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Modern Description: Below the south precipice of the acropolis of Kastro is the modern cemetery, and behind it to the south rises the hill of ‘Fourka' (in effect an extension of the acropolis hill), named after the gallows erected here by the Turks. On the summit are the remains (behind a locked fence) of the platform of the Archaic Temple of Apollo (6th century BC), which would have been a landmark clearly visible from the sea. The bed-rock has been cut around its podium, and the stone for the temple's construction will have come from the quarried area just to the right of the path as you climb up. The temple is oriented on a north/south axis, and was unusually broad (17.5 m) in relation to its length (24 m). This hill could be the “place which had the appearance of a mound” mentioned by Plutarch as being the site of the tomb of Theseus from which Cimon took the hero's bones, returning them triumphantly to Athens in 476 BC.

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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