Temple of Juno (Valley of the Temples)

It doesn't matter when it was built before the Christian era, impressive and still a sign of Greek architecture today.

The temple of Juno is located on the highest rocky outcrop of the hill of the Temples, near the east end.As with most of the temples in Agrigento, it is not possible to know which divinity it was dedicated to.Its attribution to Juno derives from an erroneous interpretation of a passage by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, which actually refers to the temple of Juno on the Lacinio promontory in Crotone, in Magna Grecia.The Doric order building can be dated to around the middle of the 5th century BC. and has a base of four steps, on which rest six columns on the short sides and thirteen on the long ones. Inside, the temple is divided into an entrance hall, cell and rear compartment, the first and last with two columns between the doors.Between the entrance hall and the cell opens the door, flanked by two pillars with inside the stairs for access and maintenance of the roof.Fifteen meters away from the temple entrance, on the east side, is the altar with a stairway of ten steps.Perhaps the temple was seriously damaged during the Carthaginian conquest of 406 BC, by a fire of which traces remain on the cell walls.The building was perhaps restored in Roman times.Numerous restorations were carried out starting from the end of the 18th century, when the columns on the north side were raised, up to the last static and conservative interventions on the stone surfaces carried out by the Archaeological Park of the Valley of the Temples.Source: parcodellavalledeitempli.it

The so-called Hera Temple