Remaining columns of the original Temple in the Sanctuary of Athena. Built in the early 5th century BCE, this was the first temple in the sanctuary and was completely ruined by 373 BCE due to rockfall and earthquakes.
View of the only standing columns of the Old Temple of Athena, the first structure in the sanctuary. It was constructed in the early 5th century BCE, and dedicated to Athena Pronoia (foresight), for which the sanctuary is also named. A Doric peripteral hexastyle structure, it was built over an older structure dating from the 7th century. During the First Sacred War in 480 BCE, when the Persians were invading Delphi, a rockfall struck them as they drew near, deciding the battle in favor of the Greeks and damaging the temple. When an earthquake struck Delphi in 373 BCE, it was completely ruined. Excavations in the early 1900s uncovered 15 columns and the stylobate, but another rockfall in 1905 destroyed everything but the three columns pictured. These columns form the northeast corner of the temple, and are constructed from tufa.
Creation date unknown. Photograph processed July 1978. Notes written on the slide or index: Old Athena Pronoia.
