The Athenian Acropolis
Religious center of one of the Greek world's most prominent cities
With political beginnings in the age of Mycenaean kings, the Athenian Acropolis evolved into the religious center of Classical Athens, and the symbol of an entire age.
When you think of Athens, you no doubt have a picture in your mind of the gleaming white Parthenon, sitting high above the city. What the Parthenon, and the other buildings, are sitting on is known as the Athenian Acropolis. The Acropolis, which literally means “high city” in Greek, was a raised limestone outcropping. Almost every ancient Greek city was built around an acropolis, thanks to the region’s rocky geography. But it was the Athenian Acropolis, with it s grand Classical-era buildings and rich religious and cultural significance, that stands out as a symbol of the Classical world.
The Acropolis was the religious center of Classical Athens. Its location was ideal for this type of activity, with its elevation making it seem closer to Mount Olympus, and the gods. Not only was the Acropolis home to the major temples of the city’s patron goddess Athena, but it also proved valuable as a means of fortification and protection in times of attack and invasion.
The history of the evolution of the developed Athenian Acropolis dates back to Mycenaean times, when the kings settled there around the 14th century B.C. and erected 8 meter tall fortification walls and safely housed themselves inside palaces within them. Underneath the Acropolis, there was a deep well that supplied water not only to the palaces, but also served as another means of protection from invaders. It was also during this era that the Acropolis began to serve a religious function, housing altars for the goddess of fertility and the god Erechtheus.
While other Mycenaean towns fell to invaders from mainland Greece around 1200 B.C., Athens was the only one to remain intact and inhabited. As the tide of Athenian culture and politics shifted from a monarchy to a government of Aristocrats, and eventually a democracy, the administrative and official government functions moved from the Acropolis to the Agora. The Acropolis then moved into Athens’ more illustrious and important eras as a center of worship to the goddess Athena, becoming the benchmark of Greek art and architecture, and the ultimate representation of the Classical age.
Sources consulted:
"History of the Acropolis". Retrieved from http://www.ancient-greece.org/history/acropolis.html on 15 January, 2007.
Wycherley, R.E. The Stones of Athens. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1978.
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