Kourion Complex (Apollo) post 1945 (1 of 2)

(10)

above the naves behind a continuous colonnade in the Doric order. Unfluted stone columns stood on a stylobate consisting of a course of plinths over a course of moulded orthostates. The aisle floors were level with the top of the stylobate. A central wall, once the west wall of a single temple, separates the west aisle of the east cella from the east aisle of the west one. These two aisles are interrupted at the north end to permit the east nave with its east aisle and the west nave with its west aisle to communicate. It will be noticed that the plan resembles a pair of South Building exedrae, the principal differences being (1) that the cellas, unlike the exedrae, intervening corridor and (2) that the cellas communicate at one end. The aisles, of course, correspond to the communicate at one end. Very possibly dedications to Apollo platforms of the exedrae. Bits of the foundation of the floors are still stood on the aisles. Bits of these is extant. extant.

Each cella has a doorway in the centre of its north wall. The main doorways would have been in the center of the South walls, but no trace of these is extant.

The lower courses of the walls were in solid ashlar masonry. They were covered in lime plaster as were also the columns of the interior colonnades. There was a tiled roof. At a considerably lower level than the floors of the later temples, we have the foundation walls of an earlier building with a somewhat different orientation. These may well belong to a temple which stood before the Cyprus became a province of the Roman Empire in 58 B.C. The single temple, which appears to have been its successor, most probably suffered in the earthquake of 76–77 A.D. Its commanding position, size and plan make it almost certain that it was the main temple of Apollo Hylates. After its damage or