GREECE – Epidaurus - The Sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas - Remains

The sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas is located on a low hill on Mount Kynortion, east of the sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus.

At the peak of the hill was a small Early Helladic settlement, which was never built on in later periods.

At the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, an open-air altar was used where animals were sacrificed and votives deposited in the ash. Dedications include votive bronze double axes, bronze swords, and clay animal figurines. There is evidence for cult activity in the Geometric period.

Most of the structures on the site belong to the 4th century BC or to the 2nd century AD, when there was a major building campaign paid for by Sextus Iulius Maior Antoninus Pythodorus, an aristocrat from Nysa, Anatolia and a Roman senator. Pausanias (2.2.7) reports that "everything about the sanctuary of Maleatas, including the cistern in which the holy water is collected, is also a gift of Antoninus to the Epidaurians", and describes the temple :

"By Epidauros, Argolis there is a mountain called Kynortion. On the latter is a sanctuary of Apollon Maleatos. The sanctuary itself is an ancient one, but among the things the Roman senator, Antoninos made for the Epidaurians are various appurtenances for the sanctuary of Apollon Maleatos, including a reservoir into which the rain-water collects for their use".

The temple could not have been in function to a later date than the 4th or 5th century, when all pagan shrines were closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.

Remains on the site include Roman baths, an underground cistern, a Roman fountain, a small Doric temple of Apollo (4th century BC, hexastyle prostyle) -this photo- an altar, a shrine of the muses, living quarters for the sanctuary staff, a Roman gateway, and a stoa (late 4th century BC).

(All the puzzles I share in Jigidi are always from a photo that I have personally taken while traveling).