Altar of Dionysos

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Historical monuments & museums

Altar of Dionysos

Overview

Tags

Ancient Greek,

Easy access,

Free entrance,

History

General location

Kos town

Entrance

Free entrance

These free to access ancient ruins are located in the heart of Kos Island, just a few meters northeast from the Roman House (Casa Romana). The foundations of the altar together with the surrounding structures occupy 160 m² and are located in the western part of this excavated area. Dionysus, son of Zeus and ancient Greek god of wine, winemaking, grape cultivation and fertility, was a beloved ancient God in Kos Island as appears on the exquisite samples of sculpture found on the Hellenistic frieze of this altar and the thirteen sculptured cornerstones that represent mythical themes from his life.

Here, visitors can admire the ruins of the altar of Dionysus along with a Doric stone-built Attalids temple. The altar was built using local white and grey-blue marble and the surviving constructions date way back to the 2nd century BC, a period of prosperity when construction was blooming on the island, perhaps due to the Kingdom of Pergamon.

In fact, archeologist Stambolidis dates the temple around 200 - 190 BC and finds that it bears quite a few resemblances to the great Pergamon way of sculpting. Both buildings endured damages during the 142 A.D. earthquake and were later partially restored.

During the Byzantine period at the end of the 15th century, the altar was abandoned and when the Johanniter knights conquered the island, they used several architectural parts as building blocks for the medieval castle (Castle of the Knights), such as cornerstones with bas reliefs on one or two sides for the proper building of the castle. The stone altar of Dionysus was excavated during the Italian Occupation, in the early 1930s. Today, what visitors see is a rectangular wall which is the upper part of the temple's foundation, the entrance to the altar and part of a stone wall inside the altar.

Access

Located in Kos town, the Altar of Dionysos is easy to access on foot or by bike. A nearby free parking area is available.

Need to know

Both remains are positioned the same level as that of the ancient Agora of Kos, approximately 3 meters below the level of the modern city. It is an open, walk-in archeological site so no services are provided.

Don't miss

Take a stroll and visit the nearby sights of Casa Romana and Roman Odeon.

Did you know?

In the altar's metopes, six marble sculptures were found depicting mythical scenes of Dionysus' life. The knights removed them and embedded them at the wall of the Knights' Castle. They were later removed by archaeologist I. Kontis and can now be found inside the castle.

More photos!

View it on the map