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Temple of Apollo Epikourios, Bassai Photo
Ναός του Επικούριου Απόλλωνα, Βάσσαι - Archaeoligical Site - Iliea
Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae (Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO)
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The temple of Apollo Epikourios stands at a height of 1130 m on Mount Kotilio, 14 km south of Andritsaina. At this site, which was called Bassai (little valleys) in antiquity, the inhabitants of nearby Phigaleia founded a sanctuary of Apollo Bassitas in the 7th c. BC, where they worshipped the god with the epithet Epikourios- supporter in war or illness.
The temple of Apollo in the sanctuary at Bassai is one of the best-preserved monuments of the ancient Classical world. It was built from 420 to 400 BC on the site of an earlier, Archaic temple. The traveller Pausanias, who visited and admired the monument about the middle of the 2nd c. AD, states that its architect was Iktinos.
The temple occupies a unique position in the history of Greek architecture: it is an ingenious combination of archaising elements dictated by the local religious tradition, and the bold innovations of its creator. It is a Doric, peripteral temple, oriented north-south, with dimensions of 14.48x38.24 at the height of the stylobate. The very long, narrow plan of the peristyle, the number of columns (6x15 instead of the 6x13 usually found at this period), and the disposition of the columns (with larger intercolumniations at the ends of the temple) are all Archaic features and have reference to a specific model: the temple of Apollo at Delphi. They coexist harmoniously, however, with some of the progressive hallmarks of nature Classical Athenian architecture, such as the delicate columns, the low crepidoma and entablature, and the spacious prodomos and opisthodomos.
[Parts of Official Flyer "Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai", 2011]
the second best preserved temple in main Greece
Bassae (Latin) or Bassai, Vassai or Vasses (Greek, Modern: Βάσσες, Ancient: Βάσσαι), meaning "little vale in the rocks",[1] is an archaeological site in the northeastern part of Messenia, Greece. In classical antiquity, it was part of Arcadia. Bassae lies near the village of Skliros, northeast of Figaleia, south of Andritsaina and west of Megalopolis. It is famous for the well-preserved mid- to late-5th century BCE Temple of Apollo Epicurius.
Although this temple is geographically remote from major polities of ancient Greece, it is one of the most studied ancient Greek temples because of its multitude of unusual features. Bassae was the first Greek site to be inscribed on the World Heritage List (1986).[2] Its construction is placed between 450 BCE and 400 BCE. [from wikipedia-en, 02/2014]
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