Acropolis of Athens
With a majestic history of 3,400 years, the city of Athens is the capital of Greece, located in the Attica periphery. One of the oldest cities in the world, Athens has been a powerful city state, the first democracy and the cradle of European art, education and philosophy, even the cradle of Western civilization.
Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their ownersThe city proudly displays its heritage of ancient monuments, numerous and abundant in depth and significance, not only Hellenistic but also Roman and Byzantine.
The Acropolis, where it all began, is a religious complex situated on a the highest hill in Athens, in accordance to its former and present significance. The first temple of the complex was dedicated to Athena Polias, Protectress of the City, in the 6th century BC. It was a Doric limestone building with a pedimental three-bodied man-serpent sculpture, whose remains are held in the Acropolis to date, since the structure was dismantled, along with the following "Early Parthenon".
The access to the great citadel is granted by the Propylaea, a grand stairway and gateway with columns, built from Pentelic marble and Eleusinian marble. This structures has been the inspiration for the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and the Propylaea in Munich.
The Parthenon is the effigy of Greek Classicism and greatness. The symmetrical temple of the Doric order was built in the 5th century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considered among the high points of Greek art. The most perfect Doric temple ever built bears the refinement of ancient skill in sculpture and architecture in its stonework, through the use of the golden ratio and effective optical corrections consisting of subtle and delicate proportional curves.
The smaller temple of Athena Nike is almost square in shape and was constructed from Pentelic marble, in the Ionic order. The fronton friezes depict battles and assemblies of the Greek gods.
The Erechteum is probably the second most significant temple on the Acropolis. It was built late 5th century BC, after the Parthenon and in a time when Athens' greatness was starting to decline. No other art conveys the melancholy of this decline of a civilization as does the Greek art. The hieratical harmony of symmetry is broken: the Erechteum is asymmetrical, and the loggia on the south has its roof supported by silhoutettes of women, called Caryatids, each dressed differently. The Classical Greek art never would have chosen feminine figures as support of a construction.
The Odeon of Atticus is a 2nd century stone theatre on the south slope, bordered by a 3 story stone front wall, today a venue for music concerts, especially during the Athens Festival.
Another Acropolis structure is the Theatre of Dionysus, one of the earliest theaters in the world, dedicated to the god of wine and fertility. It has housed plays by renowned classical dramatists such as Sophocles and Euripide, Aeschylus and Aristophane.
The Acropolis complex is a unique monument, for it was a venue of the great ancient personalities, bearing their beliefs and aspirations carved in stone. This brilliant and magnificent civilization has left behind awe-inspiring and gigantic structures for us to walk today, where we can almost touch their gods.
