Acropolis -- Ancient History Encyclopedia

Definition

From the Greek 'Akro’, high or extreme/extremity or edge and 'Polis’, city, translated as 'High City’, 'City on The Edge’ or 'City in the Air’, the most famous being the Acropolis of Athens, Greece, built in the fifth century BCE (though there were other city-states boasting an impressive Acropolis in antiquity, such as Thebes, Corinth and, most notably, at Kolona on the Island of Aegina). The designation 'acropolis’ was also used in ancient Rome for a series of buildings set on a higher elevation than the surrounding geography but, today, the word 'acropolis’ is synonymous with the ancient site at Athens.

The Acropolis of Athens was planned, and construction begun, under the guidance of the great General and statesman Pericles of Athens. Over two years of detailed planning went into the specifications and contracting the labor for the Parthenon alone and the first stone was laid on 28 July 447 BCE, during the Panathenaic festival. Wishing to create a lasting monument which would both honor the goddess Athena (who presided over Athens) and proclaim the glory of the city to the world, Pericles spared no expense in the construction of the Acropolis and, especially, the Parthenon, hiring the skilled architects Callicrates and Iktinos and the sculptor Phidias (recognized as the finest sculptor in the ancient world who created the statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) to work on the project. Hundreds of artisans, metal workers, craftspeople, painters, woodcarvers and literally thousands of unskilled laborers worked on the Acropolis. Phidias created a gold and marble statue of Athena which stood either in the Parthenon, known as the Temple of Athena Parthenos('Athena the Virgin’ in Greek) or in the center of the Acropolis near the smaller temple of Athena and, during the Panathenaic festival, celebrants would carry a new robe to the statue to drape over her shoulders.

The buildings of the Acropolis of Athens were damaged during the Turkish occupation of Greece (when the Parthenon was used to garrison troop headquarters) and significantly destroyed during the Venetian siege of 1687.

Written by Joshua J. Mark, published 02 September 2009.

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