on the long north and south sides depict the Labours of Theseus According to Pausanias the temple housed bronze statues of Athena and Hephaestus An inscription records payments between 421 415 BCE for two bronze statues but it does not mention the sculptor Tradition attributes the work to Alcamenes Pausanias described the temple in the 2nd century Above the Kerameikos in Athens and the portico 4 called the King s Portico is a temple of Hephaistos I was not surprised that by it stands a statue of Athena because I knew the story about Erikhthonios i e the first king of Athens a son of Hephaistos and Athena birthed by Gaia the Earth 5 In the 3rd century BCE a small garden of pomegranate myrtle and laurel trees and shrubs was planted around the temple The sanctuary would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire Church edit nbsp Temple of Hephaestus nbsp Festival in Athens in front of the Temple of Hephaestus 1805 painted by Edward Dodwell Around CE 700 the temple was turned into a Christian church dedicated to Saint George Exactly when the temple was converted to a Christian church remains unknown There are assumptions however that this possibly occurred in the 7th century Adding all kind of adjectives in the names of the churches or the commemorated saints is commonplace in Greek orthodox tradition The characterization as Saint George Akamates has been given many explanations One states that it probably derives from the name of Akamantas the son of Theseus and 6 Pheadra later transformed to Akamatos and later still to Akamates Another is based on the literal sense of the word akamates flaneur or loiterer because during the Ottoman Era the temple was used only once a year on the day of the feast of St George A third option is that the name is from Archbishop of Athens Michael Akominatos who might have been the first to celebrate a Divine Liturgy in the church The last Divine Liturgy in the temple took place on 21 February 1833 during the celebrations for the arrival of Otto of Greece to his new kingdom In the presence of the Athenians and of many others the bishop Neophytos Talantiou of Atalante gave a speech 19th century editWhen Athens became the official capital of Greece in 1834 the publication of the relevant royal edict was made in this temple that was the place of the last public turnout of the Athenians It was used as a burial place for non Orthodox Europeans in the 19th century among whom were many philhellenes who gave their lives in the cause of Greek War of Independence 1821 1830 Among those buried in the site was John Tweddel a friend of Lord Elgin while excavations also revealed a slab from the grave of George Watson with a Latin epitaph by Lord Byron In 1834 the first King of Greece Otto I was officially welcomed there Otto ordered the building to be used as a museum in which capacity it remained until 1934 when it reverted to its status of an ancient monument and extensive archaeological research was allowed Works modeled on or inspired by the Temple of Hephaestus editEnglish garden 1795 Soderfors Sweden Hagley Park Worcestershire 1758 West Midlands by James Athenian Stuart Arlington House The Robert E Lee Memorial 1802 1817 Arlington National Cemetery Virginia US Monument to Sir Alexander Ball 1810 Valletta Malta 7 Dundalk Courthouse 1813 Dundalk Ireland Theseus Temple 1821 in the Volksgarten in Vienna Austria by Pietro di Nobile Old Royal High School 1829 Edinburgh Scotland McKim Free School 1833 Baltimore Maryland US Penshaw Monument 1844 Penshaw Tyne and Wear England Old Montgomery County Court House 1844 1850 Dayton Ohio US Vermont State House 1857 1859 Montpelier Vermont USSee also editList of Ancient Greek temples Architecture of Ancient Greece Hexastyle List of Greco Roman roofsReferences edit Parke H W 1986 Festivals of the Athenians Ithaca New York pp 92 93 ISBN 0 8014 9440 0 OCLC 13525662 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Stewart Andrew October December 2018 Classical Sculpture from the Athenian Agora Part 1 The Pediments and Akroteria of the Hephaisteion Hesperia 87 4 The American School of Classical Studies at Athens 681 741 doi 10 2972 hesperia 87 4 0681 JSTOR 10 2972 S2CID 192675877 Poo Seneca Lucius Annaeus Philosophus 4 December 2017 Hercules ISBN 978 0 674 99717 2 OCLC 1044746939 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Poo sun Oxford Music Online Oxford University Press 2003 doi 10 1093 gmo 9781561592630 article j779000 Pausanias Description of Greece 1 14 6 trans Jones Athena Athena OCLC 1257260714 Simpson Donald H 1957 Some public monuments of Valletta 1800 1955 1 PDF Melita Historica 2 2 77 Archived from the original PDF on 27 March 2017 Further reading editCruciani C 1998 I Modelli del Moderato Naples Dinsmoor W 1941 Observations on the Hephaisteion Hesperia Supplements V Baltimore Gottlieb Carla 1957 The Pediment Sculpture and Acroteria from the Hephaisteion and Temple of Ares in the Agora at Athens American Journal of Archaeology 61 2 161 165 doi 10 2307 500354 ISSN 0002 9114 JSTOR 500354 Koch Herbert 1955 Studien zum Theseustempel in Athen Berlin a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Harrison E 1977 Alkamenes Sculptures for the Hephaisteion American Journal of Archaeology 81 137 78 doi 10 2307 503175 JSTOR 503175 S2CID 191390829 Olsen E 1938 An Interpretation of the Hephaisteion Reliefs American Journal of Archaeology 42 2 276 87 doi 10 2307 499672 JSTOR 499672 S2CID 191412064 Thompson Homer A 1949 The Pedimental Sculpture of the Hephaisteion Hesperia The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 18 3 230 268 ISSN 0018 098X JSTOR 146756 Thompson H 1962 The Sculptural Adornment of the Hephaisteion American Journal of Archaeology 66 3 339 47 doi 10 2307 501469 JSTOR 501469 S2CID 193064420 The Temple of Hephaestus by Leo Masuda Architectonic Research OfficeExternal links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Temple of Hephaestus in Athens High resolution 360 Panorama of the Temple of Hephaestus Art Atlas Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Temple of Hephaestus amp oldid 1222927596, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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