Temple of Athena Polias and Zeus Polieus, Rhodes

The Temple of Athena Polias and Zeus Polieus is located at the northern edge of the Rhodes Acropolis. As well as being an important location for worship it was also where important treaties and documents were stored during Rhodes Hellenistic age.

The building was a Doric peripteral columned temple, with a columned portico on all sides. It was originally a monumental building and the remains that you see today still give an indication how splendid it must have been in classical times. Column drums and an architrave can still be seen – the larger column drums are 1.20m in diameter and the smaller column drums measure 1 meter across. The temple was bounded by the Stoa building to the east.

Inscriptions, found at the site, show that the temple was used for both the worship of the goddess Athena as well as Zeus. Some statues of Athena have been found at the site. It is thought by scholars and archaeologists that the temple predates the Stoa Building and was constructed in the 4th century B.C. Sometime, during the 5th and 6th century A.D, a Christian church was built on top of the original Athenian temple and, during medieval times, there was a monastery added.