Kourion Complex (Apollo) pre 1945

Continued from scan 26

… any course here in the early temple would have been visable, it is almost certain that the course of plinths was constructed after the temple became a double one, when it lay below the level of the adjacent aisles. What then became of the upper courses of [handwritten: this wall] that was once the west wall of the earlier single temple? The only conclusion that suggests itself is that the earthquake of 76/77 A.D destroyed much of [handwritten: the wall] and that the rest, or nearly all of it, was leveled down to the course of headers and stretchers which lay just below the floor level of the nave. Then on this course a new course of plinths immediately below the level of the aisle floors on either side which concealed it, was constructed to serve as a foundation for the central wall of the new enlarged temple.

There is a place near the South end of the central wall [handwritten: stretch] where the course of plinths does not occur. In its place are two courses which with the course of headers and stretchers [handwritten: are smoothe out the] west face down to the foundation of the wall. This, [handwritten: almost certainly,] is a bit of the wall of the earlier building which somehow survived the reconstruction of the temple after the earthquake of 76.

Under the South Building, which was completed in 102 A.D, there was another earlier building slightly smaller, which appears to have had a very similar plan to its successor. This earlier building appears to have been destroyed by the earthquake, We know from the building inscription of the new South Building that the emperor Trajan contributed funds for its completion. It is probable enough therefore, that one of his predecessors contributed funds for the rebuilding also of Apollo's main temple. Such an imperial grant in aid may well have been the occasion for the people of Kourion in their gratitude to found a new cult and to roof over a worthy place for Apollo Caesar in the new enlarged building which thus was to become a double temple. This enlarged temple survived until destroyed … continues