WHAT IS THE ACROPOLIS?
The Acropolis is an Ancient Greek set of buildings made by the Greeks.It contains a building called the Parthenon which is a building everyone wants to see(if they have heard of it!).The Acropolis also holds the Athena Nike which means Athena victory.This is because Athena and Persiden had a competition Persiden put a trident into a rock to make a water spring but Athena put a Speer into the ground and an olive tree grew. Athena won.
What is the Acropolis' contribution to history?
Next to the Greek flag is a plaque which is dedicated to two 18 year old boys that while the Nazis were occupying Greece ripped down the Nazi flag. As a result of this, just below the Greek flag is a plaque in Greek celebrating it.
The Nazis asked a Greek man to put down the Greek flag next to the Parthenon. How did he take it down, you ask? And anyway, even did he take it down? He took it down as asked, wrapped himself in it, and to stay true to his Greek pride, jumped down with his death lurking below him.
The Acropolis was built for Greek people so that when their city was attacked they could run up into the Acropolis and defend it. Some people even had second homes to run to in the Acropolis. The meaning of Acropolis is Acro - high - Polis - City, or the people.
The Parthenon was built to celebrate Athens winning over the Persians in the Peleponesian war. Athens was a great city because it was the birthplace of democracy.
How would you describe the Parthenon to someone who had not seen it or been there.
As you can see, there are many many columns to hold up where the roof was that have been tapered or curved to make it look like the lines are straight. But if you look very closely you can see that they are wider at the bottom than the top. We saw a section of column, bottom and top, and you could see quite clearly that the bottom was much bigger than the top. But Greeks had discovered the mechanics of making the lines look really quite straight, so that if you looked at it from a distance or just a glance you would be assured that it was straight.
No longer on the Parthenon is the roof. It was built with the Parthenon when first built, but when the Turks took Athens over in the 17th century, they stored gunpowder in it. In 1687 the Venetians came from sailing down the Adriatic Sea and wanted to take over Athens too. Unfortunately, the Greeks had no say in this. A cannonball was set off by the Venetians which hit all the gunpowder in the Parthenon which sent the roof flying and pieces from it came falling crash down to the ground.
Around the Acropolis there are walls, these walls are very big, thick and tall to protect the Acropolis.These walls are made of stone bricks which are strong objects. From the Parthenon you can see Athens for miles around in every direction, mostly cream coloured houses, not many skyscrapers, cafes and restaurants.
Most of the Acropolis and Parthenon are made of marble, for example the floor is made out of marble and is so slippy from all the hundreds of thousands of feet treading on it over the years (I was very scared when I picked Rosie up and started walking).
How and when has it been damaged?
The Venetians blew it up, as I said before, in 1687.
Lord Elgin did even more damage by taking the precious statues and friezes which are now in the British Musuem, and named the Elgin Marbles, although they obviously belong to Athens. This is what the Greeks say, but the British say we bought them beause the Turks were in charge and so let us buy them. Lord Elgin's justification was that he was saving them as the war of independence could destroy them. He did that so that we can see them in a museum today.
What did you enjoy about seeing it?
I loved all of the marble surrounding it, I love the feel of marble, also I like how marble looks, so it was great to see all this marble just in piles surrounding me. I love all the columns and, as I said before, how they made them look straight although they weren't, I thought that was just very very clever. There is a special point in the Acropolis which is a view point, this is where the plaque and flag is, I think the view is amazing, you can look down on all of Athens and look up on all the high mountains surrounding it.
What was the experience similar to?
This is like no other experience I have had, and believe me I have had quite a lot of historic experiences! You would think it would be like walking around the British Museum looking at all the friezes and statues and pictures of the Parthenon, but having the real thing in front of you is very very different. It's almost as if it's a dream.
The Herod Atticus theatre
The entrance way
The erecthion
The Parthenon
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