Today's blog takes you to the famous Acropolis hill that overlooks all of the city of Athens, Greece. This is the tallest point in Athens and is the location where ancient Greeks built several temples including the Parthenon. We'll get to the Parthenon in a later blog, but today we'll explore the smaller Erechtheion Temple and the Porch of Maidens.
WHAT IS ACROPOLIS (HILL)? - According to History.com: The Acropolis of Athens is one of the most famous ancient archaeological sites in the world. Located on a limestone hill high above Athens, Greece, the Acropolis has been inhabited since prehistoric times. It contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance. Over the centuries, the Acropolis was many things: a home to kings, a citadel, a mythical home of the gods, a religious center and a tourist attraction. It has withstood bombardment, massive earthquakes and vandalism yet still stands as a reminder of the rich history of Greece. Today, it is a cultural UNESCO World Heritage site and home to several temples, the most famous of which is the Parthenon. the Acropolis is located on the Attica plateau of Greece and includes four hills: Likavitos Hill, Hill of the Nymphs, The Pynx Hill (which was in an earlier blog), and Philapappos Hill.
WHAT DOES THE WORD "ACROPOLIS" MEAN? The term “acropolis” means “high city” in Greek and can refer to one of many natural strongholds constructed on rocky, elevated ground in Greece
WHAT IS THE TEMPLE OF ERECTHEION? is an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens in Greece which was dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon. The temple as seen today was built between 421 and 406 BC. Its architect may have been Mnesicles, and it derived its name from a shrine dedicated to the legendary Greek hero Erichthonius.
(Photo: The Temple of Erechtheiont. Photo: R.G)
WHO BUILT IT AND WHY? The sculptor and mason of the structure was Phidias, who was employed by Pericles to build both the Erechtheum and the Parthenon. Some have suggested that it may have been built in honor of the legendary king Erechtheus, who is said to have been buried nearby. Erechtheus was mentioned in Homer's Iliad as a great king and ruler of Athens during the Archaic Period, and Erechtheus and the hero Erichthonius were often syncretized. It is believed to have been a replacement for the Peisistratid temple of Athena Polias destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC.
WHAT IS THE ARCHITECTURAL STYLE? Externally, the temple is an Ionic hexastyle, prostyle pronaos which faces east. The building is in Pentelic marble with a blue Eleusinian limestone frieze. The temple’s walls were constructed in ashlar isodomic masonry.
WHAT IS THE PORCH OF MAIDENS? On the north side, there is another large porch with six Ionic columns, and on the south, the famous "Porch of the Maidens", with six draped female figures (caryatids) as supporting columns. The porch was built to conceal the giant 15-ft beam needed to support the southwest corner over the Kekropion, after the building was drastically reduced in size and budget following the onset of the Peloponnesian war. It's also known as the Porch of the Caryatids. We learned that these are not the originals. 5 of the 6 originals are in the Acropolis Museum and 1 is in the British Museum.
NEXT: The Parthenon!
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