Aphaea Temple

The Temple of Athena Aphaea
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The Temple of Athena Aphaea

...Come here, where the Sanctuary of the Temple has a garden with beautiful apple trees, and sleep proceeds from leaves that twinkle in the light...

Here blooms the meadow... in multicolor, with flowers of spring, and the wind brings sweet fragrance...

That is how Sappho describes the Sanctuary of the Temple in one of her odes that she devoted to Aphrodite. It is somewhat like that we must imagine the environment of the Temple of Athena Aphaea. Built in a forest high on the mountain, the Temple had in the interior of its Sanctuary rich plantings of trees and groups of fruit bearing trees, flowers and green lawns. It was the kind of environment that should provoke all the feelings of compunction and absolute religion in the pilgrim.

Pausanias has also left some information about Aphaea, which derived from some traditions of Crete. Zeus and Carme had a girl called Britomartis. She was very fond of hunting, that is why Goddess Diana showed her particular favor. But Minos fell in love with her; trying to escape she jumped into the sea and got tangled in the fishing net of some fishermen who took her onboard their ship. Then a sailor fell in love with her. Trying to escape again, she jumped into the sea and swam till she reached Aegina. She immediately took the way towards northeast where the grove of the island was. The sailors watched her vanishing little by little as if by a divine means, that is why they called her Aphaea = Aphande (vanished), and from what the legend says, she hid herself in a cave in the enclosure of the archaic Temple. During the excavation that were made there in 1901 many Mycenaean findings came to light. So we can conclude that the inhabitants of that area worshipped that deity from the prehistoric era. Cretans called Aphaea "Dictynna".

INTRODUCTION

Aphaea and Athena

The "owner" of the first Temple (6th c. BCE) was not Athena but Aphaea, as was of all the small Temples that had formerly been built in that very place, which Temples were something like country chapels. Many centuries before, since the founding of the holy site, it was Aphaea who was worshipped in Aegina. Athena was added just to the second (and last) Temple in 500 BCE as a "splendid housemate".

The Temple

The Temple of Aphaea (the first Temple) was built on an elevation, the northern side of which is steep while the southern side extends smoothly to the sea. Its location in the northeastern part of the island and its 11.5 km distance from the capital, Aegina, kept the Temple retired from the ancient habitations.

Nobody can determine exactly when the Temple was built. It was formerly supposed that it was a place of cult of the Goddess Athena. In 1901, however, the archaeologist Furtwangler found in the foundations of the Temple an archaic inscription where it was mentioned that the Temple was dedicated to the Goddess Aphaea and that a priest named Cleaetias was there. The inscription is on exhibition at the Museum of Aegina.

The Temple of Aphaea was built almost simultaneously with that of Apollo in Corinth and very probably in a period during which Aegina had acquired lots of wealth from the booties collected after the victory of Plataeae. That the Temple was erected in a period of great economic prosperity was a fact anyway. Besides it was comparable with the Temples of Zeus in Syracuse, of Poseidon in Samos and of Juno in Egista, Sicily.

The Temple is at the same distance from the Acropolis of Athens and from the Temple of Poseidon in Sounium. The three Temples of Parthenon, Poseidon and Aphaea form an imaginary equilateral triangle.

In the area where Aghia Marina is nowadays there was a habitation of fishermen, so it is very probable for the cult of Aphaea to have started from that very habitation. According to tradition the nymph Aphaea had relation with the fishermen and the sea, from where she came and chose that very part of the island for dwelling.

It is on the big rock which slopes steeply in many points where the Goddess dwelt. Standing on that rock southeast one can view the open sea, and to the north, the coast of Attica and the Acropolis of Athens.

The area in which the Temple was built was closed around and was characterized as a sacred place, retired from the free nature.

The Temple of Athena Aphaea (the second Temple) was given its definite shape about 500-480 BCE and from then onwards no addition was made to it. This is probably due to the economic and political fall of Aegina as well as to political destructions.

The sacred rock on which the Temple was built, remained from the very beginning a natural sacred rock that, for many centuries, gave the landscape the individual characteristic of natural monuments. So, in their effort to remove certain irregularities of the area Aeginetans erected counter-props, carried soil to the site and created a plateau.

8th CENTURY BCE

No ruins belonging to earlier periods have been found in that place. The oldest ruins are of the 8th century BCE and seem to be composed of layers of almost unwrought stones. There are remains of a first Altar from 700 BCE located to the west probably belonging to a chapel that was not found. The foundations of a building composed of a series of rooms was also found. The building probably housed government services.

7th CENTURY BCE

In the 7th century the Sanctuary was still with all the characteristics of the rocky environment. The traces of a first Propylon (gate) from 600 BCE show that there was a wall enclosure only on the most elevated northern side. This Propylon was 'distyle in antis' at both ends and it shared its northeast wall with the priests' quarters. The entrance and a building next to it were built of rectangular stone blocks that formed the base for high walls made of clay bricks. About 600 BCE the second altar was the same size and shape as the earlier first altar but moved to the east.

6th CENTURY BCE
The rock area and Sanctuary during the 6th century BCE
1: Temple, of the foundations. 2: Altar, with front yard and pathway covered with flagstones. 3: suppating wall for the Altar's front yard 4: Sphinx column and Cistern. 5: Old enclosing of the Sanctuary. 6: New enclosing. 7: Propylaea (Gate construction II, reconstructed). 8: Uphill road to the Altar's front yard. 9/10: Old and new Amphipoleion (priest's and administration's building).
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In the beginning of the 6th century a lot of renovations were made. The site was enlarged so as to extend outside the boundaries of the rock to the west and the Sanctuary reached the same level later, after Aeginetans had brought more soil and constructed a ramp there.

A brick wall erected on stone foundations set the boundaries of the new ground from one rock in the north to the other rock in the south so as to form a big arc.

Temple of Aphaea (the first Temple)

It was at that time that the first monumental stone Temple was constructed in honor of Goddess Aphaea. It is probable that there were columns around it, but also in the interior and on the facades.

Half of the back section of the Temple projected towards the western slope and the foundations formed a pedestal, so an extension of the Sanctuary should be made. That Temple, built according to the doric order, had a lot of common characteristics with the second and last Temple to Goddess Athena Aphaea.

Before the eastern facade the stone-Temple had an oblong enlarged third Altar (ca. 550 BCE) positioned parallel to the longitudinal axis of the Temple with paved forecourt approximately on the same spot as the ca. 600 BCE second altar was.

The rocks that were between the Temple and the Altar formed a flat slab paving which was used for the various ceremonies.

Some time after the restoration of the Sanctuary by the erection of the first stone-Temple the pillar bearing the marble Sphinx was built. The pillar was the highest construction in the area and its height exceeded even that of the last Temple of Aphaea and that was exactly what the pillar symbolized. It stood there, as if pointing towards the sky, bearing the winged creature, a kind of cherub-guardian of the Temple, exactly as in the Temple of Apollo in Delphi.

Pedestal and statue of Aphaea

The statue of Aphaea, probably of archaic technique, was made of ivory and was erected on an invisible wooden core.

The pedestal itself has not been preserved and it is only its traces that have been found. Four square holes on the floor of the cella prove the existence of the old latticework. Also, an inscription belonging to the Temple and discovered in the 1811 at the Pronaos speaks about "the latticework round the statue". One can imagine the whole statue from the right marble hand of acrolithic technique, that is on exhibition at the National Museum of Athens. The hand, untouched, with no traces of corrosion, was attached on the trunk and fastened to the sleeve of the bronze garment that was found on the boundary of the ruins of the Temple.

The simple limestone pedestal discovered by the first topographical survey where it was, that is at the end of the cella, bears a deep square opening which served to hold strong wooden bolts necessary for fixing wooden statues. The shade of the small statue could hardly be distinguished at the back of the cella, close to a small wooden door. On the reddish section of the wall there was a shelf which was probably used as a base for a very big votive-offering perhaps for a stone relief or a bronze head of Gorgo with ivory eyes. That figure, which must have had a very sharp look, may have probably been the prevailing subject for the decorations of a Temple of Aphaea in older times.

Gorgo represented on the Pediment

In 1811, in the site of the cella there was found a finished middle-sized left eye made of ivory intended to be placed on a head, which must have been huge. A piece of ivory was also discovered there, which most probably belonged to the right eye. No traces of the head to which they belonged were found however. The iris of the eye was probably made of glass. Placed in the center of the gable of the old Temple the head of Gorgo symbolized the sovereignty of the mistress of the Temple and her power over life and death.

On the pediment of a Temple in Selinunte, Sicily, there was a similar huge head made of terra-cotta. A marble-figure of Gorgo which decorated the center of the pediment of the Temple of Diana in Corfu has also been found. Both those Temples were of Doric order and belonged chronologically to the same period as the Temple of Aphaea in Aegina.

The inscriptions of the Temple

The monumental inscription of a big slate that was found broken on its left and lower sides makes mention, among others, of the "home" that had been built in honour of Aphaea, of the Altar and of the ivory.

The chronological interpretation of the official text and the analysis of its contents has led to the conclusion that it refers to the construction of the first big stone-Temple of the Goddess Aphaea as well as to the Great Altar and the wall that surrounded the Sanctuary.

From that very text and from the order of the works we conclude that what they meant by "ivory" was the statue of worshipping the Goddess, which had been made of that material. Besides, the Sanctuary of Aphaea was placed under the responsibility of a priest and not of a priestess, while all the events and activities related to the Temple were registered according to his own diary that was based on the time of the service of the priests. An inscription found recently made it possible also to correct the time measurement.

Destruction of the first Temple

In 510 BCE, a great fire destroyed the roof of the first Temple almost completely that is why Aeginetans decided to demolish it. Similarly, the remaining parts of the Temple except the entrance and the great Altar were little by little demolished.

5th CENTURY BCE
The Temple viewed from NE, with Sphinx on the big column
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Temple of Athena Aphaea (the second Temple)

The destruction gave rise to new concepts about how the new Sanctuary should appear and the influence of such concepts is still evident among the ruins. Now the new Temple which was built exactly where the old one was, should be erected on a unique platform and the boundaries of the Sanctuary should extend as far as a proper distance around the Temple at a right angle. So considerable area was added to the northwest and west of the Temple. Also, the longitudinal axes of the Temple and the Sanctuary should coincide, and that axial symmetry should also take account of the Altar which was constructed on the axis-projection of the Temple eastwards. Of course, such planning involved much clearing and leveling work north, west, and south of the Temple. Support by the necessary counter-props and transportation of huge masses of stones and gravel in very great quantities, something that is acknowledged as a considerable technical achievement for that time.

The rock area and Sanctuary in the 5th century BCE
1: Temple. 2: Altar IV. 3: Two halls for the sculptures of the gables. 4: Postament for acrotere. 5: Sphinx-column and cistern. 6: Terrace wall and enclosing of the Sanctuary. 7: Propylaea (gate-construction III). 8: Anphipoleion. The priest's and administration's house. 9: Supporting wall for the propylaea front yard. 10: Auxiliary building for the time during the Temple's construction.
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Given that the rock was open only towards the north up to the level of the Sanctuary, while from there it had a smooth incline towards the south, the sacred place should be reinforced on the eastern and southeastern sides.

The eastern boundary of the Sanctuary was not in conformity to the axial symmetry of the Temple, of the Sanctuary and of the Altar. A new straight counter-prop that was erected at this point, followed the sloping edge of the rock. So a sinking that the rock presented there disappeared and at the same time some more area was added to the Sanctuary. On that very counter-prop there was built, as if it were an outwork, the Peribolos, the circular wall that enclosed the entire holy site. The Peribolos was made up of a stone base of smaller blocks that supported tiles that had been dried in the air, while its top was covered with fired tiles.

A little farther from the uphill lane westwards, on the elevated rocky surface, there was the building that served as a place of work for the priests, the managing commissary of the Temple and his colleagues.

When the Temple was built that surface was within the Sanctuary, inside the Peribolos. A low addition to the building with its door served as a bathroom. It contained three fixed-built sitting baths, a built washbowl and a stone-seat. That stone-seat which was found in the ruins of the small bathroom in Amphipoleion and stolen a long time ago had been excavated in 1901.

The Portico

The portico, which was built on stone parallelepiped, had on either side of the entrance an open room with a pair of octagonal columns. Over them the supports were made of wood. The center of the roof was decorated with a beautiful acroterion resembling an anthemion. The big stone anthemion of the entrance was in harmony with the sloping surface of the roof. This anthemion is on show at the Museum of Aegina. The portico, the floor of which was red, was a place of cult.

The Temple of Athena Aphaea, viewed from the Propylaea.
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The Altar

After crossing that section worshippers went up 4 steps and arrived at the large court east of the Temple where the Altar was, near the eastern boundary of the Temple. In front of the Altar there was a rectangular platform paved with large slabs, that was destined for ceremonial activities. A paved road started from the platform and led to the center of the front of the Temple. Thus, the Temple, the road and the Altar consisted a closed unity.

At the western edge of the platform of the Altar there were 4 pedestals, which were probably used as bases for statues. South and north of the Altar there were two large rooms where various votive-offerings and groups of marble figures were kept. The latter were probably destined for the gables but they were finally left in that room.

The Temple

The Temple of Athena Aphaea was built on a flat platform in accordance with the elements and rules of the Doric order. The building material was mainly limestone that, as the work progressed, was covered with a thin layer of stucco for the most part. In the Museum of Munich there is on exhibition a column capital belonging to the cella of the Temple on which one can even today see its well-preserved stucco.

The base of the Temple was a flight of three steps. The foundations were surrounded with walls and consisted of one or more layers depending on the irregularities of the rocky sub-base. The upper layer of the foundations - euthynteria - was constructed horizontally as much as that was possible and projected from the outside surface as much as required for the stepped sub-base of the sacred place to be visible over the small irregularities or the lawn.

The third and last step of the sub-base was the stylobate which supported the columns enclosing the Temple all around its four sides. The dimensions of the stylobate were 13.80 x 28.80 m.

There were 32 columns in total; 12 in the sides and 6 at the front and back.

The narrow sides of the Temple formed the façades. The gables and the metopes of the roof were adorned with sculptures made of marble as well as with the two groups of gables, with the decoration of the acroteria and a figure representing the Sphinx on each side of the roof. However, it was the eastern facade that was the main entrance of the Temple. From the facade a paved ramp led above the steps.

The columns of the Temple were cut into vertical flutes. Thus, together with the dynamically elastic and strong echinos and the intermediary abacus between architrave and echinos the columns resisted the load of the supports and of the roof, by taking the load of the first layer of the supports at the joints of two blocks. A narrow projecting strip made of stone covered the architrave on top. Over the architrave there were the triglyphs where they alternated with the flat metopes. The metopes which were not building surfaces but they simply filled the gaps between the triglyphs, were most probably composed of stuccoed wood, either colored or white, slabs.

Metopes made of stone, or square shaped, seem to be absent from the Temple of Athena Aphaea though existing in doric Temples. The first Temple, however, did have metopes stuccoed white.

Over the triglyphs there was the eave overhanging around the Temple. The eave had on its upper end a frame, the underlying surface of which was covered with slabs.

On the front and rear sides the cornices, inclined and confined to a frame, went up to the acroteria. Together with the cornices, there was situated in the frame the tympanum that is the triangular face of the pediment which was separated from the roof by a wall made of large blocks.

In front of the tympanum there was a narrow space, a kind of panel where various sculptured groups were placed.

The roof was covered with flat tiles. Apart from them, however, there were also used others, narrow and sloping on both sides, which served to cover the joints of the flat tiles that had been placed one next to the other. The protecting tiles were decorated with upright colorful anthemia so that they crowned the top of the roof throughout like a crest.

Top with palmettes
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The tiles were made of hardened clay, except those used for the first row of the edge of the roof and of all four sides, which were made of marble. That would give the roof of the Temple particular splendor. The marble tiles were bent towards the side of the pediments in order to let rainwater fall onto the ground. Thus on the facades, over the raking cornices of the pediments, there was formed a bending, the Sima, like the broad bulging strip made of marble.

The marble tiles of the four corners of the roof were carved into square pedestals to support each of the acroteria that were Sphinx-shaped. Those four figures were also made of marble. On the outside there were four heads of lions placed on their pedestals. The rainwater flowing from the Sima poured out through their open mouths.

On the acroterion of the roof over the two pediments there was standing a magnificent anthemion with two branches from where spirals of palm three leaves were starting. The Temple, including the acroteria of the eastern side of the roof, was 12,4 m high from its base.

Detail from the eastern gable. The top acrotere.
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Behind the western acroterion there was a relief-lion. From the lower torus of the columns the floor was covered with heavy slabs and the ceiling was constructed of wooden beams and boards. It was difficult to move in that area because of the wooden partitions with the railed windows which reached over the supports.

The Gables

In addition to the groups of representations on the gables of the completed Temple that were found near its facades, two other groups of sculptures of gables in the same proportions which had been placed near the Altar were discovered.

From the technique of those sculptures it seems that the groups of the representations belonging to the Altar as well as to the Temple were works of 500 BCE approx. and covered a 15 years period. The gables of the Altar must have been constructed first, then the western gable and last the eastern gable.

Close to the acroteria of the roof of the completed Temple there were representations of plants having on either side two female figures. There was also a third acroterion constructed in the same way but without the figures. That acroterion was discovered in front of the eastern facade of the Temple. The fact that this acroterion as well as the corresponding one of the eastern gable, had a big blossom as a crown makes us think that it was originally destined for the main facade of the Temple, which was the eastern gateway.

The sculptures that were found near the Altar, as well as the acroterion mentioned above were supposed to be ornaments of the Temple.

A series of sculpture representations of facades of the Temple were abandoned in order that others would be used in their place. The sculptures, as they belonged to the Goddess, were finally placed in front of her Temple.

Description of the representations of the new gables

The gables were full of scenes concerning the siege, the defense and the capture of Troy. The godlike ancestors of the Aeginetan noblemen had been glorified in the two mythical expeditions which, yet, led their city to destruction.

Western gable of the Temple
(Restoration)
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The representations on the eastern gable were related to the first expedition that Telamon, grandson of Zeus, together with Hercules had made. On the western gable the second expedition led by Ajax was represented.

The poet Pindar praised in hymns the cult of Aphaea at the time of its climax, the double heroic adventure and the combating virtue of the ancestors that were proved by their expeditions. The Temple was given particular splendor by the double presentation of one of these subjects on the eastern gable and western gable where Athena stood in the middle as a protector of Aeginetans. The Aeginetan heroes of Troy are called to discharge a double duty; in other words, to become a good example of the present time and to protect the institution of oligarchy from the danger of the Athenian Democracy.

Inside the Temple (Pronaos, Cella and Opisthodomos)

Section through the Temple
1: Inner Walls. 2: The roof. 3: Inner Columns. 4: Opistodomos or rear porch. 5: View of the Cella. 6: Cult Statue of the Goddess Athena Aphaea. 7: The Pool of Olive Oil. 8: Ramp from Altar to Temple. 9: Corner Columns. 10: Metope. 11: Triglyph. 12: The East Pediment Sculptures.
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The three partitions at the front of the Temple had two door-leaves that were opened and closed on the occasion of various ceremonies. The partitions from the columns to the walls had no doors, so they prevented the communication with the Peristasis which many people considered the main hall of the Temple. The partitions were not used however as visitors rooms but as something more important. They constituted a wreath formed by numerous columns which surrounded the Temple and made it look magnificent. The Temple of Athena Aphaea was peripteral, not resembling or being comparable to any mortals' dwellings.

The walls of the Temple, the outside dimensions of which were 8 x 25 m, were erected on a base formed by big vertical stone-blocks covered with a regular layer of parallelepiped. Eastwards and westwards the walls projected so as to form two additional aisles which had a pair of columns on their open side.

The Pronaos

The lowest hall eastwards was the Pronaos which was enclosed between the two columns and from there to the walls with wooden partitions so that the entrance to the interior of the Temple twice would be prevented. All three fences of the Pronaos bore, just like the outside ones, doors that reached the ceiling.

Each column of the Pronaos, as well as the outer columns, had an architrave, and a frieze of triglyphs and metopes. The ground of the Pronaos covered with heavy stone slates was decorated with red floor. It was that very room which was the home of the Goddess. Upon opening the heavy wooden door with the bronze-reinforced leaves one could see the main part of the Temple - the cella. It had no windows and was continuously illuminated by small oil-lamps. The various colors of the architectural details and the walls glowed in the lamp light.

The Cella

The cella was not an ample room, nor even a room destined to provide space for congregational worship. It could be simply described as a wide and high room surrounded by columns. The columns that stood at the lower range had an intermediate architrave which supported the columns of the upper raw.

The beams of the columns extended to the roof of the cella and supported it. The Temple had 56 columns in total, of which twenty were in the interior, two at front and back, and thirty-two in the interior. Between the columns and the walls of the cella at the height of the intermediate architraves wooden platforms were constructed, which could be reached through a sloping surface.

The wooden platforms of the Cella

The presence of the wooden platforms in the Temple is evidenced by the holes of the beams on the intermediate architrave. We can also locate their steps on the incisions found on the floor of the cella. These platforms were constructed just behind the open door-leaves of the high gateway. The wooden platforms were not used by the people who participated in the religious ceremonies, but most probably served as places for storing various articles and votive offerings.

The statue of Athena Aphaea

The Temple of Athena Aphaea was a work of art of national prestige. The image of the gables was most probably predominating also in the cella of the Temple - that was a big statue of champion Athena holding a raised spear.

The statue of Athena Aphaea
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Besides the splendid figure of Athena one has to consider also the special conditions that existed at the back of the cella and in the Opisthodomos: i.e. the protected room where the old statue of Aphaea was, the door that was opened later and led to the Opisthodomos and the change of the Opisthodomos into a secret place of worship.

The votive offerings that were stored in the Temple

Valuable presents, such as clay-pots, were preserved for a long time. This has been proved by the findings of the first stone-Temple of Aphaea.

In the middle of the cella there stood the statue of Athena, the size of which little exceeded the regular size.

The clothes, the helmet, the raised spear and the hair were made of bronze. The face, the hands, the palms and the feet were of marble. The statue stood on a pedestal enclosed with a low latticework which protected the statue from the visitors who wanted to go too close to it.

However, representations showing Athena, who was the protectress of Aeginetans during the mythical period could be found only in the center of the western and eastern pediments. By these figures purposely placed on the two pediments by the rulers of Aegina who were also sponsors of the work intended to show that Aeginetans had shown bravery in the wars and that it was the Goddess Athena who had protected them.

In the period during which the Temple was under construction, Aegina was involved in incessant disputes with Athens that was politically rising at the time. It was not only on the pediments that Athena appeared as "Protector-Goddess" but also in the interior of the Temple, and what is more in the most privileged place of the Temple which was its central axis.

The Opisthodomos

The door we mentioned earlier led to the back section of the Temple, the Opisthodomos, that was similar to the Pronaos, and had two outside columns. The Opisthodomos was not accessible from outside but only through the small door of the cella. That room, with its compact limestone Altar and the stone walls was used as a place of worship of Aphaea, and for secret ceremonies.

The door which was opened later on the western wall was contrary to the rules of the conventional doric order, according to which the cella was closed at the back and the Opisthodomos was open only on its external side. The Opisthodomos had been transformed to an auxiliary room of the cella - a shrine - which was accessible only by that door. It was not rarely the shrine was an auxiliary room of the cella which had been planned so in advance. The change of the western wall of the cella, various objects and ornaments, as well as the closing of the Opisthodomos are justified only if we consider them as resulting from a need for worship that started when the Temple was built.

The congregational worship took place, as the habit was, in the open air east of the Temple. People gathered in front of the Altar where the priests and their assistants offered sacrifices, said prayers and sang choral songs. The choral song of the worship of Aphaea has not survived. It was the famous poet Pindar who had written it, and it seems very probable that he conducted the choir himself on an occasion.

On the stone Altar of the Opisthodomos there was permanently placed, as if it were something used in the ceremonies, a precious basin made by the hand of a skilled artist. Its interior represented on a white ground the scene of the abduct of Nymph Europe by Zeus who, transformed into a bull, pulled her above the sea. The basin had remained on the table of the Altar for at least 200 years. In the 3rd century BCE the cult of Aphaea which had already started to wane, stopped almost completely. It was also at that time when the destruction of the Temple started as a consequence of its old age, but also, perhaps, as a result of vandalism by pirates.

The first subjects of the representations of the gables

Despite the gaps that exist in the findings of the area of the Altar, we can realize the admirable legends that were represented there. The subject of one group of sculptures was related to the tradition about the creation of Aegina. It is said that Zeus abducted Nymph Aegina, daughter of the God of the rivers of Peloponnese, in order to make her his wife. Zeus carried her away while she was at home together with other members of her family, brought her to the island - which was named after her. A son called Aeacus, the first sovereign of the island and father of Telamon, was born by Nymph Aegina.

The second group of the gables represented various scenes of war, but it has not been possible to make a precise interpretation only from the pieces that were discovered. Nevertheless, among the Aeginetan legends there was also one that speaks about the expedition of Telamon and of his friend Hercules against the army of Amazones.

Near the pillar of Sphinx there was a round opening of a deep cistern used for the collection of rainwater. The waters that dripped from the northern end of the roof concentrated in a ditch that ended in the cistern. Just before the waters entered the cistern they were purified in an oval collection basin.

Tourist Information

About eight miles (12 km) East of Aegina town in the Aegina island, Saronic golf, Greece. It can be reached by bus or boat, both of which stop at the fine beach of Hagia Marina, a thirty-minute walk from the main site.

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