#labraunda

Temple of Zeus

Labraunda, Turkey

355-331 BCE

~7 m high, ~14x~18 width-length

Ionic order

The Temple of Zeus is oriented to the east. It had 6 Ionic columns on the front and back, and 8 columns on the flanks. That fact that there were only 8 columns on the long sides is unusual; a normal temple would have had between 11 and 13 columns on the flanks.

The reason seems to be that the temple had an earlier phase, probably dating to the end of the 6th century BC. At that time it had only two columns at the entrance on the eastern front and a square cella, measuring 6.6 m by 6.6 m on the inside. An Ionic capital, large dentils and some ovolo blocks have been identified as probably belonging to the early temple. In the second phase, at the mid-fourth century, when the temple was rebuilt with columns on all sides, the flanks of the temple received only 8 columns.

City of Labraunda

Anatolia, Turkey

After Delphi, this is the second time I cover a full city (more of a sanctuary). I really like this site and its special hipster Androns who mix up the orders before it was popular in the Hellenistic times and its cool terrace structure. There are some links in the bottom that I highly recommend for anyone looking for more info.

In ancient times the people living in south-western Anatolia were known as the Karians. They had their own language, Karian, which was an Indo-European language related to that of their neighbours in Lykia to the east. Their country Karia was bordered to the north by the river Maeander and in the east by the river Indos. From 546 BCE Karia formed part of the Persian empire, and was ruled by satraps appointed by the Great King at Persepolis in Persia. In the 4th century, Karia was ruled by satraps of a local dynasty. The first one was Hekatomnos (392-377 BCE). As rulers after him followed his five sons and daughters, one after the other. They are called the Hekatomnids, which means the descendants of Hekatomnos. After the oldest, Maussollos (The guy Mausoleums are named after who lived in 377-352), came his wife and sister Artemisia (352-351), then Idrieus (351-344), followed by Ada, who was also his sister and wife (344-341) and, after her, the youngest brother Pixodaros (341-336). Alexander the Great put Ada back in charge in 334 BCE.

The most important sanctuary in western Karia was Labraunda, especially in the 4th century BCE, since the Hekatomnids favoured it more than any other shrine in Karia. At that time the sanctuary of Labraunda does not seem to have belonged to any city. It was probably an independent shrine and a place for pilgrimage, ruled by its priests and belonging to the people of all surrounding villages.

Map (Links link to posts in my blog)

 1. South Propylon 2. Doric Building 3. East Church 4. East Baths 5. East Propylon 6. Hypostyle structure 7. North wall of Propylon area 8. Andron B        9. Andron C 10. South Bath 11. Terrace House 12. Well-house & Well-house Terrace wall 13. East Stoa 14. Well-house Stoa 15. Spring House 16. Temple Terrace & North Stoa 17. Temple of Zeus 18. Oikoi Building 19. Andron A        20. Built Tomb of Idrieus 21. Open-air Cult area

Links:

AMAZING SITE

Walk through the modern site

Oikoi building

Labraunda, Turkey

4th century BCE

~5 m high

Doric order

Behind the temple, to the west, is a small building with two rooms behind a porch. Its 13-meter-wide marble front had four Doric columns. In the sides of the columns and the antae there are cuttings for a metal grille between the columns. The front part of the building could thus only be entered through a gate in one of the intercolumniations.

At present the south anta has been rebuilt with seven blocks, which all come from the northern anta; some of them are placed upside down; originally the anta had 9 blocks and the column next to it had four column drums, giving a total height including the capital, of ca 4.33 meters. The columns carried an architrave, the blocks of which now lie behind the stylobate. They still preserve a long inscription, informing us that:

IΔPIEYΣ EKATOMNΩ MYΛAΣEYΣ ANEΘHKE TOYΣ OIKOYΣ ΔII ΛAMBPAYNΔΩI

Idrieus, son of Hekatomnos, of Mylasa, dedicated the Oikoi

(i.e. the rooms) to Zeus Lambraundos

Above the Doric architrave with the inscription there was no normal triglyph frieze. This is shown by the positions of the dowel holes in the top of the inscribed blocks. Instead the building must have had another kind of frieze, possibly of smooth marble blocks decorated by painting. At the top, under the roof, was a geison, which also was irregular in being smooth and not decorated with the usual Doric mutules (rectangular discs with 3 rows of 6 protruding little cylinders, or guttae). The saddle-shaped roof of the building was sloping towards the front, and there were plain pediments on the sides of the building.

The function of the Oikoi Building is not evident. It has been supposed that it served as a building for the priests of the sanctuary and as an archive, maybe a prytaneion (council house). It may also have served for ritual meals, in the same way as the two andrones and the East Stoa. A main purpose of the Oikoi Building may, however, have been as a treasury for the safe-keeping of valuable gifts to the god.

Tomb of Idrieus

Labraunda, Turkey

4th century BCE

Doric order

Well-house

Labraunda, Turkey

4th century BCE

Doric order

More ancient cities; this is an archeological cruise, after all. But first breakfast. Lots of fruit, veg, cheese, and a new way of serving fried eggs and sausage.

Our first stop was Euromos, a small site with a fairly well-preserved temple.

They have a model of the town so you can get an idea what used to be there.

The temple of Jupiter Lepsynos is the main reason to visit the site.

There was some discussion of why the gods all have different names in different places. But of course, that is no different than Mary in the Catholic church; there are countless Our Lady of .... worldwide, each version of Mary having a particular focus.

The government is restoring this temple, hence the new marble. This is controversial, as you might expect. Some say it should never be done, they should remain as found, others want varying degrees of restoration. I am in the middle. Restorations should not interfere with scientific studies of archeology. Still, once that is done, the primary reason to open sites to the public is education, and for most people, restoration will help them understand what they are seeing.

We had an amiable little black cat join us at the visitor center and follow us throughout the visit. This was pretty amazing, considering we were not feeding it.

Our main site for the day was Labraunda, a sacred site high in the mountains. It was the primary sacred site of the Carian people and dedicated to Jupiter Labrandeus, a standing image of Jupiter holding a tall lotus-tipped scepter upright in his left hand and a double-headed axe, the labrys, over his right shoulder. The cult statue was the gift of the founder of the dynasty, Hecatomnus himself. (The statue is not at the site.) Note that the word for the double-headed axe, labrys, is the same in Minoan as in Carian. This is the word the Greeks took as meaning a labyrinth in their story of the Minotaur.

The site is built on a series of terraces. Above them all is a large stone with a massive split in it. It's believed that this split was taken as a symbol of the power of Jupiter.

The site had an annual five-day festival, and people walked up from the city below to participate.

It appears to have mainly been a feasting and drinking occasion. However, a stadium has recently been discovered, so there were probably games and contests as well. The most significant remaining buildings are androns, spaces for formal feasting.

The Jupiter Temple was a bit small, possibly because of the site's constrictions. As a result, the treasury was moved out of the temple into separate structures off to the side. Today, the temple is just a scattering of column stubs.

Numerous Greek inscriptions surround the site. Most of them announce who paid for a particular building. Still, it's nice to have a guide who can read them.