2 horses and 2 griffon busts found in the middle of the 2,600-year-old ruins of the Temple of Athena in the Phokaia Antique City in İzmir’s Foça district will meet with art lovers at the İzmir Archeology Museum after the repair works are completed.
The ongoing work on the Temple of Athena in the Ancient City of Phokaia, located in the ancient settlement of İzmir, Foça district, has come to an end. Experts from the İzmir Archeology Museum started to carry out conservation and repair work for the horse and griffon busts of 1 meter 30 centimeters and 1 meter 40 centimeters in length found in 2000.
Sculptures made of tuff stone, called “protome” and used as wall decorations, are in Izmir Archeology Museum this year after the work is completed. will be exhibited.
İzmir Archeology Museum Director Cengiz Topal, emphasizing that the Temple of Athena was placed on natural rock, said, “According to the information obtained from the excavations, it was a worship area belonging to the cult of Cybele before the 6th century BC. We know that temples were built after the 19th century and it was used as a temple of Athena in its last phase,” he said.
“TO BE EXHIBITED AFTER THE RESTORATION WORKS ARE COMPLETED”
Topal points out that the production phase of the first temple in Foça dates back to earlier than the other temples in Ephesus and the regions. He continued as follows:
“The Temple of Athena is in the foreground historically, but there is not much information about finds and ruins. As you can see, the modern Foça settlement is located completely above the ancient city of Phokaia. The ancient buildings were used in the past, the architectural elements there are other. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of data because it was used in buildings and that cult of belief has ended, but this does not lose anything from its historical cost, it is just visually missing. We started the works to repair the artifacts and display them in the Izmir Archaeological Museum. One of the griffons was completed quickly. The repair was completed immediately. It will meet with its visitors after the works are completed.”
