Parthenon: Temple of the Goddess Athena

 

So much emotion upon first seeing this famous building - the beautiful Parthenon

Wednesday, July 13 - Trip Day 14

Our last day in Greece, and we're off the boat in Athens.  Well, of course, our first stop is the Acropolis.  And we were so lucky.  It was mid morning, in the high eighty's with a breeze and some clouds skittering overhead.  Not crowded. So glad we could join Colleen on this day tour, as our guide, Effie, was fantastic.

On our walk up to the entrance, we stopped to admire the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, built in 161 AD as a music theater with a capacity of 5000.  It was destroyed and left in ruins in 267 AD.  It was renovated in 1950 and now is a venue for concerts.

                

The renovated Herodeion, originally roofed with cedars of Lebanon and a three story wall in front

The Propylaia, which serves as the entrance to the Acropolis complex

We entered the complex through a huge, tall columned structure (which was missing it's roof), called the Propylaia.  On our right were the remains of the Temple of Athena Nike.  As we walked under the columns and supports, we had our first close view of the Parthenon a bit up the hill on the right.  

The Parthenon was built in the 5th century BC in thanksgiving for the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in their war.  In addition to a place of worship of Athena, it served as the city treasury.  At the end of the sixth century AD, it became a Christian church dedicated to Mary. 

 

After Athens was conquered by the Ottomans, it became a mosque in the mid 1400's, and munitions were stored there.  Unfortunately, in 1687, during the war between the Turks and Venetians, a Venetian bomb landed among the munitions stored in the Parthenon, and the explosion severely damaged the Parthenon.

The Erechthion, a temple dedicated to Athena Polius on the north side of the acropolis

The Porch of the Maidens (Caryatids) on the south side of the Erechtheion

Restoration work is ongoing at the Parthenon - but the amount of scaffolding is limited

The Parthenon has 46 outer columns and 23 inner columns, each with 20 flutes

The location of the frieze statues and marbles, many of which were taken to the British Museum

The Theater of Dionysus, built in the 6th C BC,  with a capacity of 17,000

Plays written by Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus and Aristophanes were performed here.