page_title: Temple of Aphrodite Urania
hierarchical_section_title: Temple of Aphrodite Urania
caption_attribution_description: English: Plan of the ancient agora of Athens c. 5th century BC. Key 01 Square Peristyle, probably used as a courthouse &amp; surrounded by vendors. Built early 4th c. BC, demolished c. 150 BC. 02 Mint, used for Athens's bronze coinage. Built c. 400 BC, destroyed c. 1st century. 03 SE Fountainhouse, misidentified by Pausenias as the Nine-Spouted Fountain (Enneakrounos). Built c. 525 BC. 04 South Stoa I. Built c. 425 BC, dismantled mid-2nd c. BC. 05 Aiakeion, dedicated to the Aeginan hero Aiakos, used as a granary &amp; for the display of legal decisions. Formerly misidentified as the Heliaia. Built early 5th c. BC by order of the Pythia of Delphi. 06 Strategeion, dedicated to the hero Strategos, used as the meeting house of Athens's 10 generals (strategoi). Built mid-5th c. BC. 07 Stone benches of Agora Hill (Kolonos Agoraios). Built late 5th c. BC. 08 Tholos. Also known as the Skias from its supposed resemblance to a straw hat. Also known as the Prytanikon or Prytaneion as the home of the Prytany. Built c. 470 BC. 09 Boundary stone, marking one entrance to the agora. Erected c. 500 BC. 10 Monument of the Eponymous Heroes, the namesakes of the Athenian democracy's 10 tribes, chosen by the Pythia of Delphi. Present structure built late 4th c. BC. 11 Metroon, the Old Bouleuterion, dedicated to Cybele in propitiation after the Plague of Pericles was attributed to the murder of one of her missionary priests. Present structure built mid-2nd c. BC. 12 New Bouleuterion. Built late 5th c. BC. 13 Hephaistion or Theseion, the temple of Hephaestus &amp; Athena the Worker (Athena Ergane), decorated with events in the lives of Hercules &amp; Theseus. Built late 5th c. BC. 14 Temple of Fatherly Apollo (Apollo Patroos), honoring his siring of Ion, eponymous forefather of the Ionian Greeks. Built late 4th c. BC. 15 Stoa of Free Zeus (Zeus Eleutherios), honoring his help in defeating the Persians at Plataia &amp; decorated with the shields of Athenians fallen in battle. Built late 5th c. BC. 16 Altar of the Twelve Gods, sanctuary. Built early 6th c. BC, dedicated 521 BC. 17 Royal Stoa (Stoa Basileios), seat of the royal archon (archon basileus), public copies of the city's laws, &amp; the oath stone used to swear in new officials. Built c. 500 BC. 18 Temple of Heavenly Aphrodite (Aphrodite Urania). Built late 6th c. BC. 19 The Painted Stoa (Stoa Poikile), depicting Athenian victories in paintings &amp; captured arms. Built early 5th c. BC. 20 A former mistaken location of the Painted Stoa used when 19 was mistakenly assumed to be the Stoa of the Herms.
context_page_description: The Temple of Aphrodite Urania is a temple located north-west of the Ancient Agora of Athens, dedicated to the Greek goddess Aphrodite under her epithet Urania.
  The temple was built around the early 5th century BC.
  According to Pausanias, the sanctuary had a marble statue of the deity sculpted by the ancient Greek sculptor Phidias:
  Above the Kerameikos [in Athens] is a sanctuary of the Aphrodite Ourania; the first men to establish her cult were the Assyrians, after the Assyrians the Paphians of Kypros and the Phoinikians who live at Askalon in Palestine; the Phoinikians taught her worship to the people of Kythera. Among the Athenians the cult was established by Aegeus, who thought that he was childless and that his sisters had suffered their misfortune because of the wrath of Aphrodite Ourania. The statue still extant is of Parian marble and is the work of Pheidias. One of the Athenian parishes is that of the Athmoneis, who say that Porphyrion, an earlier king than Aktaios, founded their sanctuary of Ourania. But the traditions current among the Parishes often differ altogether from those of the city.
context_section_description: The Temple of Aphrodite Urania (Greek: Βωμός Αφροδίτης Ουρανίας Vomós Afrodítis Ouranías) is a temple located north-west of the Ancient Agora of Athens, dedicated to the Greek goddess Aphrodite under her epithet Urania.
  The temple was built around the early 5th century BC.
  According to Pausanias, the sanctuary had a marble statue of the deity sculpted by the ancient Greek sculptor Phidias: 
  Above the Kerameikos [in Athens] is a sanctuary of the Aphrodite Ourania (Heavenly); the first men to establish her cult were the Assyrians, after the Assyrians the Paphians of Kypros and the Phoinikians who live at Askalon in Palestine; the Phoinikians taught her worship to the people of Kythera. Among the Athenians the cult was established by Aegeus, who thought that he was childless (he had, in fact, no children at the time ) and that his sisters had suffered their misfortune because of the wrath of Aphrodite Ourania (Heavenly). The statue still extant is of Parian marble and is the work of Pheidias. One of the Athenian parishes is that of the Athmoneis, who say that Porphyrion, an earlier king than Aktaios, founded their sanctuary of Ourania. But the traditions current among the Parishes often differ altogether from those of the city.
  If still in use by the 4th century, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.
  There are a few saved stones on the slope of the hill beside the train tracks and near the temple of her husband Hephaestus.
caption: Plan of the Ancient Agora of Athens. No. 18, north of the Hephaestion, is the Temple of Aphrodite Urania.
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