The so-called Temple of "Hera" (or Roman Juno), otherwise known as Temple D, is a

Greek temple Greek temples (, 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, since the sacrifices and ritu ...

in the

Valle dei Templi The Valle dei Templi (; ), or Valley of the Temples, is an archaeological site in Agrigento (ancient Greek: ''Ακραγας'', ''Akragas''), Sicily. It is one of the most outstanding examples of ancient Greek art and architecture of Magna Graeci ...

, a section of the ancient city of

Agrigentum Agrigento (; or ) is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. Founded around 582 BC by Greek colonists from Gela, Agrigento, then known as Akragas, was one of the leading cities during the golde ...

(ancient Greek

Akragas Agrigento (; or ) is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. Founded around 582 BC by Greek colonisation, Greek colonists from Gela, Agrigento, then known as Akragas, was one of the leading citie ...

, modern Agrigento) in Sicily. Its attribution to Hera derives from a misinterpretation of a passage by the Roman writer

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

, which actually refers to the temple of Hera on the Lacinio promontory near

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

, Calabria. It was built about the year 450 BC and in period and in style belongs to the Archaic Doric period. Signs of a fire which followed the Siege of Akragas and the

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( ) usually refers to the civilisation of ancient Carthage. It may also refer to: * Punic people, the Semitic-speaking people of Carthage * Punic language The Punic language, also called Phoenicio-Punic or Carthaginian, i ...

sack of the city of 406 BCDiodorus 13.96.5 have been detected. The temple was restored in the era of the Roman province of Sicily, with the original terracotta roof being replaced by one of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

, with a more steeply inclined slope on the eastern side.

Description

The building is a peripterotic Doric temple, with six columns on the short sides (

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 cultu ...

) and thirteen on the long sides, according to a canon derived from the models of the Greek homeland and also used for its "twin", the

Temple of Concordia The Temple of Concordia (, Greek: ''Ναός της Ομόνοιας'') is an ancient Greek temple of Magna Graecia in the Valle dei Templi (Valley of the Temples) in Agrigento (Greek: ''Ακράγας'', Akragas) on the south coast of Sicil ...

, with which it shares general dimensions. The temple's floor plan is around 38 x 16.9 m. The front columns differ slightly in width, tapering at the ends and swelling at their middles. 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 ...

of thirty-four 6.4 metre-high columns, each formed from four stacked drums, rests on a

crepidoma In classical Greek architecture, crepidoma () is the foundation of one or more steps on which the superstructure of a building is erected. Usually the crepidoma has three levels, especially in Doric temples. However, exceptions are common: For ...

of four steps. The whole edifice is on a raised, largely artificial, spur. In front of the eastern face are notable remains of the ancient altar. The interior is composed of a

cella In Classical architecture, a or naos () is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings: of a hermit's or monk's cell, and (since the 17th century) of a biological cell ...

, with no internal colonnade, of the double antis type, with its

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 cultu ...

at the front mirrored by the

opisthodomos An opisthodomos (ὀπισθόδομος, 'back room') is either the rear room of an ancient Greek temple or to the inner shrine, also called the adyton ('not to be entered'). The confusion arises from the lack of agreement in ancient inscription ...

at the back, both framed by two ranks of columns (

distyle In classical architecture, a distyle is a small temple-like structure with two columns to the sides of the entrance, forming a porch. By extension, a distyle can also mean a distyle in antis, the original design of the Greek temple, where two c ...

). Two stairs for the inspection of the roof, or perhaps for religious purposes, were built into the wall separating the naos from the pronaos. The northern colonnade with the

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

and part of the

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

is completely preserved, while the colonnades on the other three sides are only partly surviving, with four columns missing and nine severely damaged, and they almost entirely lack their architraves. Some small elements of the ''naos'' remain, mostly the foundations of its exterior walls. The building has been being restored using

anastylosis Anastylosis (from the Ancient Greek: ; , = "again", and = "to erect stela or building) is an architectural conservation term for a reconstruction technique whereby a ruined building or monument is re-erected using the original architectural ...

since the eighteenth century.

References

Bibliography

*Robertson, D. S. (1969). Greek and Roman Architecture. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. *Akragas, The Princeton Encyclopaedia of Classical Sites (edited by Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister) Princeton University Press. 1976. {{coord, 37.2886, N, 13.6002, E, source:wikidata, display=title 450 BC

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 ...

Buildings and structures in the Province of Agrigento Valle dei Templi 450s BC 5th-century BC establishments in Italy 5th-century BC religious buildings and structures Archaeological sites in Sicily