Athenian Treasury, Ancient Greek treasury in Delphi, Greece
The Athenian Treasury is a small marble temple along the Sacred Way in Delphi. Two slender Doric columns stand at the front, while flat relief panels showing mythological scenes line the outer walls.
Athens built the treasury around 507 BCE to celebrate victory at Marathon and signal the city as a rising power. French archaeologists reassembled it from original stones between 1903 and 1906 after it lay in ruins for centuries.
An inscription on the south façade explains that Athens built it from spoils taken at the Battle of Marathon. The decorations show hero figures familiar to every Greek visitor of that time, who would recognize them immediately and connect them to their own local traditions.
Visitors reach the building after a short walk from the entrance to the archaeological site, just before the path begins to climb more steeply. You can walk around the reconstructed structure and examine the reliefs and inscriptions up close.
Two hymns from 128 BCE are carved on the walls with complete notation, among the oldest surviving pieces of written music in the world. You can still read the symbols, though only specialists can interpret them today.
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