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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

 

 

Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
[email protected]

The sanctuary of Athena Pronaia is located roughly half mile from the main buildings at Delphi located on the terrace. The shrine was originally built at the gateway to Delphi and dedicated to the goddess Athena because it was her duty to protect her half brother Apollo. The terrace on which the sanctuary is situated was created through the use of the peribolos walls around the sanctuary. The sanctuary was enlarged several times, and there are several entrances to the terrace.

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The main temple of Athena was built in the Archaic period, near the end of the 6th century B.C.E. It was built in the Doric style and contains thirty-six columns (6x12). Two of the original columns are still standing. The Cella of the temple opens to the south onto a pronaos. The original temple was damaged in 480 B.C.E. by the falling rocks that halted the Persian advance, and was further damaged by an earthquake in 373 B.C.E. A newer temple was created to the west of the original to replace the one that had been destroyed.

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The tholos is a late classical circular building, it is located on the terrace and was built between 380-360 B.C.E. It is suggested that Theodorus of Phocaea designed the tholos. The marble used to build it came from Attica. The exterior was built in the Doric order and contains twenty columns. The number of the Corinthian half columns located in the interior is unknown, though some suggest ten. Within the tholos there are delicate moldings and carvings both in bas-relief and round form. There are two large friezes, one located on the exterior and the other located around the top of the cella wall, each frieze contains forty metopes. The exterior frieze depicts the battle between the Amazons and the centaurs.

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Sources:

The museum of the goddess Athena,http://www.goddess-athena.org/Museum/Temples/Delphi/index.htm

by Alicia Hernandez