Long before the Athenians decided to transform the top of their acropolis into the religious center of their city-state, the Acropolis was occupied by the palace of the Mycenaean kings of Athens. There were no temples dedicated to the gods during the Mycenaean period. The altars were located in the palace courtyard and the king served as the supreme religious authority (in addition to his role as military and political leader). The palace occupied the plateau next to the present-day Erechtheion but all that survives is a couple of stone bases for wooden columns that once supported the palace roof. They are among the stones you see in front of the Caryatids