As Loriners will know Hephaestus was the patron god of metal working no doubt including the parts wrought in metal on a horse’s harness such as bits, bridles and stirrups. And as everyone knows the Greeks were riding horses more than a thousand years before the Birth of Christ.
The Temple of Hephaestus is in the Agora of Athens and if you don’t know what happens in an agora consult wikipedia. I can sense boredom creeping inexorably over you so I will digress. When I was seventeen I took (and passed) my driving test in Dundalk. I wasn’t feeling great as I had measles. I did not share this information but may have shared the virus with the examiner. If you stay the course the connection with the T of H will be revealed. Now draw closer to the temple.
You cannot go in but you can look through. It is a Doric peripteral temple built of marble. Peripteral is a good word if you want to baffle somebody. All it means is a temple with a single row of pillars surrounding it. The temple of Concord and Victory at Stowe is an example you may be familiar with.
As you can see it is remarkably well preserved and I’ll tell you why. In about 700 AD it became a Christian church dedicated to St George and remained in service, as it were, until 1833. I am reminded of the mosques built by the Moors in Spain (notably Granada) that were re-purposed as churches.
I have no idea of the purpose of this long stone, perhaps a lintel? I was drawn to it by carving that seems more Celtic than Hellenic. Anyway I find it very beautiful.
The T of H inspired western architecture in modern times, including the courthouse in Dundalk built in 1813. So there you go.
The Temple of Hephaestus and the Court House in Dundalk virtually “twinned”. Tiens! I know them both and like you collected my driving license from the latter. After only two driving lessons I wonder if it was a wise move…. Perhaps the examiner was ill – same era!
Carlow Courthouse is columned and pedimented but of a different style
KNgteresting. The sirals remind one of the entrance stone patterns at Bru na Boinne and Knowth. [https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.07393]. The strange creatures chasing their tails seem somewhat “Ouroboros” in their twists. There are links between Mediterannean Neolithic cultures and Ireland of course and we chase our tails invariably and necessarily in order to vainky hope to gain reality.