Duderstadt Gallery: Section 4 - Imperial Cult Temple

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RECONSTRUCTING THE TEMPLE OF AUGUSTUS
During the early 4th century AD, the spread of Christianity brought an end to emperor worship at Pisidian Antioch. With no priests or worshippers to pay for its upkeep, the Imperial Sanctuary fell into a state of disrepair, eventually succumbing to an earthquake sometime in late antiquity. Following the 1924 excavations, F. J. Woodbridge prepared a reconstruction drawing illustrating the original appearance of the great imperial cult temple. Built in the Corinthian order, the temple stood over 15 meters tall. Its roof was decorated with a frieze of bulls’ heads and garlands as well as a set of six marble acroteria (roof ornaments). The central acroterium on the western side of the temple depicts the goddess Artemis rising from a cluster of acanthus leaves. Artemis was the sister of Apollo, the patron deity of Augustus.

February 18, 2006
Digital Image
Courtesy of J. Matthew Harrington