Grove at the shrine of Aiakos
Dates
pre-464 BCE to 2nd century CE
Garden Description
Evidence for a temple grove on Aegina exists only in a literary reference. Pausanias (2.29.6) wrote that the shrine of Aiakos was surrounded by a grove of olive trees. Pausanias says that it had been there since ancient times, and a reference in 464 BCE to the grove in Pindar's Olympian Odes (13.109) confirms that it was much older. This sanctuary was located in a prominent spot in the harbor town and was enclosed within a wall built of white stone. At the time of Pausanias' travels in Greece in the 2nd century CE, the temple grove was still to be seen.