A statue of Athena, the Greek goddess of war and wisdom, was recently discovered during excavations in the ancient city of Laodicea on the Lycus near Denizli, the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry announced on Thursday.

Standing at approximately two meters tall and missing its head, the statue was found lying face down in rubble along the postskene (exterior facade) of Laodicea’s Western Theatre’s stage building.

Made entirely of white marble, Athena is depicted as wearing a sleeveless peplos garment and a cape (“hylamis”) around her neck. Across her chest is the famed aegis, displaying the snake-covered head of Medusa.

Based on the statue's artistic style, archaeologists have dated it to the reign of the first Roman Emperor Augustus, who ruled between 27 BCE and 14 CE.

While the back of the statue is thought to have been left rough and unpolished due to the statue’s placement between the theater’s columns, the artistry put into Athena’s garments points towards the hands of a skilled sculptor.

Several other sculptures relating to scenes from Homer’s epics have been discovered in the theater over the past few years. The stage building, itself dating to the second century BCE, also held statues of the Greek pantheon stationed between its columns.

“This structure, which served as the backdrop for Homeric epics, reveals that it was also a center of cultural expression in antiquity,” Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said in his post. “While the artifact, reflecting the classical style of the Augustan Period, stands out for its high artistic quality.”

Founded by Antiochus II Theos in honor of his wife, Laodice, between 261 and 253 BCE, Laodicea lies in the ancient region of Phrygia in west-central Anatolia (modern-day Turkey).

Later, in 220 BCE, Achaeus, the Greek Seleucid general, declared himself ruler of the region. However, seven years later, he was overthrown by Antiochus III, also known as Antiochus the Great.

According to Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus (who lived from 37 to 100 CE), Antiochus III transported 2,000 Jewish families from Babylon to Phrygia, where they eventually settled in Laodicea and the ancient city of Apamea.

Excavations of Laodicea have been ongoing since the early 2000s, overseen primarily by Turkey’s Pamukkale University.

The city has been on Turkey’s Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2013, where it is noted to be “one of the largest and most important archaeological sites in Turkey today.”