Description
This photograph depicts what remains of the area known as the Sanctuary of the Twelve Olympian Gods. Located in the Athenian Agora, this sacred space contained a temple dedicated to the chief members of the Greek Pantheon: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Ares, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, and Aphrodite. The sanctuary was originally built by the Tyrant of Athens, Pisistratus, in 521 BCE, and it was from this point that all distances from the city of Athens were measured. It was, in effect, the heart of the Athenian city-state.