Acropolis of Athens
UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
---|---|
Location | Athens, Attica, Greece |
Criteria | Cultural: i, ii, iii, iv, vi |
Reference | 404 |
Area | 3.04 ha |
Buffer zone | 116.71 ha |
Coordinates | 37°58′18″N 23°43′34″E / 37.97167°N 23.72611°E |
The Acropolis of Athens (
While there is evidence that the hill was inhabited as early as the fourth millennium BC, it was Pericles (c. 495–429 BC) in the fifth century BC who coordinated the construction of the buildings whose present remains are the site's most important ones, including the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike.[2][3] The Parthenon and the other buildings were seriously damaged during the 1687 siege by the Venetians during the Morean War when gunpowder being stored by the then Turkish rulers in the Parthenon was hit by a Venetian bombardment and exploded.[4]
History
Early settlement
The Acropolis is located on a flattish-topped rock that rises 150 m (490 ft) above sea level in the city of Athens, with a surface area of about 3 ha (7.4 acres). While the earliest artifacts date to the Middle Neolithic era, there have been documented habitations in Attica from the Early Neolithic period (6th millennium BC).
There is little doubt that a
Archaic Acropolis
Not much is known about the architectural appearance of the Acropolis until the
A temple to Athena Polias, the tutelary deity of the city, was erected between 570 and 550 BC. This Doric limestone building, from which many relics survive, is referred to as the Hekatompedon (Greek for "hundred–footed"), Ur-Parthenon (German for "original Parthenon" or "primitive Parthenon"), H–Architecture or Bluebeard temple, after the pedimental three-bodied man-serpent sculpture, whose beards were painted dark blue. Whether this temple replaced an older one or just a sacred precinct or altar is not known. Probably, the Hekatompedon was built where the Parthenon now stands.[14]
Between 529 and 520 BC yet another temple was built by the Pisistratids, the Old Temple of Athena, usually referred to as the Arkhaios Neōs (ἀρχαῖος νεώς, "ancient temple"). This temple of Athena Polias was built upon the Dörpfeld foundations,[15] between the Erechtheion and the still-standing Parthenon. The Arkhaios Neōs was destroyed as part of the Achaemenid destruction of Athens during the Second Persian invasion of Greece during 480–479 BC; however, the temple was probably reconstructed during 454 BC, since the treasury of the Delian League was transferred in its opisthodomos. The temple may have been burnt down during 406/405 BC as Xenophon mentions that the old temple of Athena was set afire. Pausanias does not mention it in his 2nd century AD Description of Greece.[16]
Around 500 BC the Hekatompedon was dismantled to make place for a new grander building, the
The Periclean building program
After winning at
During 437 BC,
Construction of the elegant temple of
During the same period, a combination of sacred precincts including the temples of Athena Polias,
Behind the Propylaea, Phidias' gigantic bronze statue of
Hellenistic and Roman Period
During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, many of the existing buildings in the area of the Acropolis were repaired to remedy damage from age and occasionally war.
During the
During the 3rd century, under threat from a Herulian invasion, repairs were made to the Acropolis walls, and the Beulé Gate was constructed to restrict entrance in front of the Propylaea, thus returning the Acropolis to use as a fortress.[31]
Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Period
During the
After the
During subsequent years, the Acropolis was a site of bustling human activity with many Byzantine, Frankish, and Ottoman structures. The dominant feature during the Ottoman period was a mosque inside the Parthenon, complete with a minaret.
The Acropolis was besieged thrice during the
Independent Greece
After independence, most features that dated from the Byzantine, Frankish, and Ottoman periods were cleared from the site in an attempt to restore the monument to its original form, "cleansed" of all later additions.[42] The Parthenon mosque was demolished in 1843, and the Frankish Tower in 1875. German Neoclassicist architect Leo von Klenze was responsible for the restoration of the Acropolis in the 19th century, according to German historian Wolf Seidl, as described in his book Bavarians in Greece.[43]
Some antiquities from the Acropolis were exhibited in the old Acropolis Museum, which was built in the second half of the 19th century.[44]
At the beginning of the Axis occupation of Greece in 1941, German soldiers raised the Nazi German War Flag over the Acropolis. It would be taken down by Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas in one of the first acts of resistance. In 1944 Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou arrived on the Acropolis to celebrate liberation from the Nazis.
Archaeological remains
The entrance to the Acropolis was a monumental gateway termed the Propylaea. To the south of the entrance is the tiny Temple of Athena Nike. At the centre of the Acropolis is the Parthenon or Temple of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). East of the entrance and north of the Parthenon is the temple known as the Erechtheum. South of the platform that forms the top of the Acropolis there are also the remains of the ancient, though often remodelled, Theatre of Dionysus. A few hundred metres away, there is the now partially reconstructed Odeon of Herodes Atticus.[45]
All the valuable ancient artifacts are situated in the Acropolis Museum, which resides on the southern slope of the same rock, 280 metres from the Parthenon.[46]
Site plan
Site plan of the Acropolis at Athens showing the major archaeological remains.
- Parthenon
- Old Temple of Athena
- Erechtheum
- Statue of Athena Promachos
- Propylaea
- Temple of Athena Nike
- Eleusinion
- Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia or Brauroneion
- Chalkotheke
- Pandroseion
- Arrephorion
- Altar of Athena
- Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus
- Sanctuary of Pandion
- Odeon of Herodes Atticus
- Stoa of Eumenes
- Sanctuary of Asclepius or Asclepieion
- Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus
- Odeon of Pericles
- Temenos of Dionysus Eleuthereus
- Mycenaean fountain
The Acropolis Restoration Project
The Acropolis Restoration Project began in 1975 to reverse the decay of centuries of attrition, pollution, destruction from military actions, and misguided past restorations. The project included the collection and identification of all stone fragments, even small ones, from the Acropolis and its slopes, and the attempt was made to restore as much as possible using reassembled original material (anastylosis), with new marble from Mount Pentelicus used sparingly. All restoration was made using titanium dowels and is designed to be completely reversible, in case future experts decide to change things. A combination of cutting-edge modern technology and extensive research and reinvention of ancient techniques were used.[47]
The Parthenon colonnades, largely destroyed by Venetian bombardment during the 17th century, were restored, with many wrongly assembled columns now properly placed. The roof and floor of the Propylaea were partly restored, with sections of the roof made of new marble and decorated with blue and gold inserts, as in the original.[47] Restoration of the Temple of Athena Nike was completed in 2010.[48]
A total of 2,675 tons of architectural members were restored, with 686 stones reassembled from fragments of the originals, 905 patched with new marble, and 186 parts made entirely of new marble. A total of 530 cubic meters of new Pentelic marble were used.[49]
In 2021, the addition of new reinforced concrete paths to the site to improve accessibility caused controversy among archaeologists.[50]
Cultural significance
Every four years, the Athenians had a festival called the Great Panathenaea that rivaled the Olympic Games in popularity. During the festival, a procession (believed to be depicted on the Parthenon frieze) traveled through the city via the Panathenaic Way and culminated on the Acropolis. There, a new robe of woven wool (peplos) was placed on either the statue of Athena Polias in the Erechtheum (during the annual Lesser Panathenaea) or the statue of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon (during the Great Panathenaea, held every four years).[51]
Within the later tradition of
Most of the artifacts from the temple are housed today in the Acropolis Museum at the foot of the ancient rock.
Geology
The Acropolis is a
Many of the hills in the Athens region were formed by the erosion of the same nappe as the Acropolis. These include the hills of
The marble used for the buildings of the Acropolis was sourced from the quarries of Mount Pentelicus, a mountain to the northeast of the city.
Geological instability
The limestone that the Acropolis is built upon is unstable because of the erosion and tectonic shifts that the region is prone to. This instability can cause rock slides that cause damage to the historic site. Various measures have been implemented to protect the site including retaining walls, drainage systems, and rock bolts. These measures work to counter the natural processes that threaten the historic site.
Gallery
-
Marble seats at the Theatre of Dionysus inscribed with names.
-
Pergamene column at the Stoa of Eumenes.
-
Temple of Asclepius.
-
North Portico of the Erechtheion, where a coffer is missing, signifying the supposed place where Zeus struck his lightning bolt, killing Erechtheus. Another belief is that this was the location where Poseidon struck his trident into the Acropolis.
See also
References
Notes
- ^ acro-. (n.d.). In Greek, Acropolis means "Highest City". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved September 29, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Quote: "[From Greek akros, extreme; see ak- in Indo-European roots.]"
- ^ Hurwit 2000, p. 87
- ^ "History" Archived 2019-10-24 at the Wayback Machine, Odysseus. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ Nicholas Reeves and Dyfri Williams, "The Parthenon in Ruins" Archived 2009-08-06 at the Wayback Machine, British Museum Magazine 57 (spring/summer 2007), pp. 36–38. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ISBN 978-1-134-22782-2.
- ^ Iakovidis, Spyros (2006). The Mycenaean Acropolis of Athens. Athens: The Archaeological Society at Athens. pp. 197–221.
- ^ Hurwit 2000, pp. 74–75.
- ^ ἔμπλεκτος Archived 2021-06-10 at the Wayback Machine, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
- ^ Hurwit 2000, p. 78.
- ^ "The springs and fountains of the Acropolis hill" Archived 2013-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, Hydria Project. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-19-509742-9.
- ^ Starr, Chester G. "Peisistratos". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ "Acropolis fortification wall" Archived 2012-11-28 at the Wayback Machine, Odysseus. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ Hurwit 2000, p. 111.
- ^ Hurwit 2000, p. 121.
- ^ (in Greek) [1] Archived 2011-12-30 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 5 June 2012
- ^ Manolis Korres, Topographic Issues of the Acropolis Archived 2020-02-18 at the Wayback Machine, Archaeology of the City of Athens; Retrieved 7 June 2012
- ^ "Athens, Pre-Parthenon (Building)" Archived 2020-08-21 at the Wayback Machine, Perseus Digital Library. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
- ^ Dörpfeld, W: Der aeltere Parthenon, Ath. Mitt, XVII, 1892, pp. 158–189. (in German)
- ^ Kavvadias, Panagiotis, Kawerau, Georg: Die Ausgrabung der Akropolis vom Jahre 1885 bis zum Jahre 1890, Athens, 1906 (in German)
- ^ "Ictinus and Callicrates with Phidias" Archived 2013-01-04 at the Wayback Machine, Architecture Week. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
- ^ "Mnesicles". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 20 December 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ^ McCulloch, John Ramsay (1841). A Dictionary, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical: Of the Various Countries, Places and Principal Natural Objects in the World. Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans. pp. 205–.
- ISBN 978-0-87661-526-3. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-02-17. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
- ^ Thomas Sakoulas, "Erechtheion" Archived 2013-01-31 at the Wayback Machine, Ancient-Greece.org. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- ^ Venieri, "Erechtheion" Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine, Odysseus. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- ^ "The Acropolis of Athens" Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ "The Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia" Archived 2020-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, Acropolis Museum. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-4443-5819-3. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ISBN 978-960-214-158-8. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ a b Travlos, John, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens, London: Thames and Hudson, 1971. p. 54.
- ^ Hurwit 2000 p. 278
- ^ "The Stoa of Eumenes" Archived 2012-06-02 at the Wayback Machine, The Acropolis of Athens. Greek Thesaurus. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ Hurwit 2000, p. 279.
- ^ Nulton, Peter, The Sanctuary of Apollo Hypoakraios and Imperial Athens, Archaeologia Transatlantica XXI, 2003.
- ISBN 978-1-61238-060-5. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ "The Partenon" Archived 2017-07-02 at the Wayback Machine, Ancient Greece. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-59884-204-3.
- ISBN 978-0-521-82093-6.
- ^ Hellenistic ministry of culture History of the Acropolis of Athens Archived 2019-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Acropolis, Athens: Long description" Archived 2020-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, UNESCO. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ Nicholas Reeves and Dyfri Williams, "The Parthenon in Ruins" Archived 2009-08-06 at the Wayback Machine, British Museum Magazine, No. 57, 2007, pp. 36–38. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ "Handelsblatt". www.handelsblatt.com.
- ISBN 978-3-031-26356-9.
- ^ Hadingham, Evan (February 2008). "Unlocking Mysteries of the Parthenon". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
- ^ "The Acropolis Museum" Archived 2022-12-29 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ a b Fani Mallouchou-Tufano, "The Restoration of the Athenian Acropolis" Archived 2012-12-02 at the Wayback Machine, University of Michigan. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ "2010–2011, The progress of restoration on the Acropolis" Archived 2018-08-20 at the Wayback Machine, The Acropolis Restoration News, July 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ "Acropolis Restoration Project-Lecture by Maria Ioannidou, Director, Acropolis Restoration Service" Archived 2013-01-23 at the Wayback Machine, Columbia University. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ Stamouli, Nektaria (17 June 2021). "Restoration of Greece's Acropolis causes uproar". Politico Europe. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
- ^ Dunkle, Roger. "Panathenaic Festival". Athenian Daily Life. Brooklyn College Classics Department. Archived from the original on 2012-04-27.
Bibliography
- Andronicos, Manolis (2005). The Acropolis. Ekdotike Athenon S.A. ISBN 978-960-213-006-3.
- Bouras, Charalampos; Ioannidou, Maria; Jenkins, Ian (2012). Acropolis Restored. British Museum Press. ISBN 978-0-86159-187-9.
- Brouskarē, Maria S. (1997). The monuments of the Acropolis. Ministry of Culture, Archeological Receipts Fund. ISBN 978-960-214-158-8.
- Cohen, Beth. (2010). "Deconstructing the Acropolis: The Acropolis Museum, Athens, opened 20 June 2009 by Bernard Tschumi Architects." American Journal of Archaeology 114:745–753.
- Economakis, Richard; Bettella, Mario (2010). Acropolis: Ancient Cities. Artmedia Press. ISBN 978-1-902889-06-1.
- Goette, Hans Rupprecht. (2001). Athens, Attica, and the Megarid: An Archaeological Guide. London and New York: Routledge.
- Harris, Diane. (1995). The Treasures of the Parthenon and Erechtheion. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
- Higgins, Michael D; Higgins, Reynold (1996). A Geological Companion to Greece and the Aegean. Duckworths. ISBN 0-8014-3337-1.
- Hurwit, Jeffrey M. (2000). The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present. ISBN 978-0-521-42834-7.
- Hurwit, Jeffrey M. (2004). The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles. ISBN 978-0-521-52740-8.
- Keesling, Catherine M. (2008). The Votive Statues of the Athenian Acropolis. ISBN 978-0-521-07126-0.
- Miller, Walter (2009). A History of the Akropolis of Athens. Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-60724-498-1.
- Neils, Jenifer (2005). The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82093-6.
- Neils, Jenifer, ed. (1996). Worshipping Athena: Panathenaia and Parthenon. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press.
- Pollitt, Jerome J. (1990). The Art of Ancient Greece: Sources and Documents. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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External links
- "Acropolis of Athens". odysseus.culture.gr. Ministry of Culture and Sports (Greece).
- "Acropolis Restoration Project". ysma.gr. Acropolis Restoration Service.
- "Acropolis Educational Resources Repository". repository.acropolis-education.gr. Acropolis Information and Education Department.
- "The Glafka Project Journey" (PDF). repository.acropolis-education.gr. Acropolis Restoration Service.
- "Acropolis, Athens". whc.unesco.org. UNESCO.
- "Ancient Athens 3D". ancientathens3d.com. Ancient Athens 3D.
- "Attica". A Geological Companion to Greece and the Aegean. Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Archived from the original on 20 May 2007.
- "The Acropolis of Athens". athensguide.com.
- "Acropolis - Tour of Acropolis of Athens, Site of the Parthenon". about.com. Archived from the original on 18 May 2013.
- "A Quick Tour of the Athenian Acropolis". campus.lakeforest.edu. Lake Forest College.
Videos
- ACROPOLIS of Athens, Full Reconstruction, 2001 on YouTube
- The Acropolis in Athens 1955, Greece on YouTube
- Greek Glory 1940s on YouTube
- Athens, Greece: Ancient Acropolis and Agora - Rick Steves’ Europe Travel Guide - Travel Bite on YouTube
- Ancient Acropolis 3D presentation on YouTube