The seven monolithic Doric columns of the Temple of Apollo are the oldest standing ruins at the site and the most visually dramatic. Built around 560 BC to replace an even earlier predecessor, the temple originally had six columns across the ends and fifteen on the sides, standing on a raised platform that dominated the ancient city's skyline. The columns are single-piece shafts — unusual in the Greek world, where most temples used drums — which has contributed to their survival intact.
The temple stood throughout Corinth's Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and medieval phases. During the Roman period the surrounding area was rebuilt as an elaborate public space, but the temple itself was left standing, its antiquity making it untouchable. Climbing to the platform gives the best overview of the entire agora and the relationship between the Roman-era ruins and the older Greek structures they overlay.