In 2022, a team from the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and the Ephorie von Elis of the Greek Ministry of Culture managed to uncover a building that probably belonged to the sanctuary of Poseidon and may even be identified as the temple of the sea god. As described by ancient authors, it is located near the sea below the ancient fortress of Samikon.
During the excavation in autumn 2023, further parts of the temple were uncovered. It turned out that the dimensions are larger than the first evaluation of the geophysical investigations suggested. What was initially interpreted as a vestibule turned out to be another room. Overall, it is a building about 28 meters long and more than 9 meters wide. It consists of two interior rooms, a vestibule and a back hall or a shrine for the cult image.
Birgitta Eder, archaeologist and head of the Athens branch of the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the ÖAW: “We have in front of us an archaic temple that consists of two main rooms. This phase includes a middle row of two columns that we found in the first hall and which supported the large roof covered with roof tiles. One can assume that there were such columns in the second room as well. The floor plan of the temple is certainly unusual. So far we don’t know of any comparable buildings.”
It is still unclear what function the two rooms served. Perhaps it was a double temple in which two deities were worshiped, or there are two halls one behind the other, one of which could have served as a meeting place for the amphictyony of the cities of the Triphylia region. This was a loose association of cities on a religious and cultural basis that came together to protect and manage a sanctuary.
The research also shows that the temple has two construction phases. “In the second half of the 4th or the first half of the 3rd century BC, the archaic temple from the 6th century BC was redesigned. The old roof tiles were evenly applied as a base for the new floor. They served as insulation against the groundwater and to stabilize the soil. Something that still works today. In those places where bricks are missing, the soil is damp and muddy,” says Erofili-Iris Kolia, director of the Ephorie of Elis. The two Construction phases are also documented by the ceramic vessels found, which date from the Archaic and Late Classical to Early Hellenistic periods.
Over the next few years, the team wants to find out more about the dimensions of the sanctuary. Further collaboration with geoarchaeologists from the University of Mainz and geophysicists from the University of Kiel is important here. The ancient author Strabo describes the sanctuary of Poseidon as a “grove of wild olive trees.” The exciting question remains whether other temple buildings, altars, treasure houses, a processional route or shrines for votive gifts are hidden underground.
The archaeological research is financed by the Gerda Henkel Foundation and the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. They take place in close cooperation between the Greek Ministry of Culture and the Athens branch of the Austrian Archaeological Institute.