How Ancient Greeks Chose Temple Locations 

Graciela Flores, Natural History Magazine,

LiveScience.com

To honor their gods and goddesses, ancient Greeks often

poured blood or wine on the ground as offerings. Now a

new study suggests that the soil itself might have had a

prominent role in Greek worship, strongly influencing

which deities were venerated where.

In a survey of eighty-four Greek temples of the Classical

period (480 to 338 B.C.), Gregory J. Retallack of the

University of Oregon in Eugene studied the local geology,

topography, soil, and vegetation - as well as historical

accounts by the likes of Herodotus, Homer, and Plato - in

an attempt to answer a seemingly simple question:

why are the temples where they are? 

No clear pattern emerged until he turned to the gods and

goddesses. It was then that he discovered a robust link

between the soil on which a temple stood and the deity

worshiped there.

For example, Demeter, the goddess of grain and fertility,

and Dionysos, the god of wine, both were venerated on

fertile, well-structured soils called Xerolls, which are ideal

for grain cultivation.

Artemis, the virgin huntress, and her brother Apollo, the

god of light and the Sun, were worshiped in rocky Orthent

and Xerept soils suitable only for nomadic herding.

And maritime deities, such as Aphrodite, the goddess of

love, and Poseidon, the sea god, were revered on Calcid

soils on coastal terraces too dry for agriculture.

The pattern suggests that the deities' cults were based on 

livelihood as much as on religion. And, says Retallack,

temple builders may have chosen sites to make the

deities feel at home.

The findings were detailed in the journal Antiquity.

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