Greece - Korina Miller [69]
Major restoration programs are continuing and many of the original sculptures have been moved to the Acropolis Museum and replaced with casts. The Acropolis became World Heritage–listed site in 1987.
BEULÉ GATE & MONUMENT OF AGRIPPA
Once inside the site, a little way along the path on your left you will see the Beulé Gate, named after the French archaeologist Ernest Beulé, who uncovered it in 1852. The 8m pedestal on the left, halfway up the zigzag ramp leading to the Propylaia, was once topped by the Monument of Agrippa, a bronze statue of the Roman general riding a chariot erected in 27 BC to commemorate victory in the Panathenaic Games.
PROPYLAIA
The Propylaia formed the monumental entrance to the Acropolis. Built by Mnesicles between 437 BC and 432 BC, its architectural brilliance ranks with that of the Parthenon. It consists of a central hall with two wings on either side. Each section had a gate, and in ancient times these five gates were the only entrances to the ‘upper city’. The middle gate (which was the largest) opened onto the Panathenaic Way. The imposing western portico of the Propylaia consisted of six double columns, Doric on the outside and Ionic on the inside. The fourth column along has been restored. The ceiling of the central hall was painted with gold stars on a dark-blue background. The northern wing was used as a pinakothiki (art gallery) and the southern wing was the antechamber to the Temple of Athena Nike.
The Propylaia is aligned with the Parthenon – the earliest example of a building designed in relation to another. It remained intact until the 13th century, when various occupiers started adding to it. It was badly damaged in the 17th century when a lightning strike set off an explosion in a Turkish gunpowder store. Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann paid for the removal of one of its appendages – a Frankish tower – in the 19th century. Reconstruction took place between 1909 and 1917, and again after WWII.
TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE
The exquisitely proportioned small Temple of Athena Nike stands on a platform perched atop the steep southwest edge of the Acropolis, to the right of the Propylaia. The temple was dismantled piece by piece in 2003 in a controversial move to restore it offsite and was undergoing a painstaking reassembly at the time of research.
Designed by Kallicrates, the temple was built of Pentelic marble between 427 BC and 424 BC. The building is almost square, with four graceful Ionic columns at either end. Only fragments remain of the frieze, which had scenes from mythology, the Battle of Plataea (479 BC) and Athenians fighting Boeotians and Persians. Parts of the frieze are in the Acropolis Museum, as are some relief sculptures, including the beautiful depiction of Athena Nike fastening her sandal. The temple housed a wooden statue of Athena.
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PANATHENIAC PROCESSION
The biggest event in ancient Athens was the Panathenaic procession, the climax of the Panathenaia Festival held to venerate the goddess Athena. Colourful scenes of the procession are depicted in the 160m Parthenon frieze in the new Acropolis Museum. The Panathenaic Way, which cuts across the middle of the Acropolis, was the route taken by the Panathenaic procession.
There were actually two festivals: the Lesser Panathenaic Festival took place annually on Athena’s birthday, but the Great Panathenaic Festival was held on every fourth anniversary of the goddess’s birth.
The Great Panathenaic Festival began with dancing, followed by athletic, dramatic and musical contests. On the final day, the Panathenaic procession began at Keramikos, led by men carrying animals sacrificed to Athena, followed by maidens carrying rhytons (horn-shaped drinking vessels) and musicians playing a fanfare for the girls of noble birth who held