Temple of Athena

The Temple of Athena is a Doric temple built in Syracuse in the 5th century BC by the tyrant Gelo after his victory over the Carthaginians at the Battle of Himera.

The temple was preceded by a cult site which dated back to the 8th century BC, with an altar discovered in excavation at the beginning of the twentieth century, and by an earlier temple from the middle of the sixth century BC.

The Athenaio was a peripteral temple with six columns on the short sides and fourteen on the long sides, fitting the proportions of the classical canon developed on the Greek mainland. On the front, the intercolumniation at either edge was reduced, the canonical solution to issues of perspective. In total, the building was 22 metres wide and 55 metres long. The peristyle surrounded a cella with a pronaos and an opisthodomos, both featuring two columns in antis.

The temple was converted into a Christian place of worship and parts of it are still found incorporated into the walls of the Cathedral of Syracuse. On the left side of the Duomo, some columns of local limestone and the stylobate on which they stood remain visible.

Other remains (marble tiles and water spouts shaped like lion's heads) are preserved in the Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi. Inside the Duomo, 9 further columns from the right side of the peripteros are clearly visible, with a pronounced entasis, as well as the two from the front of the cella.