December 11, 2007

Temple of Ares

Estimated floor plan of the original Temple of Ares with adjacent altar
Estimated floor plan of the original Temple of Ares with adjacent altar

The Temple of Ares was a building located in the northern part of the Ancient Agora of Athens. The Temple was identified as such by Pausanias but the ruins present today indicate a complex history.

The foundations are of early Roman construction and date but fragments of the superstructure now located at the western end of the temple can be dated to the 5th century BCE. From the remaining fragments archaeologists are confidant that the belonged to a Doric peripteral temple of a similar size, plan and date to the Temple of Hephaestus. Marks on the remaining stones indicate that the temple may have originally stood elsewhere and was dismantled, moved and reconstructed on the Roman base - a practice common during the Roman occupation of Greece.

The temple probably came from the sanctuary of Athena Pallenis at modern Stavro, where foundations have been found but no temple remains are present..

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