Archaeologists from Brazil and Italy join forces to study the temple on the Acropolis of Athens

By Lucas Rizzi - Archaeologists from Brazil and Italy have joined forces to research the past of one of the most important buildings on the Acropolis of Athens, home to the Parthenon and other temples from Ancient Greece, in a project that could lead to the creation of a virtual archaeology laboratory at the University of São Paulo.

The group is led by Italian Leonardo Fuduli, a researcher at the USP Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and has support from the University of Palermo, in Italy, and funding from the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp).

The investigations revolve around the Erechtheion, a Greek temple built in the 5th century BC and whose history is still shrouded in mystery, especially during the Roman Empire, which is at the center of the research led by Fuduli.

"It's a very important temple because it was dedicated to the goddess Athena, the city's patron saint, and it was very different from the others, with several rooms that recalled the ancient history of Athens," explains the Italian researcher in an interview with ANSA.

It is now known that the building was converted into a Christian church in the early Middle Ages, served as a gunpowder depot under the Ottoman Empire, and was renovated after Greek independence in the early 19th century, but its history during the Roman imperial era is still relatively unknown.

"When Athens was attacked by the Roman dictator Sulla [in the first half of the 1st century BC], the temple probably caught fire and was damaged. The first major renovation only took place under Emperor Augustus [who reigned between 27 BC and 14 AD]. We have news of another between the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, but that is quite obscure," Fuduli added.

Literary sources even indicate that the Romans placed a statue of the Empress-consort Giulia Domna next to the representation of the goddess Athena in the Erechtheion, which was studied with the aid of the most modern technologies available, such as photogrammetry, drones, 3D reconstruction and infrared, the result of an agreement between USP and the University of Palermo, a world reference when it comes to classical archaeology.

In addition, archaeologists analyzed pieces of the temple in the Acropolis Museum collection and received 3D images of artifacts held by the British Museum in London, which is still being charged with returning marbles from ancient Greece removed by the British in the 19th century.

Conducted by five researchers from Brazil and Italy during the Acropolis's closing hours, the fieldwork has already been completed, and archaeologists are now working on compiling the data, which "should take some time." The results could go beyond shedding light on the history of the Erechtheion under the Roman Empire.

"We've partnered with the University of Palermo, and the goal is to promote a migration of knowledge to USP and create a virtual archaeology laboratory to perform 3D reconstructions of monuments. USP already has a strong foundation in classical archaeology, but this will be a huge help, because the use of technology today is fundamental to the study of antiquity," Fuduli emphasizes.