Overview
Located in the Kourion archaeological site on the Limassol coastline, the Sanctuary of Apollon Hylates is an ancient temple dedicated to Apollo, the Ancient Greek god of music, poetry and the arts, as well as the woodlands.
Apollo was worshipped at the site from the eighth century BCE to the fourth century CE. His sanctuary was an important religious centre that has undergone many extensions and alterations in different periods.
Originally, the site consisted of a temple (traces of which survive in the foundations of the present temple), a circular monument, and a formalised Archaic Altar and Precinct. During the Roman period, the site was extended with the addition of the south and north buildings, which may have been used for the display of votives or the accommodation of visitors. Terracotta figurines and pottery that were accumulated in the temple from the fifth century BCE to the Roman period were buried in the votive pit.
The majority of the monuments as seen today belong to the site’s first-century CE restorations and consist of Apollo’s temple (which has been partly restored), pilgrim halls, the palaistra (where athletes exercised and played games), a bath complex, and a holy precinct.
