Hill of the Acropolis and Propylaea
According to legend, on the Acropolis Hill, Poseidon struck with his trident, and it was here that the first olive tree of Athena grew. For a long time, the hill was just a high cliff, but the Athenians gradually "clothed" it in stone, cut off the top, erected giant walls, and turned it into a flat sacred platform. And on the border of this man-made world of gods and the world of people, they placed the Propylaea — majestic marble gates.
Figures worth knowing while standing at the foot of the Acropolis Hill
• Height: 156 meters above sea level.
• Length of the plateau (summit): about 300 meters from west to east.
• Width of the plateau: from 85 to 150 meters at its widest points.
• Area of the summit: approximately 3 hectares (slightly less than three football fields).
• The platform at the top is not perfectly flat — it has a natural slope, but it was this "inconvenient" shape that saved the Acropolis from complete destruction in ancient times.
The myth of the birth of the rock and the city
For a long time, it was believed that the hill had always been here. But Greek mythology gives a more poetic answer. When the gods divided the lands of Hellas among themselves, Athena and Poseidon argued over who should rule Attica. To settle the dispute, Zeus ordered a contest: whoever gives people the best gift will become the protector of the city.
• Poseidon struck the rock of the Acropolis with his trident. The earth trembled, and a salty spring gushed from the crevice — a symbol of sea power. But the water was unfit to drink.
• Then came Athena`s turn. She struck the same spot with her spear, and from the rock grew the first olive tree — a symbol of peace, prosperity, and wisdom. The Athenians chose Athena`s gift.
The mark of the trident and the olive tree, as the myth goes, were preserved for centuries within the walls of the Erechtheion. The point is that the rock itself became the arena of a divine dispute, and therefore the number one place of power in Greece.
The first people on the Acropolis Hill: from the Mycenaeans to the tyrants
People took a liking to this rock long before the "Golden Age of Pericles" (5th century BC).
Mycenaean era (c. 1400–1200 BC): The hill was a powerful fortress. A king lived here. Cyclopean walls grew around the rock (made of giant unprocessed stones which, according to legend, were dragged by Cyclopes). It was then that a palace and a temple to the goddess Athena first appeared on the Acropolis.
Dark Ages (1100–700 BC): The palace was destroyed by Dorian invaders. But the hill did not become empty. It became a sanctuary — a refuge for the gods, not for people.
Archaic period (6th century BC): The tyrants (rulers) Peisistratus and his sons decided to turn the Acropolis into a grand religious center. They began to build the first large temple of Athena (Hekatompedon — "Hundred-Footer"). But...
80 BC — The Great Destruction: The Persians captured Athens and burned all the buildings of the Acropolis to the ground. Temples, statues, gates — everything was destroyed.
How the rock was clothed in stone (what you see now)
• After the victory over the Persians, the Greeks swore not to restore the ruins, but to preserve them as an eternal reminder of barbarism. For 30 years, the Acropolis stood in ruins.
• But under Pericles (445–429 BC), the oath was broken — grand construction began.
The main problem: how to build temples on an uneven rock so that they would not slide down and be destroyed by earthquakes? The solution (brilliant):
• The architects cut off the top of the rock to create a horizontal platform.
• On the south and north sides, they built powerful retaining walls (up to 10 meters high) from huge blocks of Piraeus limestone.
• The voids between the rock and the new wall were filled with rubble and earth. This artificially expanded the summit of the hill.
The result: That very perfectly flat platform of the Acropolis Hill made of white and gray stone on which you today walk between the Parthenon and the Erechtheion — this is not "natural" ground. This is a man-made masterpiece of 5th century BC engineering. It has held for 2,500 years without cement (the blocks are fastened with iron clamps poured with lead).
The Propylaea: The ceremonial gates that guarded the gods
If the Acropolis is a sacred space, then the Propylaea is a portal between the world of mortals and the world of gods. This is not just a gate. This is an architectural masterpiece of an entrance, designed to inspire awe and control the crowd.
Who and when built the Propylaea?
• Architect: Mnesicles (a friend of Phidias).
• Years of construction: 437–432 BC (never fully completed due to the start of the Peloponnesian War).
• Material: White Pentelic marble (for the facades) and dark gray Eleusinian stone (for the details).
How are the Propylaea arranged? (Imagine yourself as an ancient visitor)
You walk along the Panathenaic Way — the sacred street along which once a year the procession of Athenians passed to give Athena a new peplos (garment). The road ends at the slope of the hill.
Step 1. A staircase of 16 steps. Today it is gentle, but in ancient times it was steep and narrow. It was impossible to go up on foot, on a horse or in a cart — only to walk and slowly, raising your head upward.
Step 2. The western facade (what you see from below). In front of you are two powerful Doric porticos: one on the outside (facing the city), the other on the inside (facing the sanctuary). Between them is a passage. The width of the central passage is about 4 meters. On the sides are two smaller passages for pedestrians.
Step 3. The facade. You see 6 Doric columns 8.8 meters high (slightly lower than the columns of the Parthenon, but still huge). They are not white — in ancient times, the capitals and details were bright blue and red. To the left and right of the entrance stood bronze horses and statues (not preserved).
Step 4. The inner corridor (the smartest part). You enter. The ceiling is made of marble beams with blue coffers (recesses) and golden stars. This created the feeling that you are walking under the sky. Light entered from the sides through openings in the wall. To the right and left are doors to the side wings.
Step 5. The side wings (pinakothekes). The north wing was a ceremonial dining hall and a resting place. The south wing — the one you see to the left of the entrance if you stand facing the Parthenon — is the world`s first art gallery (pinakotheke). Paintings by famous artists (Polygnotus and others) on wooden boards hung there. Unfortunately, the paintings have not survived.
How did the Propylaea protect the Acropolis from enemies?
This is not just a beautiful arch. This is well-thought-out military engineering.
One entrance — total control.
The entire Acropolis has only one convenient approach — from the west. The other sides are sheer cliffs up to 70 meters high. To get inside, the enemy would have to go through the narrow corridor of the Propylaea, which was shot through from both sides.
Two huge wooden doors.
The central passage was closed by massive double-leaf doors made of wood, clad in bronze. Ancient texts mention that there were two of them: one on the outside, the other on the inside. Between them is a trap: if the enemy broke down the first doors, he found himself in a closed stone sack, where the second doors could no longer be broken down with a running start.
Loopholes and archers.
In the walls of the corridor there are narrow loophole windows (you will see them on the right and left). From there, archers and slingers could shoot the enemy trapped in the passage without exposing themselves to return fire.
The absence of wings.
Initially, Mnesicles planned symmetrical north and south wings. But on the south side there was the temple of Athena Nike (Wingless Victory), which could not be demolished. The south wing had to be made smaller. Military bonus: This asymmetry created a "dead zone" — the attackers could not understand where to expect archers from.
The sloping floor.
The floor inside the Propylaea is not horizontal but sloping. The attacker ran uphill, getting tired and losing formation. The defenders, on the other hand, stood at the top, having the advantage of height.
What was not finished in the Propylaea?
The Peloponnesian War (431 BC) stopped the construction. The north wing never received marble cladding on one side (rough masonry is visible). The central hall was never completely roofed — part of the ceiling remained temporary wooden. But even unfinished, the Propylaea were considered in ancient times the most beautiful architectural structure of their kind.
Today, the Propylaea greet us not as a military fortress, but as an architectural monument. But it is worth pausing at the sloping floor and taking a closer look at the loopholes in the walls. And the Acropolis Hill itself is of no less interest. Nature created the rock uneven and inconvenient, but people cut off its top, erected retaining walls, filled the voids with rubble, and obtained a platform that has stood for two and a half thousand years. Without cement, without modern technology — only iron, lead, and brilliant calculation.
