A Statue of Atlas Emerges From the Ruins of Sicily’s Ancient Temple of Zeus
In the fifth century B.C.E., 38 looming sculptures of the Titan stood guard at the structure.
After 20 years of restorations, a 26-foot-tall statue of Atlas is once again standing guard at the ancient Temple of Zeus in the city of Agrigento (once called Akragas) in Sicily.
The statue, created in the fifth century B.C.E., was one of roughly 38 similar Atlas monuments built into the temple. They stood in a line between columns with their arms raised, appearing to hold the holy structure upright.
In Greek mythology, Atlas was a Titan who rebelled in a war against Zeus. As punishment, he was forced to hold up the sky on his shoulders. Unlike the mythological Atlas, however, the stone likenesses were unable to hold up Zeus’ temple forever. Ultimately, earthquakes and other events caused the structure to crumble.
For many years, pieces of the statues were scattered around the site amongst other ancient ruins. In 1812, Charles Robert Cockerell, a prominent British architect, first identified one of the Titan’s giant sandstone heads during a visit to Agrigento. A century later, in 1920, archaeologist Pirro Marconi became the first person to attempt to reconstruct one of the Atlases, which is now housed in the Archaeological Museum of Agrigento.
The seeds of the current project began in 2004, when the Valley of the Temples park conducted a sweeping research campaign at the site. Experts cataloged 90 fragments from at least eight Atlas statues.
“The idea was to reposition one of these Atlases in front of the temple so that it may serve as a guardian of the structure dedicated to the father of the gods,” Roberto Sciarratta, the director of the Valley of the Temples park, tells the Guardian’s Lorenzo Tondo.
But rebuilding Atlas in a standing position was particularly challenging, as researchers couldn’t simply stack the pieces of the statue on top of one another. Instead, they attached the fragments to metal shelves, which are supported by a larger metal structure.
The restoration has faced scrutiny ever since officials first announced it several years ago.
“No archaeologist would endorse the use of ancient sculpture, no matter how fragmentary, to create a modern sculpture, even if the purpose is to highlight the site’s antiquity,” C. Brian Rose, an archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told the New York Times’ Franz Lidz in 2020.
But officials like Renato Schifani, the Sicilian governor, think that the statue’s resurrection is a commendable feat.
“Today is an important day for Agrigento and for all of Sicily,” says Schifani in a statement, per Google Translate. “This stone giant of ancient Akragas, which after many years of studies and research we can observe in its natural position, is the heart of an important museum project of the entire area of the Temple of Zeus."
By Julia Binswanger.
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Thinking about the random cat at the ruins of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia that I saw when I visited in 2018. The tour guide said they’d named her Hera because she was always sitting on the remains of one of the pillars looking very proud of herself as if she’d personally destroyed the temple. I love you queen, I hope you’re happy wherever you are.
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TBH, I think this looks a bit odd. I like the idea of the reconstruction, but ... I don't know. Maybe it's that it's sitting out in a field and completely out of context (in the photo, anyway)?
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Assassin's Creed Odyssey
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During a very cold windy Sunday, we went to explore Nemea, whose name might be familiar because of the lion and Hercules and so.
But Dim told me the story of this archaeological site and it was very interesting. There was this american guy, Stephen Miller, that back in the 70s asked to the greek government permission to excavate in Nemea, because he knew what he was going to find: The stadium, the Zeus temple, and some more. And he did! All with his money and donors money, Greece didn't have to pay for any of these. The guy spent decades in there, unearthing, restoring and finally opening both the site and the museum. He even managed to bring back the Nemean games (similar to the ancient olympic games) and now they're celebrated every 4 years, anyone can attend!
So, bless Mr. Miller, because this site was amazing and actually this was one of the few places where they actually let you step into the ruins and the temple itself :)
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Temple of Zeus, Athens, 1960s
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Pronaos del templo de Zeus Sosípolis y estatua de Artemisa Leucofriene, originalmente en Magnesia del Meandro. Actualmente conservados en el Museo de Pérgamo de Berlín
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“The Island Of Love With A Dark Past”: Andrew Avraam Took Photos Of Abandoned Places in Cyprus
The Temple Of Zeus
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Today’s Flickr photo with the most hits is an old favourite: the Temple of Zeus at Uzuncaburc, Turkey. It subsequently became an apsidal basilica (Christian), which accounts for its state of preservation, and some of the features of the site.
Close by are a fabulous Hellenistic tower and an ancient mausoleum.
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Archaeologists Find 2,000-year-old Makeup in Ancient Roman City of Aizanoi
Archaeologists discovered rare 2,000-year-old makeup and jewelry products during excavations at the ancient Roman city of Aizanoi in Türkiye’s Kütahya province, reports said Saturday.
The excavations, which have been carried out in collaboration with the Kütahya Governorate and Dumlupınar University, were conducted east of the Temple of Zeus, Professor Gökhan Coşkun, the head of the Archaeology Department at DU, told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Noting that they reached 2,000-year-old shops at the marketplace in the ancient city during excavations, Coşkun said they found the remnants of a cosmetics and jewelry shop.
“We found out that the shop sold perfume, jewelry and makeup products,” he said, adding that they found many perfume bottles, pieces of jewelry and makeup.
“Women were always women,” the professor said, noting that they discovered blushes and eye shadows in the excavations.
“We know that ancient Romans stored their eyeshadows and blushes in oyster shells and we found numerous oyster shells in the shops we were carrying out excavations in,” Coşkun said.
The professor said that archaeologists discovered makeup products of 10 different colors and different sorts of hair accessories and jewelry.
Aizanoi, whose history dates back to 3,000 B.C., was the main settlement of the Aizanitis people living in ancient Phrygia. In the Hellenistic period, the region alternated between being subordinate to Pergamum and Bithynia but came under Roman rule in 133 B.C.
It has been said that Aizanoi’s magnificent buildings, starting with the construction of the Temple of Zeus, made the city famous.
Among the ruins stands the Temple of Zeus, which remains the best-preserved temple dedicated to Zeus in Anatolia, a theater with a capacity of 15,000 people and adjacent to it a stadium with a capacity of 13,500, two baths, the world’s first commercial stock market building, a columnaded street and five bridges, two of which still stand over Kocaçay creek.
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Athens Temple of Zeus 2022
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Nice find! The Aegean must be such a great place for diving.
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