The Greatest Ancient Archaeological Wonders in Greece
5 places · updated 14 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the greatest ancient archaeological wonders in Greece are Knossos, Parthenon and Odeon of Herodes Atticus. The list covers 5 ancient archaeological wonders. Last updated 14 October 2026.
Greece holds the ruins of two civilisations that shaped Europe: the Bronze Age palace cultures of Crete and the mainland, and the city-states of the classical age that invented the temple order, the theatre and the democratic assembly. Limestone and marble last well in a dry climate, and many sanctuaries stood on hills or remote slopes, so columns, stage seats and foundations still rise where they were built rather than in museum halls.
Knossos on Crete is the great Minoan palace, a maze of courts, storerooms and painted halls excavated by Arthur Evans from 1900. On the Acropolis of Athens the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena in the fifth century BC, remains the model of the Doric temple, while the Odeon of Herodes Atticus below it is a Roman-era stone theatre of the second century AD, built by a wealthy Athenian in memory of his wife and still used for performances.
Beyond Athens, the Temple of Apollo Epicurius stands alone in the Arcadian mountains at Bassae and was the first site in Greece added to the UNESCO list. On the island of Aegina, the Temple of Aphaia keeps much of its Doric colonnade from around 500 BC, and its pediment sculptures, now in Munich, mark the turn from archaic to classical style.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knossos | Archaeological site | |
| 2 | Parthenon | Ruins | ✓ |
| 3 | Odeon of Herodes Atticus | Roman theatre | |
| 4 | Temple of Apollo Epicurius in Bassae | Ruins | ✓ |
| 5 | Temple of Aphaia, Aegina | Ruins |
01 Knossos
Κνωσός
Greece · 4.2 km from Heraklion35.298° N 25.163° E
Image by davestem from Pixabay Knossos, on Kephala hill 5 km south of the centre of Heraklion, was the greatest centre of Minoan Crete and is often described as Europe's oldest city. People settled on the hill around 7000 BC, and by about 1900 BC they had built the first palace: a multi-storey complex around a central court, covering roughly 20,000 m², with storerooms, workshops, shrines and halls of state.
Did you know? The Throne Room, built in the 15th century BC, is considered the oldest throne room in Europe, and its alabaster seat the oldest stone throne on the continent.
02 Parthenon
Παρθενώνας
Greece · 1.6 km from Athens37.972° N 23.727° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by nonbirinonko from Pixabay The Parthenon looks perfectly straight only because almost nothing about it actually is.
Did you know? On 26 September 1687 a Venetian mortar round hit gunpowder stored inside by the Ottoman garrison, and the blast killed about 300 people.
03 Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Ωδείο Ηρώδου του Αττικού
Greece · 1.7 km from Athens37.971° N 23.725° E
Image by 2770862 from Pixabay Built into the southwest slope of the Acropolis, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus shows Athens the Roman way: a steep semicircle of marble seats facing a stage building whose three-storey wall of arched openings still rises about 28 metres against the rock. Herodes Atticus, a rich Athenian orator and patron, completed it in AD 161 in memory of his Roman wife, Aspasia Annia Regilla, and gave it to the city.
Did you know? In 1973 the ancient theatre hosted the Miss Universe pageant, broadcast around the world from the foot of the Acropolis.
04 Temple of Apollo Epicurius in Bassae
Ναός Επικούριου Απόλλωνα
Greece37.430° N 21.900° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Jean Housen · CC BY-SA 4.0 On a bare limestone shoulder of Mount Kotilion, more than 1,100 metres up in the wild hills where ancient Arcadia met Messenia, stands one of the best-preserved temples of classical Greece. Its name, Bassai, means roughly a little vale among the rocks, and the setting is exactly that: grey stone, oak scrub and a long view over ridges towards the sea.
Did you know? Bassae became the first Greek site on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986.
05 Temple of Aphaia, Aegina
Ναός της Αφαίας
Greece · 26.2 km from Piraeus37.754° N 23.533° E
Image by aled7 from Pixabay On a hilltop in the east of Aegina, an island in the Saronic Gulf, the Doric columns of the Temple of Aphaia still stand around their cella, though the roof is long gone. Built around 500 BC, the temple is remarkable for an unusual plan and above all for its pediment sculptures, which capture the moment when Greek art was turning from the Archaic to the Early Classical style.
Did you know? Proposed construction dates for the surviving temple range from 510 to 470 BC, with around 500 BC most widely favoured.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the greatest ancient archaeological wonders in Greece?
- On our list, Knossos ranks first, followed by Parthenon and Odeon of Herodes Atticus.
- Who excavated Knossos?
- The British archaeologist Arthur Evans began excavating Knossos in 1900 and gave the name Minoan to the Bronze Age civilisation he uncovered. His partial reconstructions in concrete are still part of the site.
- When was the Parthenon built?
- The Parthenon was built between 447 and 432 BC under Pericles, with Ictinus and Callicrates as architects and Phidias overseeing the sculpture. It was dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the patron goddess of Athens.
- Why is the Temple of Apollo at Bassae special?
- Set high in the mountains of Arcadia, it combines Doric, Ionic and Corinthian elements in one building and is attributed to Ictinus, an architect of the Parthenon. In 1986 it became the first monument in Greece inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
- How many ancient archaeological wonders are on this list in Greece?
- The list covers 5 ancient archaeological wonders.