Acropolis - Athens

Climbing to the Acropolis is likely to be on the itinerary of most visitors to Athens. Athens was born on and around the hill. The Acropolis has been the heart of the city and is often a prominent feature in art depicting the city. Looking at paintings and prints of the Acropolis also gives insights into the urban development of Athens since antiquity.

Acropolis as seen from Lycabettus Hill

Guide to the Acropolis

The hill was already inhabited in the Neolithic period, around 4000 years BCE. Later it became a Mycenaean fortress. In the 8th century BCE, the hill became a religious centre.Several temples were built on the hill in the 6th century BCE, but were destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BCE. After the Persian wars, the hill was fortified with the walls that still exist today. The new temple buildings were completed during the period known as the Golden Age of Athens in the 5th century BCE.

A giant bronze statue of Athena, the patron goddess of Athens, known as Athena Promakhos, dominated the area between Propylaia and Erectheion on the Acropolis. The sculpture remained to the left of a visitor entering the Acropolis in procession. The sculptor was Feidias and the work was probably cast in a bronze foundry on the south-western slope of the Acropolis. The Athenians dedicated the statue to Athena to express their gratitude for her contribution to the victories in the Persian Wars. Later sources suggest that its construction was financed by spoils of war from the persians. The exact form of the statue is not known, but later Roman copies and coins show the goddess standing in a serene pose. The total height of the bronze statue is estimated at around 9 metres, including the pedestal. According to ancient tradition, the tip of the spear and the crest of the helmet were visible to sailors at sea off Cape Sounion. Image from the Acropolis guide text.

 Construction of the Parthenon, perhaps the most famous building on the Acropolis, began in 447 BCE during the time of Pericles and was completed in 438 BCE.

The Parthenon in the early 19th century. Watercolour. On display at the Benaki Museum

The Parthenon in March 2022. The building was a temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos (meaning “the Virgin”). It was built according to the Doric column system and was made of white Pentelic marble (the white marble of Mount Pentelikon).  The temple is 30.86 metres wide, 69.51 metres long and 15 metres high. The Parthenon was the most important building in the re-establishment of the sanctuary of the Acropolis after being sacked by the Persians in 480 BCE. It was carried out on the initiative of Pericles, a famous Athenian politician. The temple was built between 447 and 438 BCE and its sculptural decoration was completed in 432 BCE. Iktinos and Kallikrates were the architects of the temple. Its sculptures were designed and partly sculpted by Phidias and colleagues. Phidias was a sculptor and friend of Pericles and he also supervised its construction. Phidias designed the 12-metre high statue of the goddess, decorated with gold and ivory, which stood in the inner part of the temple in the Cella. The statue has not survived, but its appearance is known from later copies and descriptions. Over the centuries, the Parthenon, which suffered severe damage and looting, had a rich sculptural decoration consisting of the pediment, a frieze and 92 metopes. Most of these are now in the British Museum. Much of the remaining sculptural decoration is on display in the Acropolis Museum.

The Theatre of Dionysus is on the route leading to the top of the hill. This is where the ancient theatre was born and developed, both as art and architecture. The theatre originated from the old temple of Dionysus. The first theatre was built of wood. It was restored and extended during the time of Pericles. The stone theatre was completed in 300 BCE. Its capacity is estimated to have been between 17 000 and 19 000. The theatre was largely destroyed by the Heruli in 267 CE.. Later, a basilica was built on the site. The remaining seats have been restored and the missing parts replaced by new benches of the same stone.

The Caryatids of Erechtheion

Athens positioned itself as a provincial centre during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The philosophy schools of Athens were famed and some emperors like Hadrian promoted hellenistic culture. The city was long part of the Eastern Roman empire, later known as Byzantium. One Byzantine empress even came from the city. The sculpture of Athena by Phidias was also transported from the Acropolis to Constantinople. It was placed on the Hippodrome, probably in the 5th century. The sculpture was apparently destroyed in the 13th century.

During the Ottoman period, the city's population declined. After Greek independence, the city of only 8,000 inhabitants was chosen as the capital. The reason was especially because of its history and for the important cultural significance of antiquity for the new state.

With capital status (1834), urbanisation and population movements between Greece and Turkey, the city grew into a densely populated metropolis

Detail of an oil painting from 1674. Jacques Carey “L’ambassade du Marquis de Nointel à Athènes”. On display at the Athens City Museum. The oil painting is a historically important document because it depicts the Parthenon before it was bombed.  The bombardment took place during the Venetian siege of 1687, during the war between Venice and the Ottoman Empire. In the painting the Parthenon is still intact. Through the roof of the Parthenon you can see the minaret of the mosque, which was built on the temple in 1457

Jacques Carey's 1674 work is on permanent loan from the Musée des Beaux Arts in Chartres, France, and is on display at the Athens City Museum. According to the museum's label text, the foreground shows the French ambassador to Constantinople (during the reign of King Louis XIV of France), Charles-Marie-François Olier, Marquis de Nointel (1635-1685), on his visit to Athens in 1674. The centrepiece of the painting is the Marquis himself, dressed in a long red overcoat, hat and cane. He is surrounded by officials with their epaulettes and two capuchin friars (in Athens from 1668). The scene takes place on the side of Mount Lycabettus. Behind, a group of Ottomans, easily recognisable by their clothing.

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Acropolis as seen from Lycabettus, March 2022

The bombardment of the Parthenon on 26 September 1687. An eyewitness, the Venetian army officer G. M. Verneda's watercolour. On display at the Benaki Museum

Panorama of Athens and the Acropolis from outside the city walls. Louis F. Cassas' etching from the 1790s. On display at the Benaki Museum

The restoration of the Acropolis monuments was a national priority since the creation of the Greek State (1833). The first restorations of the monuments (1835-1854) involved an experimental approach to consolidating and finishing the ancient parts of the monuments. Large-scale restoration measures were carried out with the aim of restoring the monuments, as much as possible, to their classical form. With the help of ancient material and a few new marble additions, this work was carried out between 1896 and 1940. Later, the practice of using ordinary iron to join architectural elements and the indiscriminate use of scattered ancient fragments as ordinary building material created problems. The Committee for the Conservation of the Acropolis Monuments (ESMA) has been scientifically responsible for the restoration of the Acropolis monuments since 1975. Since 2000, the work has been carried out by the Acropolis Restoration Service (YSMA). Image from the guide text.

Early photograph, view of the Acropolis from the west. Photo by the Romaidis brothers. late 19th/early 20th century. From an exhibition at the Athens City Museum

Restoration work continues. Photo March 2022

The Parthenon and the Acropolis are key monuments of European cultural history. History is often also seen in contemporary politics. The return of works of art looted from the Parthenon to London has long been a contentious issue, and the new museum at the foot of the Acropolis, established ten years ago, has given the subject a prominent place in the public eye. The Acropolis is a key site of art history and its buildings have been written about since the Renaissance. Florence was indeed called the new Athens. If you are interested, you can find a wealth of information on the history of the area, for example on Wikipedia.

The Acropolis Museum opened in 2009. Photo from March 2022