Capo Colonna archaeological site

About

The Temple of Juno Lacinia (as a Roman goddess, originally Hera Lacinia) is a ruined ancient Greek temple at the heart of a sanctuary dedicated to Hera located on Capo Colonna in Calabria, Italy, near Crotone (ancient Kroton). The main remaining feature is a Doric column with capital, about 27 feet (8.2 m) in height. The site lies on a promontory formerly called Lacinion in a strategic position along the coastal routes linking Taranto to the Strait of Messina. The venerated goddess, Hera Lacinia, was named after the location. The sanctuary was later included in the larger Roman town of Lacinium.

The oldest (imported) ceramic finds from the 8th century suggest that the area of the Lacinio promontory was a place of worship even before the arrival of the Greek colonists, but are not significant for evidence of Greek visits prior to the colonial phase. These finds from the first cult area were below "Building B" which dates from the early 6th century BC as testified by the rich votive offerings including masterpieces in gold, silver and bronze. The most important building of the sanctuary later became the large Doric temple (A), built on a different alignment near the edge of the cliff around 480-470 BC on top of a previous archaic temple from the 7th century.

The sanctuary was dependent on ancient Kroton and was one of the most important in Magna Graecia until the 4th century BC. Building phases are datable to eras from the 6th century BC to the 3rd century AD.

The via sacra (great processional way), 60 m long and over 8 m wide, was created in the 4th century BC after which two vast public buildings for pilgrims were built. They had symmetrical plans with internal courtyards and peristyles: the katagogion (hotel for pilgrims) and the hestiatorion (banquet building). The wall of the temenos (sanctuary precinct) probably dates to the 4th century BC.

The federal treasury of the Italiote League, which brought together all the Greeks of the West, was moved there in the 5th century BC, and remained there until relocated to Herakleia near Tarentum.

The famous painter Zeuxis created many paintings for the Temple in the late 5th c. BC some of which had been preserved till Cicero 's (106-43 BC) day. His most famous painting there was of Helen of Troy intended to depict the ideal female beauty. The painting was later brought to Ambracia by Pyrrhus of Epirus (318-272 BC) after the Pyrrhic War. When the Romans captured Ambracia in 189 BC they brought it to Rome where Pliny the Elder saw it in the Portico of Philip.

Hannibal had his final camp nearby before evacuating Italy in 206 BC, staying there three winters toward the close of the Second Punic War, and dedicated a bronze plaque inscribed in Punic and Greek there detailing his accomplishments.

Cicero cites Coelius Antipater saying that the temple featured a golden column. Hannibal wanted to know whether or not it was solid gold, and drilled a hole and, determining that it was solid, decided to take it back to Carthage. The next night Juno appeared to him in a dream and threatened him with the loss of his remaining good eye if he took it. Hannibal obeyed the warning; he had a small statue of a heifer, sacred to Juno, cast from the drill shavings and mounted it on top of the column.

In 173 BC after the Romans' establishment of the colony nearby, the Censor Quintus Fulvius Flaccus stripped the marble tiles from the roof of the Temple of Hera and used them for the Temple of Fortuna Equestris in Rome, which he had dedicated. The Senate ordered the tiles returned, but, "as there was no one who understood how to replace the tiles they were left in the precinct of the temple." In 172 BC, out of grief over tragic news about his sons, Flaccus hanged himself. "[T]here was a general belief that he had been driven mad by Juno Lacinia, in her anger at his spoliation of her temple."

Further looting occurred during the 1st century, probably between 72 and 71 BC, by Cilician and Cretan pirates. The temple must have remained active and full of offerings for a few decades until 36 BC when the Roman colony was besieged and the temple plundered by Sextus Pompey fleeing from Sicily.

Between the late republican and imperial ages, restoration was probably done at least on the roof of the temple with marble elements (e.g. the sima with lion's head) and over the area of the sanctuary are tiles stamped with the name of Q. Laronius, Agrippa 's legate who was rewarded with the consulate in 33 BC.

The continuation of devotion to Hera Lacinia in the imperial age between 98 and 105 AD is attested by the altar dedicated by Oecius imperial procurator ( libertus procurator ), in favour of Ulpia Marciana, sister of Trajan.

The temple was said to have been still been fairly complete in the 16th century, but was destroyed to build the episcopal palace at Crotone. One of the two remaining columns fell in an earthquake in 1638.

In 173 BC after the Romans' establishment of the colony nearby, the Censor Quintus Fulvius Flaccus stripped the marble tiles from the roof of the Temple of Hera and used them for the Temple of Fortuna Equestris in Rome, which he had dedicated. The Senate ordered the tiles returned, but, "as there was no one who understood how to replace the tiles they were left in the precinct of the temple." In 172 BC, out of grief over tragic news about his sons, Flaccus hanged himself. "[T]here was a general belief that he had been driven mad by Juno Lacinia, in her anger at his spoliation of her temple."

Further looting occurred during the 1st century, probably between 72 and 71 BC, by Cilician and Cretan pirates. The temple must have remained active and full of offerings for a few decades until 36 BC when the Roman colony was besieged and the temple plundered by Sextus Pompey fleeing from Sicily.

Between the late republican and imperial ages, restoration was probably done at least on the roof of the temple with marble elements (e.g. the sima with lion's head) and over the area of the sanctuary are tiles stamped with the name of Q. Laronius, Agrippa 's legate who was rewarded with the consulate in 33 BC.

The continuation of devotion to Hera Lacinia in the imperial age between 98 and 105 AD is attested by the altar dedicated by Oecius imperial procurator ( libertus procurator ), in favour of Ulpia Marciana, sister of Trajan.

The temple was said to have been still been fairly complete in the 16th century, but was destroyed to build the episcopal palace at Crotone. One of the two remaining columns fell in an earthquake in 1638.

The temple has been described as "perhaps the most splendid [structure] in southern Italy". [ citation needed ]

The sanctuary was in an area of forest ( lucus )) sacred to the goddess. Hera is, in Greek mythology, the greatest of the goddesses, mother of Zeus and of other deities and heroes, and also the greatest protector of women and of all aspects of female life, but she is also venerated as Mother Nature, protector of animals and of sea travel. Hera also protected in particular the cattle which grazed freely within the forest.