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A Hekatompedon (Greek, one hundred feet in length) was a form of archaic Greek temple. The first known example is the Heraion in Samos of the early eighth century. The structure has a canonical form of a cella or naos one hundred Greek feet in length, the earliest were non-peripteral and contained a single central row of columns or wooden posts along the central axis which supported the roof. Its length might have have had symbolic significance in the same manner as the number of bulls sacrificed in a hekatomb.

Heraion, Samos
The Sanctuary of Hera (Heraion) on the south-east coast of the island about 6 km west of the ancient city. It is one of the most important sites in terms of the evolution of the Ionic order. In 1902 and 1903 the sanctuary was again excavated by the Archaeological Society of Athens, under the direction of P. Kavvadias and Th. Sophoulis. It was later excavated by the German Archaeological Institute under T. Wiegand (1910–14) and E. Buschor (1925–39 and 1952–61). The origins of the cult go back to Mycenaean times, but the first extant altar was erected about 1000 BCE, and the first substantial Temple of Hera was built about 800 BCE, Hekatompedon I. This latter was a non-peripteral hekatompedos with a characteristically elongated Archaic plan (c. 33.0×6.5 m) and a 5:1 ratio of length to width. Its remains consist of parts of the wall foundations, and flat stone bases for a central row of pillars in the naos, which partially obscured the cult statue on a pedestal near its inner end. The building resembled contemporary houses in having mud-brick walls and a steep ridge roof. The suggestion that a peristyle was added to the main building is dubious. The building was, however, probably replaced in about 650 bc by a second hekatompedos (Hekatompedon II), probably a peripteral temple with a naos of the same size and orientation, and a peristasis of wooden posts on stone slabs was probably added, while on the east side there may have been two rows of columns. It was constructed from ashlar masonry and decorated with a frieze, of which a section bearing the incised outlines of warriors has been preserved (Samos, Archaeol. Mus. inv.no.?).

Apollo Daphniphoros, Eretria
The first hekatompedon (‘hundred footer’, c. 725–c. 700 bc) rivalled the first Temple of Hera (Heraion) on Samos. Disproportionately long (100 Ionic feet) in the Archaic fashion (34.5–35×7–8 m), it had an internal row of posts along its long axis and an apsidal end. In the first half of the 7th century bc this was replaced by a long rectangular temple of megaron form (34×7 m) with a peristyle (6×19 columns) of wooden posts, on an Ionic plan. A Doric peripteral temple (6×14 columns; stylobate, 46.40×19.15 m) with Ionic elements succeeded it (c. 510–c. 500 bc), only to be destroyed in 490 bc. The masterful sculpture from its western pediment (Chalkis, Archaeol. Mus.) included a group of Theseus Carrying the Amazon Antiope (see fig.), no doubt into a chariot; some horse fragments survive. A central Athena (Chalkis, Archaeol. Mus.) with archaizing tresses stood aloof from the action. The Theseus group formed part of an Amazonomachy to which a kneeling Amazon archer belongs (Rome, Mus. Conserv.). Dated c. 510–c. 500 bc, or arguably later, the figures in Parian marble show Attic influence and can be compared with the work of the Athenian sculptor Antenor.

Hekatompedon, Ephesos
The ‘Hekatompedos’ is the earliest Ephesian building with a marble superstructure.

Sanctury at Iria, Naxos
Around 580-570 B.C., work began on the fourth and largest temple of all, the only one of which remains are visible, and the only one to have been restored. It is an archaic hekatompedon of Ionic style. It is built of local granï-diorite rock, and it has an adyton (for a mystery cult), marble portico (prostasis) with columns forming a monumental entrance, and a marble altar. Ôwï tetrastyle marble colonnades divide the building into three aisles. Gottfried Gruben.

Naos Hekatompdeon, Athens
The hundreds of small fragments from the earlier temple, often referred to as the Hekatompedon (‘100 footer‘) or the ‘H‘ architecture, suggest that it was a peripteral building c.20 m wide (length unknown) made largely of local grey limestone, but with marble metopes and a handsomely incised marble gutter. Its pediments were decorated with large, brightly painted limestone figures (Athens, Acropolis. Mus.), and the temple is dated stylistically to c. 570–550 bc. It was situated either partly beneath the north-east corner of the Parthenon, or on the same limestone foundations, just south of the Erechtheion, used for the second 6th-century bc temple, known as the Old Temple of Athena or ‘Dörpfeld‘s Temple‘. These foundations (22.0×43.5 m) supported a peripteral building of 6×12 columns. Numerous fragments of its columns and entablature survive, showing that it was of limestone, with marble decorative elements and marble pedimental sculpture. It is generally dated stylistically to c. 530–500 bc.

Temple of Athena Polias, Priene
4th century BCE, founding of the city a terminus. The Temple of Athena, designed by Pytheos, stood on a high terrace near the agora. It was a peripteral Ionic building of local white marble with a peristyle of 6×11 columns. The columns on three sides were aligned with the edges of the adjacent housing blocks, and the width of the block (120 ft) was also reflected in the distance between the columns of 12 ft. The cella was 100 ft long, making the temple a hekatompedos (‘hundred footer’). The ratio of the lower diameters of the columns to the intercolumniations was 1:1¾, which is considerably more close set than in the much smaller Temple of Zeus with its ratio of 1:2, and became canonical for the systyle system advocated by Vitruvius (III.iii.2). The height of the columns was equivalent to ten lower diameters. The Temple of Athena shows, moreover, that even in the Late Classical period a plan based on a grid was used for temples as well as cities. The bases of the peristyle columns rest on plinths 6 ft square, set at intervals of 6 ft. Pytheos paid particular attention to the column bases and capitals as important architectural elements of the Ionic order. The bases have an Asiatic Ionic form and closely resemble those of the mausoleum at Halikarnassos and the Temple of Zeus at Labraunda, also possibly by Pytheos. The beautiful capitals of the Temple of Athena have a basic ratio of 3 units width, 2 units depth and 1 unit height. These proportions also occur on the Temple of Zeus at Labraunda and again in the mausoleum. The ratio 1:2:3 continued to be usual for Ionic capitals, and it applies to many Hellenistic capitals. It was adopted by Vitruvius, and it became standard throughout the Roman Imperial period. The fact that the marble Temple of Athena was a peripteral hekatompedos shows that the citizens of Priene wished it to be a prestigious architectural monument. The Temple of Athena was the first building in Priene to be investigated when the site was rediscovered. Attention had been drawn to it by the frequent references in Vitruvius, and after it was published by the Society of Dilettanti (Ionian Antiquities, i, 1769, London) the temple became an influential point of reference in the development of the Neo-classical movement in Europe.