Lindos Acropolis: The Impressive Doric Temple of Athena Lindia Enchants Visitors

The Acropolis of Lindos overlooks the eponymous traditional settlement and includes monuments from various historical periods, attracting thousands of visitors each year. Located atop a steep cliff approximately 116 meters high and 55 km from the city of Rhodes, it offers panoramic views of the Aegean Sea. During antiquity, the central worship site of the Lindos Acropolis was the temple of Athena Lindia, which remains its most significant attraction today. According to Greek mythology, when Danaos fled Egypt with his daughters, he landed in Lindos and was warmly welcomed by the locals. Before departing for Argos, he built the sanctuary of Athena Lindia and dedicated a statue to the goddess. While the exact date of the original temple’s construction is unknown, historical records indicate that Cleobulus, tyrant of Lindos and one of the Seven Sages of Antiquity, restored the temple in the 6th century B.C., only for it to be destroyed by fire around 342 B.C. Archaeologists believe the surviving parts of the Doric-style temple (tetrastyle amphiprostyle) were built in the 4th century B.C. In classical and Hellenistic times, the sanctuary of Athena Lindia gained Panhellenic fame, receiving dedications from renowned kings such as Alexander the Great, Ptolemy I Soter, Pyrrhus, and Philip V. During the peak of the Rhodian State, the acropolis was further enhanced with impressive Propylaea, Stoa, and walls. Notably, a relief of a trihemiolia dating to the 2nd century B.C. is preserved at the base of the archaeological site. Construction and restoration continued through Roman and Byzantine times, leaving examples that survive to this day. With the rise of Christianity, ancient temples were either converted into Christian ones or new churches were built. The Church of St. John, dating to the 13th/14th century, is believed to have been constructed on the ruins of a 5th-century church. The archaeological site took its final form during the Knights Hospitaller period, who shaped the castle by preserving and expanding earlier Byzantine fortifications. Even during the Ottoman era, the site was used as a fortress, though little interest was shown in its preservation. In the early 20th century, Danish archaeologists Kinch and Blinkenberg conducted research in southern Rhodes and at the Lindos Acropolis, with their findings now displayed at the Museum of Copenhagen. Following Italy’s occupation of Rhodes, Italian archaeologists conducted excavations across the island.