The Temple of Apollo Patroos (meaning "from the fathers") is a small ruined temple of

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...

built in 340–320 BCE. It is 10 m wide and 16.5 m long, and is located north-west of the

Ancient Agora of Athens The ancient Agora of Athens (also called the Classical Agora) is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, located to the northwest of the Acropolis and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill kn ...

, near the

Stoa of Zeus The Stoa of Zeus at Athens, was a two-aisled stoa located in the northwest corner of the Ancient Agora of Athens. It was built c. 425 BC–410 BC for religious purposes in dedication to Zeus by the ''Eleutherios'' ("pertaining to freedom"): a cult ...

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

was considered to be the founder of the Ionian race and protector of families. The temple's interior had a

cult statue In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece and Rom ...

dedicated to the god and made by the famous

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

sculptor

Euphranor AGMA Apollon Patroos Euphranor. Euphranor of Corinth (middle of the 4th century BC) was a Greek artist who excelled both as a sculptor and as a painter. Pliny the Elder provides a list of his works including a cavalry battle, a Theseus, and the ...

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: * Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of ...

described the temple in the second century: :Euphranor also wrought the Apollon surnamed Patroios (Paternal) in the temple hard by he Painted Portico oin the marketplace of Athens And in front of the temple is one Apollon made by Leokhares; the other Apollo, called Alexikakos (Averter of evil), was made by Kalamis. They say that the god received this name because by an oracle from Delphoi he stayed the pestilence which afflicted the Athenians at the time of the Peloponnesian War.Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 3. 4 If still in use by the 4th-century, the temple would have been 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 ...

, when the Christian Emperors issued edicts prohibiting all non-Christian worship and sanctuaries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple Of Apollo Patroos Landmarks in Athens Ancient Greek buildings and structures in Athens Apollo Patroos Patroos Ionian mythology 4th-century BC religious buildings and structures Ruins in Greece Ancient Agora of Athens

See also

References