Ancient temples in Turkey
 
Pessinus

 

  

     
 

 

   
Temple for: Emperor Augustus
erected: 1st century A.D.
Dimensions: Stylobat: 24 x 14 m, Krepis: 34 x 21 m, Peristase: 11 x 6
  Peristasis: 6 x 11
   
Ground plan
   
Roman province: Galatia
Location: Ballıhisar, Sivrihisar county, Province Eskişehir
 
   

The temple for the imperial cult was enthroned in the centre of the city above the Agora. It was part of a Sebasteion referring to the imperial cult. The temple was accessible via a central staircase with two cavea wings which could be used as a theatre.
The temple area, which was excavated between 1967 and 1972, is the only well researched area of the Pessinus. It was thoroughly investigated by M. Waelkens (current director of the Sagalassos excavations) in the 1980s and between 2006 and 2012 by Angelo Verlinde (University of Ghent).  

It was finally determined that the excavated temple could not be identified as the Temple of Kybele, as researcher Charles Texier assumed when he "discovered" the temple's foundations in 1834. The decorative elements were designed in a conservative Augustan manner, suggesting that the building was probably built in the late Augustan period (about 15 AD).

 
   
Emperor Augustus  

Augustus (* 23. September 63 B.C. as Gaius Octavius; † 19. August 14 A.D.) was the first Roman emperor. Gaius Iulius Caesars, grand nephew and principal heir, won the power struggles that followed his assassination in 44 B.C. and was the sole ruler of the Roman Empire from 31 B.C. to 14 AD.
Under the motto of the restoration of the republic - restitutio rei publicae - he in reality pursued its permanent transformation into a monarchy in the form of a principality. Thus he put an end to the century of Roman civil wars and founded the Julian-Claudian imperial dynasty. His rule, outwardly marked by numerous expansion wars, led to a long lasting phase of consolidation and peace, which was glorified as Pax Augusta.

 
   
DThe history of Pessinus:

 

 

 
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
The stairs below the temple  
     
     
Photos: @chim    
Translation aid: www.DeepL.com/Translator    
Source: Wikipedia and others