Apollo Maleatas - E end of terrace from SW

The Sanctuary of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

Maleatas () is located on a low hill on

Mount Kynortion Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

, east of the sanctuary of

Asklepios Asclepius (; ''Asklēpiós'' ; ) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis, or Arsinoe, or of Apollo alone. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his ...

Epidaurus Epidaurus () was a small city (''polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: ''Palaia Epidavros'' and ''Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong to the new municipality of Epi ...

. At the peak of the hill was a small Early

Helladic Helladic chronology is a relative dating system used in archaeology and art history. It complements the Minoan chronology scheme devised by Sir Arthur Evans for the categorisation of Bronze Age artefacts from the Minoan civilization within a his ...

settlement, which was never built on in later periods. At the beginning of the

Late Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, an open-air altar was used where animals were sacrificed and votives deposited in the ash. Dedications include votive bronze double axes, bronze swords, and clay animal figurines. There is evidence for cult activity in the Geometric period. Most of the structures on the site belong to the 4th century BC or to the 2nd century AD, when there was a major building campaign paid for by Sextus Iulius Maior Antoninus Pythodorus, an aristocrat from

Nysa, Anatolia Nysa on the Maeander () was an ancient city and bishopric of Asia Minor, whose remains are in the Sultanhisar district of Aydın Province of Turkey, east of the Ionian city of Ephesus, and which remains a Latin Catholic titular see. At one ti ...

and a Roman senator. Pausanias, who visited the sanctuary in the third quarter of the 2nd century, described his contributions: :"Above the sacred grove

f Asklepios at Epidauros F, or f, is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet and many modern alphabets influenced by it, including the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of all other modern western European languages. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounce ...

is another mountain called Kynortion, on which there is a sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas. The sanctuary itself is ancient, but everything about it, including the cistern in which the rain-water is collected, is a gift of Antoninus to the Epidaurians." The temple could not have been in operation after the 4th or 5th century CE when all pagan shrines were 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 ...

. Remains on the site include Roman baths, an underground cistern, a Roman fountain, a small Doric temple of Apollo (4th century BC), an altar, a shrine of the muses, living quarters for the sanctuary staff, a Roman gateway, and a stoa (late 4th century BC). From 1881 until his death in 1928,

Panagiotis Kavvadias Panagiotis Kavvadias or Cawadias (; – 20 July 1928) was a Greek Archaeology, archaeologist. He was responsible for the excavation of ancient sites in Greece, including Epidaurus in Argolis and the Acropolis of Athens, as well as archaeolog ...

excavated at Epidaurus, though he made only a cursory investigation of the Sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas. Between 1948 and 1951,

John Papadimitriou John K. Papadimitriou (; – April 11, 1963) was a Greek archaeologist. Along with George E. Mylonas, George Mylonas, he excavated Grave Circle B, Mycenae, Grave Circle B, the oldest known monumentalized burials at the Bronze Age site of Myc ...

systematically excavated the site.

References

Further reading