Naxos: The Ionic Temple at Iria

This temple is the first example of monumental architecture. Prior to this temple most sanctuaries were built out of wood or located in caves. This site was used by the mystic cult of Dionysus. During the period of its construction the Naxian city-state was ruled by the aristocratic elite, so their rituals and offerings were closed off and private. There is evidence of a bench around the back of the temple that could seat up to forty patrons. Evidence of this temple being for the god Dionysus is its location at the mouth of a river in a marshland, writings about the river of wine not water, the god of wine and likes water because of its regeneration of nature and vital qualities. This temple also had a unique orientation, facing south to the sea, which at the time would have only been eighty meters away.

From Mycenaean times this site went through many phases and continuity of the cult went on to Christianity and eventually in the fifteenth century a great flood made the worshipers relocate to what became the Church of Saint George a hundred meters south of the original site.

Today Iria is well preserved historical site, which many people drive to visit. The grounds keepers and archeologists that have excavated and reconstructed this area have also taken to account the gardens that once surrounded the temple. Many ancient writings and descriptions of land at the time stated there were fig trees, olive trees, and many local flowers that can still be found around Greece today. They have recreated a garden of that period to help illustrate what the temple would have looked like at the time, without disrupting the site too much. In archeology and anthropology it is hard to determine what actually was, and reconstruction on temples like these is difficult, one has to have evidence that what they construct at the site was actually there.

 M.A.B. 2012