The quality of the individual pieces show considerable differences. The carefully modeled Heliosmetope and the Athena-metope are crafted with considerable skill. Other metopes, however, show only roughly laid out forms that suggest less skill and poor workshop.

Erected over the old Mycenean city of Troy, the newly established town of Ilium flourished until the establishment of Constantinople and gradually declined thereafter. In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes sacrificed 1,000 cattle at the sanctuary of Athena Ilias while marching towards Greece. During the Roman occupation of the area, the sanctuary of Athena Iliad was also set on fire, although The cult image of Athena miraculously survived this fire..

​

The temple of Athena was unearthed by Schliemann during his 1868 excavations of Troy. After Schliemann, the site was further excavated under the direction of Wilhelm Dörpfeld (1893–94) and later Carl Blegen (1932–38). 

The temple - reconstruction by H. Schleif - was oriented east-west and consisted of fine-grained, white marble with bluish veins. The temple was quaried over time, of which many fragments were found near the foundation: column drums, capitals, architraves, coffered stones, etc. Several architectural pieces were also found in the nearby cemeteries.