ACROPOLIS 50

The ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS (Greek : Ακρόπολη Αθηνών) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon
The word Acropolis is from the Greek words ἄκρον (akron, "highest point, extremity") and πόλις (polis, "city")
The term acropolis is generic and there are many other acropoleis in Greece.
During ancient times the Acropolis of Athens was also more properly known as Cecropia, after the legendary serpent-man Cecrops, the supposed first Athenian king
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
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
WORLD WAR II
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
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
SITE PLAN
1. Parthenon
2. Old Temple of Athena
3. Erechtheum
4. Statue of Athena Promachos
5 Propylaea
6. Temple of Athena Nike
7. Eleusinion
8. Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia or Brauroneion
9. Chalkotheke
10. Pandroseion
11.Arrephorion
12. Altar of Athena
13.Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus
14. Sanctuary of Pandion
15. Odeon of Herodes Atticus
16. Stoa of Eumenes
17. Sanctuary of Asclepius or Asclepieion
18. Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus
19. Odeon of Pericles
20. Temenos of Dionysus Eleuthereus
21. Mycenaean fountain
22. 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
The Parthenon colonnades, largely destroyed by Venetian bombardment during the 17th century, were restored, with many wrongly assembled columns now properly placed
Restoration of the Temple of Athena Nike was completed in 2010
A total of 2675 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
In 2021, the addition of new reinforced concrete paths to the site to improve accessibility caused controversy among archaeologists
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
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)
Within the later tradition of Western civilization and Classical revival, the Acropolis, from at least the mid-18th century on, has often been invoked as a critical symbol of the Greek legacy and of the glories of Classical Greece
Most of the artifacts from the temple are housed today in the Acropolis Museum at the foot of the ancient rock