In his encyclopedic Geography, the first-century A.D. Greek historian Strabo mentions an important sanctuary dedicated to the sea god Poseidon that was situated in the hilly region of Triphylia along the west coast of Greece’s Peloponnese. Its exact location has long eluded scholars, but now a team of researchers led by Birgitta Eder of the Austrian Archaeological Institute, in cooperation with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Elis, believe they have finally discovered possible traces of the sanctuary. At the site of Kleidi-Samikon, the team unearthed stone foundations of a temple measuring at least 90 feet long, as well as a fragment of a large marble water basin of a kind found in sanctuaries throughout Greece. Eder explains that the structure’s layout and the terracotta roof tiles used to fill in the space between its walls suggest that it was built in the sixth century B.C. “This was a major monumental building with two interior rooms and probably a front and back hall,” she says. “It would have been a prominent site and a central meeting point for the regional cities of Triphylia.”
