The Acropolis

Acropolis is a Greek word meaning city on the top, usually taken to be a citadel-type, fortified city on a hill. Many of the hill towns in our area of Italy would properly be referred to as acropoleis. Of course, the name has become synonymous with the most famous of all of these, the Acropolis of Athens.

Bright and early on Saturday, 8 December, Amy and I made our way the few blocks from our hotel to the entrance of the south slope of the Acropolis. As Athens grew during antiquity, the buildings quickly overflowed the Acropolis and spilled onto the surrounding slopes of the hill. The area has been excavated and explored any number of times. Most of what is currently visible above ground is undistinguished and uninteresting grass covered foundations. However, there are some better preserved structures and monuments. Among the most important of these today are the Theater of Dionysos, likely the first structure not built on the summit.

Over time, the original wooden seating around the semicircular area was replaced with stone. The most important people were given throne-like individual seating in the front row. This seat is inscribed with the name of a particular priest. 

The path to the top winds its way along the route of one of the original roads to the main gate at the western end of the hilltop. Restoration of historic/archaeologic sites is a touchy subject. The Greeks have mounted a significant project to reunite the various pieces scattered about with the structures they originated from and then reconstruct various monuments and buildings using a combination of the original pieces augmented by new pieces made out of materials similar to the original. As you climb now, you make your way past the sanctuary of Asklepios which is among the many buildings being worked on in the site.

Very close to this temple is the Archaic fountain, a natural spring which would have supplied water to the temple and hilltop.

As you continue traveling to the west you encounter the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, another theater complex built in 161 A.D. It was restored in 1954 and has been used recently for concerts and events. Unfortunately, that means that it has been fenced off and can only be viewed from above unless you happen to be going to one of the events held there, which we were not.

As you continue further around to the western end, you come to the Propylaea, the formal entrance to the Acropolis. In ancient times the Pananthenaic procession would have entered through this main gate. The earliest phases of the current restoration focused on this part of the complex and you can see the melding of the new and old marble.

The grandest building on the summit was clearly the Parthenon. As I indicated in my last post, about all it really has going for it now is its size and location. Ironically, it isn’t even the biggest temple remaining in Athens and the site, while certainly spectacular, is no more breathtaking than that of many of the Greek temples we saw last year on Sicily. Restorations are ongoing, with the southern side largely complete. The gap in the columns which is evident in the picture was created during an explosion caused by munitions stored there hundreds of years ago and will not be filled in.

They ultimately hope to allow visitors to once again access the interior of the chapel, but for now all you can do is walk around the base amid the scaffolding.

The second main building on the summit is the remains of the Erechtheion and the Caryatids, 6 female figures supporting a porch, the originals of which are in the New Acropolis Museum.

Another building where significant recent restoration has taken place is the Temple of Athena Nike, a small building which almost hangs off the side of the hilltop to the right of the main entrance.

The Acropolis dominates the landscape and is visible for miles around. Here we have a couple of different views of the Acropolis in the distance.