Despite not sharing the renown of Greece’s most popular archaeological sites, the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae in the Peloponnese is a site of great significance and among the best-preserved monuments from the Classical period. Its construction is placed in the late 5th century BC, and it was reputedly designed by Ictinus, co-architect (together with Callicrates) of the iconic Parthenon in Athens. In 1986, it became the first Greek site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
The site of Bassae
The archaeological site of Bassae is situated in Oichalia –a municipality in the region of Messenia, in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula– on the western slope of Mount Kotylion, near the ancient city of Phigalia. It owes its name to the morphology of the terrain, which consists of many small hollows (bassae or bessae) formed in the rocks. The area is believed to have been populated since the Archaic period, while it is also believed that many Messenian fugitives who had fled to Arcadia after their defeat by the Spartans settled there around 650 BC.
