Zeus Sosipolis Temple

The Temple of Zeus Sosipolis was an ancient Greek temple dedicated to Zeus Sosipolis in the city of Magnesia on the Meander, in Asia Minor, Turkey. It was located in the centre of the southern part of the city’s agora.

It was built in the Hellenistic period around 221-180 BC. It is considered that its architect was Hermogenes of Priene, who also designed the Temple of Artemis Leucofriene in Magnesia on the Meander.

It was built on a five‑level crepidoma, which measured approximately 7.4 × 15.8 m. The temple building was of Ionic style. Exceptionally, its main entrance was on the western end, similar to that of the Temple of Artemis Leucofriene and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, among others. The temple was tetrastyle‑prōstylos on the western end and distyle in antis on the eastern end. Inside were the usual pronaos, naos and opistodomos. However, the pronaos was exceptionally deep, almost as large as the naos. The naos contained a cult statue of Zeus, large for its size.

The western end of the temple has been restored by the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Otherwise, the remains of the temple are again underground. The ruins were still in relatively good condition when they were originally excavated at the end of the 19th century, but locals burned the marbles to turn them into lime after the excavations.