In Greek and Roman times Troia was an important religious center, as we know from the ancient sources and from the excavation results. The sanctuary in front of you was perhaps founded as early as the first quarter of the seventh century BC. It was dug into the ruins of the lower town of Troia VI and VII and these Archaic seem te have included altars, walled precincts and large buildings, perhaps temples. Best preserved is the altar in the so-called Lower Sanctuary. It is not known to which god or gods the Archaic Sanctuary was dedicated, but it remained in use throughout the Hellenistic period and long into Roman Imperial times, albeit not without complete alteration.
In the middle of the Third Century BC a new and lavishly decorated building was constructed to the side of two open air precincts (the Upper and Lower Sanctuaries). The interior of the building featured painted plaster and a pebble mosaic with a cutting in the floor for a torch and the base of a statue. During the first half of the second century this Mosaic Building was dismantled and two new temples were built side by side. The elaborate decoration within the Mosaic Building indicates that religious activity occurred inside, as does the existence of the torch base. Such a layout suggests that the sanctuary was associated with secret rites, and this identification is consistent with the plans of the Lower and Upper Sanctuaries. The exterior walls of both precincts were nearly four meters high, which indicates that sacrifices at the altars were screened off from the uninitiated. The Sanctuary was built at a site where the island of Samothrace can easily be seen, and it seems that likely that this is the Sanctuary of the Samothracian gods mentioned in Trojan inscriptions [several finds are mentioned stressing this hypothesis]. The Sanctuary suffered severely in the destruction of Ilion by Fimbria in 85 BC. As a part of a later reconstruction, instigated by the Emperor Augustus (81 BC-14 AD), a new altar was built at a higher elevation. Beside it are the stepped foundations of what was probably a grandstand used for viewing religious ceremonies.
The cult buildings built over earlier strata from Troia VII and VI protected them, so they are now being excavated (in the background of the terrain on the pictures).