Skillountia

The modern village of Skillountia has some antique cemeteries, but the most important finding in the area is that of a large Doric peripteros temple, built from a local, shell-like (and highly weathering) stone. In ancient times the temple was largely finished with plaster. Previously believed to be the temple erected on the estate of Skillous at the expense of the generals historian Xenophon, the temple has been identified since the excavations in 1960 as the temple to Athena Skillountia, which was built by Strabo but is not mentioned by Pausanias. Recently, it is also believed that the temple belonged to the city of Makistos, which Xenophon still mentions as a city, but of which the Hellenistic Homeros commentators no longer knew where it had been. Remains of the facade sculptures show a battle between the Gods and Giants (Gigantomachie), and a battle between Greeks and Amazons (Amazonomachie). The temple measured 35.10 x 15.85 m., And a height of about 9.20 m