New excavations have unearthed further evidence that a previously discovered temple was a cult building within the famous sanctuary of Poseidon.
The Austrian Academy of Sciences suggest that it was an important religious center in the region.
According to the Jerusalem Post, new discoveries have indicated that the temple discovered in 2022 was larger than previously assumed.
Archaeologists from the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Elis of the Greek Ministry of Culture uncovered a building in 2022 that was likely located within the famous sanctuary of Poseidon. It could possibly be identified as a temple of the god of the sea and earthshaker.
More parts of the temple were discovered after excavations in the fall of 2023 by archaeologists of the OeAI and the Greek Ministry of Culture in Kleidi-Samikon in the Western Peloponnese.
Latest excavations showed that the building is larger than it was originally believed. What was initially thought to be a vestibule, was actually a second room. The building is about 28 meters long and over 9 meters wide. It consists of two interior rooms, a vestibule and a rear hall or shrine.
There are no other buildings like this one, as of late while the function of the two rooms is still to be discovered. It was possibly a double temple where two different gods were prayed to, or it is two rooms, one behind the other.
According to the research the temple was built in two phases. The director of the Ephoria of Elis detailed that “in the second half of the fourth or first half of the third century BC, the Archaic temple from the sixth century BC was renovated.”
The team aims to find more about the dimensions and the purpose of the work while there are rumors about what is hidden beneath the earth in the location.
Source: The Jerousalem Post
