Delphi Treasury of Athens
placeThe marble treasury built by Athens at Delphi from Marathon spoils, the best-preserved building on the Sacred Way and a permanent advertisement of Athenian victory over Persia.
The Myth
The Treasury of the Athenians at Delphi was built around 490-480 BC from the spoils of the Battle of Marathon, where 10,000 Athenians defeated a much larger Persian force with the help (the Athenians believed) of Pan, Theseus, and the divine hero Echetlus. The small Doric temple stood on a prominent terrace along the Sacred Way, visible to every pilgrim ascending to Apollo's oracle. Its metopes depicted the labours of Heracles and the exploits of Theseus — Athenian heroes who symbolised courage against overwhelming odds. Inscriptions on the treasury walls recorded Athenian victories and honours. The building was reconstructed by French archaeologists in 1903-1906 using original blocks and is now the best-preserved structure at Delphi. It served as both a religious offering to Apollo and a political statement: Athens defeated the Persian Empire and wanted everyone visiting Delphi to know it.
Parents
Athens (builder)
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Athenian Treasury at Delphi was essentially a permanent billboard advertising Athens' military prowess to every visitor from across the Greek world. It carried inscribed hymns to Apollo — two of which, found in the 1890s, are the oldest substantial pieces of notated music to survive from ancient Greece. When they were performed in Athens in 1894, audiences heard melodies that had been silent for over 2,000 years. The treasury was a museum, a monument, and a jukebox.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Delphi
placeThe most important oracle in ancient Greece, where the Pythia delivered Apollo's prophecies. The...
Sacred Way (Delphi)
placeThe processional road ascending to Apollo's temple at Delphi, lined with treasuries and monuments...
Apollo
godGod of light, music, poetry, and prophecy. Apollo embodied the Greek ideal of youthful masculine...
Apollo (Light)
godApollo was the most complex Olympian — god of light, music, poetry, prophecy, healing, plague, and...
Apollo Loxias
godAn epithet of Apollo meaning "the Oblique One," referring to the deliberately ambiguous nature of...
Battle of Marathon (Myth)
conceptThe 490 BC battle where Athenian hoplites defeated Persia, believed by the Greeks to have been won...
Heracles
heroThe greatest hero of Greek mythology, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Famous for his...
Heracles (Labours)
heroHeracles performed twelve seemingly impossible labours as penance for killing his family in a...
Athens
placeAthens was the city sacred to Athena, birthplace of democracy, philosophy, drama, and Western...
Marathon
placeMarathon was the coastal plain northeast of Athens where the Athenians defeated a much larger...
Croton
placeA prosperous Greek colony in southern Italy famed for its athletes and as the home of Pythagoras's...
Mount Parnassus
placeMount Parnassus was the mountain above Delphi sacred to Apollo and the Muses — the symbolic home of...