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Although this temple is geographically remote from major polities of ancient Greece, it is one of the most studied ancient Greek temples because of its multitude of unusual features. Bassae was the first Greek site to be inscribed on the World Heritage List (1986).

History of the Temple of Apollo Epicurius

The temple was dedicated to Apollo Epikourios (“Apollo the helper”). It sits at an elevation of 1,131 metres above sea level on the slopes of Kotylion Mountain. Its construction is placed between 450 BC and 400 BC. It was supposedly designed by Iktinos, architect at Athens of the Parthenon. The ancient writer Pausanias praises the temple as eclipsing all others but the Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea by the beauty of its stone and the harmony of its construction.

Pausanias described it in the 2nd century:

Phigalia is surrounded by mountains, on the left by the mountain called Kotilios. The distance from the city to Mount Kotilios is about forty stades. On the mountain is a place called Bassai, and the temple of Apollon Epikourios (the Helper), which, including the roof, is of stone. Of the temples in the Peloponnesos, this might be placed first after the one at Tegea for the beauty of its stone and for its symmetry. Apollon received his name from the help he gave in time of plague, just as the Athenians gave him the name of Alexikakos (Averter of Evil) for turning the plague away from them. It was at the time of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians that he also saved the Phigalians, and at no other time; the evidence is that of the two surnames of Apollon, which have practically the same meaning, and also the fact that Iktinos, the architect of the temple at Phigalia, was a contemporary of Perikles, and built for the Athenians what is called the Parthenon. My narrative has already said that the tile image of Apollon is in the market-place of Megalopolis.

It could have been in use for no longer than to the 4th- or 5th-century, when all pagan temples were forcibly closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.

Construction and decoration

The temple is aligned north-south, in contrast to the majority of Greek temples which are aligned east-west; its principal entrance is from the north. This was necessitated by the limited space available on the steep slopes of the mountain. To overcome this restriction a door was placed in the side of the temple, perhaps to let light in to illuminate the cult statue.

The temple is of a relatively modest size, with the stylobate measuring 38.3 by 14.5 metres containing a Doric peristyle of six by fifteen columns (hexastyle). The roof left a central space open to admit light and air. The temple was constructed entirely out of grey Arcadian limestone except for the Bassae Frieze which was carved from marble (probably in ancient times colored with paint). Like most major temples it has three “rooms” or porches: the pronaos, plus a naos and an opisthodomos. The naos may have housed a cult statue of Apollo, although it is also surmised that the single ‘proto-Corinthian’ capital discovered by Charles Robert Cockerell and subsequently lost at sea, may have topped the single column that stood in the centre of the naos, and have been intended as an aniconic representation of Apollo Borealis. The temple lacks some optical refinements found in the Parthenon, such as a subtly curved floor, though the columns have entasis.

The temple is unusual in that it has examples of all three of the classical orders used in ancient Greek architecture: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Doric columns form the peristyle while Ionic columns support the interior and a single Corinthian column features in the centre of the interior. The Corinthian capital is the earliest example of the order found to date.

It was relatively sparsely decorated on the exterior. Inside, however, there was a continuous Ionic frieze showing Athenians in battle with Amazons and the Lapiths engaged in battle with Centaurs. This frieze’s metopes were removed by Cockerell and taken to the British Museum in 1815 (they are still to be seen in the British Museum’s Gallery 16, near the Elgin Marbles). Cockerell decorated the walls of the Ashmolean Museum’s Great Staircase and that of the Travellers Club with plaster casts of the same frieze.

In 1902, a systematic excavation of the area was carried out by the Greek Archaeological Society of Athens under archaeologist Konstantinos Kourouniotis along with Konstantinos Romaios and Panagiotis Kavvadias. Further excavations were carried out in 1959, 1970 and from 1975–1979, under the direction of Nikolaos Gialouris.

Preservation

The temple’s remoteness— Pausanias is the only ancient traveller whose remarks on Bassae have survived— has worked to its advantage for its preservation. Other, more accessible temples were damaged or destroyed by war or preserved only by conversion to Christian uses; the Temple of Apollo escaped both these fates. Due to its distance from major metropolitan areas it also has less of a problem with acid rain which quickly dissolves limestone and damages marble carvings.

The temple of Apollo is presently covered in a white tent in order to protect the ruins from the elements. Conservation work is currently being carried out under the supervision of the Committee for the Conservation of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios of the Greek Ministry of Culture, which is based in Athens.

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Mythology

The Pholóē oak forest was known to Ancient Greeks, because of its proximity to many of their settlements in the Elis region. The mysterious beauty of the forest inspired them to believe that it was a habitat of centaurs and dryads. They gave the forest the name Pholóē (Greek: Φολόη, modern Greek pronunciation: Folóï) and the chief of the Centaurs the name Phólos (Greek: Φόλος). The dryads (Greek: Δρυάδες) were “oak spirits” of the forest.

Flora

The broadleaf oak, Quercus frainetto (Hungarian oak) is the primary species of oak in the forest, and it covers the biggest part of its territory. The trees are 15–20 m tall and can live up to 200 years. Quercus pubescens (downy oak) and evergreen Quercus ilex (holm oak) are also present, though their population is substantially smaller. Besides oaks, ferns and asphodels are very common and they tend to grow in the space between the trunks of the trees.

Fauna

The acorns provide an abundant source of food for animals such as hares, squirrels, hedgehogs, which are found in significant populations. The ecosystem of the forest is a food chain which also contains badgers, pine martens, foxes, eagles, turtles, weasels, owls, skylarks, jackals, magpies, vipers, rat snakes and others.

Protection status

The Folóï oak forest has been designated the status of a protected area enlisted in the Natura 2000 ecological network of the E.U.

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Ilida or Ilias was a city-state of ancient Ilia, built, according to Pausanias (23-26), on the left bank of the Pinios River, before leaving the mountainous hinterland, and flowing beside high school. Strabo (337) reports that it runs from Pinios: “Pinios has a river through the city rather than a high school”. However, they both agree that on the left side of the Peneus: “the vast and open edifices for the gymnastics and physical exercises are largely occupied … the acropolis of the Sun, the city of Ilias (Homer II, 615) is ancient and prehistoric … but the greatest glamor was assumed by Illis by the intelligence, with which he developed at the finest point the magnificence of the Olympic Games, which has become world-famous “. He writes in his book “Ilia Through the Centuries” by Dr. George Papandreou.

Ilida was inhabited since prehistoric times, lying next to ancient Olympia and in the Mycenaean era it became an independent kingdom, one of the most important cities of Ilia. Its inhabitants were called Epioi and participated in the Trojan War, with the leader of Polyxenos. “There were two roads leading from the city of Olympus to the ancient city: these were the mountainous road of 130 steps (24980 m), which was short and slow, came from the Sun, and went to A through Penius. the fifth, or the most sacred way called, was the longest, ie 300 stages (57700) measures, 180 from the Sun to the Latins and 120 from the Latins in Olympia, but flat, spacious and perfect due to its usefulness […] “From Papandreou’s book” Ilia through the centuries “p. 103.

According to mythology, he was founded by Athelios, who was also the first king of Ilida, the son of Zeus and his Priory, the daughter of Deucalion and his sister Ellinos. This was the name of Kalikinos, the daughter of Aeolus, the son of the Greek, and of the colonists living in Thessaly, founded in the lowlands of Helida, who gave birth to Endymion […]. DF Papandreou. Oxylos came from Aetolia and united the foundations he found in the area in a city. [3] He was also believed to have founded the Olympic Games and annexed Olympia to his state, and the athletes who participated in the Games were required to prepare for one month before in Ilida. Other great kings of Ilida were: Aethlios (his name signifies the feat), Endymion, Episus, Aetolus, Ilios or Sun, (the inhabitants of which, instead of what are now called elephants), Augeias, (son of Helios-Helios, after Aigheia, King of the Heli) became Agathostenis, son of Aughia, along with Amfimachos and Thalpius, sons of Actor (brother of Aughia), Oxylos, Laia, Iphitos and others. of Pisas: Oinomaos, Pelopas, Cleostenis, Damon (tyrant).
Ilida, as organizer – city-state – of the Panhellenic struggles “Olympia”, had over 1200 years of supervision since 776 BC. until 393 AD The population of the city, during the historical era, exceeded 60,000. He had three gymnasia (Scratch, Malathos in the gymnasium there was the Bouleuterion – Lalichio – from the donor’s name). The third gym was Palaestra for the training of the wrestlers and because of its shape it was called “Square”: “It is worth noting that while in Olympia there was a Gymnasium and a Palaestra for the training of athletes, in Ilida outside Palaestra were two groups of gymnasiums , each much larger, apparently, of that of Olympia, if we rely on the description of Pausanius “[…]. The primary position of the capital in the organization and conduct of the Olympic Games is also revealed by the fact that the Gymnasia and the Palaestra of Sunset were already built in the 5th century BC, as Xenophon mentioned, and only three centuries later it acquired her own Olympia. (the Palaestra in the 3rd century BC and the Gymnasium in the 2nd century BC). […] Athletes were obliged to come one month earlier in order to practice, learn the regulations and to distinguish the athletes The main attractions are: the ancient theater of Ancient Ilida, it had no stands, but the spectators watched the performances from the slopes seated on the ground, the palaestra, in it there were also the statues of the athletes Polyktoros and Sosandros. Outside the junior highways There was also a market, baths, bathing, as well as the building that the twenty-six women wore the veil of Hera for “Irena.” Hera was the Women’s Games which also took place every four years between the Olympic Games, in memory of the peace role played by the sixteen elected women, coming from the same towns of Ilia that were then inhabited: “A vital historical Illegal Page. Which they left in the will of memory. Where he lived! According to G. Zora, Kletagoras (one of the sixteen women from Antrisia) was also a great priestess during the Olympics. Three Olympiads. She is the first to deliver the torch to an athlete first by the provocative phrase “her, Kalliniki!” “Go to the world with her, a worthy winner” […], writes: in her book Ostraka of Antriides, the “Queen” Popi Bounia – Paspalari published by the Municipality of Andravida 2010. The names of some of the sixteen women of the eighteenth century: The Maximus from Lernaia (the Priesthood), Kletagoras from Antrida, Kratystikia (philosopher) , Kalastrati from Pisa, Agastis from Ilida, Thespias from Epitalion, Polykritis, Eryxos, Timocleia, Artemis, Ademia … The Athenian informs us that in Ilida they were organizing, Beauty Courses for Men (male beauty) in honor of the goddess Athena.

HORTICULTURAL GAMES

At the time of Homer, in Ilida, horse riding took place, with a tripod trip “for a tripod for a future to be celebrated.” Some believed that Homer meant the Olympic Games when he placed Augey to hold the four racing horses that had come to win awards. Pisati then was not under Avgeia, but only Ilia (Ilida), and in Ilida were never the Olympic Games, except in Olympia always. The struggle we are discussing seems to have happened in Ilida, where the debt was also due: “and for the sake of the elders, there are four fighters in the world.” (OJ L 698, p. Geogr. H. 355. “In a certain part of the market of Ilida, on the other hand called Hippodrome, the Ileians, as Pausanias informed, were drawing their horses. it seems that the name of the Agora as the Hippodrome is due to the fact that there were also equestrian games in the old days, as in the Athens Agora there were old road races “[…]. writes: N. Yialouris in his article in the 3 issue of the magazine ILIAKI INSURANCE 1994.

Thanks to the “Ilekkon Dikaion”, the faithful application of the laws and the axioms that were “directly related to the cultivation of the spirit, the exercise and the organization of the Games in Olympia, succeeded in accomplishing what we call Olympic Ideal: The upper court above the whistleblowers, the arbitrators (initially the referees), the officials, the tribunals (the teenagers were taught the rules of the contests), or in the same way with others (pavilions and flagbins for the maintenance of order) .Other officials in charge of the same project were: the police officers (for observance of the laws), the members of the or sent to the other cities for the announcement of the date of each new Olympics, including those responsible for sacrifices and sacrifices. other ceremonies, etc.), episodes (etiquette holders and receptionists, representatives of other cities), etc. a. The election of all these officers among the Hellenic citizens was made by Ilida and the clergy, under whose custody and control it appeared to have been all the activities of the state, at least until the 5th century. There were also other offices, such as the secretary of the parliament and the secretary of the House, the dignitary and the parliament of the Ilia, which, as mentioned, was housed in the Lalichio Gymnasium. There was also the warlord and the captain of the warrior, limited to a force of a militant army, with a body of 300 books, an elected unit of the upper class of elite society … “the city-state of the island had as its main concern – at least until the 5th century BC, not so much the political and social problems as the organization of the Olympic Games. To that end, the State left much autonomy to the municipalities and communities of the state so that they could take responsibility of their house. This decentralization was aimed at the State in combating urbanism and maintaining the economic program above all in agriculture and livestock farming. One of the measures taken by the state in this direction was also the first step and which helped to alleviate the differences of the inhabitants on the ground “[…]. These include: among others, the professor archaeologist Nick. Yalouris in his article in the bimonthly magazine “The Pentecostal Inspection” published by the Federation of Associations of Pedini Ilias May-June 1994 “The oldest and best-loving Peloponnesians were” Paus. IV, 28, 3

In the city there were the sanctuaries of Apollo Aceios with the statue of the god and was worshiped as a therapist god, Thermios Apollo, the protector of the truce, as well as that of the operetta Apollo: “the Lord and the Apostle honored Apollo; in the letter to Athalon “Athenios 8. 340 b. The Charitos sanctuary, which was on the market and inside, had the wooden statues of charity, each Harris holding its distinctive symbol of rose, ankle and myrtle branch. The temple of Shilin, in the market where Dionysus and Methis were worshiped. The sanctuary of the Fortune, in the market, where a large statue was in a gallery, the Xenon was gilded outside the edges. The temple of Sosipoli in the market, and he depicting Sozopol as a child to wear a chlamy decorated with stars and holding on to one hand of the horn of Amalthia, Sosipolis in Ilia was considered a personification of Jupiter. The Temple of Athena on the Acropolis of Ilida, the temple had a golden-ivory statue of Athena and portrayed the goddess as Ergane to wear a helmet with a fist. The temple of Dionysus, which was close to the theater between the market and the Minian River, had a statue of the god Praxiteles’ work. Temple of the Roman emperors with a circular peristyle that in the time of Pausanias his roof had collapsed. The temple of Achilles, the temple of Hades with a courtyard, also the temple of Artemis Philomerios near the gymnasium. A Temple of Aphrodite of Heaven near the Corfiot arcade, with a golden ivory statue of the goddess, the work of Pheidias, where the goddess was standing with one foot on a turtle, and a mosque of Aphrodite Pandimus next to the temple of Aphrodite Uranian with a bronze statue of. she was the goddess sitting on a goat. Skopas’s work

Ilida also cut its own coins “already at the end of the 6th century BC, as well as the fact that it is during this period that the House of the Hellenes and the Municipality of the Hellenes who, alongside the Olympic House, also issue them resolutions “writes: in his book Ancient Illis Nick. Yalouris, while allied with Sparta until the Peloponnesian war that became a member of the Achaic Confederacy and later in the Roman Empire, was part of the Roman province of Achaia. The city was inhabited during the first Byzantine years and experienced the definitive decline when Theodosius I banned the Olympic Games.

THE DISCOVERY

Ruins of the ancient city were visible and in 1911 the first excavations began by the Austrian archaeologist Otto Walter. In 1968, the work for an irrigation pipeline, which was intended to irrigate the plain of Amaliada, brought to light an archaeological treasure. The excavation, under the then ancient Olympia antiquities Nikos Yialouris, was a major scale and was done with industrious hands. “A part of the ancient city that lived through life, organization, streets, finds of all kinds (marble, bronze, clay with coins) emerged. The art of Ilida can be compared in quality and number to the richness of the finds of ancient Olympia. The excavation proved something of great importance for research: Ilida was responsible for the organization and preparation of the Olympic Games. And this is also reflected in the image of the Agora’s Agora, which was the center of the work of the Sanctuary of Olympia, in which the buildings associated with the Games dominated: two complexes of Gymnasiums, a Palaestra, the Hellenic Rights, and the Arcade of the Hellenic . These buildings were necessary because those who aspired to take part in the Olympic Games on their way to Olympia were obliged to stop first and stay for a long time in Ilida not only for the necessary training but also because of the test of the athletes and their ranking by age and category.

Today the ancient city is visited. It features a modern archaeological museum, Ancient Theater (restored) and a wooden theater for the needs of the International Festival of Ancient Ilida, with remarkable artistic events and not only.

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The fortress consists of two courtyards. The inner courtyard where the princely house, the chapel, and the shelters for the guard were built at the highest point of the hill and formed a hexagon around the large central courtyard. Remnants of buildings, tanks and a Turkish mosque are preserved on the outskirts.

Two years ago, from 1220 to 1223, a record year for the time, Godefredos needed to build the stronghold of the Frankish prince of Achaia. Built it in a strategic position with an extended view of the camp of Eleia and the Ionian Sea, it protected the capital of the prince, Andravida and the most important port of Glaredzas. It was named by the founders of Clermont and he knew a great deal.

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