Dodona flourished during the reign of King Pyrrhus. He was an ambitious ruler who wished to emulate Alexander the Great by creating an empire to the west of Greece. He followed a successful expansionist policy that enabled him to finance grandiose projects throughout Epirus. He made Dodona the religious center of his kingdom and initiated a major building programme. He enlarged the temple of Zeus, he constructed the bouleuterion, he built two temples to Hercules and to Aphrodite, and he erected the large theater. He also fortified the city (on the acropolis, still unexcavated) by a circuit wall.