HISTORY
DESCRIPTION
INFORMATION
 
 
The most important monuments of Kabireion are:

The Temple : devoted to the gods called Kabeiroi. It is a rectangular building the oldest remains of which are dated at the 6th c. B.C. onwards. The preserved foundations are from the end of the 4th c. B.C., but later renovations involving annexe on W. of the temple were in the 2nd and 1st c. B.C. The temple was supplied with pronaos, cella and a courtyard with two rectangular sacrificial pits. It was enclosed by a circuit wall.

The Theatre : it was built during the hellenistic period (3rd-1st c. B.C.) in the same axis as the temple. It had no front scene, but had 10 sectors in the cavea and en altar in the middle of the orchestra. It was used for the attendance of religous ceremonies concerning the initiation of the pilgrims.

The Stoa : long-narrow building, (length 40 m.) on the S.E. of the theatre. It may possibly have been used in the cult. It was built in the 1st c. B.C.

The circular and elliptical buildings : were found everywhere in the sanctuary. They contained sacrificial pits and benches along the walls for the practices of initiation. The largest one from the end of the 5th c. B.C., between the temple and the stoa, was probably a plain unroofed enclosure wall. It came out of use in the beginning of the 1st c. B.C.

The circuit wall : before 300 B.C. it enclosed the temple and an open-air area in front of it. In the 2nd c. B.C. it extended to the east in order to include the cavea of the theatre.