Ancient Athens

Athens has a surprising amount of open, green space. Much of it is concentrated in and around the many archeological sites in the center of the historic portion of the city. On our first day, in addition to visiting the shopping district and the New Acropolis Museum, we wandered past a number of ruin sites. Unfortunately most closed at 3 pm, so we were limited to taking pictures from outside the fences. We had a nice overview of the ancient Roman Agora with its columns and piles of sorted architectural elements.

As I indicated earlier, the Roman Emperor Hadrian was smitten with Greece in general and Athens in particular. He didn’t spend much time in Rome, traveling to almost every corner of his empire. He was quite civic minded, rebuilding the Pantheon in Rome and erecting many temples and monuments. He built a palace complex at the ancient Olympic site to house him and his retinue. As part of his infatuation with Athens, he attempted to make it the cultural center of the Roman Empire. To that end, he sponsored the building of many structures including a library which has been partially restored.

He paid for the completion of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, a HUGE temple in the plain below the Acropolis. Little remains today except an open field with a cluster of standing columns which we viewed from afar in the sun of the first day.

And, from up close in the gray of the second day.

In gratitude, the people of Athens built an arched gate, called, of course, Hadrian’s Gate.

As part of our ticket to the Acropolis, we also gained access to half a dozen other sites. As we traveled down from the Acropolis, we decided to follow the route of the former Panathenaic Way through the remains of the Ancient Agora. The Agora was the site of the Temple of Hephaistos, seen both from above from the Acropolis and from up close.

It is in a quite remarkable state of preservation as it was rebuilt and used as a museum in the early 1900’s.The excavation of the site was overseen by the American School of Classical studies. They remodeled the Stoa of Attalos to house the finds from the excavations. It also serves to give a really unique opportunity to get a sense of what these buildings looked like in their original form. The museum was renovated and upgraded again as part of the infrastructure and cultural upgrades for the 2004 Olympic Games.

This was not the largest stoa on the original site. The remains of the Middle Stoa from the 2^nd century BC are shown below. An interesting feature of the most recent excavations by the American School is the choice to replant the ruins with foliage and trees which were known to have been available and in use by the Greeks at the time of the Agora once their work was completed. This makes a lush, green, shady venue for visitors. I imagine it would even be somewhat pleasant during the summer months, although our fall trip was certainly far superior.

One of the more interesting buildings in the Agora was the Odeion of Agrippa, built in 15 BC and used for concerts. Agrippa was one of the good friends of Augustus and served as his main general as he consolidated power.

The buildings and pictures are too numerous to describe and include. Suffice it to say, it is just as easy to become “ruined out” in Athens as it is in Rome.