| Taranto, Syracuse and Corinth are the only city in the world where there are remains of a greek temple of the first half of the sixth century B.C. Of the Doric temple in Piazza Castello we had news Taranto in Il tempio Dorico è più noto come tempio di Poseidone, ma è più probabile che fosse dedicato ad una divinità femminile. since the eighteenth century, when the two columns now fully visible were incorporated in the oratory of SS. Trinity, demolished more than 30 years ago to bring them to light. Today only two columns and the base of a third have remained, but the temple was to be about 50 meters long, and probably had 17 columns on one side and 6-8 columns on the other. The temple was built during the final affirmation of the power of Taranto in Magna Grecia, of which it was the capital. But the construction of the temple also coincides with the urban layout of Taranto, with the Acropolis in the old town and the Polis in the village.
The Doric temple is best known as the temple of Poseidon, but it is more likely that it was dedicated to a goddess. It is therefore closer to the truth the tradition of the last century, when it was called Temple of Diana. In the opposite square rose the Celestine’s convent, demolished in the ’20 to make way for a Postal Office. But it was impossible to carry out the construction for the abundance of archaeological findings that emerged from the soil. |