History of the Acropolis of Athens

The first evidence of human settlement on the Acropolis of Athens dates back to the Neolithic era. A few potsherds and some remains of houses testify that the Acropolis was continuously inhabited since 5000 BC. and after.

Around 1400 BC with 1000 BC a high wall, with huge boulders and a palace, was built on the spot where the Erechtheum was later erected. Inside the wall, called Pelasgikon, there were altars, shrines and a spring, called Klepsydra.

The inhabitants of the city, which began to develop under the Acropolis, found refuge inside it when they faced enemy raids. Its character begins to become strongly religious, as the inhabitants of the surrounding settlements consider that the common center of worship should be placed in it. This is how the first temple, dedicated to the mythical King  Erechtheus, the Erechtheion, was built.

This temple uses porolith as a raw material and today its foundations are preserved. In the middle of the 7th BC h. the Ekatompedo is built, so called because it was 100 feet long, on the site where the Parthenon will later be built. The tyrant Peisistratos builds a new Ekatompedo in place of the old one, in 530, while also giving impetus to the decoration of the Acropolis, building shrines and altars to gods, demigods and heroes.

5th century BC

In the 5th century BC, the Golden Age of Pericles, as it went down in history, Athens had to face the great destruction it had suffered from the Persians during the Median Wars. Politically it was divided between the democratic and conservative oligarchs.

From the middle of the 5th century, the democrats, led by the general Pericles, took over the reins of the city and began restructuring the city.Initially it had been proposed that the broken statues should not be repaired, so that they would be an eternal symbol of the barbarism of those who came to occupy Greece.

Gradually, however, they changed their minds and it was decided to establish a new temple in honor of the goddess Athena, who was considered the protector of the city of Athens, as she led the victory of the Greeks against the Persians. Thus the design of a bold building program was created, dominated by two main monuments. The Erechtheion and the Parthenon.

The political role of Pericles

Pericles had to face the whole of the Athenians, but he found innovative ways to do it.
For the 1st time in the years of Pericles, non-Athenians, who did not have large incomes and were considered the last social class, were able to hold public office.
Also, Pericles was the first to introduce the compensation of Athenians, i.e. the inhabitants of Attica who could not leave their fields to participate in the courts and assemblies.

He granted them a small daily allowance, to meet their living needs and at the same time be able to participate in society. This was a revolution in political matters, because suddenly substantial democracy was implemented, in which everyone could express his opinion.

The revenues of classical Athens came from the mines of Lavrion, which were flourishing in the 5th century, from the city’s foreign policy, its relationship with the allies, and from the taxes, which were imposed on the allies, and from which in 1/60, it was the money that went to the “treasure of the goddess Athena”, i.e. to the state fund for the construction of the Acropolis temple.

For the proper and fair management of resources, audit mechanisms were created that controlled annual expenditures and these were then published on marble columns. Thus, every citizen could see on the Acropolis how much money the statue of Athena Parthenos cost, how much was spent on the statue last year, and have an opinion, which he could express in the church of the municipality (Ecclesia).

The one who associated his name with the classical form of the rock was Pericles, who with the help of worthy architects, such as Ictinus and Callikrates and the unsurpassed sculptor Pheidias, created the greatest monument of the ancient era, an artistic ensemble that aroused admiration of the ancients. The Parthenon was built, which was finished in 438 BC, then the Propylaia, which was inaugurated in 432, while the temple of Temple of Athena Nike, a small masterpiece that began to be built in 456, was completed in 425.

The last building built, in vortex of the Peloponnesian war, was the Erechtheion. This temple was built from 421 to 407. The fact that during a terrible war, the Athenians did not stop building, proves the importance that the Acropolis building program had for them.

In addition to these, which were the most important buildings, the rock of the Acropolis enclosed others, such as the “Vravronion”, dedicated to Artemis and the Chalcotheque. Moreover, the Conservatory, the Asklepiion and the theater of Dionysus were built on its slopes.

Acropolis during the Hellenistic and Roman Periods

Subsequently, various Maecenas, kings of the Hellenistic period and Roman emperors sent various tributes to the Sacred Rock, which, however, cannot be compared with the statues of the classical period.

A circular temple was built in honor of the emperor Augustus and Rome, while a marble staircase and the gate still used today for entrance were built later, around 180 AD. they built the Little Propylaia which were fortified.

At the time of the Empiror Constantine, the Acropolis begins to decline, as the old religion loses its glory. However, its religious character remains unchanged, the Parthenon is transformed into a temple of the Virgin Mary, the Propylaia into a temple of the Taxiarches and the Erechtheum into a temple of the Virgin.

Frankish and Ottoman period

At the time of the Frankish rule, the area became the residence of the Frankish rulers, the Propylaia were transformed into a palace, while a tall square tower was built in some part of them. In general, however, the appearance of the Acropolis does not undergo any changes.

When the Turks occupied Athens, the Parthenon naturally became a mosque. The Turks built houses on top of the Acropolis and used various of its buildings as ammunition depots.

The destruction of the 18th-19th century

In 1655, a bolt of lightning shook the Propylaia into the air, while shortly after they demolished the temple of Temple of Athena Nike to build a cannon. But the biggest disaster happened in 1687, when the Venetian Morosini besieged the Acropolis. A shell fell on the Parthenon, collapsing a large part of the temple. And then, when he managed to capture the rock, he plundered the treasures, as so many other conquerors had done before him. And the Erechtheum is slowly being destroyed, because the Turks used the marbles to make lime, which was a raw material for building.

The destruction continues and in 1800 Elgin, bribing the Turkish commander of the Acropolis, stole various sculptures which he brought in England.

The Restoration of Acropolis

Fortunately after the Greek State was established there was international interest in the protection and restoration of this monument to humanity. The Greek archaeologists were the first to start the excavations, while at the same time they clarified the landscape by demolishing that it did not belong to the classical and later era.

Ludvig Ross restored the Temple of Nike and from 1874 began a broad and rigorously scientific restoration program. This program continues to this day, while another problem is atmospheric pollution, which slowly erodes and destroys the marbles.