Temple Grove

Province

Province Description

Roman intervention in Greek political affairs resulted in conflicts that led to the destruction of Corinth in 146 B.C. and the sacking of Athens in 86 B.C. It was not until 27 B.C., however, that Augustus formally organized the Roman province of Achaea. Achaea consisted of the cities and territories of the southern Greek mainland between the Peloponnese and Thessaly, as well as Epirus in the northwest and the Ionian and some of the Aegean islands. The provincial capital was Corinth. Under Nero in the mid-1st century A.D. Epirus became a separate province, and in the mid-2nd century Thessaly was detached and added to the province of Macedonia. Under Roman domination many cities such as Athens, Sparta, Patras, and Corinth grew in size and prominence, the latter two partly owing to their importance as ports. After an initial decline in the number of rural sites in the early Empire, by the late Roman period the countryside was densely settled with farms and villas, due to changing landholding patterns and Roman improvements in agricultural and irrigation technology. The main exports from Achaea were wine, particularly from the northern Peloponnese, as well as olive oil and honey, linen and woolen textiles and marbles.

Location

Aegina
Aegina (Perseus)

Garden

Grove at the shrine of Aiakos

Keywords

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 B.C. 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 A.D., the temple grove was still to be seen.

Dates

pre-464 BCE to 2nd century CE

Publication date

21 Apr 2021