Temple of Hephaestus

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Temple of Hephaestus/Theseion
Ναός Ηφαίστου/Θησείο
Temple of Hephaestus, Athens
Location within Athens
General information
Architectural style	Ancient Greek and Doric
Town or city	Athens
Country	Greece
Coordinates	37°58′32.22″N 23°43′17.01″E / 37.9756167°N 23.7213917°E / 37.9756167; 23.7213917
Construction started	449 BCE
Completed	415 BCE

The Temple of Hephaestus or Hephaisteion (also "Hephesteum" or "Hephaesteum";

church of Saint George Akamates. The building's condition has been maintained due to its history of varied use.

Name

in 475 BCE, but refuted after inscriptions from within the temple associated it firmly with Hephaestus.

Construction

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

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. 

. 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).

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

Only 18 of the 68 

. 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

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

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

, 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

• English garden (1795) Söderfors, 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
  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, US

See also

• List of Ancient Greek temples
• Architecture of Ancient Greece
• Hexastyle
• List of Greco-Roman roofs

References

Further reading

• 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.
  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".
  S2CID 191390829
  .
• Olsen, E. (1938). "An Interpretation of the Hephaisteion Reliefs".
  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.
  JSTOR 146756
  .
• Thompson, H. (1962). "The Sculptural Adornment of the Hephaisteion".
  S2CID 193064420
  .
• "The Temple of Hephaestus" by Leo Masuda Architectonic Research Office

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Temple of Hephaestus in Athens.

• High-resolution 360° Panorama of the Temple of Hephaestus | Art Atlas