How to Plan an International Trip: Travel Tales and Tips : Greece Trip Report, Day 14: Athens Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Ancient Agora

Day 14, Nov 22, 2018, Thursday:

Athens boasts an illustrious history that stretches back more than 3,000 years. The city flourished during classical antiquity and was the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, and Sophocles. The most famous site in Athens is the Acropolis. That was our agenda for the day. We started off early walking up so as to reach there by the opening time 8 am.

Here's a map with attractions circled in blue

Here we are near the Roman Agora with the Acropolis towering above

Multi-site ticket for Athens at 30/euros each covers the Acropolis, Agora, Keramikos Cemetery, Hadrian's Library, Roman Agora, Hadrian's Arch and Temple to Olympia Zeus. But as said in previous post, Nov-Mar tickets are half price and work out cheaper individually.

It was a crisp clear day. Acropolis is closed for visitors if it rains because the marble and the cobbled stones become slippery and dangerous!

The Acropolis:

The 2,400-year-old landmark of Greece’s Golden Age stands high above the city (Acropolis means “High City”),

It is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens. The Acropolis was the center of the ancient city and functioned as a fort in its protected hilltop location.We can see the remains of the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike .

We first saw the amphitheater The Odeon of Herodes Atticus. This stone amphitheater is one of the largest among surviving classical Greek theaters.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus also called the Herodeon was built by the rich Greek aristocrat and Roman senator, Herodes Atticus. It was dedicated as a memorial to his wife, in 161 AD. The structure has a stone wall that supports two levels of seats. In classical times, popular and serious plays were performed at the venue.

Then we walked on to the main site.
The entrance to the Acropolis is this monumental gateway termed the Propylaea.

To the south of the entrance (left in the picture) is the tiny Temple of Athena Nike. Nike means "victory" in Greek, and Athena was worshiped in this form, as goddess of wisdom, on the Acropolis. Her temple was the earliest Ionic temple on the Acropolis

At the center of the Acropolis is the Parthenon or Temple of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). It is the largest temple of the classical antiquity period dating from 447 BC to 338 BC. With its monumental rows of Doric columns and stunning sculptural details, the temple is an awe-inspiring sight. In the frieze on the eastern side, reliefs depict the birth of the goddess Athena. [We saw the friezes in the British Museum in London!]

The Parthenon has served several purposes through history. It once housed the treasury of the city of Athens. Later, it became a Christian Church, an Ottoman Mosque and a gunpowder magazine. The explosion of the magazine caused great damage to the building in the 17th century.

The Parthenon is not only one of the most important surviving buildings in Greece but a structure that has inspired the architecture of major public buildings including parliaments, universities, museums and libraries around the world.

East of the entrance and north of the Parthenon is the temple known as the Erechtheum. a complex of ancient sanctuaries built between 421 BC and 395 BC.

The most famous feature of the Erechtheion complex is the Porch of the Caryatids, with six statues of maidens in place of Doric columns.

We went in the direction of the theater of Dionysus. A few hundred meters away, there is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus which we had already seen.

South of the platform that forms the top of the Acropolis there are the remains of the ancient Theater of Dionysus. We managed to see that also before exiting. Re entry is not allowed.

Theater of Dionysus is known as the birthplace of European theater.

Around 500 BC, the theater was erected near the Acropolis for the performance of plays, a popular form of entertainment in ancient Greece. The location chosen was near the temple of Dionysus, the God of wine and the patron of drama. The shape of the stage was semicircular like all the major ancient Greek theaters, and the gallery could seat 25,000 spectators. The theater had fallen into and remained in disrepair until the Roman Emperor Nero ordered its restoration and renovation.

The first drama by classical playwright Thespis from whom the word Thespian was coined, was performed at this venue in 530 BC. Plays of classical Greek dramatists like Sophocles, Aristophanes, Aeschylus, Euripides and Menander were staged. These well known classical dramatists often competed for a prize awarded for the most popular among plays performed here. Serious Greek tragedies that propounded philosophy in the form of a drama and light popular plays were staged at the theater too.

We had exited thru the East entrance, so the Acropolis museum was near by.

Acropolis Museum, Athens:

The Acropolis Museum houses all artifacts found in and around the Acropolis and the Parthenon in Athens. It is located on the south eastern slope of Acropolis Hill and offers spectacular views of the Acropolis. We kept our jackets and bags in their locker and took only the camera inside.

The museum is over many floors and is so well curated... all the exhibits were terrific.

It was AWESOME!!

A ruin right under the entrance...

Model of Acropolis

Artifacts found in and around the Acropolis

View of the Acropolis from inside the museum

We had some food and walked a long distance to Ancient Agora... which is near the main entrance of Acropolis. Not very nice scheduling with regard to location, We had got out of Acropolis thru the east gate as we had wanted to see the Theater of Dionysus, so did not exit thru the main gate we entered. Walking down to the east gate is easier than walking up if we choose to enter thru the east gate, not the main gate. The Acropolis museum is near the east gate, so we had seen that next. Hadrian's arch and Temple of Zeus would have been easier to walk to from the museum but we wanted to finish the Agora that day

ANCIENT AGORA:

The Ancient Agora was the marketplace and the center of everyday life in ancient Athens. The Greek word "Agora" means to "gather and orate," indicating that this site was a location of public speaking. The Agora was a place of administration and commerce as well as the meeting place of the Agora tou Dimou, a civic decision-making group. Athletic events and theater performances were also held here.

Very nice museum...

This is how the funerary gifts were laid in the grave.

When we go up the footpath that leads up the Agora Hill (Kolonos Agoraios). On the hilltop is an awe-inspiring sight, the Temple of Hephaistos. This fifth-century BC Doric temple is one of the best-preserved ancient Greek temples, thanks to its conversion into a Christian church, which saved it from destruction.