THE SUN TEMPLE OF GARNI IN ARMENIA

The Temple of Garni is the only standing Greco-Roman colonnaded building in Armenia and the former Soviet Union. An Ionic temple located in the village of Garni, it is the most famous structure and the symbol of the history of pre-Christian Armenia.

The exact construction date of the temple is still unknown. The dominant theory is that it was built in 77 CE, during the reign of king Tiridates I of Armenia. This date is calculated based on a Greek inscription, discovered by artist Martiros Saryan in July 1945 at the Garni cemetery. It names Tiridates the Sun (Helios Tiridates) as the founder of the temple. 

The inscription of Tiridates I, goes as follows ( Greek and English ) :

Ἣλιος Τιριδάτης [ὁ μέγας]

μεγάλης Ἀρμενίας ἄνα[κτος]

ὡς δεσπότης. Αἴκτισε ναΐ[διον]

βασιλίσ[σ]α τὸν ἀνίκητον κασ[ιν ἐνι]

αιτούς. Αι. Τῆς βασιλεί[ας αὐτου]

με[γαλείας]. Ὑπὸ ἐξουσίᾳ στεγάν[ου]

λίτουργος τῷ μεγάλῳ σπ[ῆι εὔχεσθε]

μετὰ ματήμι καὶ εὐχαρ[ιστίαν εὐχήν]

τοῦ μαρτυρίου.

The Sun Tiridatēs

of Greater Armenia, lord as despot,

built a temple

for the queen; the invincible...

in the eleventh year of his reign.

...Under the protection of the...

may the priest to the great cave (?)

in the vain (?)

of the witness and thanks.

Most scholars now attribute the inscription to Tiridates I.According to the inscription , the temple was built in the 11th year of reign of Tiridates I;  it is believed to have been completed in 77 CE.The date is primarily linked to Tiridates I's visit to Rome in 66 CE, where he was crowned by the Roman emperor Nero.To rebuild the city of Artaxata, destroyed by the Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, Nero gave Tiridates 50 million drachmas and provided him with Roman craftsmen. Upon his return to Armenia,Tiridates began a major project of reconstruction, which included rebuilding the fortified city of Garni. It is during this period that the temple is thought to have been built.

The temple is commonly attributed to Mihr, the sun god in the Zoroastrian-influenced Armenian mythology and the equivalent of Mithra.Mihr was the patron god of Tiridates and other Armenian monarchs. It has been argued that since Tiridates built the temple after his glorious return from Rome, it would have been normal for him to dedicate the temple to his patron god. Furthermore, white marble sculptures of bull hooves have been discovered 20 metres from the temple; these could be the remains of a sculpture of the god Mihr, who was often portrayed in a fight with a bull.

The temple follows the style of classical Ancient Greek architecture. The structure has been described as Greek, Roman or Greco-Roman and has been usually linked to Hellenistic art; its highly distinct features and local influence have been frequently highlighted. Some scholars emphasize this Armenian influence on its architecture, calling it "Armenian-Hellenic" (Sahinian), while others have completely rejected this notion, calling it a "foreign structure on Armenian soil". Toros Toramanian stressed the singularity of the temple as a Roman-style building on the Armenian Highlands and "remarked that the Garni construction essentially had no influence on contemporary or subsequent Armenian architecture." Sahinian, on the other hand, called it a "product of the architectural-constructional art of the Hellenistic period" that entirely resembles the 9th century BCE Urartian Musasir temple.

The temple is a peripteros,- surrounded by a portico with columns- built on an elevated podium.It is constructed of grey basalt quarried locally. The temple is composed of a portico (pronaos) and a cella (naos). It is supported by a total of 24 columns of the Ionic order: six in the front and back and eight on the sides (the corner columns are listed twice). Based on a comparative analysis, Sahinian proposed that the columns of the temple of Garni have their origins in Asia Minor.

Exterior

The triangular pediment depicts sculptures of plants and geometrical shapes. The staircase has 9 unusually high steps-30 cm high, about twice as the average height of stairs. Tananyan suggests that the unusually high stairs compel a person ascending the staircase to feel humbled and make physical effort to reach the altar. On the both sides of the staircase, there are roughly square pedestals. Atlas, the Greek Titan who held up the earth, is sculpted on both pedestals, in a way that makes him look as if He's trying to hold the entire temple on His shoulders.It is assumed that the pedestals originally held altars.

The exterior of the temple is richly decorated. The frieze depicts a continuous line of acanthus. Furthermore, there are ornaments on the capital, architrave, and soffit. The stones in the front cornice have projecting sculptures of lion heads.

Cella

The cella of the temple can fit up to 20 people inside. Due to its relatively small size, it has been proposed that a statue once stood in the interior and the ceremonies were held on the outside.The cella is lit from two sources: the disproportionately large entrance and the opening on the roof.

View of the interior of the temple.

The temple’s proportions differ somewhat from the proportions of other antique structures. Its composition is based on the contrast between the horizontal divisions of the podium and the entablature and the vertical columns which rose sharply against the background of the sky. The structure makes an impressive sight from many remote and close observation points.

In the early 4th century CE, when Armenian King Tiridates III adopted Christianity as a state religion, virtually all known pagan places of worship were destroyed. The Temple of Garni is the only pagan, Hellenistic, and Greco-Roman structure to have survived the widespread destruction. It remains unknown why the temple was spared, but philosopher Grigor Tananyan argues that its status as a "masterpiece of art" possibly saved it from destruction. He suggests that the temple was perceived to be a "quintessence of an entire culture." Robert H. Hewsen suggested that the reason why it was not destroyed is because it was not a temple, but a tomb of a Roman-appointed king of Armenia. He also noted that, in the 7th century a church was built immediately next to it and not in its place.

Greek mosaic from a nearby destroyed building.  Marine Greek deities are depicted- the inscription above their heads means " work hard and gain nothing".

According to Movses Khorenatsi a "cooling-off house" (summer house) was built within the fortress of Garni for Khosrovidukht, the sister of Tiridates III. As its purpose changed, the temple underwent some changes. The sacrificial altars in the outside of the temple and the cult statue in the cella were removed. The opening in the roof for skylight was closed. The stone structures for removal of water from the roof were also removed, while the entrance of the temple was transformed and adjusted for residence.

The entire colonnade of the temple collapsed in a devastating earthquake on  June 4, 1679. According to many scholars, the epicenter of the earthquake was located in the gorge of Garni. Most of the original building blocks remained scattered at the site, allowing the building to be reconstructed. As much as 80% of the original masonry and ornamental friezes were in the site by the late 1960s.

Decoration with acanthus leaves- another typical feature of Greek architecture.

In 1949, the Armenian Academy of Sciences began major excavations of the Garni fortress site led by Babken Arakelyan. Architectural historian Alexander Sahinian focused on the temple itself. It was not until almost twenty years later, on December 10, 1968, that the Soviet Armenian government approved the reconstruction plan of the temple. A group led by Sahinian began reconstruction works in January 1969. It was completed by 1975, almost 300 years after it was destroyed in the earthquake. The temple was almost entirely rebuilt using its original stones, except the missing pieces which were filled with blank stones intended to be easily recognisable. In 1978, a monument dedicated to Sahinian was erected not far from the temple.


The Garni temple  has become a symbol of the pre- Christian era in Armenia.It became a tourist destination, even before its reconstruction. Today, it is one of the main tourist attraction sites in Armenia.

EDITED FROM: Wikipedia