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Location: Dionyslou Areopagitou,
Plaka, Athens
Tel. 210 321 0219
Subway: Acropolis
Bus: 230, 231
Open: 8am- 7:30pm daily Apr- Oct
8:30am- 3pm daily Nov- Mar
Closed: 1 Jan, 25 Mar, Easter, 1 May, 25, 26 Dec
Athenian Acropolis is the religious, cultural and political historic center of the ancient Greek capital. Athenian Acropolis, which literally means "a city on the edge" was central to religious and cultural life of the city. Most of construction date to the 5th century BC when Greek political leader Pericles persuaded his countrymen to start a construction of religious buildings on the hill overlooking the city. Parthenon was constructed in the 5th century BC and dedicated to Greek goddess Athena. According to a legend she had a bet with god Poseidon, ruler of seas, over ownership of the city and she won. Thus the city was named after her and protected by her. The Theatre of Dionysus (party- animal god of wine and getting plastered) was added in the 4th century on the South slope of the complex. Later Theatre of Herodes Atticus was added during Roman reign in the 2nd century AD.
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It was found that the hill was inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC.
There was a settlement there as it was a natural fort, with access only
from the western side, while the upper surface of the hill was wide
enough to be inhabited, on the slopes there were water sources. The
palace of the local lord stood on the site where the Erechtheion was
built many centuries later. Over time, the lord of the Acropolis
district gained great power and at some point united under his authority
in a peaceful way the whole of Attica with the exception of Eleusis.
Tradition says that the lord who united the settlements of Attica was
Theseus. This event is placed in the second half of the second
millennium before Christ. The risk of enemy raids forced this ruler to
fortify the Acropolis with a wall of large stones, known later as the
Cyclopean Wall.
The institution of hereditary monarchy was
abolished after the failed invasion of the Dorians (11th century). The
landowning class takes power and the aristocratic polity prevails. The
Acropolis ceases to be an administrative center. The administration is
exercised by the lower city, the asty. The hill of the Acropolis is now
used as a place of religious ceremonies, although until the 4th century
it was called "polis". Where the palace of the ruler of the Mycenaean
times was originally located, a small temple was rebuilt in the 8th
century dedicated to the patroness of the city, Athena Poliada. This
temple is mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey, but also in the Iliad (B
546-549).
In this temple was kept a wooden statue of the goddess
(xoanon) made of olive wood, which, according to tradition, had fallen
from the sky. Near the temple were the tomb of Cecrops, the olive tree
of Athena, the Erechthean sea, traces of the blow of Poseidon's trident.
Two stone bases remained from that temple near the southern wall of the
Erechtheion. The wooden columns of the porch of the old church rested on
these bases.
From the 6th c. e.g. the sanctuaries of the
Athenians began to be built on it, such as Hecatombedon, which were
destroyed during the Persian wars. The temple of Athena was rebuilt much
larger. The Ekatompedon, Ekatompedos neos, was built shortly before the
middle of the 6th century and got its name because it was 100 Attic feet
long. It was dedicated to Pallas Athena, the protector of the city in
wars, while the other temple, that of Poliados, was dedicated to Athena,
protector of the fertility of the earth and people. The Ekatompedon
probably stood where the Parthenon was later built and must have been a
Doric pavilion temple. In the Ekatompedon it seems that a preserved
large pediment with lions devouring a bull belonged to it, flanked by
two representations: with Hercules facing the sea demon Triton and with
the so-called three-body demon, holding the symbols of the three
elements of nature, i.e. water, of fire and air. Inscriptions and
fragments of sculptures have been found which show that in the archaic
period there were smaller buildings on the Acropolis, the "houses",
where money and valuable objects were kept. The existence of five such
buildings has been determined by archaeological research.
During
the time of Peisistratos in the Acropolis there were many statues,
bronze or marble, vases etc. that the citizens dedicated to Athena.
The rebuilding of the walls and sanctuaries began immediately after
the defeat of the Persians, in 465 BC, in the era of Pericles. Under the
supervision of Pheidias and the architects Mnisicles, Kallikrates and
Callimachus, the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Propylaia and the
temple of Athena or Aptero Nike were built and decorated.
A few
minor buildings were added during the Roman period. During the Byzantine
era, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church. During the
Frankish rule it became a Catholic church, while during the Turkish rule
it became a mosque.
During the Turkish rule, the Acropolis
suffered the most damage. The Turks had stored gunpowder on it and
caused its monuments to be destroyed. In 1645 a bolt of lightning that
struck the gunpowder blew up the Propylaia. In 1687, when the Acropolis
was besieged by the Venetian Morosini, one of the bombs fell on the
gunpowder stored in the Parthenon and destroyed the temple.
Extensive destruction was caused by the Scottish Lord Elgin shortly
before the Revolution of 1821. He had the frieze of the Parthenon,
metopes, pediments, a Caryatid and a column of the Erechtheion torn
down, which he transported to England. For all this he paid 35000 pounds
to the Turks and to the Athenians he donated a clock, which was set up
in the ancient market. During the Revolution of 1821, the Acropolis was
successively besieged by Greeks and Turks and suffered new disasters. In
1834, archaeological work began to restore its monuments.
This monumental entrance to the Acropolis began to be built in 436
BC. after the completion of the Parthenon, based on plans by the
architect Mnisiklis. This building is divided into three parts. In the
center is a long temple-shaped building with a high pediment and the
appearance of a Doric temple. To the right and left of it are built by a
wing that resemble Doric temples without a pediment, but have a gabled
roof.
The central building is something unique in ancient Greek
architecture. Six Doric columns adorn the facade. The columns get
thinner as they go from the base to the top. Above them rested an
undecorated pediment. The main space is divided into three aisles by two
rows of Ionic columns (three on each side).
The Propylaea was
never completed. In 431 BC the Peloponnesian War began and the work
stopped. In 429 BC Pericles died and his successors showed no interest
in continuing the project.
Temple of Athena or Aptero Niki
It
is a small all-marble temple, which began to be built between 427 and
424 BC. with the architect Kallikratis. It is a four-pillared
amphiprostyle temple of the Ionic style, built on a platform with four
steps. He has no chance. Inside his nave was a statue of Athena Nike,
holding a helmet in her left hand and a pomegranate in her right, which
is a symbol of the gods of the underworld. The frieze and gables of the
temple had sculptural representations. Around 421 - 415 BC the temple
was surrounded by a continuous shield 1.05 m high, which on its outer
surface represented reliefs of Winged Victory preparing a sacrifice for
Athena. In 1687 the Turks destroyed the temple and with its
architectural members strengthened their fortifications.
The Parthenon is the largest and most official building of the
Acropolis and has been attracting the admiration of the whole world for
centuries now. Work on the construction of this all-marble temple of
Athena began in 447 BC. under the direction of the architects Iktinos
and Kallikratis. The temple was completed in 438 BC. and during the
Panathenaia of the following year it was dedicated to the patron
goddess. Nevertheless, the works continued until 432 BC. It is a Doric
temple with eight columns on the narrow sides and seventeen on the long
sides. The columns are 10.5 m high and on them rest the thrigos (ports),
the metopes, the triglyphs, the cornices and the pediments. The nave was
built entirely of marble stones in horizontal rows and on each narrow
side it had six Doric columns, which divided it into two parts: the main
temple and the back building. The frieze on the walls of the nave had
representations of the Panathenaic procession.
The main temple
inside was divided into three parts; this was done by two vertical Doric
columns. The middle of the three parts was the widest and in it was set
up on a pedestal the famous chryselephantine statue of the Virgin
Athena, which Phidias had completed and installed in 438 BC. in his
place. The 92 metopes inside were in relief and represented various
mythological themes: Giant Battle, Amazon Battle, Centaur Battle and
episodes from the fall of Troy.
For centuries, Greek architects
have never stopped working to elevate a temple from a simple functional
building to an aesthetic creation. The Parthenon stands at the top of
all ancient buildings precisely for this reason.
Let's examine
one by one the elements of this aesthetic superiority: a) The placement
in the space. Leaving the Propylaea, the visitor saw not the front of
the temple but its entire body, giving it its "eumetry", i.e. the
equivalent weighing of its width to its length and height. b) The three
longitudinal divisions of a temple (the krapidoma, the colonnade and the
thrigos) have the most harmonious relationship that Greek art has ever
known. The German Hoffner and the Englishman Pennethorne were the first
to establish that the steps of the Parthenon are curved. The steps swell
towards the center, on the long sides by a total of 0.11m, and on the
narrow sides by 0.06m, forming the "excessive" so-called curves. These
superimposed curves give the impression that the temple has taken a deep
breath before standing in the space. c) In contrast, the walls and
colonnade, which form the second highest division of the building, slope
inwards in such a way that the building forms the base of a large
pyramid. The corner columns are naturally double-sloped, that is, they
lean inward when viewed from both the short and long sides of the
building. d) Diminution - Intensification - Pacing: "Diminution" is the
thinning of the thickness of the columns upwards. This reduction is not
uniform and follows a peculiar curve. At about 2/5 of the height of the
column there is an opposite movement, which looks like a swelling and
was called "tension", precisely because it was intended to give the
impression that the column is intensifying its strength, to hold the
weight of the threshing floor. But the "pacing" of the columns is also
very careful. No distance between the columns is exactly the same and
furthermore the distances between the corner columns and their neighbors
are greater than between the intermediate columns. All these subtleties,
which are not immediately apparent to the eye, sought to ensure for the
building a life of its own but also a hidden harmony. Thus the Parthenon
constitutes a work of complex calculations, which proves how advanced
mathematical science was, but also how high the demands of the public of
that time were.
According to mythology, Athena and Poseidon fought at this point for
the sovereignty of the city. The sea god Poseidon struck the rock with
his trident and sea water gushed forth. In turn, Athena struck with her
spear and the olive grew. The gods who were judges gave the victory to
Athena. The Athenians, however, wanting to reconcile the two opposing
gods, consecrated them from a sanctuary under the same roof. Thus was
built the most peculiar of the Acropolis buildings in terms of
architectural design. At this point, according to mythology, King
Erechtheus, who was later identified with Poseidon, had his residence.
That is why the temple took its name from the mythological king of
Athens. The temple was built between 425 and 406 BC. with plans by the
architect Callimachus and is one of the masterpieces of the Ionic style.
Internally the temple was divided into two parts. The eastern part
towards the facade belonged to Athena, the other to Poseidon. In the
sanctuary of Athena was her xoano, a statue of her made of olive wood,
which was believed to have fallen from the sky. In the sanctuary of
Poseidon, where one descends with twelve steps, the roof that has come
off in one place and the three holes in the rock of the floor, were
caused by the blow of the god's trident, as the ancients believed. But
the most famous part of the Erechtheion is the "Prostasis of the
Daughters", the famous Caryatids. The Caryatids were beautiful daughters
from the Caryas of Laconia. It is a covered balcony, the roof of which
is supported not by columns, but by six statues of Virgins of
extraordinary art.
Of the many other monuments that existed on the sacred rock of the
Acropolis, the best known and most important are briefly mentioned:
The Bravronion, which was one of the oldest sanctuaries of the
Acropolis. It was built perhaps in 459 BC. Its remains are preserved in
the SE corner of the Propylaea. It was dedicated to Brauronia Artemis.
The statue of Athena Promachus, the work of Pheidias (450 BC) from the
tenth of the booty taken by the Athenians after the battle of Marathon.
At the site of this colossal bronze statue, traces of its pedestal are
still preserved.
The Arriphorion, home of the Arriphoros, two little
girls who were responsible for the transport of the Sacred Vessels
during the Arriphoria as well as for the weaving of Athena's Veil, which
was handed over during the Panathenaia.
Agrippa's Gulf.
Among all
these a Roman building: the Temple of Rome and Augustus on the east side
of the Parthenon. It was built between 17 - 10 BC. in honor of the
goddess Rome and the emperor Augustus, whom the Romans worshiped as a
god.
Byzantine period
On the southern wall and above the
center of the theater of Dionysos is a cave where in ancient times the
tripod of the sponsored monument of Thrassylus was supported. In the
Christian period, from a place dedicated to the god Dionysus, it was
transformed into a Christian chapel of Panagia Spiliotissa.
Newer
buildings
In addition to the remains of newer facilities, mainly
Byzantine-post-Byzantine, there is also the building of the now old
Acropolis Museum. It is on the rock, at its low SE end. It is oriented
E-W and is founded so that it is not visible and does not aesthetically
damage the ancient monuments. It was built from 1865 to 1874, in a study
by the architect Panagis Kalkos. The Museum includes only the stone
sculptures from the monuments and excavations of the Acropolis area.
Restoration of the Acropolis
The restoration program began in
1975 and is nearing completion. The purpose of the restoration was to
reverse the image of centuries of decay, with decay, pollution and
destruction resulting from military use and ill-advised restorations in
the past. The project involved the collection and identification of all
rock fragments, even the smallest ones, from the Acropolis and its
slopes and its purpose was to reconstruct most of the fragments using
the original materials (restoration), with new marble fragments from the
Pentels to be used sparingly. The entire restoration process was done
using titanium fasteners and is designed to be reversible should the
scientists decide to change things. A combination of modern technology
and extensive research was used, as well as reinventing ancient
techniques.
The colonnade of the Parthenon, which was largely
destroyed by Venetian bombardment in the 17th century, was restored,
while many incorrectly assembled columns were correctly placed. The
ceiling and floor of the Propylaea were replaced in parts, with parts of
the ceiling constructed with new marble and decorated with blue and gold
interstitials, as they were originally. The restoration of the Temple of
Athena Nike was completed in 2010.
A total of 2,675 tons of
architectural sections were restored with 686 marble sections
reassembled with original sections, 905 composited with new marble
sections, and 186 sections constructed entirely from new marble. A total
of 530 cubic meters of new Pentelic marble were used.
Every four years, the Athenians held the Panathenaic festival, which
rivaled the Olympics in popularity. During the festival, a procession
(believed to be depicted on the Parthenon frieze) wandered through the
city via Panathenaion Street and culminated at the Acropolis. There, a
new woolen robe (veil) was placed either on the statue of Athena Poliada
in the Erechtheion (at the regular Panathenaia) or on the statue of
Athena Parthenos (during the Great Panathenaia, held every four years).
In the late Western Civilization tradition and the Classical Revival
the Acropolis, at least from the mid-18th century onwards, has often
been invoked as the key symbol of Greek heritage and glory from
Classical Greece.
By rail
The Acropolis has a metro station, on line 2 which is
located southeast of the Propylaea, at the New Museum of the Acropolis
of Athens.
By bus
At the junction of Dionysios Aeropagitou and
Robertou Gali streets, south of the Acropolis, there is a stop for bus
line 230 ACROPOLIS - ZOGRFOU of OASA.
By road (on foot)
The
entrance to the Acropolis is on Theoria Street, which can be accessed
from Plaka as well as from Dionysiou Aeropagitou Street.