Athena Review Image Archive ™
Syracuse: Altar of Hieron, west side
Syracuse: Altar of Hieron, west side (Photo: Athena Review 2004)
The Altar of Hieron II was used during the yearly feast of Eleutheria (honoring Zeus Eleutherios) for massive ritual sacrifices. Diodorus states that 450 oxen could be sacrificed at once atop the vast altar, nearly 200 m long.
One such festival was used to commemorate the mid-5th c. BC expulsion of the tyrant Thrasybulus, who came after Hieron I, and ruled Syracuse from 466 - 465 BC.
In this view the lengthy west side of the altar is seen.
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