Peloponnese Peninsula

      Located on the Isthmus of Corinth, the Temple of Isthmia was created around the 7th BCE to worship the Greek god Poseidon. The temple is located around 15km east of Corinth. (Hemans, “Intro,” uchicago.edu).  At the temple, due to excavations and pottery remains, Greeks would make offerings to Poseidon by placing drinks and meals at the altar of the temple Greeks also made animal sacrifices, such as sheep, pig, goat, and chickens, to Poseidon (Gehard, “Early,” 475).

       The temple was one of the four sanctuaries used in the pan-Hellenic Olympic Games, which means that people from all over Greece visited the temple (Hemans, “Intro,” uchicago.edu). The geographic location of the temple, near ocean ports, played a role in the temple’s religious site.  In addition, the temple was located along a road that connected Athens and Corinth (“Sanctuary,” osu.edu).  The original temple was destroyed in a fire around 470 BCE, due to a thatch roof, and rebuilt in the following decades  The roof was later replaced with large tiles (Rostoker, “Reproduction,”212). 

       The temple was discovered by Oscar Broneer in 1952, who later wrote three volumes on his discovery in the Isthmus of Corinth.  The three volumes covered the Temple of Poseidon, topography of the area, and terracotta lamps found in the area (Gebhard, “Oscar,”543). He continued to excavate the site until 1967.  During his excavations he found a “temple, altar, surrounding buildings, and a Roman hero shrine.  He also cleared the theater, two caves used for dining, and two stadia for the Isthmian Games” (Hemans, “Intro,” uchicago.edu). Elizabeth Gebhard, Broneer’s student, is the current director of the Isthmia excavations.