In 334 BC, Alexander the Great donated funds for the completion of the new temple of Athena Polias in Priene, in modern-day western Turkey. An inscription from the temple, now housed in the British Museum, declares: "King Alexander dedicated [this temple] to Athena Polias." This inscription is one of the few independent archaeological discoveries confirming an episode from Alexander's life. The temple was designed by Pytheos, one of the architects of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Libanius wrote that Alexander founded the temple of Zeus Bottiaios (), in the place where later the city of Antioch was built.
Funding of temples
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great | Funding of temples
Yes, the temple of Athena Polias and the temple of Zeus Bottiaios Yes, Athena Polias in Priene. Athena Polias in Priene Yes he donated funds for the completion of the new temple of Athena Polias in Priene, in modern-day western Turkey
who was the king of macedonia who built an empire that stretched to india
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Alexander the Great
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where is the above ancient kingdom located?
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On the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece.
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what is the origin of its name?
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The name Macedonia comes from the ethnonym Μακεδόνες , which itself is derived from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός, meaning "tall, slim", also the name of a people related to the Dorians, and possibly descriptive of Ancient Macedonians
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who was the leader here before the above mentioned king?
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The Argead king, PhilipII
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which language was spoken here?
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Koine Greek, the "lingua franca" of late Classical and Hellenistic Greece, and the native Macedonian language was either a dialect of Greek  similar to Thessalian Greek and Northwestern Greek, or a language closely related to Greek
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where was the aforementioned great king from?
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Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon
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which city did he find?
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The first, and greatest, was Alexandria in Egypt
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did he fund any temple?
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In 334 BC, Alexander the Great donated funds for the completion of the new temple of Athena Polias in Priene, in modern-day western Turkey. An inscription from the temple, now housed in the British Museum, declares: "King Alexander dedicated [this temple] to Athena Polias." This inscription is one of the few independent archaeological discoveries confirming an episode from Alexander's life. The temple was designed by Pytheos, one of the architects of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Libanius wrote that Alexander founded the temple of Zeus Bottiaios (), in the place where later the city of Antioch was built.
Alexander the Great | Funding of temples
The sponsors of Greek temples usually belonged to one of two groups: on the one hand public sponsors, including the bodies and institutions that administrated important sanctuaries; on the other hand influential and affluent private sponsors, especially Hellenistic kings. The financial needs were covered by income from taxes or special levies, or by the sale of raw materials like silver. The collection of donations also occurred, especially for supra-regional sanctuaries like Delphi or Olympia. Hellenistic monarchs could appear as private donors in cities outside their immediate sphere of influence and sponsor public buildings, as exemplified by Antiochos IV, who ordered the rebuilding of the Olympieion at Athens.
Ancient Greek temple | Public and private sponsors
In such cases, the money came from the private treasury of the donor.
Ancient Greek temple | Public and private sponsors
The old temple built by Zerubbabel was replaced by a magnificent edifice. Herod's Temple was one of the larger construction projects of the 1st century BCE. Josephus records that Herod was interested in perpetuating his name through building projects, that his construction programs were extensive and paid for by heavy taxes, but that his masterpiece was the Temple of Jerusalem. Later the sanctuary shekel was reinstituted to support the temple as the temple tax.
Second Temple | Extent and financing
The only classical source to provide information on this building is Herodotus (3:57-8). If Herodotus is to be deemed a reliable source, this would be sufficient for verifying the date. In his account Herodotus states that the Siphnians had recently founded a temple at Delphi when a group of Samians arrived asking for support against the tyrannical Polycrates. In respect to this, both Herodotus and Thucydides state that Polykrates ruled during the reign of the Persian king Kambyses (c. 529-522 BC). This would thus date the monument at about 525 BC. one source considers the date of construction as more likely some time absolutely limited to after 480 BC (Whitley).
Siphnian Treasury | Dating of founding
In the following centuries, Christian emperors issued decrees that were increasingly hostile to pagan cults and temples. Some Christians attacked and destroyed temples, as in the plundering of the Serapeum and other temples in Alexandria in AD 391 or 392. Through some combination of Christian coercion and loss of funds, temples ceased to function at various times. The last temple cults died out in the fourth through sixth centuries AD, although locals may have venerated some sites long after the regular ceremonies there had ceased.
Egyptian temple | Later development
One of the texts starts with the invocation ""to the Good Fortune"". It is also known from the inscriptions that the Greek goddess of the sea, Leucothea, was worshipped in the temple from 60 CE onwards. Two of the texts show that the officials exercised an unspecified authority. They detail the restoration of the temple using funds, implying they owned estates or assets earning interest. A building constructed in 253 CE was said to have been paid for ""at the expense of the goddess taken from the interest"". The treasurers of the temple also funded a new door in 379 CE.
Rakhlah | Ancient temples
The most famous of these are the temple complexes of Abu Simbel and Philae. The campaign ended in 1980 and was considered a success. To thank countries which especially contributed to the campaign's success, Egypt donated four temples; the Temple of Dendur was moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Temple of Debod to the Parque del Oeste in Madrid, the Temple of Taffeh to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in the Netherlands, and the Temple of Ellesyia to Museo Egizio in Turin. The project cost US$80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries.
World Heritage Site | Origin
The new temple was dedicated by the Jewish governor Zerubbabel. However, with a full reading of the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah, there were four edicts to build the Second Temple, which were issued by three kings: Cyrus in 536 BCE (Ezra ch. 1), Darius I of Persia in 519 BCE (ch. 6), and Artaxerxes I of Persia in 457 BCE (ch. 7), and finally by Artaxerxes again in 444 BCE (Nehemiah ch. 2). The new temple was not as extravagant or imposing as its predecessor. According to classical Jewish sources, another demolition of the Temple was narrowly avoided in 332 BCE when the Jews refused to acknowledge the deification of Alexander the Great of Macedonia, but Alexander was placated at the last minute by astute diplomacy and flattery.
Temple in Jerusalem | Second Temple
The site was originally to host a building unrelated to the temple complex, but that project was cancelled when funding could not be obtained. In July 2014 the project was approved by the Civic Design Review. As of January 2016, the building is under construction, with completion estimated to occur in 2017.
The Alexander | History
They do not refer to the existence of any religious temples or idols in India, although such references commonly occur in their descriptions of Alexander's campaigns in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Iran. Greek accounts mention naked ascetics called gymnosophists. A philosopher named Calanus (probably a Greek transcription of the Indian name "Kalyana") accompanied Alexander to Persepolis, where he committed suicide on a public funeral pyre: he was probably a Jain or an Ajivika monk. Curiously, there is no reference to Buddhism in the Greek accounts.
Indian campaign of Alexander the Great | Socio-political conditions in India
Although the palace had been stripped by Alexander and the following Seleucid kings, when Antiochus III raided Ecbatana in 209 BCE, the temple "had the columns round it still gilded and a number of silver tiles were piled up in it, while a few gold bricks and a considerable quantity of silver ones remained." Polybius' reference to Alexander is supported by Arrian, who in 324 BCE wrote of a temple in Ecbatana dedicated to "Asclepius" (by inference presumed to be Anahita, likewise a divinity of healing), destroyed by Alexander because she had allowed his friend Hephaestion to die. The massive stone lion on the hill there (said to be part of a sepulcral monument to Hephaestion) is today a symbol that visitors touch in hope of fertility.
Anahita | Parsa, Elam, and Media
However, historians also consider that the construction of a temple was not always issued by a king. Lesser nobles might have also ordered and funded the construction.
Sambisari | History
In ancient Egypt, there were a number of sun temples. Among these old monuments is the Great Temple of Ramses at Abu Simbel, and complexes built by the Fifth Dynasty, of which only two examples survive, that of Userkaf and of Niuserre. The Fifth Dynasty temples usually had three components, a main temple building at a higher elevation, accessed by a causeway, from a much smaller entrance building. In 2006, archaeologists found ruins underneath a market in Cairo, which could possibly be the largest temple built by Ramesses II.
Sun temple | Egypt
The temple was built in the Ptolemy era and dedicated to Osiris, which finished the construction of Alexandria. It is located in Abusir, the western suburb of Alexandria in Borg el Arab city. Only the outer wall and the pylons remain from the temple. There is evidence to prove that sacred animals were worshiped there. Archaeologists found an animal necropolis near the temple. Remains of a Christian church show that the temple was used as a church in later centuries. Also found in the same area are remains of public baths built by the emperor Justinian, a seawall, quays and a bridge.
Alexandria | Temple of Taposiris Magna
An innovative Ionic temple was that of Asklepios in Epidaurus, one of the first of the "pseudoperipteros" type. This small ionic prostyle temple had engaged columns along the sides and back, the "peristasis" was thus reduced to a mere hint of a full portico facade.
Ancient Greek temple | Epidauros
Visiting Egypt for the first time, initially to research and make a film about Gordon of Khartoum (though this never appeared), MacQuitty became fascinated by the attempts to save the Great Temple of Abu Simbel from the flooding that would follow the completion of the Aswan High Dam. MacQuitty's idea was to save the temples, leaving them where they were and building a dam around them, containing crystal-clear filtered water kept at the same height as the Nile water outside. Visitors would then have looked at the engulfed temples from observation galleries at various depths and from underneath. He envisaged that in time the dam would be outdated by atomic power and the water level lowered, restoring the temples to their original state.
William MacQuitty | The Abu Simbel preservation plan
As an indication of Alexander’s great wealth, he had nine gates at the Second Temple in Jerusalem "overlaid with massive plates of silver and gold." ("War", 5.205)
Alexander the Alabarch | Life
Alexander offered to pay for the temple's rebuilding; the Ephesians tactfully refused, saying "it would be improper for one god to build a temple to another", and eventually rebuilt it after his death, at their own expense. Work started in 323 BC and continued for many years. The third temple was larger than the second; 137 m (450 ft) long by 69 m (225 ft) wide and 18 m (60 ft) high, with more than 127 columns. Athenagoras of Athens names Endoeus, a pupil of Daedalus, as sculptor of Artemis' main cult image. Pausanias (c. 2nd century AD) reports another image and altar in the temple, dedicated to Artemis "Protothronia" (Artemis "of the first seat") and a gallery of images above this altar, including an ancient figure of Nyx (the primordial goddess of Night) by the sculptor Rhoecus (6th century BC).
Temple of Artemis | Third phase
The temple was probably founded by the Achaemenid king of kings Artaxerxes II (), who had shrines and statues of her constructed throughout his realm. The temple was ransacked by the Macedonians during Alexander the Great's conquests. At the start of the 3rd century AD, the temple was repaired and adorned by the Persian Sasanian family, who acted as the hereditary caretakers of the temple; Sasan, the eponymous ancestor of the family, is the first attested member to serve as the warden of the temple. The guardianship of the temple was of high importance to the Sasanians. Ardashir I (), who overthrew the Parthian Empire and established the Sasanian control over the country, reportedly sent the heads of his enemies in his early campaigns to the temple, which was later repeated by Shapur II (), who had the heads of Christians stringed there in 340.
Anahid fire-temple | History
The costs could be immense. For example, surviving receipts show that in the rebuilding of the Artemision of Ephesos, a single column cost 40,000 drachmas. Considering that a worker was paid about two drachmas, that equals nearly 2 million euro (on a modern west European wage scale). Since the overall number of columns required for the design was 120, even this aspect of the building would have caused costs equivalent to those of major projects today (circa 360 million euro).
Ancient Greek temple | Costs
The monuments of ancient Nubia would have been flooded and lost forever if the project had gone ahead as planned, among them the temples of Abu Simbel. In the words of writer Pierre Loti, who visited the area shortly after the first dam was completed: “The greater part of the ancient temples of Nubia will be underwater...but the cotton fields will be so productive!” UNESCO immediately asked Noblecourt, who was then curator of Egyptian antiquities at the Louvre, to create an inventory of all the threatened historical sites. It then undertook the colossal task of finding the funding necessary to save them.
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt | Aswan Dam project
The period of building and decoration in the temple spans more than 200 years. Ptolemy XII (ruled 81-58 and 55-51 BC), one of the last kings of the Ptolemaic dynasty and father of Cleopatra VII, built the 75m by 45m temple and decorated the interior rooms. The decoration of outer walls and pillars surrounding this however date to the reigns of Tiberius (14-37 AD), Caligula (37-41 AD) and Claudius (41-54 AD). Their names have been found in inscriptions in the form of traditional Ancient Egyptian titulary. Vespasian (69-79 AD), Titus (79-81 AD) and Domitian (81-96 AD) are also mentioned in short texts, and beyond this even the name of Hadrian (117-138 BC) has been discovered on a limestone block, but it is not clear whether this belongs to the main temple or not.
Athribis Project | Historical classification of finds
The nearly mathematical strictness of the basic designs thus reached was lightened by optical refinements. In spite of the still widespread idealised image, Greek temples were painted, so that bright reds and blues contrasted with the white of the building stones or of stucco. The more elaborate temples were equipped with very rich figural decoration in the form of reliefs and sculptures on the pediment. The construction of temples was usually organised and financed by cities or by the administrations of sanctuaries. Private individuals, especially Hellenistic rulers, could also sponsor such buildings. In the late Hellenistic period, their decreasing financial wealth, along with the progressive incorporation of the Greek world within the Roman state, whose officials and rulers took over as sponsors, led to the end of Greek temple construction.
Ancient Greek temple | Introduction
An inscription referring to his sponsorship was indeed found on one of the columns. The temple was burnt down by Herostratos in 356 BCE and reerected soon thereafter. For the replacement, a "crepidoma" of ten or more steps was erected. Older Ionic temples normally lacked a specific visible substructure. This emphasised basis had to be balanced out be a heightened entablature, producing not only a visual contrast to, but also a major weight upon the slender columns.
Ancient Greek temple | The Artemision of Ephesos
There is only one action over which the indifference of stars and the eternal murmuring of rivers have no sway— it is the act by which man snatches something from death.” Fifty countries contributed funds to save the monuments now considered part of the heritage of all humanity. Philae, Kalabsha, Wadi al-Sabua, Dakka, Derr and other sites were moved, with the temples of Abu Simbel receiving the most media attention. The temple of Amada was a difficult case, because of its small, beautifully painted reliefs. Chopping it into blocks, as was being done with the other temples, was not an option; the paintings would not have survived.
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt | UNESCO's Campaign to ٍSave the Temples
The Temple may have been built in the 2nd century BCE under the Greeks in India (Indo-Greeks). The exact alignment of the Temple with Sirkap leads some authors to think that it may have been built during the main occupation period of the Greek city, and that it may have been the work of an architect from Asia Minor, or from Greece or an architect trained in Greek techniques. Alternatively, it may have been built under the Indo-Parthians in the 1st century BCE in order to practice the Zoroastrian faith, possibly right after their invasion of Hellenistic lands, using Greek manpower and expertise.
Jandial | Dating
On March 8, 1960, Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, along with Sarwat Okasha, the Egyptian Minister of Culture, made a formal appeal for international support. Not only would more than fourteen temples have to be moved, but urgent excavations would need to take place at sites that would soon be under several dozen meters of water. André Malraux, then the French Minister of Cultural Affairs, added his voice to the appeal: “The power that created the colossal monuments threatened today... speaks to us in a voice as exalted as that of the architects of Chartres, as that of Rembrandt... Your appeal is historic, not because it proposes to save the temples of Nubia, but because through it the first global civilization publicly claims the world's art as its indivisible heritage...
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt | UNESCO's Campaign to ٍSave the Temples
In the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BC) that followed the Early Dynastic Period, royal funerary monuments greatly expanded, while most divine temples remained comparatively small, suggesting that official religion in this period emphasized the cult of the divine king more than the direct worship of deities. Deities closely connected with the king, such as the sun god Ra, received more royal contributions than other deities. Ra's temple at Heliopolis was one of the great religious centers of the age, and several Old Kingdom pharaohs built large sun temples in his honor near their pyramids. Meanwhile, the small provincial temples retained a variety of local styles from Predynastic times, unaffected by the royal cult sites.
Egyptian temple | Early development
Throughout, the conservators have attempted to balance restoration and maintenance of the wild condition in which the temple was discovered: one of them, Maurice Glaize, wrote that; The temple was previously overrun with a particularly voracious vegetation and quite ruined, presenting only chaos. Clearing works were undertaken with a constant respect for the large trees which give the composition a pleasing presentation without constituting any immediate danger. At the same time, some partial anastylosis has revived various buildings found in a sufficient state of preservation and presenting some special interest in their architecture or decoration. Since 1991, the site has been maintained by the World Monuments Fund.
Preah Khan | History
It was not until 174 BC that the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who presented himself as the earthly embodiment of Zeus, revived the project and placed the Roman architect Decimus Cossutius in charge. The design was changed to have three rows of eight columns across the front and back of the temple and a double row of twenty on the flanks, for a total of 104 columns. The columns would stand high and in diameter. The building material was changed to the expensive but high-quality Pentelic marble and the order was changed from Doric to Corinthian, marking the first time that this order had been used on the exterior of a major temple.
Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens | Classical and Hellenistic periods
In Egypt Darius built many temples and restored those that had previously been destroyed. Even though Darius was a believer of Ahura Mazda, he built temples dedicated to the Gods of the Ancient Egyptian religion. Several temples found were dedicated to Ptah and Nekhbet. Darius also created several roads and routes in Egypt. The monuments that Darius built were often inscribed in the official languages of the Persian Empire, Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian and Egyptian hieroglyphs. To construct these monuments Darius employed a large number of workers and artisans of diverse nationalities. Several of these workers were deportees who had been employed specifically for these projects.
Darius the Great | Building projects
Due to the fact that there are six to seven different names of sun temples mentioned in primary sources from this period, it is suggested there are at least six different temples. However, there is no specific term for sun temple in ancient Egyptian. The temples were also a source of great wealth and importance in ancient Egypt. The founder of the Fifth Dynasty, Userkaf, built the first temple to Ra in Abusir, a few kilometres north of the necropolis of Saqqara, where he had built his pyramid. In total, the following temples were built: Only the solar temples of Userkaf and Nyuserre have been discovered to date.
Egyptian sun temple | Importance and different temples
Pythius (), also known as Pytheos () or Pythis, was a Greek architect of the 4th century BC. He built the Temple of Athena Polias cited by Vitruvius (I.1.12): "Pythius, the celebrated builder of the temple of Minerva at Priene". Pythius disparaged the Doric order, according to Vitruvius (IV.3.1), for the "faults and incongruities" caused by the inconvenient placing of triglyphs, and cultivated instead the Ionic order used extensively in Asia Minor. The dedicatory inscription, of the Temple of Athena which today is in the British Museum, records that the founder was Alexander the Great. Vitruvius (I.1.12 and VII.Introduction.12) twice mentions the lost "Commentaries" of Pythius, which explicated his system of proportions at Priene.
Pythius of Priene | Introduction
The first treasury to the Apollonian temple was built before the end of the 7th century BC. A treasury of the temple was constructed by the city of Siphnos during the 6th century.
History of banking | Specific focus of funds
In 1959, an international donations campaign to save the monuments of Nubia began: the southernmost relics of this ancient human civilization were under threat from the rising waters of the Nile that were about to result from the construction of the Aswan High Dam. One scheme to save the temples was based on an idea by William MacQuitty to build a clear freshwater dam around the temples, with the water inside kept at the same height as the Nile. There were to be underwater viewing chambers. In 1962 the idea was made into a proposal by architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry and civil engineer Ove Arup.
Abu Simbel temples | Relocation
He also built two grandiose temples: one dedicated to Jupiter and the other to Juno. These were the first marble temples in Rome, ornamented with equestrian statues of the various generals of Alexander brought by him from Greece.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus | Career
Herodotus claimed that the temple had been founded by Menes himself, and that the core building of the complex was restricted to priests and kings. His account, however, gives no physical description of the complex. Archaeological work undertaken in the last century has gradually unearthed the temple's ruins, revealing a huge walled compound accessible by several monumental gates located along the southern, western and eastern walls. The remains of the great temple and its premises are displayed as an open-air museum near the great colossus of Rameses II, which originally marked the southern axis of the temple. Also in this sector is a large sphinx monolith, discovered in the 19th century.
Memphis, Egypt | Great Temple of Ptah
Senusret I dispatched several quarrying expeditions to the Sinai and Wadi Hammamat and built numerous shrines and temples throughout Egypt and Nubia during his long reign. He rebuilt the important temple of Re-Atum in Heliopolis which was the centre of the sun cult. He erected 2 red granite obelisks there to celebrate his Year 30 Heb Sed Jubilee. One of the obelisks still remains and is the oldest standing obelisk in Egypt. It is now in the Al-Masalla (Obelisk in Arabic) area of Al-Matariyyah district near the Ain Shams district (Heliopolis). It is 67 feet tall and weighs 120 tons or 240,000 pounds.
Senusret I | Building program
After the death of Alexander the Great in 324 BC or the beginning of the "wave of Hellenism" there was a drastic increase in terms building construction within the city of Rome. In the case of Campus Martius, specifically during the "wave of Hellenism", there were seven temples built. These new temples constructed were as follows; Temple of Bellona [296 BC], Temple of Fortuna [293 BC], Temple of Juturna [241 BC], Temple of Hercules [221 BC], Temple of Vulcan [214 BC) and Temple of Fortuna Equestris [173 BC]. The one temple excluded on that prior list is a temple built between 190 BC and 179 BC.
Campus Martius | Hellenistic Age
Although he began construction at Karnak during his rule, the association the city had with other gods drove Akhenaten to establish a new city and capital at Amarna for the Aten. Akhenaten built the city along the east bank of the Nile River, setting up workshops, palaces, suburbs and temples. The Great Temple of the Aten was located just north of the Central City and, as the largest temple dedicated to the Aten, was where Akhenaten fully established the proper cult and worship of the sun-disk.
Great Temple of the Aten | Introduction
The temple was Doric, six columns by eleven, measuring ca. 80 feet in length. An inscription excavated near the temple ("Inscriptiones Graecae" IV, 2nd ed., no. 102) gives a public record of the temple's construction. The inscription names Theodotus as architect. The project took nearly five years to complete. The temple had pedimental sculpture, front and back, and figural acroteria. These, the work of master sculptors of the period, occupy a prominent room in the National Archaeological Museum at Athens. The gold and ivory cult statue of the god is described by Pausanias, who described the sanctuary in the 2nd century: The sanctuary is preserved in foundations only.
Temple of Asclepius, Epidaurus | Structure
The first sovereign of whom epigraphic traces remain was the son of Philip II and half-brother of Alexander, Philip III of Macedon, who would be the principal benefactor of the Sanctuary during the 4th century BC: he probably commissioned the Temenos by 340 BC, the Main Altar in the next decade, the Hiéron by 325 BC, as well as the Doric monument and the border of the eastern circular area; these dedicated in his name as well as that of his nephew Alexander IV of Macedon, who jointly ruled from 323–317 BC. The second surge of major construction commence started in the 280's with the Arsinoe II Rotunda, which may date from the period (288–281 BC) when this daughter of Ptolemy I was married to the Diadochi Lysimachus, then king of Macedon.
Samothrace temple complex | A Macedonian national sanctuary
The room is only accessible from the outside of the building. The temple was surveyed in the summer of 1852 by Edward Robinson who noted several large blocks with one measuring by . He measured the dimensions of the temple to be long by wide with thick walls around high. The capitals appeared to be of an Ionic style. At the entrance doorway, there are two tiers of niches with some engraved writing beneath the upper set.
Hebbariye | Roman temple
Alexander the Great, on his march from Pelusium to Memphis, halted at this city. The temple of Ra was said to have been, to a special degree, a depository for royal records, and Herodotus states that the priests of Heliopolis were the best informed in matters of history of all the Egyptians. Heliopolis flourished as a seat of learning during the Greek period; the schools of philosophy and astronomy are claimed to have been frequented by Orpheus, Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, Solon, and other Greek philosophers. Ichonuphys was lecturing there in 308 BC, and the Greek mathematician Eudoxus, who was one of his pupils, learned from him the true length of the year and month, upon which he formed his octaeterid, or period of 8 years or 99 months.
Heliopolis (ancient Egypt) | Hellenistic
In religious matters, Alexander preserved an open mind. According to the "Historia Augusta", he wished to erect a temple to Jesus but was dissuaded by the pagan priests; however, much of this book is full of falsifications and modern scholars deem it almost completely untrustworthy. He allowed a synagogue to be built in Rome, and he gave as a gift to this synagogue a scroll of the Torah known as the Severus Scroll.
Severus Alexander | Domestic achievements
The temple was built on a tell with stratification indicating human occupation that goes back to the third millennium BC. The area was occupied in pre-Roman periods with a former temple that is usually referred to as "the first temple of Bel" and "the Hellenistic temple". The walls of the temenos and propylaea were constructed in the late first and the first half of the second century AD. The names of three Greeks who worked on the construction of the temple of Bel are known through inscriptions, including a probably Greek architect named Alexandras (). However, many Palmyrenes adopted Greco-Roman names and native citizens with the name Alexander are attested in the city.
Temple of Bel | History
The temple complex is mentioned by Plato and Aristophanes. During the Hellenistic period, after the investiture of Phillip II, it formed a Macedonian national sanctuary where the successors to Alexander the Great vied to outdo each other's munificence. It remained an important religious site throughout the Roman period. Hadrian visited, and Varro described the mysteries. The cult fades from history towards the end of Late Antiquity, when the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.
Samothrace temple complex | Introduction
Temples were also key centers of economic activity. The largest of them required prodigious resources and employed tens of thousands of priests, craftsmen, and laborers. The temple's economic workings were analogous to those of a large Egyptian household, with servants dedicated to serving the temple god as they might serve the master of an estate. This similarity is reflected in the Egyptian term for the temple lands and their administration, "pr", meaning "house" or "estate". Some of the temple's supplies came from direct donations by the king. In the New Kingdom, when Egypt was an imperial power, these donations often came out of the spoils of the king's military campaigns or the tribute given by his client states.
Egyptian temple | Economic and administrative
The temple of Haroeris (Horus) and Heqet was built during the Ptolemaic Period. Nowadays, only two ruined pylons of the temple remain. It is located at . The pylon shows scenes of Ptolemy X Alexander I harpooning hippopotami, presenting offerings to Horus, and offering crowns to both Horus and Heqet. The texts also include the cartouches of Ptolemy IX Soter II(called Lathyros) and his mother Cleopatra III. Near this site a green basalt naos was discovered. It was dedicated to Horus by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The naos is presumed to have come from the temple as well.
Qus | Temple of Haroeris and Heqet
In 363 CE, the Roman emperor Julian had ordered Alypius of Antioch to rebuild the Temple as part of his campaign to strengthen non-Christian religions. The attempt failed, perhaps due to sabotage, an accidental fire, or an earthquake in Galilee. The Book of Ezekiel prophesies what would be the Third Temple, noting it as an eternal house of prayer and describing it in detail.
Temple in Jerusalem | Building a Third Temple
The king might also levy various taxes that went directly to support a temple. Other revenue came from private individuals, who offered land, slaves, or goods to temples in exchange for a supply of offerings and priestly services to sustain their spirits in the afterlife. Much of a temple's economic support came from its own resources. These included large tracts of land beyond the temple enclosure, sometimes in a completely different region than the temple itself. The most important type of property was farmland, producing grain, fruit, or wine, or supporting herds of livestock. The temple either managed these lands directly, rented them out to farmers for a share of the produce, or managed them jointly with the royal administration.
Egyptian temple | Economic and administrative
The precise construction date of the temple is unknown and is subject to debate. The dominant view is that it was built in 77 AD, during the reign of king Tiridates I of Armenia. The date is calculated based on a Greek inscription, discovered by Martiros Saryan, a prominent artist, in July 1945 at the Garni cemetery, recently brought from a nearby water mill. It names Tiridates the Sun ("Helios Tiridates") as the founder of the temple. The following includes an image of the inscription as it stands near the temple today, its textual reconstruction by Ashot G. Abrahamian, an English translation by James R.
Temple of Garni | Foundation
The canonical solution was found fairly soon by the architect Libon of Elis, who erected the Temple of Zeus at Olympia around 460 BCE. With its 6 × 13 columns or 5 × 12 intercolumniations, this temple was designed entirely rationally. Its column bays (axis to axis) measured , a triglyph + metope , a "mutulus" plus the adjacent space ("via") , the tile width of the marble roof was . Its columns are powerful, with only a slight "entasis"; the echinus of the capitals is already nearly linear at 45°. All of the superstructure is affected by curvature. The "naos" measures exactly 3 × 9 column distances (axis to axis), its external wall faces are aligned with the axes of the adjacent columns.
Ancient Greek temple | Temple of Zeus, Olympia (460 BCE)
Senusret I is attested to be the builder of a number of major temples in Ancient Egypt, including the temple of Min at Koptos, the Temple of Satet on Elephantine, the Month-temple at Armant and the Month-temple at El-Tod, where a long inscription of the king is preserved. A shrine (known as the White Chapel or Jubilee Chapel) with fine, high quality reliefs of Senusret I, was built at Karnak to commemorate his Year 30 jubilee. It has subsequently been successfully reconstructed from various stone blocks discovered by Henri Chevrier in 1926. Finally, Senusret remodelled the Temple of Khenti-Amentiu Osiris at Abydos, among his other major building projects.
Senusret I | Building program
The latter had been erected in important places, on market squares, near springs and by roads, since the Archaic period, but reached their main flourish now. This limitation to smaller structures led to the development of a special form, the "pseudoperipteros", which uses engaged columns along the "naos" walls to produce the illusion of a peripteral temple. An early case of this is temple L at Epidauros, followed by many prominent Roman examples, such as the Maison Carrée at Nîmes.
Ancient Greek temple | Decline of Greek temple building: Hellenistic period
A temple was often a kind of religious corporation under the control of the State; and its accounts and details of administration were made public at frequent intervals, usually annually, by means of inscriptions, exhibited to public view in its precinct. Many such inscriptions have been found, and supply a great deal of information that can be obtained from no other source. Some great temples, such as that of Apollo on the island of Delos, held great amounts of property, both real and portable, the latter taking the form either of more or less precious offerings dedicated in the temple and its surrounding buildings, or of coined money.
Epigraphy | Temples, their foundation and administration
The capitals of this structure were probably still entirely of wood, as was the entablature. Ionic volute capitals survive from the outer "peristasis" of the later rebuilding by Polycrates. The columns of the inner "peristasis" had leaf decoration and no volutes.
Ancient Greek temple | The Heraion of Samos
Near the beach side of the area, there are the remains of a tower built by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The tower was an exact scale replica of the destroyed Alexandrine Pharos Lighthouse.
Alexandria | Temple of Taposiris Magna
states and the District of Columbia, seven Canadian provinces, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic. Original cost estimates for the temple were about $15 million. Members of the church within the temple's attendance district were asked to contribute at least $4.5 million. Eventually, local members donated around $6 million for the temple's construction. At a completion ceremony the church's First Presidency buried a metal box with historical items near a corner of the temple. During the first week of the temple open house, government officials and diplomats from around the world were taken on special tours through the temple.
Washington D.C. Temple | History
The site is located on a rocky plateau, overlooking land and sea. By all detailed accounts, the Serapeum was the largest and most magnificent of all temples in the Greek quarter of Alexandria. Besides the image of the god, the temple precinct housed an offshoot collection of the great Library of Alexandria. The geographer Strabo tells that this stood in the west of the city. Nothing now remains above ground, except the enormous Pompey's Pillar. According to Rowe and Rees 1956, accounts of Serapeum's still standing buildings they saw there have been left by Aphthonius, the Greek rhetorician of Antioch "who visited it about A.D.
Serapeum of Alexandria | History
The new temple was sponsored at least in part by Croesus, who founded Lydia's empire and was overlord of Ephesus, and was designed and constructed from around 550 BC by the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes. It was 115 m (377 ft) long and 46 m (151 ft) wide, supposedly the first Greek temple built of marble. Its peripteral columns stood some 13 m (40 ft) high, in double rows that formed a wide ceremonial passage around the "cella" that housed the goddess's cult image. Thirty-six of these columns were, according to Pliny, decorated by carvings in relief.
Temple of Artemis | Second phase
The Hebrew Bible says that the First Temple was built by King Solomon. According to the Book of Deuteronomy, as the sole place of Israelite sacrifice (), the Temple replaced the Tabernacle constructed in the Sinai Desert under the auspices of Moses, as well as local sanctuaries, and altars in the hills. This temple was sacked a few decades later by Shoshenq I, Pharaoh of Egypt. Although efforts were made at partial reconstruction, it was only in 835 BCE when Jehoash, King of Judah, in the second year of his reign invested considerable sums in reconstruction, only to have it stripped again for Sennacherib, King of Assyria c.
Temple in Jerusalem | First Temple
The main temple of Shamballa is topped with a golden dome and is surrounded by seven smaller temples—one for each of the seven rays. These temples are located on a number of wide boulevards resembling the Champs-Elysees. According to Elizabeth Clare Prophet, George Washington was divinely inspired by the Ascended Masters to choose city planner Pierre L'Enfant to create the city plan of Washington, D.C. which, it is claimed, he unconsciously modeled on the plan of the city of Shamballa.
Sanat Kumara | City plan of Shamballa
To honor the memory of Wilhelmine, Frederick chose, as he had in Neuruppin, the form of an open, round temple with a shallow domed roof supported by eight Corinthian columns. This architectural structure, the monopteros type, has its origins in ancient Greece, where such buildings were erected over cult statues and tombstones. In a shallow alcove at the back wall of the temple is a life-sized statue of Wilhelmine of Bayreuth, holding a book in her hand. The marble figure is from the workshop of the sculptor brothers Johann David and Johann Lorenz Wilhem Räntz and is based on a portrait by the court painter Antoine Pesne.
Temple of Friendship | The Pavilion in Sanssouci Park
The Sphinx Temple was built using blocks cut from the Sphinx enclosure, while those of the Valley Temple were quarried from the plateau, some of the largest weighing upwards of 100 tons. A diorite statue of Khafre, which was discovered buried upside down along with other debris in the Valley Temple, is claimed as support for the Khafre theory.
Great Sphinx of Giza | Builder and timeframe
Hadrian created two foundations, to fund Athens' public games, festivals and competitions if no citizen proved wealthy or willing enough to sponsor them as a Gymnasiarch or Agonothetes. Generally Hadrian preferred that Greek notables, including priests of the Imperial cult, focus on more durable provisions, such as aqueducts and public fountains ("nymphaea"). Athens was given two such fountains; another was given to Argos. During the winter he toured the Peloponnese. His exact route is uncertain, but it took in Epidaurus; Pausanias describes temples built there by Hadrian, and his statue – in heroic nudity – erected by its citizens in thanks to their "restorer".
Hadrian | Greece (124–125)
According to legend the god Dionysus founded the city of Nysa and he named the mountain near the city, Meron (Μηρὸν) (i.e. thigh), because he grew in the thigh of Zeus. When Alexander arrived at the city, together with his Companion cavalry went to the mountain and they made ivy garlands and crowned themselves with them, as they were, singing hymns in honor of Dionysus. Alexander also offered sacrifices to Dionysus, and feasted in company with his companions. Alexander the Great ordered the Philip (son of Machatas) to built the Alexandria on the Indus. Pliny the Elder wrote that Nearchus founded the town of Arbis during his voyage to India.
Ancient Greece–Ancient India relations | Cities and places
A ceremonial gateway with receptacles for liquid offerings stood at the beginning of a paved avenue. The avenue extended eastward and was lined with sphinxes, but they were later replaced by trees (tree pits, some still containing tree roots, have been excavated). The avenue led up to a small mud-brick shrine which was later built into the main design scheme of the Temple. The first main construction undertaken by Akhenaten was the building of the temenos wall, enclosing a huge area of 229m x 730m. As the wall was being completed, the stone Sanctuary at the east end of the enclosure was built.
Great Temple of the Aten | Construction
As part of his patronage of Egyptian religion and the priestly elite, Ptolemy II financed large-scale building works at temples throughout Egypt. Ptolemy ordered the erection of the core of the Temple of Isis at Philae was erected in his reign and assigned the tax income from the newly conquered Dodekaschoinos region to the temple. Although the temple had existed since the sixth century BC, it was Ptolemy's sponsorship that converted it into one of the most important in Egypt. In addition, Ptolemy initiated work at a number of other sites, including (from north to south):
Ptolemy II Philadelphus | Pharaonic ideology and Egyptian religion
The temple – long considered lost – was identified with the remains of a podium recovered in the 1930s building works to enable the nearby Theatre to be seen in isolation. These remains belong to a reconstruction in the Augustan period which is not mentioned by the literary sources but is probably related to the transformation of the area during the construction of the Theatre at that time. Augustus (with links to the temple's founders via his Claudian wife) may have funded the rebuilding, or the dedicator may have been yet another Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul of 38 BC, conqueror of the Hirpini and loyal ally and father-in-law to Augustus).
Temple of Bellona, Rome | Archeology
It is however disputed whether or not Philip constructed this monument or whether Alexander had it constructed later in which case the motives would be different.
Philippeion | Introduction
The temples were often connected with ancient occupational sites. Olivier Callot and Pierre-Louis Gatier argued that several of the temple sites might have been mistaken for monumental tombs as Roman mausoleums such as Saidnaya have been found in Lebanon. Taylor held the view that the religious architecture was the responsibility of "the hand of a single master builder" but was not able to answer the question of why so many shrines should be concentrated in the area. Henry Seyrig, when reviewing Krencker and Zscheitzmann's "Romische Tempel in Syrien" highlighted that ""the clue to an important social and economic change that would deserve to be one day the focus of a study"".
Temples of the Beqaa Valley | Surveys
Ruins of a provincial Ionic temple with a design very similar to those in the main Greek world survives at Jandial in modern Pakistan. The temple is considered semi-classical, with a plan essentially that of a Greek temple, with a "naos", "pronaos" and an "opisthodomos" at the back. Two Ionic columns at the front are framed by two "anta" walls as in a Greek distyle in antis layout. It seems that the temple had an outside wall with windows or doorways, in a layout similar to that of a Greek encircling row of columns (peripteral design). It has been called "the most Hellenic structure yet found on Indian soil".
Ancient Greek temple | Hellenistic India
After Rome conquered the Ptolemaic kingdom in 30 BC, Roman emperors took on the role of ruler and temple patron, reducing the temples' wealth and political power. Many temples in Roman Egypt continued to be built in Egyptian style. Others, including some that were dedicated to Egyptian gods—such as the temple to Isis at Ras el-Soda—were built in a style derived from Roman architecture. Temple-building continued into the third century AD. As the empire weakened in the crisis of the third century, imperial donations to the temple cults dried up, and almost all construction and decoration ceased. Cult activities at some sites continued, relying increasingly on financial support and volunteer labor from surrounding communities.
Egyptian temple | Later development
Herod's reconstruction of the Second Temple was one of his principal building projects. Construction began during the last quarter of the 1st century BCE. It was both a monumental architectural feat and an important political achievement. Herod invested a great deal of effort in the expansion of the Temple platform, especially at its southern side where the Temple Mount descends into the Tyropoeon and Kidron valleys. This expansion along the southern edge of the esplanade served as a base upon which the Royal Stoa was erected. The building was basilical in form, but open on one side, which led it to being described as a portico, a stoa or cloisters in various sources.
Royal Stoa (Jerusalem) | Construction
Seeing that all seemed resigned to see the temple flooded by the silty waters of Lake Nasser, Christiane Desroches Noblecourt announced that France would save it. She asked two architects to propose a method for moving the temple in one piece. Their idea was to put the temple on rails and transport it hydraulically to a site a few kilometers away that was more than 60 meters higher.
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt | UNESCO's Campaign to ٍSave the Temples
Preserving the temples by jacking them up ignored the effect of erosion when exposed to sandy desert winds. The idea was turned into a proposal by architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, working with civil engineer Ove Arup. However the proposal was rejected and by a massive feat of archaeological engineering the temples were raised above water level. MacQuitty's plan has always been regarded as supremely elegant and probably the best in terms of conservation of the temples.
William MacQuitty | The Abu Simbel preservation plan
The youngest of the three Classical Greek orders, the Corinthian order came to be used for the external design of Greek temples quite late. After it had proved its adequacy, e.g. on a mausoleum of at modern-day Belevi (near Ephesos), it appears to have found increasing popularity in the last half of the 3rd century BCE. Early examples probably include the Serapeum of Alexandria and a temple at Hermopolis Magna, both erected by Ptolemaios III. A small temple of Athena Limnastis at Messene, definitely Corinthian, is only attested through drawings by early travellers and very scarce fragments. It probably dates to the late 3rd century BCE.
Ancient Greek temple | Beginnings
The monument was designed in the Greek Revival style of Neoclassical architecture. It is built in the form of an ancient Greek temple with a solid "naos" and a Doric tetrastyle portico. The design was inspired by the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, but the proportions are completely different since the monument is much smaller than the temple. It is set on a high stylobate in order to make the structure more imposing. Each of the four walls of the "naos" contains a niche containing allegorical statues representing War, Prudence, Justice and Immortality. These statues are the work of the sculptor Vincenzo Dimech.
Monument to Sir Alexander Ball | Architecture
The first recorded defensive walls built here was the work of Lysimachos, a "successor" (diadochus) of Alexander the Great, later a king (306 BC) in Thrace and Asia Minor. This construction was associated with Alexander's re-foundation of Smyrna, moving it from Old Smyrna on a mound in the southeastern corner of the inner gulf where only a few thousand people could be accommodated. This move for the location of a new and larger city gained fame in a legend told by Pausanias, according to which Alexander, during a rest after hunting under a plane tree near the sanctuary on the hill of the two Nemeseis worshipped by the Smyrneans, was approached during his sleep by the goddesses who bade him found a city on that very spot, transferring to it the inhabitants of the earlier site.
Kadifekale | Re-foundation of Smyrna on Mount Pagos
As a result of this campaign, the area between the First and Second Cataracts of the Nile, which also included the valuable gold mines of the Eastern Desert, was annexed to Egypt and became later known as Triakontaschoinos. Already under Ptolemy II, the northern portion of the new province, between the First Cataract and modern Maharraqa (Greek: "Hiera Sykaminos"), was designated as the Dodekaschoinos, and all its incomes were dedicated to the temple of the goddess Isis at Philae. This gift was confirmed again by Ptolemy IV (r. 221–204 BC) and Ptolemy VI (r. 180–145 BC). Ptolemy IV also undertook the construction of temples to Thoth at Pselkis (Dakka) and the local Nubian deity Mandulis at Talmis (Kalabsha), as well as the enlargement, or wholesale reconstruction, of a temple dedicated to Arensnuphis at Philae.
Triakontaschoinos | Introduction
In the Classical period it was not a common practice to write the name of leaders or individuals on such dedications, particularly if the latter constituted collective offerings of an entire "polis" to the god. It has been thus suggested that the Treasury of the Acanthians was built after Brasidas' death in 422 B.C. However, there are also opposing views, supporting that the mention of the name indicated that Brasidas was still alive when the building was erected. Plutarch mentions that the statue which stood within the Treasury belonged to Lysander, despite the fact that many believed that it depicted Brasidas.
Treasury of the Acanthians | Description
Temples also launched expeditions into the desert to collect resources such as salt, honey, or wild game, or to mine precious minerals. Some owned fleets of ships with which to conduct their own trade across the country or even beyond Egypt's borders. Thus, as Richard H. Wilkinson says, the temple estate "often represented no less than a slice of Egypt itself". As a major economic center and the employer of a large part of the local population, the temple enclosure was a key part of the town in which it stood. Conversely, when a temple was founded on empty land, a new town was built to support it.
Egyptian temple | Economic and administrative
There are several blocks of a gateway that was once about high, that led to a brick enclosure wall, the latter perhaps once belonging to the temple. Shortly before the Persian conquest of Egypt, pharaoh Amasis II (570–526 BC) added a colonnade or kiosk to the temple. Six limestone columns and screen walls were found. A totally new temple was built under Ptolemy VI (180–145 BC), during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. It was again a rectangular building. At the back on the West side, there was the main sanctuary, in front of it there was a broad hall and in front of the latter two further smaller halls, with smaller rooms leading from them on the short sides.
Temple of Satet | New Kingdom and later times
In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte led the French campaign in Egypt and Syria. The Attarine Mosque was once thought by the French to house the Tomb of Alexander the Great. Vivant Denon's drawing of the mosque courtyard depicted a small octagonal building housing a sarcophagus closely resembling the "House of Alexander the Great" which leads to speculations whether this was the tomb of the city's founder. It was later known that the sarcophagus belongs to Nectanebo II.
Attarine Mosque | Napoleonic expedition
At the same time, the rulers of the various Hellenistic kingdoms provided copious financial resources. Their self-aggrandisation, rivalry, desires to stabilise their spheres of influence, as well as the increasing conflict with Rome (partially played out in the field of culture), combined to release much energy into the revival of complex Greek temple architecture. During this phase, Greek temples became widespread in southern Asia Minor, Egypt and Northern Africa. But in spite of such examples and of the positive conditions produced by the economic upturn and the high degree of technical innovation in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, Hellenistic religious architecture is mostly represented by a multitude of small temples "in antis" and "prostyle" temples, as well as tiny shrines ("naiskoi").
Ancient Greek temple | Decline of Greek temple building: Hellenistic period
It is possible that the city was founded by a man in the army of Alexander the Great or Antigonus I Monophthalmus, or a member of the Seleucid Empire, but there is no compelling evidence to show the way here.
Zenodotion | Introduction
The earliest temple was built c. 3200 BC and was little more than a cultic niche lodged between three large natural granite boulders. This earliest temple was very small, housing a sanctuary of about that was made of mud bricks. In front of the sanctuary, on the East side, there were some mud brick houses. The temple was enlarged during the 1st and 2nd Dynasties and rebuilt during the Third Dynasty, but its old plan was kept. On the South side outside the niche between the boulders, some granaries were added. The temple was again rebuilt during the Fifth Dynasty, possibly under Nyuserre Ini, at which point the sanctuary located at the center of the rock niche was enlarged.
Temple of Satet | Earliest times to first intermediate period
When Alexander the Great defeated the Persian forces at the Battle of Granicus in 334 BC, the Greek cities of Asia Minor were liberated. The pro-Persian tyrant Syrpax and his family were stoned to death, and Alexander was greeted warmly when he entered Ephesus in triumph. When Alexander saw that the temple of Artemis was not yet finished, he proposed to finance it and have his name inscribed on the front. But the inhabitants of Ephesus demurred, claiming that it was not fitting for one god to build a temple to another. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Ephesus in 290 BC came under the rule of one of Alexander's generals, Lysimachus.
Ephesus | Hellenistic period
This task was finished under Senkamanisken who added inscriptions of his own on the columns and front pylon, and donated a small obelisk. A colossal statue of Atlanersa was placed on the western side of the temple entrance, where it was discovered by Reisner, albeit toppled with its head cut-off. It is now in the National Museum of Sudan.
Atlanersa | Temple B700
From the early Hellenistic period onwards, the Greek peripteral temple lost much of its importance. With very few exceptions, Classical temple construction ceased both in Hellenistic Greece and in the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia. Only the west of Asia Minor maintained a low level of temple construction during the 3rd century BCE. The construction of large projects, such as the temple of Apollo at Didyma near Miletus and the Artemision at Sardis did not make much progress. The 2nd century BCE saw a revival of temple architecture, including peripteral temples. This is partially due to the influence of the architect Hermogenes of Priene, who redefined the principles of Ionic temple construction both practically and through theoretical work.
Ancient Greek temple | Decline of Greek temple building: Hellenistic period
The dedicatory inscription is held by the British Museum.The inscription translated to: "King Alexander dedicated the temple to Athena Polias". The leading citizens were quick to follow suit: most of the public buildings were constructed at private expense and are inscribed with the names of the donors. The ruins of the city are generally conceded to be the most spectacular surviving example of an entire ancient Greek city; it is intact except for the ravages of time. It has been studied since at least the 18th century. The city was constructed of marble from nearby quarries on Mycale, and wood for such items as roofs and floors.
Priene | 4th century BCE city
The story contains at least one potential historical error: It apparently claims that Alexander the Great intended Alexandria to be the capital of his empire. Actually, he built it to be the capital of Egypt but not of the entire empire. Babylon was the capital of Alexander's empire, even though Alexandria became the capital of the diadochic Ptolemaic Kingdom under Alexander's immediate successor Ptolemy I Soter. The exact quote found in "Guardians of the Lost Library", "The city was founded by Alexander the Great in the fourth century B. C. to be the capital of his empire!" is a bit ambiguous, meaning either that it was Alexander's direct personal intention or that it was about to happen independently of whatever Alexander had intended.
Guardians of the Lost Library | Historical accuracy
At some point in the Roman period, a smaller Roman Temple (5) was built to housed the cult image the east of the Great temple, which remained under construction. In the fifth century AD, this temple was demolished and the stone was used to build a church on the site.
Heraion of Samos | Roman temple
Another tomb, highly ornate, held the remains of the family of "Simon, builder of the temple" (Simon Bana Hekhalah), probably a builder of the Herodian Temple, as his name indicates.
Givat HaMivtar | Tomb of "Simon, builder of the temple"
In addition to the common treasury, supported by the general taxes and charged with the ordinary expenditure, there was a special reserve fund, also in the temple of Saturn, the "aerarium sanctum" (or "sanctius"). This fund probably originally consisted of the spoils of war. Afterwards it was maintained chiefly by a 5% tax on the value of all manumitted slaves. This source of revenue was established by a lex Manlia in 357. This fund was not to be touched except in cases of extreme necessity. Under the emperors, the Senate continued to have at least the nominal management of the aerarium, while the emperor had a separate exchequer, called fiscus.
Aerarium | "Aerarium sanctius"
The planning for the new Hellenistic temple started after 334 BC. The Milesians resolved to build one of the greatest temples ever made. This goal was not really reached, but they built a temple with a unique plan. The temple of Apollo was clearly planned according to ritual requirements. Though at this present moment, the exact usage and function can only possibly be a matter of conjecture. The temple certainly attained the ambition of being one of the largest ancient temples ever built, its crepidoma with 7 steps measures almost 60 by 120 meters and the stylobate 51 by 109 meters.
Didyma | The temple of Apollo
Four Republican temples were part of the market complex. The two earliest were built during the First Punic War, the first a Temple of Janus vowed by Gaius Duilius following his victory in a naval battle at Mylae with the Carthaginians in 260 BC. A Temple of Spes ("Hope") was built soon after by Aulus Atilius Calatinus. A Temple of Juno Sospita was vowed by Gaius Cornelius Cethegus in 197 BC for his victory over the Insubrian Gauls, and dedicated two years later. The Temple of Pietas that was dedicated in 181 was later removed and apparently relocated by Julius Caesar to begin construction on the Theater of Marcellus.
Forum Holitorium | Temples
In the early 1st century BCE, the Mithridatic Wars led to changes of architectural practice. The role of sponsor was increasingly taken by Roman magistrates of the Eastern provinces, who rarely demonstrated their generosity by building temples. Nevertheless, some temples were erected at this time, e.g. the Temple of Aphrodite at Aphrodisias. The introduction of the principate lead to few new buildings, mostly temples for the imperial cult or to Roman deities, e.g. the temple of Jupiter at Baalbek. Although new temples to Greek deities still continued to be constructed, e.g. the Tychaion at Selge they tend to follow the canonical forms of the developing Roman imperial style of architecture or to maintain local non-Greek idiosyncrasies, like the temples in Petra or Palmyra.
Ancient Greek temple | End of Greek temple construction: Roman Greece