Image Details

Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier

Niemeier’s team is excavating a sanctuary of Athena (shown here) at Miletus. Since this site had been considered a sacred precinct before the construction of the Hellenistic temple, earlier remains may yet await the archaeologist’s pick. At Troy, however, a fourth-century B.C. sanctuary to Athena was built directly over the section of the citadel where we would expect to find the royal palace. The builders of Troy’s Hellenistic temple, having no reason to respect a sacred space, removed all earlier remains and flattened the mound for the sanctuary’s platform—removing or destroying everything that lay below.