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The Rock Acropolis | Approach | The Rock | Museum
PROPYLAEA
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TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKEThis temple was erected to the south of the Propylaea. about 420 BC, to commemorate the victories of the Greeks over the Persians" The architect of this temple was Kallikrates. This place is so unique that there has been a temple on this exact spot since prehistoric times. On the left is the Erechtheion and straight ahead the Parthenon. PARTHENONThe unique masterpiece of the world. |
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The beauty, harmony and grace of this monument make a really lasting impression on everyone who sees it. Today admission to the Parthenon is prohibited due to the restoration work that has been taking place there since 1983. This will not prevent you from admiring this unique temple dedicated to the goddess Athena and built of white marble from Penteli.
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Under the Parthenon of the Classical times there are remains of the monumental
Ur-Parthenon. an Archaic temple dated in the late 6th century BC. The architects of the Classical temple, which was constructed and decorated between 447 and 432 BC during the Golden Age of Pericles, were lktinos and Kallikrates. Parthenon housed the golden-ivory statue of Athena, work of the famous sculptor Pheidias. |
This statue was the final destination of the Great Panathenaea procession, depicted on the frieze of the temple.
A statue ten meters high which stood inside the
Parthenon.
The interior was of wood and the naked parts made of ivory. The dress and the helmet were
made of hammered plates of gold which could be removed. The statue which represented the
goddess Athena. armed and holding a two - meter high ivory statue of Nike (Victory) in her
right hand was lost during the first years of the Byzantine period. Our knowledge of its
existence comes from ancient sources and the traveler Pausanias detailed descriptions (2nd
century AD).
Valuable information about the statue has been obtained also from the copies found of
which the most famous is the Varvakeion Athena.
ERECHTHEION
Built in 420-406 BC on that part of the Acropolis held to
be the most sacred; the place where the goddess Athena had caused her most sacred emblem,
the olive tree, to sprout.
This tree was destroyed in later years by the invading Persians. But when the Persians
were finally driven off legend has it that the tree miraculously grew again.
The Caryatids, the figures of maidens that you see supporting the roof of the south porch
of the temple are copies. Four of the original six Kores can be seen in the Acropolis
Museum, the fifth one is at present being restored in the workshop of the Museum and the
sixth can be seen in the British Museum.
It is the most ancient court of law, a place much
respected in ancient times.
Here was the seat of the first aristocratic parliament of ancient Athens. In time this
parliament started to lose its political power and from the second half of the 5th century
BC it had only judicial responsibility and particularly that of trying murderers.
In this court, as is described in Oresteia, Orestes was judged for the murder of his
mother Clytaemnestra and her lover Aegisthos.
It was from this spot, as we learn from the bronze tablet at the base of the rock. that
saint Paul delivered his first sermon to the Athenians, in AD 51.
Pnyx is situated between the Hill of the Muses upon which
stands the Monument of Philopappou, and the Hill of the Nymphs where the tomb of Kimon was
found and where the Observatory stands today. This semi-circular area was the place of
gathering for all the citizens of ancient Athens. They gathered here in order to hear the
famous orators who spoke from the stone - cut tribune in its middle.
It is believed that it could accommodate up to 10.000 people at a time.
Every year ancient Athenians celebrated the Mikra
Panathenaea (lesser) , and every four years the Megala Panathenaea (Great) which were more
magnificent still and which included contests in equestrian skill. athletics. music and
other arts.
On the last day a procession started from Kerameikos, passed through the Agora and climbed
to the Acropolis to offer Athena her so called peplos (vestment). In those days it was
customary to dress statues in real clothes. Thus the peplos of the goddess was in fact a
real woolen dress, hand - woven by a priestess and the young virgin girls who helped her.
It was placed as a sail on the mast of a big wooden vessel and was brought to the
Acropolis.
The whole procession followed the ship. This is the procession sculpted on the frieze of
the Parthenon.
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