GREECE ATTICA ATHENS ACROPOLIS GENERAL

Plan of the acropolis: 1. Panathenaic Way - 2. Peripatos - 3. Monument to Agrippa - 4. Temple of Athena Nike - 5. Eleusinion - 6. Propylaia - 7. Sacred Way - 8. Base of the statue of Athena Hygeia - 9. Precinct of Artemis Brauronia - 10. Chalcotheke - 11. Statue of Athena Promachos - 12. Parthenon - 13. Earlier foundations of the Parthenon - 14. Site of the ancient stereobate - 15. Roman temple - 16. Heroon of Pandion - 17. Precinct of Zeus Polieus - 18. The great altar of Athena - 19. Foundation of the Themistoclean wall - 20. Erechtheion - 21. Old temple of Athena Polias - 22. Portico, probably the Arrhephorion - 23. Foundations of a square building - 24. Stairway to the caves of Apollo and Pan - 25. Foundations of a building of the 5th century BC - 26. Roman cistern - 27. Aglaureion - 28. Cave of Apollo - 29. Cave of Pan - 30. Cave and Chapel of Panagia Spiliotissa - 31. Asklepieion - 32. Platform with a sacrificial pit - 33. Stoa of the Asklepieion - 34. Prehistoric habitations - 35. Temple of Aphrodite - 36. Foundation of the choregic monument of Nikias - 37. Odeion of Herodes Atticus - 38. Stoa of Eumenes - 39. Remains of a choregic monument - 40. Theatre of Dionysos - 41. Proscenium of the theatre of Dionysos - 42. Stoa - 43. Old Temple of Dionysos - 44. New Temple of Dionysos - 45. Odeion of Perikles

The Acropolis, a precipitous rock with an area of about 270 x 160 m, is certainly one of the main attractions of Athens and of all Greece. Its natural position some 80 m above the city made it a favourable place for a fortified stronghold, later a sublime residence for the gods. - Inhabited since the Neolithic period, the acropolis was fortified in the 13th century BC with a Cyclopean wall (the "Pelasgian Wall"). Since about 800 BC the acropolis became more of a cult place and from 600 BC on stone temples were erected, dedicated to Athena, patron goddess of the city.

All of the existing temples were sacked and laid in ruins during the Persian invasion of 480 BC, but the final Greek victory was also the starting point for rebuilding the Acropolis on an even more ambitious scale. According to a general plan by Perikles the Acropolis was rebuilt in the "Golden Age" of the 5th century BC with contributions from the major artists of the time.

Above and below: the Parthenon above the southern acropolis wall.

Below: Parts of the "Elgin marbles", illegally torn from the Parthenon and since 1816 exhibited in the British Museum, London. All efforts by the Greek state to return the metopes and large parts of the frieze have failed so far.