The $directory variable doesn't contain the correct value When I print the content of $directory in my theme's page--front.tpl.php, it outputs "modules/system."

This is not I want; I want to output "sites/all/mytheme/images/…." How can I do it?
if you want to find the folder of your theme you have to use something like this:

&lt;?php echo drupal_get_path('theme','your_theme').'/images/whateverfile.ext'; ?&gt;