Book 1

Temple of Poseidon

by Oscar Broneer

Published 21 November 1971
Two successive temples, built on the same foundations, are discussed in this detailed architectural history: an Archaic building built around 700 B.C. and a Classical 5th-century successor. Little is left visible at Isthmia of the temples that would have dominated the sanctuary, and, therefore, this study presents a painstaking exercise in detective work. This yields important results, such as an almost complete reconstruction of the Archaic roof, and a detailed investigation of the workings of the perirrhanterion (a basin for ablutions). Traces of color on the architectural fragments of the temple have been painstakingly recorded, and an appendix discusses the evidence for an unusual 32.04 cm foot being used as the basis for construction.

Book 2

Topography and Architecture

by Oscar Broneer

Published 1 December 1973
Oscar Broneer's excavations at the sanctuary at Isthmia between 1952 and 1960 revealed much about an important center of Greek civilization. This volume particularly provides the fullest possible picture of the temenos of Poseidon in Greek and Roman times, including the closely related stadia and the sanctuary of Palaimon and several monuments excavated to the west of the sanctuary: the Sacred Glen, the West Foundation, and the Hippodrome. The Temple of Poseidon itself is discussed in detail in Isthmia I. There is a wealth of information here including some particularly interesting discussion of the starting mechanism of the earlier stadium, the religious significance of two "cult caves" and the underground passage beneath the Temple of Palaimon.

Book 3

Terracotta Lamps

by Oscar Broneer

Published 21 November 1930
A well-ordered catalogue of all the terracotta lamps excavated between 1952 and 1967 by the University of Chicago in and around the sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia. The most important and complete pieces are presented with short descriptions and illustration while the fragments are merely listed. Most of the finds are from the 1st century A.D. and were imported from Corinth (Corinthian type XVI). Later in the century these imports were replaced by a local product, found in huge quantities around the Temple of Palaimon (1,221 pieces are catalogued). These cult lamps present the major new type from Isthmia as most of the other pieces published are well-known elsewhere. The entire assemblage is grouped into four chronological periods: Classical Greek lamps, mainly used in the Poseidon sanctuary; Hellenistic lamps down to the Mummius destruction of 146 B.C.; Roman lamps dating from 44 B.C. to the 3rd century A.D.; and a miscellaneous group of Late Roman lamps, down to about the 6th century A.D.