Temples built during the Geometric period (900–700
BCE) were generally modest in scale and simple in plan. The
temple of Apollo at Dreros (c. 700), in Crete, consisted of
a rectangular room preceded by a shallow porch. In the mid-
dle of the cella two posts flanked a central hearth, and against
the back wall was a bench with three bronze statues, the cult
images of Apollo, Leto, and Artemis. What is remarkable
about this temple, and other buildings of the same period,
is that sacrifices took place inside, near the cult image. The
arrangement of the interior with a central hearth flanked by
posts is reminiscent of the halls in Mycaenean palaces.
In the Orientalizing period (700–600 BCE) temples were
monumentalized. Their size was significantly increased, du-
rable materials were introduced, and the cella (naos) was
often surrounded by a row of columns, the peristyle. This
feature, according to recent excavations in the temple of Ar-
temis at Ephesus, was introduced in the second half of the
eighth century. Most likely, the inspiration came from
Egypt, where columns played a prominent role in the design
of temples.
The use of stone instead of wood for columns and en-
tablature led to the establishment of distinctive orders. In the
Archaic period (600–480 BCE) the Doric order was charac-
teristic of mainland Greece, south Italy, and Sicily, and the
Ionic was characteristic of the Aegean and Asia Minor; how-
ever, geographical distinctions were not completely rigid,
and whether these orders had an ethnic connotation remains
a question. During the same period, the erection of monu-
mental temples was particularly intense in Asia Minor and
the west. In both areas the Greeks were surrounded by other
cultures, and monumental temples might have been a means
to reassert the cultural identity of the communities responsi-
ble for their erection. Among the temples in Asia Minor,
three stand out for their colossal size: the temples of Hera
at Samos (c. 560 BCE, rebuilt c. 530 BCE), of Artemis at Ephe-
sus (c. 560–470 BCE), and of Apollo at Didyma (c. 550–520
BCE). These temples were surrounded by two, even three
rows of columns, and must have seemed like a forest of stone.
The temples at Ephesus and Didyma are also characteristic
because their core was not the cella with the cult statue, but
an open-air court (sekos), which at Didyma included the
shrine with the cult statue and a spring sacred to Apollo. The
most interesting feature of temples built in the Greek West
was a special room called the adytum, placed at the end of
the cella and separated from it by a wall with a doorway. This
special room apparently served to house the cult statue. The
need for this innermost sacred chamber has been explained
by the possibility that the rest of the cella was regularly used
for the performance of collective rituals, but there is no evi-
dence to support this view.
The main monumental temples of the fifth century BCE
were built in mainland Greece. One was the temple of Zeus
at Olympia (472–456 BCE), and the other was the Parthenon
(447–438 BCE), erected along with other religious buildings
on the Athenian Acropolis according to a comprehensive site
plan.
The Parthenon, dedicated to Athena, is probably the
most famous, certainly the most lavishly decorated, but not
the largest of Greek temples (see Figure 3). The temple, built
upon the remains of an unfinished predecessor destroyed by
the Persians in 480 BCE, has seventeen Doric columns on
each long side and eight at both short ends, and it measures
overall some 31 by 70 meters. It has two rooms, the eastern
cella, which housed the chryselephantine statue of Athena
made by Pheidias, and the western “rear room,” which held
the valuable offerings. Between these two rooms and the
peristyle there are two shallow porches, the pronaos and opt-
isthodomos, compressed here to the advantage of the cella.
The traditional interpretation of the Parthenon as a temple
has been recently called into question, for it had very little
cult associated with it, and no connection with the major
public festivals. However, this building was clearly designed
as and regarded as a temple in Classical Antiquity.
During the Late Classical period (400–323 BCE), the
building of temples lost much of its appeal in mainland
Greece and the Greek West. Only a few were built on a mon-
umental scale, and the majority were reduced in size. Asia
Minor is an exception: parallel to a renaissance of the Greek
cities of the region there was a revival of Ionic architecture.
The Artemision at Ephesus was rebuilt on the same colossal
scale as its archaic predecessor. Meanwhile, new cities, such
as Priene, strained their energies and economic resources to
have temples that would leave a mark on the cityscape.
Temples built during the Hellenistic period (323–31
BCE) were essentially similar to those of the Classical period,
though they might have been constructed in regions con-
quered by Alexander the Great that were not Greek in origin.
The more florid Corinthian order was occasionally used. In
these areas the traditional, non-Greek religious practice had
to be respected. In Egypt, for example, the ruling Macedo-
nian Greek dynasty of the Ptolemies assiduously built tem-
ples in the traditional Egyptian manner described above,
with only a few innovations.The Greek temple was the house of the god, because it
served to shelter the cult statue. It was not a congregational
building, for the congregation (which at the chief festivals of
major cults was very large) gathered round the open-air altar
for prayers and sacrifices. Like the crowds, the cult statue
overlooked these performances at the altar. Temples were
normally oriented to face the point at which the sun rose on
the day of the festival. Though some cult statues were large
and valuable, the rooms in which they stood did not have
to be particularly spacious. Even in the largest temples a sur-
prising portion of the total area was taken up by external em-
bellishment. This emphasis on the exterior of temples does
not mean that access to them was reserved for a privileged
few. Literary evidence suggests that even if specific restric-
tions existed (based on days, ethnicity, and gender), entry by
ordinary people into the cella was not unusual, especially for
the purpose of praying, which was considered more effective
when done before the cult statue. Temples also served asTEMPLE: ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN AND MEDITERRANEAN TEMPLES 9063