The Acropolis

• The Acropolis was a religious shrine and fortress.

• Acropolis means “high city”.

• This flat limestone rock was very special to the Athenians. They built public buildings and temples on it.Timeline

1200 B.C. – Built a wall around most of it.

530 B.C. – Built temple to honor Athena.

480 B.C. – Persians captured Athens and destroyed most of the buildings.

5th Century B.C. – Golden Age and Persian Wars

447 B.C. - Pericles was the ruler. He ordered the rebuilding of the Acropolis and new structures – the Parthenon was built. It is the best known temple.

Propylaea – the huge entrance to the Acropolis. It was never completed due to the Peloponnesian War.

The Parthenon

• 449 B.C. – Pericles asked sculptor Phidas to rebuild the Acropolis. It took 2 years to plan.

• July 28, 447 B.C. – the first stone was laid.

• It was designed by Callicrates, Mnesicles, Ictinus

Building Information

• 228 feet long• 65 feet high• 101 feet wide• Simple design• 40 foot statue of Athena

• left hand has 20 foot shield• right hand has statue of Nike

• 46 Doric columns that went around all 4 sides

• Was built with the finest marblehttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/glorious-parthenon.html