Temple of Apollo at Metropolis

The archaic temple of Apollo is located in the Municipal District of Moschato, Plastira Municipality, Limni Plastira Municipality, at the location "Lianokokkala", 12 km west of Karditsa and approximately 2 km west of Metropolis, on a plateau south of the bed of the Laparda or Gavria river on the right of the road leading from Metropolis to the Monastery of Korona and Lake Plastira. Its location in antiquity belonged, according to the administrative division of ancient Thessaly, to the tetrad of Hestiaiotis, which extended to the NW part of the Thessalian plain and specifically within the town of ancient Metropolis, one of the most important urban centers of ancient Thessaly during the Hellenistic period, which remains buried under the modern village of the same name.

Before the start of excavation work at the temple site, the monument was covered by a low, narrow hill approximately 2.00 m high, formed by the dissolution of the bricks used to construct the upper part of its walls. Excavations began in 1994 in response to illegal excavations in the district, and a monumental peripteral Doric temple was revealed, measuring 31.00 x 13.75 m. The temple is oriented about east–west. It dates back to the middle of the 6th century BC (560–550 BC) and operated until its destruction in the 2nd century BC. It was dedicated to the deity Apollon, as evident from a dedicatory inscription. The temple had five (5) columns on the narrow ends and eleven (11) on the flanks. A soft, local sandstone was used for the construction of the columns. The composition of the relief decoration of the echinus is different for each column capital. 

The rectangular cella measured 24,00m. × 8,50m, is built of orthostates made of soft, local sandstone and from there upwards of mud–bricks. In the inner axis of the cella, there were five stone bases, indicating that wooden columns were aligned on the main axis. A rectangular statue base where the bronze cultic statue of ‘hoptlie’ Apollon was found, in front of the third wooden column. An adytum was formed by the addition of a mud–brick wall at the west end of the cella, and two mud–brick benches were constructed. The entablature of the temple was made of wood, and the pitched roof of beams was covered with roof tiles of the Corinthian type. 

During its life, the temple had undergone reconstructions and alterations, like the replacement of wooden elements with stone ones, the modification of the cella, and the replacement of the roof tiles.

Orientation:

The temple faces east with a deviation of 98° of azimuth from the north (altitude skyline about 1°).