The flagship building of the Acropolis of Athens served as a temple to Athena. It is also one of several buildings built in the ancient world’s equivalent to a metropolitan building boom. It is located at the top of a hill overlooking the city of Athens, Greece.
This fascinating piece of architecture has been rocked by earthquakes, fire, loot, gunpowder explosion etc. It was originally built for defensive purposes. During wartime, the Greeks used the building to get a better view. It was also known as the Sacred Rock.
Quick Facts: –
- The word ‘Acropolis’ is derived from the Greek words ‘akron’ meaning edge and ‘polis’ meaning city.
- The construction of the Acropolis of Athens started in 447 BC and was complete in 438 BC.
- Today it serves as an architectural masterpiece and a source of national pride in Greece.
- A Greek politician, Pericles coordinated the start of construction of the major buildings of Acropolis.
- It has a sacred temple ‘Athena Polias’ which is also referred to as ‘Bluebeard Temple’.
- It was destroyed in 490 BC but another religious monument was built in its place which is now known as “Older Parthenon”.
- It was dedicated to the goddess Athena, goddess of wisdom, courage and warfare.
- The Parthenon was designed by a sculptor Phidias who was commissioned by Pericles.
- The temples were looted by the Venetians in the early 1800s.
- The artefacts are dating back to the Neolithic Era that provide evidence of the first inhabitants of the Acropolis of Athens location.
