The Tavole Palatine ("Palatine Tables") are the remains of a

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 ...

peripteral A peripteros (a peripteral building, grc-gre, περίπτερος) is a type of ancient Greek or Roman temple surrounded by a portico with columns. It is surrounded by a colonnade ('' pteron'') on all four sides of the ''cella'' (''naos''), crea ...

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 ...

of the sixth century BC, dedicated to the goddess Hera and the god Apollo. The temple, located near the

Bradano The Bradano is a river in the Basilicata and Apulia regions of southern Italy. Its source is Lago Pesole (which is near Forenza and Filiano) in the province of Potenza. The river flows southeast near Monte Torretta, Acerenza, and Oppido Lucano. ...

river in the south of Italy, was part of a countryside

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

and remains of the wall of the ''

temenos A ''temenos'' ( Greek: ; plural: , ''temenē''). is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, such as a sanctuary, holy gr ...

'' and of a very ancient

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

are visible.

History

The remains are located in the archaeological area of Metapontum, on the last of the Givoni, ancient sandbanks near the right bank of the river

, built over the remains of a

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

village on the prehistoric road from

Siris Siris may refer to: Geography *Siris (Magna Graecia), an ancient city in southern Italy *Serres, a city in Macedonia called Siris by the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus * Siris, Sardinia, an Italian commune *Sinni (river) (Siris in Latin), Italy ...

- Heraclea, about three kilometres from the ancient city of Metapontum. The temple, restored in 1961, was initially attributed to the cult of the goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

, but a fragment of a vase found in the course of the 1926 archaeological excavations turned out to be a votive dedicated to the goddess Hera, showing that she was the patron of the sanctuary. Until the nineteenth century, the Tavole Palatine were also known locally as the ''Mensole Palatine'' (Palatine Shelves) or ''Colonne Palatine'' (Palatine Colonnade), probably in reference to the struggles of the French

Paladin The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers, are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, where ...

s against the Saracens. The temple was also called the ''Scuola di Pitagora'' (School of Pythagoras) in memory of the great philosopher

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His politi ...

. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

it was also called the ''Mensae Imperatoris'' (Tables of the Emperor), probably referring to the Holy Roman Emperor

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (''der Rote''), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Ita ...

who camped at Metapontum during his expedition against the Saracens in 982.

Description

The temple was composed of a central naos, preceded by a

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 ...

and with an

adyton The adyton ( , 'innermost sanctuary, shrine', ) or (Latin) was a restricted area within the cella of a Greek or Roman temple. The ''adyton'' was frequently a small area at the farthest end of the cella from the entrance: at Delphi it measured j ...

at the rear. Fifteen columns with twenty flutes and Doric capitals survive. Of these fifteen columns, ten are on the north side and five on the southern side. Originally there were thirty-two columns, since the temple had a peristasis of twelve columns on each long side and six on each short side. The

stylobate In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate ( el, στυλοβάτης) is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple). The platform was built on a level ...

was long and wide, the naos . The temple has decayed significantly because it was built with local limestone (so-called ''mazzarro''). In the fifth century BC, the temple had a tiled roof with multi-coloured decoration in the Ionic tradition, with leonine

protome A protome (Greek προτομή) is a type of adornment that takes the form of the head and upper torso of either a human or an animal. History Protomes were often used to decorate ancient Greek architecture, sculpture, and pottery. Protomes we ...

s and

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...

s. Numerous remains of

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

decoration, statuettes and

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

s, along with smaller column fragments were found near the temple during the 1926 excavations and are now kept at the Museo archeologico nazionale di Metaponto.

Bibliography

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References

External links

Temple of Tavole Palatine
(Archaeological atlas of the General Directorate for Archaeological Properties of the Ministry for Cultural Activities and Properties) {{Authority control Temples in Magna Graecia Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Italy Buildings and structures in the Province of Matera Temples of Hera Metapontum (ancient city) 6th-century BC religious buildings and structures

History

Description

Bibliography

See also

References

External links