Pavliani, as a location, has been known since ancient times. Near the current village and at an altitude of 1,800 there are the ruins of the ancient Temple, which was dedicated to the mythical hero Herakles. This is the place where Herakles was freed from the tyrannical robe of Deianeira on the pyre and became a demigod with the intervention of Zeus.
Today, in the Pyra of Herakles, there are preserved columns’ vertebrae, parts of the trigon and triglyphs, which belong to a prostyle Doric Temple of the 3rd century BC. To the south of the Temple there is the altar, which was used continuously from the archaic era until the Roman period, when the original outline was expanded and demarcated with stone bricks. During the years 1919 – 20 an excavation survey was carried out. Then, the visible part of the Temple was cleaned and the Pyra was excavated, while in 1988 the excavation was repeated at the site for further investigation.
