Temple of Aphaia

The Doric temple nobody has quite finished explaining

The Temple of Aphaia stands 160 metres above the sea, on a pine-covered hill in the east of Aegina, looking out over the island, over Athens and, on clear days, over the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion. Legend says those three sanctuaries formed a perfect equilateral sacred triangle. The geometry is rather looser than that in reality, but the image helps: there was a reason they built it up here in the 5th century BC.

It is one of the three best-preserved Doric temples in Greece (along with the Parthenon and Sounion), and possibly the most complete in structural terms. Of the 32 original columns, 24 are still standing, several with their capital and entablature intact. The local limestone, once covered in stucco that has vanished over the centuries, now gives it a warm ochre tone that shifts with the light: yellowish first thing in the morning, golden at sunset.

A goddess we know almost nothing about

Aphaia is one of those minor deities who barely turns up anywhere outside Aegina. According to the myth, she was a Cretan nymph called Britomartis, daughter of Zeus, who fled King Minos’s attentions by throwing herself into the sea from a cliff. A fisherman’s net saved her (hence the other name, “Dictynna”, “she of the net”), she reached Aegina and here she made herself invisible: “Aphanis”, the one who disappears, which is where Aphaia comes from.

The temple was built around 485 BC, just after the battle of Salamis, on the remains of an earlier sanctuary. Barely thirty years later Athens conquered the island and Aphaia’s importance faded. The site lay forgotten for 2,000 years, until in 1811 an Anglo-German team rediscovered it and stripped out almost all the sculpted pediments, which are today displayed in the Glyptothek in Munich. One of the great 19th-century acts of plunder, and not the only one.

What you see when you go in

You walk into the site through a stand of pines that gives you shade from the car park onwards. The site museum, recently refurbished, has panels in English and German covering the history of the place, reproductions of the Munich pediments and a few original pieces: votive female figurines, pottery, coins. It is small but it helps a lot in making sense of what you are about to see.

The temple itself is roped off: a path takes you all the way around it, with several platforms for photographing the whole thing. The golden hour (an hour before closing, around 2.30pm in summer) is probably the best moment, with the side light picking out the relief of the columns. Bring a hat: there is no shade inside the site proper and the sun is fierce.

It goes very well with the beach

The logistical advantage of the Temple of Aphaia is that it is 4 km from Agia Marina, the best beach on the island. The classic combination is to go up to the temple first thing (it opens at 8.30 and by 9 the tour buses have arrived), come down to Agia Marina for a swim and lunch, and head back to Aegina town in the afternoon. If you have a car, it is also a good chance to stop at Mesagros (halfway along) and buy pistachios at one of the family farms.

How to get there and how much to budget

From Aegina town the Agia Marina bus runs every 1-2 hours; ask the driver to drop you at “Aphaia” (the sign is visible). The journey takes 25 minutes and costs 2-3€. A taxi is around 12-15€ one way. If you come by car or scooter, there is a free car park at the foot of the hill.

Entry costs 6€ (3€ reduced) and the hours are 8:30-15:30 in low season, extended to 8:00-20:00 in summer. For the visit, budget 1 hour for the temple plus 30-45 minutes for the museum. If you combine it with Agia Marina, allow at least 3 hours in total. You may also want to pair it with the Archaeological Museum of Aegina down at the port, which holds pieces from ancient Aegina quite different from those at Aphaia.