Temple of Hephaestus Greece

Legendary

Located on Agoraios Kolonos hill, the well-preserved temple was dedicated to the Greek god Hephaestus.

Photo by Gary Todd

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For centuries, people in Athens called this building the Theseion. They thought it honored Theseus, the city's legendary hero, because his adventures are carved around the top.

They had the wrong god. It was built for Hephaestus, the god of fire, blacksmiths, and metalworking.

That makes sense once you know the neighborhood. The temple sits on a small hill above the ancient Agora, the main marketplace of Athens, where the streets below were full of bronze and iron workshops and marble carvers.

The Athenians honored Athena here too. She was the goddess of crafts, and bronze statues of both gods once stood inside.

Work began in 449 BC, during the golden age of Athens. The city had just defeated the Persians and was growing rich and powerful.

The leader Pericles wanted to rebuild Athens into the greatest city in Greece. This temple was one of the first projects, started two years before the Parthenon.

It was probably finished around 415 BC. Builders used Pentelic marble, a bright white stone quarried from a mountain near the city.

The temple is built in the Doric style, the plainest of the Greek styles, with thick columns and simple tops. There are 34 columns in all, six across each end and thirteen down each side.

Here's what makes it special...most of it is still standing. The roof, the columns, and the walls survived, making it the best-preserved ancient temple in Greece.

It survived because people kept using it. Around the 7th century AD, it became a Christian church dedicated to Saint George.

As long as it was a church, nobody took it apart for building stone. When King Otto arrived in 1834 as the first king of modern Greece, his welcome service was held here, and it was the last church service ever held in the building.

Climb the hill and walk all the way around the temple to see how complete it is. Look up at the carved panels showing the labors of Heracles on the east end and the adventures of Theseus on the frieze. Then turn around for the view down across the Agora to the Acropolis.