Not a very popular tourist destination today, Tegea was one of the most important sites in the Peloponnese in antiquity. It was also one of the oldest in the region.
The Tegeans had a long history of fighting and then submitting to Sparta, the dominant nearby polis. Around 560 BCE Tegea finally lost a long war with Sparta that forced her under the Lacedaemonians' control. But when Tegea saw another opportunity to rebel against Sparta she did, this time in the war that led up to the Battle of Leuktra in 370 BCE. Sparta lost to the forces of Thebes and its broad coalition and was further humiliated when the Theban leader Epaminondas helped establish a number of cities near Sparta which would keep the Spartans from expanding quickly.
The main attractions of the site today are the remains of the Temple of Athena Alea and the small museum.
The Temple of Athena Alea
The temple of Athena Alea was positioned at the
southwestern edge of the ancient city. The remains that are visible
today date to the 4th century BCE reconstruction of an older temple, but
there have been a number of temples built over time on this same location.
Around the temple, there have been finds of Mycenaean and Sub Mycenaean
pottery and votive objects, but a direct continuity cannot be established
yet. Subsequent discoveries may alter this, but for now no Mycenaean
structures have been found.
The first temple probably dates back to the middle
of the 8th century BCE. There was a significant amount of Middle
Geometric pottery found within the earliest layers of fill. The earliest
building was apsidal and quite small, but another larger apsidal temple
was constructed over it. The chronology for these two buildings is
very obscure owing to the amount of construction over them and the excavations
of the earliest French archaeologists.
After the two Geometric temples, in the last quarter of the 7th century
BCE, a monumental (and quite long) early Archaic temple was constructed.
This coincides with a great increase in dedications and activity at the
site. The Archaic temple was surrounded by wooden columns, six down
the front and back and eighteen on the sides with two columns in antis
at the front. The walls were probably mud brick within a wooden framework.
Inside there was a colonnade on both sides of the cella. "It remains
a mystery (and is poorly explained in their publication) why the French
archaeologists chose to explain these remains as those of a Byzantine church
built over the ruins of the Classical temple, rather than as the traces
of the early Archaic temple (which they actually are)" (Ostby, 1994a).
It is known, through Pausanias, that in 395 BCE, the structure burned though
some of the relics must have been rescued (the hide and tusks of the Kalydonian
boar for example).
The new temple was quickly constructed directly
over the foundations of the Archaic one. This is usually referred
to as the Classical temple. It was surrounded by Doric columns: six
on the front and back, fourteen on the sides. The temple had two
columns in antis on both the front and back, and inside the cella
there were Ionic half columns imbedded along three walls. One other
interesting feature of the temple is the door and the ramp that opens to
the north in addition to the eastern doors. Pausanias (8.45.5)
states that the temple is "first" among all in the Peloponnese for its
size and whole construction. It was actually smaller than the Temple
of Zeus at Olympia, but no other temple was larger. The architect,
as per Pausanias, was Skopas of Paros and the pedimental sculpture represented
the hunt of the Kalydonian boar. On the back, the battle of Telephos
and Achilles in the Kaikos plain was depicted.
Pausanias also tells us that the tusks of the Kalydonian
boar were taken to Rome by Augustus after he defeated Antony at Actium.
He also took away the ancient cult statue of Athena Alea. The cult
statue was on display at the Forum of Augustus and the boar tusks were
kept in the Sanctuary of Dionysos, across the river Tiber in the Emperor's
gardens (some scholars believe that they were actual tusks of prehistoric
animals).
For a further description of parts of the site which have not been discovered, read Pausanias' version (8.47.1).
Modern Practicalities
The modern town is usually referred to as Alea,
though it used to be called Piali, and it is occasionally mistakenly referred
to as Palaia Episkopi, which is really a nearby village discussed below.
Buses run from Tripolis (8 km away) to Alea, but I do not know how often.
The site of the temple is located in the middle of town. There were
no guards there when we visited (a Monday) and the gate was open when we
visited this summer. There is a small store on the road back to the
museum (quite close), but the town itself is pretty sparse.
Unfortunately since we visited the site on a Monday
we did not get a chance to see the museum's collection. It does hold
sculpture from the city and has a number of pieces of the temple's pediment.
One guide book does note that it is "well stocked" with sculpture.
There is a church in the village of Palea Episkopi
(a twenty minute walk past the site) which today is the focus of a huge
modern pilgrim shrine and sits over part of the ancient city of Tegea's
theater.
Arias, P.E. 1952. Skopas. Rome
Østby, E. 1986." The Archaic
temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. "Opscula Atheniensia 16; 7, 75-102.
Østby, E. 1992. "Pausanias
og arkeologien." In: Andersen, Ø. & Eide, T. (eds). I Hellas
med Pausanias. Bergen 1992, 153-176.
Østby, E., Luce, J-M., Nordquist,
G.C., Tarditic, C. & Voyatzis, M.E. 1994. "The sanctuary of Athena
Alea at Tegea: First preliminary report (1990-1992)." Opscula Atheniensia,
20, 8, 89-141.
Ostby, E. 1994a. "Recent Excavations
in the Sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea (1990-1993)," in Archaeology
in the Peloponnese: New Excavations and Research, ed. K.A. Sheedy.
Oxford.
Voyatzis, M.E. 1990. Topography and
architectural remains. Section one: Tegea. In: The early sanctuary of Athena
Alea at Tegea and other archaic sanctuaries in Arcadia. Gøteborg
1990, Paul Åströms Forlag, 10-28.
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