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Surroundings:

Garni, Urartaean InscriptionHeating system of the baths at GarniHeating system of the baths at GarniAquatic deities on a mosaic from the baths at Garni; inscriptionAquatic deities on a mosaic from the baths at GarniMosaic from the baths at GarniMosaic from the baths at GarniGarni, baths mosaicPalace of GarniGarni, Palace of TiridatesInscription of TiridatesGarni, Inscription of TiridatesGarni, Christian chapel VI century

Location:

  • Armenia, Garrni
  • geo:40.112507,44.730152
  • Exact location

Period or year:

  • 77~ / unknown

Class:

  • Temple or sanctuary
  • visible

Annotations

The peristyle temple is situated at the edge of the existing cliff. It has been surmised that it was constructed in the 1st century AD by the King Tiridates I of Armenia, probably funded with money the king received from emperor Nero during his visit to Rome.  The actual building is a peripteros temple resting on an elevated podium and was most likely dedicated to the god Mihr. The entablature is supported by 24 Ionic columns resting on Attic bases. Unlike other Greco-Roman temples, it is made of basalt. According to a different interpretation of the extant literary testimonia and the evidence provided by coinage, the erection of the temple started at AD 115. The pretext for its construction would be the declaration of Armenia as a Roman province and the temple would have housed the imperial effigy of Trajan. In recent years another theory has been put forward. It has been suggested that the building must actually be identified as the tomb of an Armeno-Roman ruler, probably Sohaemus. If that is the case, its construction would be dated in AD 175. 1

Image by Mcschreck, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany license.

See:

  1. Garni 6: The Temple to Mythra-http://www.armenianheritage.org/en/monument/Garni/6
  2. http://www.mithraeum.eu/monumenta/garni_temple

References

  1. Wikipedia: Garni Temple

De tempel van Gorneas (Garni) was mogelijk gewijd aan Helios, de zonnegod. De tempel was gebouwd in de eerste eeuw door de Armeense koning Trdates I. Waarschijnlijk was de bouw gesponsord met geld dat de koning ontving van Nero, in ruil voor militaire steun tegen het rijk van de Parten. Anders dan de meeste Grieks-Romeinse tempels is het gebouw opgetrokken uit basalt.


Nearby

Garni, Urartaean Inscription

Garni, Urartaean Inscription

Garni, Saint Sion Church

Saint Sion Church

Thermae Gorneas

Thermae Gorneas


This object was added by René Voorburg on 2012-06-26. Last update by Zuzen on 2022-02-22. Persistent URI: http://vici.org/vici/7873 . Download as RDF/XML, GeoJSON, KML.
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