Acropolis: The cradle of Western civilization

Steep and inaccessible from every side except the west, the hill had been inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC, not only because of its natural fortification but also due to the spring water flowing from its slopes. During the Mycenaean period, the settlement grew, and the Acropolis became a center of power. By the 8th century BC, it had taken on an exclusively sacred character, with the establishment of the cult of Athena Polias.

In the mid-6th century BC, the tyrant Peisistratos – who rose to power three separate times through various stratagems – built a predecessor of the Parthenon, known as the Hekatompedon. After their victory over the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC, the Athenians began constructing a much larger temple, known as the Pre-Parthenon. Their efforts were in vain, however, as the Persians invaded Attica in 480 BC, plundered the Acropolis, and burned down its monuments.

From the mid-5th century BC onward, everything changed. Pericles, a charismatic leader with progressive ideas, launched an ambitious building program that lasted throughout the second half of the century and gave us all the monuments we know today: the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion, and the Temple of Athena Nike. Pericles aimed not only to protect and glorify the city but also to create jobs, primarily for the citizens of Athens. Countless people – Athenians and foreigners, free and enslaved – worked on realizing his vision, earning a daily wage of one drachma.

The Parthenon, the ultimate architectural expression of the ancient Greek spirit, was designed by Iktinos in collaboration with Callicrates, while Phidias, a sculptor and close friend of Pericles, was responsible for the sculptural decoration. The inspired proportions, innovative architectural elements, and intricate reliefs were harmoniously combined into a unique monument that embodied the history of an entire nation, from the Olympian gods to Democracy. Inside the temple was housed the colossal chryselephantine statue of Athena, which was lost to the depths of history, along with the ancient worship.

The famous porch of the Maidens, later known as the Caryatids, is part of the Erechtheion, where the Panathenaic procession concluded—a splendid festival that rivaled the Olympic Games in popularity. One of the Maidens, along with half of the surviving sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, was looted by Lord Elgin and ended up at the bottom of the sea before reaching its final destination: the British Museum in London.

Today, the monuments of the Sacred Rock of the Acropolis symbolize the people who built them more than the gods to whom they were dedicated. Above all, however, they remind the rest of the world that Greece was, is, and will always be the cradle of democracy.