DELOS. - Sanctuary of Apollo - 2007

Sanctuary of Apollo. R. Etienne (EfA/Paris 1) reports that work in the Sanctuary of Apollo had 3 main aims. The first concerned the development of the terrace in front of the Great Temple to accommodate a drop of 1.35m between the top layer of the marble seats and the paving of the ‘Sacred Way’. The terrace is composed in front of the temple of a levelling course of 3.4m, followed by a first ramp: a 2nd ramp then met the ‘Sacred Way’. The bases in place, and those discovered during the excavation, indicate the use of this area, and allow us to reconstruct, at least in part, the landscape in front of the temple. Secondly, difficulties in reconstructing the Temple of Apollo led to a re-examination of all the architectural members, which are scattered and few. Study confirmed G. Gruben’s hypothesis of a tetrastyle façade: a date for the building in the L6th Ct BC fits its technical and stylistic characteristics. Finally, in collaboration with the Polytechnic in Athens, a programme of geophysical prospection and coring was undertaken in search of the anc. shoreline alongside the Sanctuary of Apollo and to determine the conditions in which the monuments were established.