Visit to Temple of Hephaestus in Athens Greece
Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, though in ruins, looked more complete compared to Parthenon. It was built two years prior to Parthenon in 449 BC. This one is made out of marble completely; and to me the pillars looked grand and strong enough for many more centuries. It gives a fairly good idea of Parthenon’s form had it been complete.
Ancient use of Hephaestus Temple
This temple is believed to have been dedicated to Athena and Hephaestus. Hephaestus is the Greek God for volcanoes and metal working. He was the son of Zeus and Hera. He was revered as a God of blacksmiths, metallurgy, and craftsmen.
(This sounds so similar to beliefs in Hinduism. Vishvakarma is Hindu God believed to be divine engineer. He was also the blacksmith of the gods, which was important job.)
Athena Ergena, a form of their goddess Athena, is responsible for pottery and other crafts.
But again like other temples this Temple of Hephaestus too played the role of place of worship to other religions. In 7th century it got converted to Church of St. George Akamas. In early 19th century this became the burial ground for Protestants and for many who died in Greek war of independence in 1821. After 1834 this got converted to a museum till 1930s, since then it is in its present state and I like it a lot this way.
Temple of Hephaestus Athens Greece
Which is the best preserved temple of Athens?
Temple of Hephaestus is the best preserved temple I saw in Athens and liked it more after seeing the sad state Parthenon was in. It remains in almost the same way it was built. One can get a fairly good idea of the first ancient forms of architecture in the Western tradition.
The interior is out of bounds for public. There were huge statues of Athena and Hephaestus, but now it is empty. The walls have well preserved engravings and sculptures with different themes in all four sides. The columns are grooved and they seemed sliced, stacked one upon another.
Above the columns is the horizontal element frieze. Frieze on the east front of the Temple, facing the Ancient Agora has sculptures depicting the labors of Hercules. Friezes of this temple depict scenes from ancient Roman stories. Observe carefully to spot the twelve labors of Hercules, the battle and fall of Troy, and an unidentified battle scene.
I have tried to capture this grand monument from various angles; the light was good that day thankfully!
Location of Hephaestus Temple
This located within the Agora complex. You don’t need separate tickets to see this monument. Agora once formed a very important part of Athens. Read more:
Agora and Other Archaeological Sites of Athens.
Wow! The light and sky has taken aside so well composing fabulous photos… Interesting documentation Indrani!
Nice pics. The last one is very beautiful!
A temple made of marble? What a feat! I can't imagine the kind of labor that went into something like that. So beautiful. The last shot with the mountain range in the background is sensational!
I may never get to Greece so I'm truly enjoying your photos!
wow!Impressive!
I always like to see this type of ancient sites….
Old-world charm. Another impressive structure.
Magnificent. !
Thank you very much for the comments friends.
Moon Roy and Sindhu, there is no chance the pillars will crumble unless God forbid there is a major earthquake.
How majestic! I shook looking at the misplaced parts in one of the columns! What if….!!!!
the first picture is my favourite 🙂
Wonderful pictures and amazing post Indrani. I wish to visit there also… 🙂
Wow…those columns are massive and scary…seems they will break apart anytime! Is there any chance by the way? …;) 🙂
This ancient site is so impressive, even by night when you see Acropolis illuminated far away and high on top of the hills. Thank you for your beautiful photos and informative post.
Have a great week, Indrani!
Wil, ABCW team
Awesome pics!!!
Grand indeed! I've seen so many Greek inspired architecture that it's fascinating to see the actual real thing.
Thanks for the post. Although I've seen photos of the ruins in Greece, know nothing about them. This is a great introduction for me. You took some wonderful photos. That's amazing how the column in one of the photos is broken into segments.
Hello Indrani!
Wonderful pictures of the temple!
So impressive!I really enjoyed your post!
Dimi…
Very informative post,beautiful pictures they themselves speak a lot..have a nice day.
Your Trip is truly a worthy Journey…. Well presented the Topic with beautiful pictures of Athens Architecture…
Quite impressive. Would love to visit this place some day.
This is a very impressive temple, even today.
Nice to see the pics of the Temple of Athena and read about it. A huge replica of the temple is kept at the British Museum in London.
Hello Indrani, gorgeous shots of the temple. And I love the last distant shot too. Have a happy week!
Your photos really do justice to these magnificent architectural masterpieces.
Looks wonderful. Nice shots.
Lovely Athens, you have caught it, excellent photos.
I always liked Greek architecture. Thanks for sharing the images also a brief history of it.
The columns are so impressive & giant in size. Looks like it is in the middle of a jungle. 😛
How grand and impressive.
Oh, it is grand indeed and I remember visiting there, too!! Again, thank you for the wonderful memories, Indrani!! Your photos are the next best thing to being there myself — again! Have a great new week!!
those columns are impressive!