Temple of Athena at Ilion

The Temple of Athena Ilias was a Greek temple of Athena Ilias in Ilion in Anatolia. Its ruins are part of the archaeological site of ancient Troy, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

History

It was built during the Troy VIII phase of the city's Greek period, but its exact date is unknown. It is generally dated to the early Hellenistic period, around 300‑280 BC. According to Strabo, it was built by Lysimachus. At times it is dated later, in the 1st century BC.

It is possible that a smaller predecessor existed on the temple site already in the Archaic period.

The temple was destroyed in 85 BC when Gaius Flavius Fimbria captured the city. Later, during the Troy IX phase of the city's Roman period, it was restored, presumably by order of Emperor Augustus.

The cult of Athena Ilias was the most important in Ilion. The temple was accompanied by an annual festival consisting of sacrifices and athletic competitions.

Description

It was located to the northeast of the hill of the city of Ilion and Troy. Its temenos was so large that it covered almost half of the area of the earlier Troy VI. The building had a peristyle and was of Doric style. Its foundations measured approximately 36 × 16 m, with 6 columns on the short sides and 12 on the long sides. Inside the temple there was a pronaos, a cella and an opisthodomos. The temple was surrounded by a wide square enclosure, flanked on the west, south and east sides by stoas, or porticoes, with a propylaea in the middle of the south‑side stoa. What remains of the temple is mainly the raised roof covering, which formed part of its atrium, and individual architectural and decorative elements, including the door capitals and part of the inner coffered ceiling.

Of the sculptural decoration that survives from the temple, the most famous is the metope, which depicts the sun god Helios, driving a chariot drawn by four horses. The marble slab of the metope measures 0.86 × 0.86 m. It is currently displayed in the Altes Museum in Berlin. It is said that the cult image of the temple was based on information about the appearance that the mysterious statue of Athena, the Paladium, would have had in the original Troy, which is believed to have fallen from the sky.