What sets Athens apart from other European cities is the influence of the East — in the food, music, and noisy street life — perhaps a left over from the Ottoman period. After living in, and exploring Türkiye for two years, we can clearly “feel” the overlaps. But first……the Acropolis.
Athen’s most famous tourist attraction is the naturally fortified Acropolis hill, viewed here from our lunch spot from the NW.
The buildings that dominate the Sacred Rock; the Propylaea, the Parthenon, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike, all erected in the 5th cent. BC on the initiative of Pericles, the political leader who made Athens a hegemonic power among the Greeks.
Looking back at the thousands of tourists shuffling up the ramp every day, towards the gateway or PROPYLAEA of the Acropolis.
This is what the classical PROPYLAEA must have looked like. In the north wing, to the left, the hall lying behind the porch served as a banquet and recreation hall for the worshippers. According to the traveler Pausanias (2nd cent. A.D.) the hall was decorated with paintings and for this reason is known as the “Pinakotheke” (picture gallery). The south wing consists only of a porch through which the sanctuary of Athena Nike was accessed.
The small temple on top of the bastion which guarded the southwest end of the hill of the Acropolis, was dedicated to the goddess Athena Nike, protector of the city who offered the Athenians victory in their battles.
The ionic frieze, which runs along the upper part of the temple, depicts battles between Greeks and Persians, while on the east side (front) it depicts the assembly (agora) of Olympian gods.
Nike and Athena are both associated with victory, which has resulted in contestation over the origins of Nike. Some scholars believe that Nike was once a facet of Athena, who was composed of Boulaia (good council), Ergane (skilled handcraft), and Nike (victory). Nike eventually broke off from Athena to form her own distinct personality. Others believe that Nike was always a distinct personality.
Nike was known by the Romans as “Victoria”.
This is how the front of the small temple must have looked like in its heyday. The frieze depicts the assembly of the gods at Olympus. The akroteria were of gilded bronze.
The Parthenon was built in thanksgiving for the Greek victory over the Persian invaders during the Greco-Persian Wars, and replaced an older temple of Athena, that was demolished by the Persians in 480 BC.
Construction started in 447 BC when the Delian League (https://www.twobatsea.com/delos-greece/) was at the peak of its power. For a time, it served as the treasury of the Delian League, which later became the Athenian Empire. In the final decade of the 6th century AD, during Roman rule, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The Acropolis in early 1500. The Propylaea was transformed into a medieval castle. The Parthenon was now a Christian church and the Erechtheion served as the headquarter of the fortress. The Theatre of Dionysos bottom right can no longer be seen and only the lower tiers of the once roofed Odeion of Herodes Atticus are still standing, bottom left.
After the Ottoman conquest in the mid-fifteenth century, the Parthenon became a mosque. In the Morean War, a Venetian bomb landed on the Parthenon, which the Ottomans had used as a gun powder storage. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon. In early 1800 (when the Ottomans still ruled Greece) the 7th Earl of Elgin took down some of the surviving sculptures and friezes, now known as the Elgin Marbles, and sold them to the British museum, much to the dislike of the Greeks. Recently this 220 year issue flared up again when British PM Rishi Sunak, cancelled a meeting with his Greek counterpart over the disputed ownership of the sculptures.
Normal people would simply agree to return these marbles to Greece so they can continue the restoration of the Parthenon to its ancient glory. But not so a politician!! Returning the marbles for them would be admitting defeat, something politicians will NEVER do.
The Erechtheion is the sanctuary of Erechtheus who, in Greek mythology, was the founder of the city Athens and, in his role as god, attached to Poseidon. In the writing of Homer the temple is dedicated to both Athena and Erechtheus. The extant building is the successor of several temples and buildings on the site. The building is unique in that its asymmetrical composition doesn’t conform to the classical architecture. This is attributed to the evolving and complex nature of the cults which the building housed. The precise nature and location of the various religious and architectural elements within the building remain the subject of debate.
The remains of the theater of Dionysos, bottom right, represent only a small portion of a once gigantic complex. The marble thrones of the first row (proedria), were not just luxurious seats, but also splendid works of marble sculpture per se. In the middle of this first row stood prominently the marble throne for the priest of Dionysos.
The theatre was abandoned after the end of Antiquity, and during the Middle-Ages the traces of its auditorium gradually disappeared beneath a layer of fill.
This theater was built in AD 161 by Herodes Atticus in memory of his wife. The building had a three-story stone front wall and a wooden roof. It was used as a venue for music concerts with a capacity of 5,000. It was destroyed by the Germanic tribes that raided the Roman empire in AD 267
The remains of the Stoa of Eumenes II, the elongated building between the two theaters. A stoa is a covered walkway or colonnade, usually having columns on one side and a wall on the other. The gallery was donated to the city of Athens by the king of Pergamon (ancient city in Anatolia Türkiye), Eumenes II, around 160 BC. It was a two story building and the purpose of the structure served as a refuge for the spectators in inclement weather conditions and as stores for theatre props.
Aquarel of the Acropolis by Simone Pomardi, 1805. Greece was still under Ottoman rule and people were living inside the walls of the Acropolis. Simone is sitting at the Propylaea facing East. Note the mosque inside the Parthenon.
Standing in line to get out!
Thank you again for reading this post. Our next story will be about the surroundings of Acropolis hill.
Warm regards, Liza and Frits