The Doric Temple of Apollo in Syracuse is the oldest Greek temple in Sicily, the second oldest Greek temple in the world. It was built by Greek colonists in VII-VI century. B.C. and included six and seventeen columns on both sides, of which only two are still upright, as well as a part of the epistyle and other columns on the same side and on the eastern front.
The West base has been restored. The columns were almost 8 feet high with capital and the top finish of the temple was made of clay The peculiarity of those columns is their proximity, as the building criteria of a so ancient period suggested not to distance them too much, in order to preserve the stability of the building.
On one of the steps of the east side is engraved an inscription containing a dedication to Apollo under the name of the architect, a very unusual case for a greek temple. In the Museum Paolo Orsi of Syracuse you can see a complete model of the temple and a video reconstruction of the internal parts of the building. Over the centuries it was trasformed into a Byzantine church, then a Mosque under the Arabs (Arabic inscriptions are still visible in the cell), then Norman church and Spanish barracks.