The Temple of Hera Lacinia, or Juno Lacinia, otherwise known as Temple D, is a

Greek temple Greek temples ( grc, ναός, naós, dwelling, semantically distinct from Latin , "temple") were structures built to house deity statues within Greek sanctuaries in ancient Greek religion. The temple interiors did not serve as meeting places, s ...

in the

Valle dei Templi The Valle dei Templi (; scn, Vaddi di li Tempri), or Valley of the Temples, is an archaeological site in Agrigento (ancient Greek ''Akragas''), Sicily. It is one of the most outstanding examples of ancient Greek art and architecture, and is one ...

, a section of the ancient city of

Agrigentum Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...

(ancient Greek

Akragas Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...

, modern Agrigento) in Sicily. It was built in the middle of the fifth century BC, about the year 450 BC, and in period and in style belongs to the Archaic

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

period. Signs of a fire which followed the Siege of Akragas of 406 BC have been detected, and long after that the temple was restored at the time of the Roman province of Sicily, with the original terracotta roof being replaced by one of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

, with a more steeply inclined slope on the eastern side. The temple was originally dedicated to the Greek god

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...

, Roman

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

. If still in use by the 4th-and 5th century, it would have been closed during the

persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire began during the reign of Constantine the Great (306–337) in the military colony of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem), when he destroyed a pagan temple for the purpose of constructing a Christian church ...

Description

The building is a peripterotic Doric temple, with six columns on the short sides (

hexastyle A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

) and thirteen on the long sides, according to a canon derived from the models of the Greek homeland and also used for its "twin", the

Temple of Concordia The Temple of Concordia ( it, Tempio della Concordia) is an ancient Greek temple in the Valle dei Templi (Valley of the Temples) in Agrigento (Greek: Akragas) on the south coast of Sicily, Italy. It is the largest and best-preserved Doric templ ...

, with which it shares general dimensions, as if some elements of the buildings had been standardised. The temple's floor plan is around 38.15 metres long by 16.90 metres wide. The front columns differ slightly in width, tapering at the ends and swelling at their middles. The

peristyle In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; from Greek ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön ( grc, τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, lit=fou ...

of thirty-four 6.44 metre-high columns, each formed from four stacked drums, rests on a

crepidoma Crepidoma is an architectural term for part of the structure of ancient Greek buildings. The crepidoma is the multilevel platform on which the superstructure of the building is erected. The crepidoma usually has three levels. Each level typica ...

of four steps. The whole edifice is on a raised spur, which is in large part artificial. In front of the eastern face are notable remains of the ancient altar. The interior is composed of a

cella A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Ancient Greek, Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek temple, Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extende ...

, with no internal colonnade, of the double antis type, with its

pronaos A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

at the front mirrored by the

opisthodomos An opisthodomos (ὀπισθόδομος, 'back room') can refer to either the rear room of an ancient Greek temple or to the inner shrine, also called the adyton ('not to be entered'). The confusion arises from the lack of agreement in ancient i ...

at the back – both framed by two ranks of columns (

distyle A distyle is a small temple-like structure with two columns. By extension, a distyle can also mean a distyle in antis, the original design of the Greek temple, where two columns are set between two antae. See also *Prostyle *Amphiprostyle *Peris ...

). Two stairs for the inspection of the roof, or perhaps for religious purposes, were built into the wall separating the naos from the pronaos. The northern colonnade with the

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

and part of the

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

is completely preserved, while the colonnades on the other three sides are only partly surviving, with four columns missing and nine severely damaged, and they almost entirely lack their architraves. Some small elements of the naos remain, mostly the foundations of its exterior walls. The building has been being restored using

anastylosis Anastylosis (from the Ancient Greek: ; , = "again", and = "to erect stela or building) is an archaeological term for a reconstruction technique whereby a ruined building or monument is restored using the original architectural elements to t ...

since the eighteenth century.

External links

{{coord, 37.2886, N, 13.6002, E, source:wikidata, display=title 450 BC

Buildings and structures in the Province of Agrigento Valle dei Templi 450s BC 5th-century BC establishments in Italy Temples of Hera 5th-century BC religious buildings and structures Archaeological sites in Sicily