Greek Temples; The Parthenon (Athens) and Paestum (Southern Italy)

 

 When I watched the first episode of Joanna Lumley’s Greek Odyssey, I loved it. In the first episode Lumley got to view the Parthenon on top of the Ancient Athenian Acropolis for the first time and it reminded me of when I stumbled upon the city of Paestum; Roman name of a Graeco-Roman city in the region of Campania in Italy. The awe inspiring moment when Joanna sees the Parthenon made me reminiscent of the time I also was awe inspired when I walked through the entrance to the Unesco site of Paestum to see a gargantuan temple also dedicated to Athena (image to the right), on higher ground but segregated from the original Acropolis. This inspired me to research into the temples to see if there was any correlation between them (or not). I have attached a clip of the episode in mention.

 Joanna Lumley’s Greek Odyssey: The Land of the Ancient Greeks Episode 1 (1 of 3)[i]

Lumley states; ‘the Acropolis defines the meaning of iconic.. when you think about Ancient Greek Religion you think of the Parthenon’.[ii] Which is true because it is quintessentially Ancient Greek Religion, our first lecture on Greek Religion what stood before us was an image of the Parthenon. However, what Lumley does is go into detail about the restoration of it instead of its religious connotations. The Parthenon was not a conventional Greek temple. The Acropolis summit as a whole was packed with cult sites, but the Parthenon itself was not a major cult site there was; no designated priest hood of Athena Parthenos and no alter.

On the highest point of Paestum (like the Parthenon levitated), some way from the other temples, is the temple of Athena. This could be surmised that the Parthenon was built high above so the war deity and protector of Athens - Athena, could view and protect Athens from harm; this could also explain why the temple dedicated to Athena in Paestum was built on higher ground.[iii] It was built in about 500 BC, and was for some time incorrectly thought to have been dedicated to Ceres.

There are two other great temples of Doric style; of Hera and Poseidon (dated from the 6^th century BC). The architect of the Temple of Poseidon (in reality also dedicated to Hera; inscriptions revealed that the goddess was worshiped here), from the mid-5th century BC, was clearly inspired by the Parthenon in Athens.[iv] But, unlike the Parthenon an alter was unearthed in front of the temple; proof for open–air worship, usual for Greek temples. The temple was also used to worship more than just Hera but also Zeus and another unknown god. Like the Parthenon it was actually dedicated to one specific god but acutually could be used to worship others as the Parthenon includes all of the Olympians. This proves evidence that Ancient Greek religion was polythesitc; they worshiped more than one god. It is also possible that the temple was originally dedicated to both Hera and Zeus; some offertory statues found around the larger altar are thought to demonstrate this identification.[v] Sole worship of one god would anger the other gods easily even vengeful; the lesson of the Hippolytus myth proves evidence for this when he scorns Aphrodite having preference over devoting to Artemis.[vi]

All three temples that I have captured in my own images have undergone some renovation and repair in recent years; just like the Parthenon.

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[i] Jonna Lumley’s, Greek Odyssey: The Land of the ancient Greeks, Episode 1, (broadcast in ITV 1: Mid October 2011)

[ii] Jonna Lumley’s, Greek Odyssey: The Land of the ancient Greeks, Episode 1, (broadcast in ITV 1: Mid October 2011)

[iii] Robertson. Noel, (1992) Festivals and Legends: The formation of Greek Cities in the Light of Public Ritual. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press) p67.

[iv] Unesco, Paestum site information, Accessed at; http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/842

[v] Unesco, Paestum site information, Accessed at; http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/842

[vi] Fraizier, James, (?) The Golden Bough, Chpt 1 – 2