Hephaestus in Athens

Commissioned by Pericles, the construction started in 449 BC and completed in 416-415 BC. The temple is built from marble supplied from the Mount Penteli, and Parian marble and the temple style is Doric peripteral. There is no one master architect suggested as such, but there is the presence of ‘The Hephaisteion Master’.  The temple is located at the north-west side of the Agora of Athens on top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill.

In its 2 millennium history, the temple has been changed from a temple to a church and has been largely left preserved due to its continued use throughout the centuries for various purposes. The temple was an orthodox Christian church dedicated to Saint George Akamatsu from 7 century A.D to 1834, and the Ottoman king used the temple as a museum. The temple beside from being used as a worship place for god Hephaestus was also used to pray to goddess Athena Ergani. There were a number of workshops ranging from pottery to metal works in the vicinity of the temple which further added to the claim that the temple belonged to Hephaestus and not Theseus.