The Acropolis

Columns and Buildings

The Acropolis and Agora General Overview

Get to know the Acropolis with Rick Steves!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP-FsX0QW88

As you watch, come up with one question you have about the Acropolis,

Background

• Athena vs. Poseidon• Test

– Poseidon: Struck earth with trident • Created well, salt water sprang forth = naval

power

– Athena – Olive tree = peace and prosperity

• Athena won (obviously)

Order of Greek ColumnsDoric, Ionic, Corinthian

Making Thinking Visible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrRJkzXl4a4

As you watch this video, assign each type of column an animal and explain why you chose that animal.

Doric Style – Archaic Age

• Sturdy• Top (capital) is plain• Columns – thick and chunky!• Larger-than-life, masculine,

heroic view of Greece• Mainland Greece, colonies

in southern Italy and Sicily

The Parthenon – Doric Columns

Cornice

Pediment

Frieze of alternating triglyphs and metopes – low relief structure

Architrave

Capital

Pediment – High Relief

East Pediment Parthenon Sculptures

British Museum, London

Trigloph and Mytope Friezes

Ionic Style – Classical Age• Thinner, more elegant• Top (capital) decorated

with a simple scroll• More flutes• Eastern Greece and the

islands

Temple of Athena Nike – Ionic Columns

Cornice

Frieze

Architrave

Capital

Corinthian Style – Hellenistic Age• Seldom used in Greek

world• Roman temples• Top (capital) very

elaborate– Decorated with

acanthus leaves

Temple of Zeus, Athens – Corinthian Columns

Acropolis (“acro” = “high” & “polis” = “city”)

City on the hill, 230’ over Athens, over 2000 years old

• Human genius

• Reflect a form of life

• Attitude that put man at the center of the world

• Beauty and proportion divine

Propylaea

• Gateway to the Sacred Way – the procession to the gods– No stairs, just

cuts to make the climb easier; Romans added stairs

Propylaea

Temple of Nike

Ionic Columns – Scroll Capital

Statue of Athena Nike

• Cult statue of Athena Nike– Wood – Helmet in left

hand – Pomegranate

(fertility) in right

• Originally winged victory goddess– Nike Apteros

(wingless victory); never fly away

The Winged Victory of Samothrace

• Nike of Samothrace– Marble– Greek goddess Nike

(victory)– Discovered 1863– Represents Greek

fascination with the cult of Nike

Parthenon

The Mighty Parthenon!

All temples were designed to be seen only from the outside. Visitors never went inside and could glimpse interior statues only from the

outside.

The idealism of the Greek way of living, the attention to detail, as well as the understanding of a mathematically explained harmony in the natural world

were concepts that in every Athenian’s eyes set them apart from the barbarians.

These ideals are represented in the perfect proportions of the building, in its intricate architectural elements, and in the anthropomorphic statues that

adorned it.

The Elgin MarblesThe British Museum, London

How the Brits got pieces of the Acropolis for CHEAP!

• The buildings of the Acropolis suffered significant damage during the 1687 siege by the Venetians in the Morean War

• The Parthenon, which was being used as a gunpowder magazine, was hit by artillery fire and severely damaged.

• Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799-1803, obtained a controversial permit from the Ottoman authorities to remove pieces from the Acropolis.

• From 1801-1812, Elgin’s agents removed about half of the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon, as well as sculptures from the Proplylaea and Erechtheum.

• The marbles were transported by sea to Britain. In Britain, the acquisition of the marbles was supported by some, while others compared Elgin’s actions to vandalism or looting.

• Following a public debate in parliament and subsequent exoneration of Elgin’s actions, the marbles were purchased by the British government in 1816 and put on display in the British Museum.

Current Parthenon Restoration• Started in 1975 and

thought to be completed in 10 years

• Previous restoration efforts in 1898 included replacement of iron clamps; Greek Architect Nicholas Balanos did not add the lead coating that the ancient Greeks had used to prevent corrosion

• Iron swelled and cracked marble

• Restoration continues today

Erechtheum – dedicated to Athena and

Poseidon

Athena – left sidePoseidon – right side

• Sacred Snake– Spirit of

Cecrops– Well-being

essential to safety of the city

– Fed honey-cakes by priestesses

This olive tree is said to be a descendant from the one Athena planted.

• Porch of Caryatids– Sculpted figures

serving as an architectural support in the place of columns

Caryatid Porch of Erechtheum

A Closer Look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X872rmThCF8#t=238

How do the Caryatids represent a change from the old way of thinking to the new way of thinking that is being brought in during the Hellenistic Period?

Odeon of Herodes Atticus; 161 AD; Roman

Aeropagus – Mars Hill

Paul at Areopagus

• “New teaching” (Acts 17:19)

• Not official judicial procedure– Echoes the trial

of Socrates– Proclaiming new

deities and leading the populace to question its beliefs in the traditional gods

Leonoard Porter, "Saint Paul Preaching on the Areopagus"2010, oil on linen, 12" x 19"

Exit Ticket

• On the front of the notecard, write the question you asked while watching the video at the beginning of the presentation.

• On the back of the notecard, write the answer. If your question was not answered, leave it blank.