Old Temple of Athena

37°58′17″N 23°43′36″E / 37.9715°N 23.7267°E / 37.9715; 23.7267

Athena, central figure of the pediment of the temple, Acropolis Museum, Akr. 631

The Old Temple of Athena or the Archaios Neos^[1] (Greek: Ἀρχαῖος Νεώς) was an archaic Greek limestone Doric temple on the Acropolis of Athens probably built in the second half of the sixth-century BCE, and which housed the xoanon of Athena Polias.^[2] The existence of an archaic temple to Athena had long been conjectured from literary references until the discovery of substantial building foundations under the raised terrace between the Erechtheion and Parthenon in 1886 confirmed it. While it is uncontroversial that a temple stood on the central acropolis terrace in the late archaic period and was burnt down in the Persian invasion of 480, nevertheless questions of its nature, name, reconstruction and duration remain unresolved.

^ The building has acquired a number of appellations including the Temple of Athena Polias (which it shares with the Erechtheion), the Dörpfeld Foundations Temple, Opisthodomos and, arguably, the Bluebeard Temple. Care should be taken since each epithet can often prejudice the case for where and when the temple stood. Unless stated otherwise we assume the temple was the archaic one that stood on the Dorpfeld foundation.
^ This temple is now usually dated to the last quarter of the sixth century: "about 529 B.C.," according to Dinsmoor, 1947, p. 117. About 520, for the pediments and sima, according to E. B. Harrison, Archaic and Archaistic Sculpture (Agora XI), p. 13. Or "After 510 BC, not in 520s" Childs, 1994, pp.1–6. Mid-6th C, Korres, 1997, pp. 218–243. 506, Hurwit, 1999, p.121. "now dated by most to ca. 500", Paga, 2012, p.176 n.31.

[1] The building has acquired a number of appellations including the Temple of Athena Polias (which it shares with the Erechtheion), the Dörpfeld Foundations Temple, Opisthodomos and, arguably, the Bluebeard Temple. Care should be taken since each epithet can often prejudice the case for where and when the temple stood. Unless stated otherwise we assume the temple was the archaic one that stood on the Dorpfeld foundation.

[2] This temple is now usually dated to the last quarter of the sixth century: "about 529 B.C.," according to Dinsmoor, 1947, p. 117. About 520, for the pediments and sima, according to E. B. Harrison, Archaic and Archaistic Sculpture (Agora XI), p. 13. Or "After 510 BC, not in 520s" Childs, 1994, pp.1–6. Mid-6th C, Korres, 1997, pp. 218–243. 506, Hurwit, 1999, p.121. "now dated by most to ca. 500", Paga, 2012, p.176 n.31.

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