Athens Attraction
Acropolis
There's nothing we can tell you that hasn't been said many times about Athens'
ancient citadel.
The Acropolis is on an abrupt rocky outcrop above the city and has
world-renowned Classical landmarks that people spend whole lifetimes waiting to
see in the flesh.
The pinnacle of these is of course the Parthenon, but The Propylea, the
Erectheion and the Temple of Athena Nike are indispensible, and you can skip the
queues and get enthralling inside facts and titbits about ancient Greek
democracy and philosophy with a registered guide.
The going is steep and slippery on timeworn marble, until you reach the flat
summit, and be prepared for cranes and scaffolding, which are an understandable
necessity for a World Heritage Site.
Parthenon
Seen as the greatest achievement of the Doric Order and Classical Greece's most
significant building to make it to the 21st Century, the Parthenon is a symbol
of western civilisation and Athenian democracy.
The Parthenon was dedicated to the goddess Athena and begun in 447 BC, when the
Athenian Empire was the dominant force in the Aegean.
Co-designed, by Ictinus and Callicrates, at that time it was a city treasury
before becoming a church in the 6th century and then a mosque in the 1460s.
Notoriously, some of the Parthenon's sculptures were plundered by The Earl of
Elgin at the start of the 18th century and were later sold to the British Museum
where they remain.
The remainder of the original frieze and pediment sculpture is the highlight of
the Acropolis Museum, which follows.
Erechtheion
On the north side of the Acropolis is a temple to Athena and Poseidon, built in
the Ionic Order from 421 to 406 BC. After antiquity this monument had all sorts
of uses, as a Byzantine church, a palace in the Frankish period and much later a
residence for the Ottoman commander's harem.
The thing you have to see, and the Erechtheion's defining image, is the southern
Porch of the Maidens.
This has six magnificent caryatids supporting its roof, carved by Callimachus or
Alcamenes.
The current caryatids are casts, and five of the originals are now in the
Acropolis museum and a sixth is at the British Museum.
Plaka
An antidote to both the silent ancient temples and traffic-heavy modern city,
Plaka lies on top of ancient Athens's residential quarters in the shadow of the
Acropolis.
It's a district of tight, twisting alleys with 19th-century facades garlanded
with flowering bougainvillea in summer.
Plaka is jam-packed with family-run shops, each with something alluring, from
ceramics, musical instruments, handmade jewellery to specialty food shops
stacked high with olives and spices.
And whether you want to pick up a gyro or sit down to a meze Plaka is a go-to
for dining and nightlife.
Below the rocky notheastern slope of the Acropolis is Anafiotika, a steep
whitewashed neighbourhood settled in the 19th-century reign of Otto of Greece
when workers moved here during the renovation of King Othon's Palace.
Temple of Olympian Zeus
Now, not much of this temple east of the Acropolis has been left standing, but
what remains is more than enough to tell you that it used to be vast. The Temple
of Olympian Zeus had an extremely long construction period, started in the 6th
century BC but not completed until the rule of Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd
Century AD. In that time the prevalent order had switched to Corinthian, and the
15 surviving columns of an original 104 have scrolls and acanthus patterns. The
temple was pulled down during the Herulian sack of Athens in 267, little more
than a century after it was completed , and its stone was quarried for other
buildings around the city.
Ancient Agora of Athens
Reserved for trade and public gatherings, the Agora was the centre of
Classical Athens and is cushioned by the Acropolis to the southeast and the
Agoraios Kolonos hill to the south. It was drawn up in the 6th century BC and is
a wide-ranging site with the ruins of more than 30 buildings and monuments.
Download a map, go slow and let you imagination wander. Or hire a guide who will
explain the ancient customs that once took place where you stand, like
ostracism, in which potential threats to the state were preemptively forced into
exile.
Museum of the Ancient Agora
One of the monuments in the Agora, the Stoa of Attalos, was totally
reconstructed in the 1950s. This covered walkway was first built by Attalos II
in the mid-2nd century BC but was wrecked by the Herules in 267. The new
building was as faithful as possible to the archaeological knowledge of the day
and hosts the Museum of the Ancient Agora, showing off the artefacts brought to
light during excavations in the area by the American School of Classical
Studies. Awaiting you are Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Geometric period
figurines, weapons and vases recovered from tombs and wells. You can also see
some thrilling pieces relating to Athenian democracy in the Classical and Late
Classical periods, like an official bronze weight, shards of pottery used in
ostracism ballots (ostracons), clay measuring devices, bronze and lead ballot
disks once used in trials.
Panathenaic Stadium
The Place Royale, the Royal Erected for the 1896 Olympics, the
Panathenaic Stadium is a modern reconstruction of an ancient stadium built for
the Panathenaic Games in 330 BC. Two hundred years later that ancient monument
would be rendered in marble by the Athenian Roman senator Herodes Atticus. With
a U-shape layout, the Panethenaic Stadium is an almost exact replica of the
construction from the 2nd century BC, and like its ancient ancestor is composed
completely from marble. It was seen around the world during the 2004 Athens
Olympics when it staged the archery events and was the finish line for both the
men's and women's marathon. The stadium can hold 45,000 spectators and from its
highest tiers you can see the Acropolis and the National Garden.