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The Temple of Aphaia (Greek: Ναός Αφαίας) or Afea[1] is an Ancient Greek temple located within a sanctuary complex dedicated to the goddess Aphaia on the island of Aegina, which lies in the Saronic Gulf. Formerly known as the Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, the Doric temple is now recognized as having been dedicated to the mother-goddess Aphaia. It was a favourite of Neoclassical and Romantic artists such as J. M. W. Turner. It stands on a c. 160 m peak on the eastern side of the island approximately 13 km east by road from the main port.[2]
Aphaia (Greek Ἀφαία) was a Greek goddess who was worshipped exclusively at this sanctuary. The extant temple of c. 500 BC was built over the remains of an earlier temple of c. 570 BC, which was destroyed by fire c. 510 BC. Elements of this older temple were buried in the infill for the larger, flat terrace of the later temple, and are thus well preserved. Abundant traces of paint remain on many of these buried fragments. There may have been another temple in the 7th century BC, also located on the same site, but it is thought to have been much smaller and simpler in terms of both plan and execution. Significant quantities of Late Bronze Age figurines have been discovered at the site, including proportionally large numbers of female figurines (kourotrophoi), indicating – perhaps – that cult activity at the site was continuous from the 14th century BC, suggesting a Minoan connection for the cult.[3] The last temple is of an unusual plan and is also significant for its pedimental sculptures, which are thought to illustrate the change from Archaic to Early Classical technique. These sculptures are on display in the Glyptothek of Munich, with a number of fragments located in the museums at Aegina and on the site itself.[4]
^The name Afea appears on all the local signs, Afea being the name of a Cretan woman of unsurpassed beauty. After escaping an unwelcome marriage on Crete, she was rescued by a fisherman from Aegina. In payment for this he also proposed an unwelcome marriage. So Afea headed out of Aghia Marina towards the mountain top where she vanished at the current site of the temple, where it is said that the fisherman established a shrine believing Afea to have been taken by the gods.
^The main port and the main city are named Aegina, after the island. The Temple of Aphaia is 9.6 km east of this city. The sanctuary is also 29.5 km southwest of the Acropolis of Athens, which is visible across the gulf on a clear day.
^Pilafidis-Williams argues that the character and relative proportions of the finds leads to the conclusion that the deity worshipped was a female fertility/agricultural goddess.
^The important Bronze Age archaeological site of Kolona is northwest of Aegina (the main city) along the coast, and a museum is located at this site. The museum at Aegina was the first institution of its kind in Greece, but most of the collection (other than a collection of bas relief panels from Delos) was transferred to Athens in 1834 (EB), where it can be seen in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. The museum on the site contains a restoration of the Early Archaic temple entablature and pediment, as well as copies of elements of the pedimental sculpture of the Late Archaic temple set into restored sections of the pediment.
The TempleofAphaia (Greek: Ναός Αφαίας) or Afea is an Ancient Greek temple located within a sanctuary complex dedicated to the goddess Aphaia on the...
Aphaia (Greek: Ἀφαία, Aphaía) was a Greek goddess who was worshipped almost exclusively at a single sanctuary on the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf...
impressive feature, namely two tiers of columns atop each other, as did the templeofAphaia on Aegina. The templeof Athena at Tegea shows another variation...
temple to Aphaia at Aigina (about 500–480 BCE), the Templeof Zeus at Olympia (about 465–460 BCE, the remains of the Eastern pediment of the Temple of...
Warrior from the west pediment of the TempleofAphaia, Glyptothek Munich Ancient Greek art Baekje smile A Brief History of the Smile, Angus Trumble, 2005...
times to contemporary architecture. The first use of entasis is probably in the Later TempleofAphaia at Aigina, in the 490s BC. It may be observed among...
TempleofAphaia Head of a Warrior by Scopas, from the Athena Alea temple in Tegea Head of a Warrior by Pablo Picasso A109 from the Second Templeof Hera...
color scheme on a Trojan archer from the TempleofAphaia, Aegina Greek fragment from the roofline of the Templeof Hera at Paestum, present-day Italy, c...
highly formalised characteristics, both of structure and decoration. This is particularly so in the case oftemples where each building appears to have been...
distinct style of art. For example, the pedimental sculptures from the TempleofAphaia on Aegina have recently been demonstrated to have been painted with...
"Insomnia", "Awake at Three A.M.", "The Start of Something", "Retrospection: At the TempleofAphaia, on the Island of Aegina, Greece", "Hors d'Oeuvres for my...
Alternative reconstructions of the Peplos Kore displayed at the Athens show Archer from the western pediment of the TempleofAphaia on Aigina, reconstruction...
theatre at Epidaurus and nearby asclepieion and the TempleofAphaia on Aegina. The Saronic Gulf is one of congregating areas for short-beaked common dolphins...
good for representing human skin, which can also be polished. Of the many different types of marble the pure white ones are generally used for sculpture...
sculptures, used for temple cult images and luxury works, used gold, most often in leaf form and ivory for all or parts (faces and hands) of the figure, and...
insertion of metopes in the Marmaria at Delphi. Triglyphs (slotted for the insertion of metopes) in the Doric frieze of the TempleofAphaia. The entablature...
Examples of classical war art include the friezes of warriors at the TempleofAphaia in Greece or the Bayeux Tapestry, is a linear panoramic narrative of the...
Onatas or his school: Fallen Trojan warrior, figure W-VII of the west pediment of the TempleofAphaia, Glyptothek, Munich, c. 505–500 BC Unknown artist: Funerary...
by their date. Below a selection of Roman monoliths sorted by their date; the list also includes work on Greek temples which was continued into the Roman...
wide trussed roofs spanning the rectangular spaces of monumental public buildings such as temples, basilicas, and later churches. Such spans were thrice...
ofAphaia on Aigina in the Bronze Age (Munich: Hirmer) 1998, describes the distinctive local cult but is cautious in retrojecting the later cult of Aphaia...
him in his hometown of Copenhagen. Thorvaldsen directly studied Greek sculpture by restoring the pediments of the TempleofAphaia in Aegina, before they...
Stackelberg on their expeditions to the templesofAphaia on Aegina and of Apollo at Bassae. On this trip he also drew a plan of the ancient theatre at Eretria...
Gods of (Con)Fusion: Athena Alea, Apollo Maleatas and Athena Aphaia", Classica et Mediavalia. 64. 49–80. https://www.academia.edu/9006607/The_Gods_of...
1811 he, Linkh and von Stackelberg discovered the templeofAphaia on the island of Aegina, a part of whose sculptures are in the Munich Glyptothek as...
with Steiner's ideas, Fiechter became a lifelong devotee of anthroposophy. Der Tempel der Aphaia auf Aegina, 1904. Die baugeschichtliche Entwicklung des...
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