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Dick Osseman | all galleries >> Patara >> Prostylos temple > Patara December 2013 4698.jpg
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18-Dec-2013 Dick Osseman

Patara December 2013 4698.jpg

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Prostylos temple. This prostylos temple is the best preserved of its kind in the Lycia region with its walls still standing up to the roof level. It was constructed on the edge of the agora at the Main Harbour, which was located inside the estuary of Patrai. It was later incorporated into the medieval fortifications as a bastion. The temple is raised on a 1.5 meter tall podium, measuring 12.80 x 9.70 m, which is reached by a flight of 10-13 steps from the north. The cult room (naos, cella), almost a square in its plan, measures 8,9 x 7,8 m. The northern façade overlooking the inner harbor has a 2,25 meter deep pronaos (porch) bordered by tongue-shaped projections (ante) with Corinthian capitals. In front of the pronaos, there are 4 Corinthian columns supporting the vault. The cult room of this prostyle temple is accessible through a sumptuous gate (6,6 m high and 2,9 wide), whose lintels and jambs were hewn from a single slab of rock. The tiers (0,5 m wide) on the three sides of the gate are richly decorated. On both ends, the upper block of the gate (lintel) has very elaborate cantilevers decorated with volutes and acanthus leaves. The interior walls on the naos are roughly finished, but they are covered with marble. Although the walls are double hulled, the two rows of the architrave are composed of single blocks of stone.
It is not known exactly to which god this temple was dedicated. Besides, instead of being dedicated to a god, it might have been built as an imperial cult temple, Sebasteion. Based primarily on the ornaments seen on the gate, the temple is dated to the third quarter of the 2nd century AD.

Source: Notice at the site.

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