Arkadian Temple-designs

Abstract

Many Arkadian cults and cult-places clearly go back to a very early period, and the popularity of individual deities was somewhat different from the rest of Greece. Artemis is by far the most frequently mentioned, followed by Demeter and Kore, and Pan and Apollo among the male deities. Many known Arkadian temples are small in scale, and sometimes unorthodox in design. The long, narrow plans seem to have been determined by basic structural considerations, being designed to avoid excessively long spans for the interior crossbeams; any enlargement of the overall area of the building was generally achieved by increasing the length more than the width. Small temples discussed are: the Psili Korphi temple above Mavriki, the successive temples of Artemis on the Gortsouli hill north of Mantineia, the temple of Artemis Mesopolitis at Orchomenos, the small temples on Mount Kotilon above Bassai, the temple above Kondovazena, and those near Dimitra and Vachlia and on the acropolis at Stymphalos. The narrow interiors of the peripteroi at Alipheira and Orchomenos, and in the early temple of Athena at Tegea, are also noted; and interpretations are suggested for the plans of the temple of Artemis at Lousoi and of the Asklepieion at Pheneos.