Sanctuary
In Greek and Roman times Troia was an important religious centre, as we know from the ancient sources and from the excavation results.

The sanctuary in front was perhaps founded as early as the first quarter of the seventh century BCE. In was dug into the ruins of the lower town of Troia VI and VII and these Archaic remains seem to have included altars, walled precincts and large buildings, p[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 BCE 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 Upper and Lower Sanctuaries. The exterior walls of both precincts were nearly four metres high, which indicates that sacrifices at the altars were screened of from the uninitiated. The sanctuary was built at a site where the island of Samothrace can easily be seen, and it seems likely that this is the Sanctuary of the Samothracian gods mentioned in Trojan inscriptions.

Excavation next to the Lower Sanctuary yielded a cup rim inscribed with the word “Melite”, which according to Strabo was the ancient word for Samothrace. There was also an abundance of finds associated with Cybele and Dardanos, who figured prominently in the Samothracian mysteries. The gods came to be associated with the Penates (guardian spirits) of Aeneas in the Hellenistic period and a Samothracian sanctuary at Troia would have complemented the Trojans’ attempts to emphasize their legendary ties to Rome.

The Sanctuary suffered severely in the destruction of Ilion by Fimbria in 85 BCE. As a part of a later reconstruction, instigated by the Emperor Augustus (31 BCE – CE 14), 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.

In the background you can see one of the new excavation areas. Here there are additional sections of the sanctuary coming to light, but also, importantly, a stratified sequence from the settlement around the citadel of Troia VII and VI, and even earlier. This sequence, which must have spanned the entire Second Millennium BCE, was preserved by the cult-buildings built over it.