Ancient Lindos is the birth place of the cult of a pre-hellenic deity, which later on becames Athena Lindia (Minerva). However, so far, the tradition has not been confirmed by archaeological evidence. Only sporadic finds have been brought to light from prehistoric times and from the Mycenaean period. In fact, the history of the sanctuary seems to begin in the Geometric period, during the 9 th century b.C. Later on, in the Archaic period, the cult was revived, thanks to Cleobulus, the tyrant of Lindos, who had constructed a big temple, probably on the place of an earlier one. This new temple had the same Doric tetrastyle amphiprostyle plan as the subsequent one. The temple of the Archaic period was destroyed by fire in 342 b.C. In the Roman period a priest of the temple, named Aghlohartos , planted olive trees on the spot and, according to an inscription, later on, in the 2 nd century A.D. it was built the Sanctuary of Psithyros, close to the Temple of Athena.