Why is the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae an interesting building?

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Why is the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae an interesting building?

The Phigaleians built the temple sometime between the 450-420 BC. Pausanias says that it was constructed as a thanksgiving gift to Apollo, who was believed to have cured an outbreak of the plague that struck Greece during the years 429 – 427 BC at the time of the Peloponnesian war. The name Epikourios that usually follows the deity’s name means the Helper or the Saviour. The temple is high up in the Arcadian Mountains on Mt Kotilion. Most of the columns and the architrave have survived because of the isolation of the temple. The temple was isolated and was thought lost until 1765 AD when the French archaeologist Bocher discovered it. Because of its isolation, not many travellers reached the temple before 1811. In 1811, an expedition managed to get to the temple. The expedition included the archaeologists C. R. Cockerell and Haller von Hallerstein. They discovered the frieze of the temple. Excavations continued into the next year and in 1814, the frieze and other fragments of the temple were sold in Zante. They were obtained on behalf of the British Government and are now in the British Museum in London.

Pausanias says that the architect was Iktinos, who was one of the architects of the Parthenon and the most well known architect in the Greek world. According to Pausanias, Iktinos was commissioned from Athens to design the temple. As Phigaleia was a poor state, bringing a world class architect to build their temple would have shown how much they wanted this temple to built and that only the best should build it, in honour of Apollo. If this account is true, then the state’s devotion to Apollo is remarkable.

This must have been incredibly expensive. We know that the state was poor from accounts by later historians such as Pausanias, but we also know that they were poor from the size of the temple. It is much smaller than the Parthenon, but massive for a community as small as the Phigaleians. Only a little marble is used; the temple is mostly made of silver-grey limestone. Unlike the Parthenon, there are no optical corrections, e.g. entasis. The columns are straight and so is the floor. This is most likely because entasis would have cost extra money.

The temple was based on old Peloponnesian prototypes, which it is why many historians speculate on who actually constructed this. If Iktinos built it, surely he would have included some of the elegant features of the Parthenon. This could have been an experiment in mixing the orders. This could be a plausible explanation; because the exterior is Doric and the interior is Ionic and Corinthian. Other sources say that the architect of the temple was Libon of Elis; this could be more likely as Pausanias wrote his statements centuries after its construction, and is therefore not 100% accurate or reliable. It would seem that it might have been Iktinos because the subjects of the frieze are the same as the Parthenon and there is a mixture of the orders as there is in the Parthenon.

The Doric features of the temple are masculine and could symbolise the males who died of the plague. The Ionic features could symbolise the females who died of the plague. The Corinthian columns could represent everyone who died because of the plague. This could be likely, as women in Ancient Greece tended to be domestic while the men went out to public meetings, etc. The Ionic half columns are in the cella like women. The Doric columns are on the exterior of the temple, like the men. The Corinthian columns are inside the temple. This is probably to blame the ...

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The exterior of the temple is Doric and measured 48’ X 126’ – 6 X 15 columns, instead of the usual 6 X 13. A Doric column doesn’t have a base – it rests directly onto the stylobate. The capital is plain, unlike Ionic columns. On top of the capital is the entablature which is made up of a plain architrave, a frieze divided up into triglyphs (only in this case the frieze is interior not exterior), and sculpted metopes. On top of that is the pediment.

The temple's exterior is Doric (peripteral hexastyle) but its interior is Corinthian and Ionic. Its Pteron was of six by fifteen columns. The Parthenon's Pteron was of eight by seventeen columns (the norm for a Doric temple). A possible explanation could be the poverty of Phigaleia. The Pteron of the temple (Apollo) was Doric, but the interior columns were Ionic half columns and Corinthian columns. Some sources say that there was a single Corinthian column separating the cella from the adyton; others say that there were three Corinthian columns between the cella and the adyton.

The above diagram is an artist's conception of the interior of the temple. The Corinthian column is visible at the back of the temple acting like a boundary marker between the cella and the adyton.

This temple had the first ever Corinthian columns known to man. The origin of the Corinthian capital is uncertain, but one story says that a man called Kallimachos saw Acanthus leaves in a pot on a grave and the idea was born. Here is a diagram of a Corinthian capital:

The Kallimachos story may have an element of truth in it, because the Acanthus leaves design has been used in the columns. This story links with Pausanias’ account of the plague that stormed Greece between 429 and 427 BC. The idea that the sculptor Kallimachos saw acanthus leaves on a grave inspired the Corinthian capital has a deadly air about it.

An archaeologist called Haller von Hallerstein excavated the site and compared drawings of the Corinthian columns at Bassae with later Corinthian columns. He found that the two were different. On the Bassae Corinthian columns, there is a ring of carved leaves very low around the bottom, so that much of the bell was exposed. Later columns had leaves creeping up the bell, alternating between low and high in effect creating two rows. This could be the prototype of Corinthian columns.

The orientation of the temple is another interesting feature. The temple's main axis is North-South. Possible explanations for this particular orientation could be that it is facing Delos (believed to be the God's favourite place on Earth), or it is facing the land of the Hyperboreans, from where Apollo started his journey. The temple may not be totally dedicated to Apollo – other sources say that it was a memorial to the people who died during the plague. The temple is facing north because to face east would mean to face the rising sun. The rising sun symbolises a new beginning; a new beginning which the victims of the plague wouldn’t see. Hades is said to be a dark place, which is the opposite of day light. The temple may have been built over another previous one that faced north due to the lay of the land. It is an unusual shape because it may have been built to house the shrines surrounding it, like the Erecthion.

NB. The coloured circle shows where the cult statue would have been housed (in the Adyton)

The Adyton was just an added room behind the Cella. This was unusual as the cult statue was usually housed in the Cella. The adyton made the temple unusually long; that is why there are fifteen columns along the sides instead of thirteen. Maybe the statue was deemed as too important to be placed in the Cella and to give it more honour it was placed in a separate place. To the right of the cult statue, there was an east door, which was probably to shed some light on the statue so that it looked ethereal. On festival days, the statue may have been turned to face the rising sun, which could symbolise rebirth and that fact that life goes on. This may have been copied from the Temple of Apollo at Delos where his oracle is.

The subjects depicted on the frieze are interesting:

^ This is one of the casts made of a section of the frieze. It shows the Greeks fighting the Amazons. The Amazons were female warriors said to be descended from the Greek God of War, Ares. The height of this is 65 cm, and is currently held at the British Museum in London. The reason for this frieze is to show that the Greeks were victorious in battle and defeated descendants of a God, implying power and courage. This could symbolise civilised Man being victorious over barbarity.

^ This is still the same subject but a different scene. It depicts Herakles attacking the Amazon Queen. The Greeks were particularly proud of having a half God on their side in battle. In some aspects of Greek mythology, Herakles was seen as the God of Strength. Therefore, the God of Strength attacking the Amazonian Queen showed that the Greeks could not lose a battle, as they believed that they had divine protection. The height of it is 66 cm, and is currently kept in the British Museum in London. All the casts were made from the friezes, which were made of marble.

The subjects displayed on these friezes were also produced on the frieze of the Parthenon thus reinforcing the idea that Iktinos was the architect for this temple as well. The main reason of the frieze is to show that the Greeks were powerful, brave, and victorious in their greatest battles and that they were civilised. This would support Pausanias account that Iktinos was the architect because Iktinos was the architect for the Parthenon. If the same subjects on the frieze are used on this temple then could it be that Iktinos was the architect. This could link with an aspect of Apollo. One of Apollo’s attributes is order. Both sections of the frieze demonstrate order by depicting civilised man defeating barbarism and disorder.

The metopes of the temple were sculptured but only fragments survive to this day and they’re shattered so the subjects of the metopes are indecipherable. Some fragments show a woman holding castanets and another woman being grabbed by a man whose hand seems to be behind her neck.

Nothing from the pediment remains from the Temple of Apollo so it is unknown and open to speculation what was depicted on it. An archaeologist unearthed a sculpture that may have come from the metope of the Temple of Apollo. The sculpture shows what is believed to be Niobe; a character from Greek mythology.

Niobe had several children that she believed to be better than Apollo and Artemis. She also thought that she was better than Leto because she had had more children than her. When the gods found out, they killed all of her children. Niobe never ceased her weeping for them so the gods ultimately took pity on her and transformed her into a spring. This story is referred to in the Iliad:

‘Apollo, making his silver longbow whip and sing, shot the lads down, and Artemis, with raining arrows killed the daughters – all this after Niobe had compared herself with Leto, the sooth-cheeked goddess.’

Another version of the story is that Niobe was the Queen of Thebes and the wife of Amphion a son of Zeus and an accomplished musician. She was also the daughter of Tantalus and the sister of Pelops (the charioteer). Niobe bore Amphion six sons and six daughters. She was incredibly arrogant like her father and thought herself to be better than Leto for having more children than her. She became jealous when she saw some of her people worshipping Leto at Leto’s temple. Niobe became angry and commanded her people not to worship Leto but to worship her as she had more children. When the Olympians heard this, Leto sent Apollo and Artemis to kill Niobe’s children. Apollo and Artemis killed them with their arrows and Niobe was turned into a stone that was eternally wet with tears.

This choice of story is unique – there isn’t another temple with that story. The dead sons and daughters could represent the victims of the plague and Apollo (and Artemis) could represent the upholders of order or the antidote of evil (i.e. the plague). Apollo is considered the god of order, healing, medicine, arts, archery, music and intellectual pursuit. Both versions of the stories have similar outcomes. The detail about Niobe being the Pelops’ sister is significant because the chariot race with Pelops is depicted on the Parthenon.

The temple of Apollo at Bassae is interesting because it has many stories and myths linked to it. There is a lot of speculation around it regarding the pediment, why they used the columns, the orientation, the adyton, the purpose of the temple, who built it (Iktinos or Libon of Elis), why the particular subjects were used for the frieze. The pediment, the Corinthian capital, the orientation, the subjects on the frieze, and the plague are all linked by a strange deathly connotation. The pediment could be about Niobe and the massacre of her children. The Corinthian capital was inspired, supposedly, by Acanthus leaves growing around a pot on a grave stone. The unusual orientation of the temple could suggest mourning for the dead of the plague. The frieze shows civilised man defeating barbarism - Herakles could represent Apollo and the Amazons could represent the plague. However, Apollo could be an invisible influence to the Greeks depicted.

There is plenty of mystery and speculation surrounding the temple, which is what makes the temple incredibly interesting to study.