Altar of the Twelve Gods

The Altar of the Twelve Gods (also called the Sanctuary of the Twelve Gods), was an important altar and sanctuary at Athens, located in the northwest corner of the Classical Agora. The altar was set up by Pisistratus the Younger, (the grandson of the tyrant Pisistratus) during his archonship, in 522/1 BC. It marked the central point from which distances from Athens were measured and was a place of supplication and refuge. The exact identities of the twelve gods to whom the altar was dedicated is uncertain, but they were most likely substantially the same as the twelve Olympian gods represented on the east frieze of the Parthenon: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Dionysus, though there are reasons to suppose that Hestia may have been one of the twelve. It was formerly thought that during the Roman period, the altar became known as the Altar of Pity (Eleos); however, that altar is now believed to have been located further east in the Roman Agora. The altar was dismantled c. 267 AD.

The altar was set up by Pisistratus the Younger—the son of Hippias, and the grandson of the tyrant Pisistratus—during his archonship. The fifth-century historian Thucydides gives the following account of the dedication of the altar and its subsequent modification:

"Among others who thus held the annual archonship at Athens was Pisistratus, a son of the tyrant Hippias. He was named after his grandfather Pisistratus, and during his term of office he dedicated the altar of the Twelve Gods in the Agora, and another altar in the temple of the Pythian Apollo. The Athenian people afterwards added to one side of the altar in the Agora and so concealed the inscription upon it; but the other inscription on the altar of the Pythian Apollo may still be seen, although the letters are nearly effaced. It runs as follows: — 'Pisistratus the son of Hippias dedicated this memorial of his archonship in the sacred precinct of the Pythian Apollo.' The dedication has thus been dated to 522/1 BC, the most probable date for the archonship of Pisistratus the Younger, while the expansion of the Altar, noted by Thucydides above, has been dated to t

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