The Temple of Ares was a Doric hexastyle peripteral temple dedicated to Ares, located in the northern part of the Ancient Agora of Athens. Fragments from the temple found throughout the Agora enable a full, if tentative, reconstruction of the temple's appearance and sculptural programme. The temple had a large altar to the east and was surrounded by statues. A terrace to the north looked down on the Panathenaic Way. The northwest corner of the temple overlays one of the best-preserved Mycenaean tombs in the Agora, which was in use from ca. 1450-1000 BC.
The temple was originally located at Pallene (modern Gerakas), where it was dedicated to Athena Pallenis and - probably - Apollo. It is one of four temples by the "Theseum architect" and was probably built around 440-436 or 430-425 BC. It is the largest of several "itinerant temples," which were relocated to the Athenian Agora in the age of Augustus. The roof of the temple was spoliated in the second half of the second century AD to build the post-Herulian fortification wall. The sculptures were systematically defaced by Christians in the fifth century AD and the remains of the structure were demolished in the sixth century AD.
The foundations in the Agora were excavated in 1937, with some further work in 1951, after which they were reburied for their protection. Architectural fragments and sculpture have been found scattered throughout the Agora in secondary use. The original foundations remain in situ at Pallene, where they were excavated between 1994 and 1997.
Temple of Athena Pallenis
The temple originally stood in the sanctuary of Athena Pallenis, where foundations of a temple have been found that match the dimensions of the temple in the Agora. These foundations are located on the corner of Androutsou and Zalougou streets at modern Stavros in Gerakas, a northeastern suburb of Athens, the location of the ancient deme of Pallene. This site is at the base of Keraies hill, which is named by Euripides as the "sacred hill of Athena Pallenis." The foundations are oriented northwest-southeast, so that they align almost perfectly with Delos. They are 16.35 metres wide and 35.25 metres long. The southwest and northwest corners of the building are lost and much of the western side of the temple has remained unexcavated because it is under a residential dwelling. The ground is sloped and as a result, the foundations are over 2.53 metres deep at the west end, but only 1 metre deep in parts of the east end. The foundation consists of a series foundation walls which underlay the walls and columns of the superstructure. These foundation walls sit on top of the bedrock. They show that it was a hexastyle Doric temple whose columns, walls, and steps had the same dimensions as the Temple of Ares in the Agora. At the west end of the temple, two small marble fragments were found - one from a broken lion-headed waterspout and the other a narrow piece of marble from the stylobate. No other traces of the superstructure were found, strongly suggesting that the whole structure had been removed and rebuilt elsewhere.
The Temple of Athena Pallenis at Pallene is mentioned in a range of literary and epigraphic sources. Athena was associated with Pallene in several Greek myths, including the slaying of Pallas during the Gigantomachy and the birth of Erichthonius. The mythical king Eurystheus is said to have been buried in front of the temple. The deme had also been the site of Theseus' victory over his cousins, the Pallantidae, which formed the first step in his legendary unification of Attica.
The sanctuary was a key religious site for the four neighbouring demes of Pallene, Acharnae, Gargettus, and Paeania, which together formed a league. The alignment of the temple with Delos and the sculptures of the pronaos and opisthodomos indicate that Apollo was worshipped here alongside Athena. Ares, on the other hand, was not associated with the temple in any way at this stage. Based on features of the superstructure found in the Agora, William Bell Dinsmoor dated the Classical temple to ca. 440-436 BC. Based on features of the sculpture, Andrew Stewart et al. place it ca. 430-425 BC and propose that it was erected in response to the Plague of Athens.