House of the Purple Worms: The Acropolis

(Warning - there is an image from a Greek krater (vase) which contains nudity below.)

Understandably, the Acropolis was the high point of our trip to Athens - literally!

An acropolis by definition is the highest point with a settlement, and of course Athens has the most famous acropolis of all. Our guide took us on a tour of the site and explained many of the historical facts about the area.

So, because the famous Parthenon is on a little mountain, you have to climb. You start in a wooded area that could easily hide nymphs and fauns and the acropolis nestles picturesquely in front of you atop the hill.

The greek vision of idyllic is below.

Our modern version seems to involve a horse and carriage!

Any seasoned traveller knows that the first thing you do when you get inside the gates of a famous attraction is to head for the comfort stations. Of course there was a line in the ladies' room. Here we are queueing up for our turns!

The guides stopped along the way to try and feed us a little histor, but of course we were chomping at the bit to get to the sights.

The first thing you get to see is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. This is a relatively modern structure built by a Greek aristocrat (and Roman senator) in honor of his wife, Aspasia Annia Regilla around 161 AD.

As a benefactor and sponsor of the arts, it is appropriate that Herodes Atticus should leave us such a magnificent theater.

The theater has a magnificent view of the city of Athens too.

As you mount the hill, you enter the area of the acropolis through a structure called the Propylae. This means before the gate - but we pretty much mean the gate itself when we use the term these days. Here is an idea of what 19th century Europeans thought the structure looked like when it was whole.

The building was begun in 437 BC(E) and construction was interrupted by the Peloponnesian war against Sparta in 431.

The section on the North side (left in the drawing) had a room with paintings of famous battles.

There were originally five gates here, but it is believed, that the purpose was not defense but rather to control the population and be sure that visitors had done proper cleaning and ablutions before entering the holy spaces. Somebody fell down on the job the day we entered - it was extremely hot and I'm afraid I was desperately in need of a bath! ;-)

The propylae has both doric pillars and an ionic colonnade.

One of the more impressive structures was the Erechtheum, a temple built between 421 and 406BC(E) in honor of Erichthonius, a king from the archaic period mentioned in the Iliad. Reputedly designed by the famous architect Mnesicles, with sculptures by Phidias, this must have been an amzing structure when it was in tact.

The North side (left above) has a porch with six Ionic columns ...

and the South side has the famous porch of the maidens- where huge female figures (Caryatids ) serve as columns and support the ceiling. I find it a very sad story - Lord Elgin removed one Caryatid for his mansion in England and mangled another trying to extract it from the structure (along with stealing the frieze of the Parthenon to take back to England). You can now see these in the British museum and although Greece has been trying for years to get these antiquities back, at present everyone is intransigent. The original figures have been replaced with replicas and are now in the Parthenon museum, because the air pollution was working havoc on them.

Here is a map of the grounds.

Of course what most people come to see is the parthenon. This is an enormous edifice started in 447 and finished (mostly) in 438. Built during the high point of the Greek Doric period, its sculptures are representative of what most people know as classical Greece.

In 480 BC, the Peresian invasion resulted in the destruction of an older temple to Athena (the patron Goddess of Athens (and also goddess of wisdom) and so a newer bigger temple was constructed and aligned with the constellation known as the Hyades (the weepy, rainy daughters of Atlas who may also have been the tutors of Dionysus the god of wine and revelry).

Here is a 19th century engraving of the Parthenon in 1839:

In the 6th century AD/CE, the parthenon was remodeled into a Christian church and then in the 1460s into a mosque by the Ottomans.

Above an image of the east pediment with copy of statue of Dionysus.

Although Elgin's removal of the frieze may have saved the figures from the ravages of air pollution and wars, the few remaining figures are sad and lonely, like this metope (square space between triglyphs in a doric frieze) with a centaur.

There are many images of the centaurs fighting men in the British museum including this one:

Here are the figures from the east pediment also in the same museum.

Here is a reconstruction of the west pediment:

From the top of the hill there is a lovely view of the city and the Theater of Dionysus below. This theater had a amazing acoustics and could seat some 17,000 people. Supposedly the first theater ever built (6th to 6th century BC/E), it was the birthplace of Greek tragedy.

There are a number of ruins down by the Theater of Dionysus including the Odeon of Pericles, the Asclepaeion and the Aglaureion.

One becomes so entranced by the Parthenon, that it is hard not to take photo after photo

... after photo!

Of course there are also fascinating fragments of other buildings - many damaged during the wars with the Ottomans.

Oour guide kept us entranced with the stories of Greece's ancient days of glory.

In the 19th century there was much damage done to the structures by people wanting to be helpful. Blocks were held together with H pins, but the ancient Greeks had coated their iron H pins in lead to prevent oxidation, a skill not learned by the European restorateurs. Their attempts at reconstructing with iron pins resulted in rust that expanded and cracked the stones.

Our group members below admire the Erechtheum.

Here are a few more random shots of the day - showing architectural details.

Beautiful embellished Ionic column (below).

This is a shot upwards into the ceiling of the Erechtheion. This structure is symbolic to the ancient Athenians. The building has a temple to Athena Polias on the south side and to Poseidon on the north.

Zeus held a contest to see who would become the deity of Athens. The floor beneath has a hole in it where Poseidon's trident supposedly fell when he produced a spring for the Athenians. Athena produced an olive tree which the Athenians deemed more beneficent and thus she won the contest.

Athena's olive tree stands in front of her side of the temple. The current incarnation was planted by Sophia the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, but had to be replaced in 1952 after the destruction of World War II. A sprig of the old tree had been saved and cultivated to produce the new tree.

It was time to take a last look down at the city before leaving the Acropolis.

Below you can see the gigantic Areopagus rock where Paul delivered a sermon. In 5th century BC/E the elders met there as a kind of pseudo senate. When Solon came to power and made his sweeping democratic changes these elders had to hand over their power. In Aeschylus' play The Eumenides, this is where Orestes is tried for the murder of his mother and her lover. The name may relate to a big piece of rock dedicated to the Erinyes (also know as the Furies - godesses of vengeance) or perhaps to it is a reference to Mars. The hetaera (courtesan) Phryne was also brought for trial before this rock. She supposedly let her cloak slip and the judges were so impressed with her form, htat she was acquitted of profaning the Eleusinian mysteries (agrarian cult of Demeter and Persephone.)