The Temple 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 ...

Zoster is an

ancient Greek temple Greek temples (, semantically distinct from Latin language, 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, since the Ancien ...

, the remains of which are located at

Vouliagmeni Vouliagmeni (, meaning "sunken") is a seaside suburb and former municipality 20 km south of Athens city centre. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni, of which it is a municipal unit. The ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Location and discovery

The temple was uncovered when children from the Vouliagmeni orphanage were playing on what is now known as the Astir Beach.Interpretation information located at the Temple, Astir Beach The site now lies sunken, at the back of the beach, and is surrounded by a lawn and hedges. The temple itself is almost at sea level, and so is often flooded outside the summer months. The inscriptions found in the ruins confirm that the site is the Temple of Apollo Zoster. Excavations were undertaken by the archaeologists K. Kourouniotes and M. Pittidis during 1926–27. This confirmed references in the ancient literary sources: Pausanias mentions that Zoster was the location of the most important sanctuary of the

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...

Aixōnídes Halaí Halae Aexonides or Halai Aixonides (), also known as Aexonides Halae or Aixonides Halai (Αἰξωνίδες Ἁλαί), was a deme of ancient Attica The regions of ancient Greece were sub-divisions of the Hellenic world as conceived by the ancie ...

(),Pausanias, I, 31,1 in other words, the Saltfields of

Aixōnē Aexone or Aixone () was a deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the ...

. This ancient deme included the modern areas of

Voula Voula () is a southern suburb of Athens along the Athens coast and former municipality in East Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni, of which it is the seat and a municipal u ...

and Vouliagmeni. The temple sits on the middle tongue of a three-tongued

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the s ...

which was once famously known in antiquity as Cape Zoster.Barber, R., “Blue Guide Greece”, published by A & C Black, 1987, Herodotus writes that, after the battle of Salamis, the Persians mistook the rocks of the headland for Greek ships.Herodotus, VIII, 107

History

Pausanias believed that in this location

Leto In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Leto (; ) is a childhood goddess, the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe (Titaness), Phoebe, the sister of Asteria, and the mother of Apollo and Artemis.Hesiod, ''Theogony' ...

, who was pregnant by

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

, loosened her gilt belt, or zoster, as she was being chased by an angry

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

. Leto believed that she was about to give birth to the twins known as

and

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

. Pausanias described it in the 2nd century: : At Zoster (Girdle) n Attikaon the coast is an altar to Athena, as well as to Apollon, to Artemis and to Leto. The story is that Leto did not give birth to her children here, but loosened her girdle with a view to her delivery, and the place received its name from this incident.Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 31. 2 (trans. Jones) The Temple was founded in the sixth century BC, the Archaic Period. It is of rectangular construction, 10.8m by 6.00m, and has a sekos and an

adyton In Classical architecture, the ''adyton'' ( , 'innermost sanctuary, shrine', ) or (Latin) was a restricted area within the ''cella'' of a Greek temple, Greek or Roman temple. The ''adyton'' was frequently a small area at the farthest end of ...

. The floor of the Temple "is a unique and fine construction of big, rectangular slabs." The sekos is separated from the adyton by a wall which was built in a later phase, in the fourth century BC. Inside the sekos are preserved: * Three bases on which the cult statues of Leto, Apollo and Artemis were standing. Two of the bases preserve the carved inscriptions "HALAIES ANETHESAN". This means that the citizens of the deme of Halai Axonides offered these statues to the worshipped deities. * The marble

throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign (or viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory ...

of the Temple's

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

. * The marble

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

bearing an inscription that refers to the repair of the temple during the fourth century BC, when Polystratos was priest of the temple. The

peristyle In ancient Ancient Greek architecture, Greek and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture, a peristyle (; ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. ''Tetrastoön'' () is a rare ...

was added during the fourth century BC, comprising a colonnade around the temple, which consisted of four columns along the narrow sides of the Temple, and six columns along the longer side of the Temple. In front of the Temple stands the base of a large rectangular altar measuring 4.25m by 2.25m. At the north-east end of the Temple is a square two-stepped base on which a

votive A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...

probably stood. During the Christian period, after 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 ...

, the walls of the sekos were prolonged, some repairs took place, and the temple was transformed into a Christian church.

Priest’s House

There is an attendant building of the same period, later enlarged, discovered in 1936 and comprising the priest's house or a pilgrim's hostel.

Gallery

File:Temple of Apollo Zoster, Vouliagmeni.jpg, The Temple of Apollo Zoster after landscaping and drainage works, Vouliagmeni, Attica File:Temple of Apollo Zoster, view of the Sekos.jpg, View of the sekos, Temple of Apollo Zoster File:Temple of Apollo Zoster, marble altar.jpg, Marble altar, Temple of Apollo Zoster File:Temple of Apollo Zoster, marble throne of the priest.jpg, Marble throne of the priest, Temple of Apollo Zoster

References

External links