The hill of the Acropolis was inhabited already during the Neolithic age. Then it was the seat of the palace of the Mycenaean king, and after this period, the Acropolis became a place of worship. The hill of the Acropolis was inhabited already during the Neolithic age.
In the 8th century, on the site of the Mycenaean palace, a temple was built that housed the cult of both Poseidon and Athena. In archaic times a larger temple replaced the archaios naos, and during the tyranny of Peisistratos, the pre-Parthenon was constructed.
In 480 BC the Persians burned this temple. When the Athenians returned, they reinforced the Acropolis with the Themistoclean walls, and later Cimon built the Kimonean wall. After Kimon’s death, the democratic party came to power under the leadership of Pericles. Who planned an ambitious building program. It was then that the Parthenon and the Propylaia were built on the Acropolis, followed by the temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion.
The Propylaia
They were constructed of Pentelic marble between 437 and 432 BC. They comprise a central building with two wings. The central building is divided into a west and an east section. These sections resemble porticoes, each with six Doric columns on each façade. There were five gateways in the cross wall, the central one of which was the largest, 4 m wide, to facilitate the entry of the Panathenaic procession. In order to support the marble ceiling of the west section, Mnesikles placed two rows of Ionic columns at a right angle to the cross wall, thus creating three aisles. The north-left wing of the Propylaia is larger than the corresponding south one.
The south wing is symmetrically positioned but smaller on account of the temple of Athena Nike with three Doric columns on the façade. Access to Acropolis today is from the west side. There is also an entrance from below the temple of Athena Nike.
This temple is separated from the Propylaia and has replaced a smaller precinct with an altar where the wooden effigy was housed. According to the ancient sources, this xoanon of Athena Nike held a helmet and a pomegranate. The temple stands on a three-stepped base, and it is an elegant example of the Ionic order with a tetrastyle prostyle porch, a four-column porch.
Erechtheion(dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon)
It was built between 421 and 406 BC. Some have suggested that it may have been built in honor of the legendary king Erechtheus. Erechtheus was mentioned as a great king. He is usually syncretized with the hero Erichthonius. The need to preserve multiple adjacent sacred precincts explains the complex design. The main structure consists of up to four apartments.
The largest being the east cella with an Ionic portico on its east end. The entire temple is on a slope, so the west and north sides are about 3m lower than the south and east sides. It was built entirely of marble with friezes of black limestone from Eleusis, which bore sculptures executed in relief in white marble. It had elaborately carved doorways and windows, and its columns were ornately decorated.
The Porch of the Caryatids.
On the north side there is another large porch with six Ionic columns, and on the south is the famous Porch of the Maidens with six draped female figures supporting columns. The porch was built to conceal the giant 15 m beam needed to support the southwest corner over Kekropion.
Religious functions.
It was associated with some of the most ancient and holy relics of the Athenians, the Palladion of Athena Polias-Protectress of the City. The marks of Poseidon’s trident and the salt water well that resulted from his strike, and the sacred olive tree that sprouted when Athena struck the rock with her spear in her successful rivalry with Poseidon. The supposed burial places of the mythical kings Kekrops and Erechtheus, the sacred precincts of Kekrops' three daughters Herse, Pandrosus, and Aglaurus, and those of the tribal heroes Pandion and Boutes. In front of the main statue, a golden lamp burned continuously and was refueled once a year. The eastern part of the building was dedicated to Athena Polias, while the western part served as a cult of Poseidon–Erechtheus. According to the myth, Athena’s sacred snake lived there. The snake was fed cakes by the Canephore, the priestesses of Athena Polias, and by custom the women of the ancient family of Eteoboutadae, the supposed descendants of the hero Boutes. The snake’s occasional refusal to eat the cakes was thought a disastrous omen.
The Parthenon
The Parthenon replaced an older temple of Athena that was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. While a sacred building dedicated to the city’s patron goddess, the Parthenon, was used as a treasury.
The origin of the Parthenon’s name is from the Greek word that means virgin, the unmarried woman. The colossal statue of Athena made by Phidias was a gold reserve containing forty talents of pure gold, all of which was removable.
The Parthenon is a peripteral octastyle Doric temple with Ionic architectural features. It stands on a platform of a stylobate of three steps. It is of post and lintel construction and surrounded by columns carrying an entablature. Eight columns at either end and seventeen on the sides. There is a double row of columns at either end; the colonnade surrounds an inner masonry structure.
The cella is divided into two compartments. At either end of the building, the gable is finished with a triangular pediment originally filled with sculpture. The columns are of the Doric order with simple capitals, fluted shafts, and no bases. Above the architrave of the entablature is a frieze of metopes separated by formal architectural triglyphs. Around the cella and across the lintels of the inner columns runs a continuous sculptured frieze in low relief. Measured at the stylobate, the dimensions of the base of the Parthenon are 69.5 by 30.9 meters. The cella was 29.8 meters long by 19.2 meters wide with internal colonnades in two tiers.
On the exterior, the Doric columns are slightly larger in diameter. It had 46 outer columns and 23 inner columns in total, each column containing 20 flutes. The stylobate has an upward curvature towards its center of 60 millimeters on the east and west ends and of 110 millimeters on the sides. The roof was covered with large overlapping marble tiles known as imbrices and tegulae.
Entasis refers to the slight swelling of 1/8 inch in the center of the columns to counteract the appearance of columns having a waist, as the swelling makes them look straight from a distance. Architectural refinements—the subtle correspondence between the curvature of the stylobate, the taper of the naos walls, and the entasis of the columns. The stylobate is a platform on which the columns stand. It has a slight parabolic upward curvature to shed rainwater and reinforce the building against earthquakes.
The metopes portray the Gigantomachy, the Amazonomachy, and the Centauromachy, as well as Lapith wedding scenes. The east pediment is decorated with the birth of Athena from the head of her father, Zeus. The west pediment is decorated with the contest between Athena and Poseidon during their competition for the protection of the city. They are framed by two active groups of horses pulling chariots.
The figures are sculpted in natural movements with bodies full of vital energy that bursts through their thin clothing. The thin chitons reveal the body underneath as the focus of the composition. The distinction between gods and humans is blurred in the conceptual interplay between idealism and naturalism.
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