PSI - Issue 64

Luigi Petti et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 64 (2024) 637–644 Petti L., Lupo C., D’Angelo T., Dallocchio P. & Guizzetti D. / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000 – 000

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2. The Temple of Athena The Temple of Athena, also knowns as Temple of Ceres, is located in the archaeological site of Paestum (Southern Italy). It represents one of the most well-preserved Greek temples in Magna Graecia (figure 1). In particular, the temple is located at the highest point of the ancient city, on an artificial hill, as demonstrated by some recent tests. The temple of Athena is a peripteral temple, built on three-stepped base (crepidoma) and surrounded by a 6 x 13 Doric colonnade. The columns, which are approximately 6 metres in height, rest directly on the stylobate and support the entablature and the remaining of the pediments on the two façades. The temple is orientated to the east, instead the altar, which is exactly as broad as the temple, is on its same axis, except for a minor deviation, see Symeonoglou, S. (1985). A fundamental characteristic that distinguishes the Paestum area is that its paleosoil is made up of a layer of travertines, which provided the lithoid materials for the construction of the ancient city and, in particular, the Temples, as described by Pescatore T. S. and Viggiani C. (1991).

Fig. 1. The Tempe of Athena in Paestum (Southern Italy).

The temple of Athena has been subject to various maintenance interventions over the last century. The most significant of these was made in the 1960s on the structural elements of the east façade of the temple, when iron bars were inserted along the columns and architrave, in order to connect the several stone blocks together. Figure 2 represents the scheme of interventions, see Cipriani M. (2007) and Fondedile (1973).

Fig. 2. Section (Fondedile (1973)) and Plan (Cipriani M. (2007)) of the reinforcement of the columns and architrave.

After this intervention, in 1972 the EST façade of the temple was struck by a thunderbolt with the subsequent formation of an important crack pattern and the partial destruction of the first drum of the fourth column (figure 3). The presence of the iron bars determined the orientation of the electric discharge up to the base block, with its consequent partial explosion.

Fig. 3. Condition of column 4 of the east facade of the Athens Temple after the event of 1972.