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Elmer Boyce Architecture 110 Professor Boestler 02 November 2000 The Athenian
Acropolis The Acropolis of Athens has stood as a monument of triumph to the
people of Athens for centuries past. The temples within its walls were used to
worship Greek gods like Athena and Poseidon. Rising over three hundred feet
above the city of Athens, it can clearly be seen why it is called the Acropolis,
which loosely translated means top of city.
It isn't the only acropolis in
Greece, but it is revered more than the others because of its almost flawless
planning in where each building is placed. It took two hundred years of
experimenting to get it right. Each building is placed specifically to be
pleasing to the viewer's eye. From the viewer's point of view every building is
seen in perspective, and at no point from the entrance is one building seen from
only one facade.
This is what made the Acropolis at Athens so amazing. What
makes the Acropolis even more amazing is the buildings within its walls. There
is the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion, the temple of Athena Nike, and
more. After ascending nearly three hundred feet up the hill you come to what is
called the Propylaia.
The Propylaia is the entrance to the Acropolis and was
used to prepare worshipers before entering the gates to the temples within.
Construction began on the Propylaia in 437 B.C. and was completed in 432 B.C.
The architect of the Propylaia was Mnesikles, and the project was anything but
easy with the narrowness of space and the irregular terrain.
Despite these
obstacles he was successful in creating a harmonious entrance. Asymmetrically
arranged buildings created the propylaia. The most important of these buildings
was the Pinakotheke on the north side with contained the art gallery. The
Propylaia has an outer and inner facade, both supported by six Doric columns
with five doors between them, the largest door was located in the middle.
Further within the Propylaia, there are Ionic columns, which helped support the
roof. These columns were used rather than the Doric columns similar to the outer
columns because of space restraints. Also constructed of load bearing walls the
Propylaia was entirely constructed out of white marble. These load-bearing walls
were the walls of the Pinakotheke and were covered with painted panels or wall
paintings. This propylaia wasn't the first on that site.
The original entrance
gate was smaller and was destroyed in the Persian fire in 480 B.C. After being
prepared in the propylaia, you would enter a central courtyard overlooking the
immense bronze statue of,the Champion, Athena Promachos.
This statue was so
large that the sun could be seen glimmering off the tip of its spear from out at
sea. To the left you would see the Erechtheion in its white marble glory, whose
site lay north of the Parthenon. This building too, like the Propylaia dealt
with irregular terrain, but took it in a different perspective. Instead of
leveling the land, which was too sacred to touch, they built the Erechtheion in
levels to accommodate the steep change in elevation. Built sometime between 421
B.C. and 405 B.C., the Erechtheion housed shrines to several gods, local
deities, and heroes.
It was also the site of several sacred spots, including the
mark of Poseidon's trident spear, the graves of the legendary Erechtheus and
Kekrops, but most importantly it housed the temple of Athena Polias, protectress
of the city and goddess of the hearth. Each level of the Erechtheion had a
specific purpose. To the east, from higher terrain is a six-column Ionic porch
that housed the ancient wooden image of Athena. At the north is another Ionic
porch that leads to the chamber of Erechtheus.
The sacred olive tree of Athena
is located in an open courtyard in the west of the Erechtheion. And finally to
the south is the resting place of the legendary King Kekrops. The Porch of the
Caryatids covers this gravesite. This porch is what makes the building stand out
other than its unusual land layout.
The porch is supported by six maiden figures
used as columns with the crowns on their heads being the capitals. Also within
the frieze of the Erechtheion is to be believed a relief carving of the birth of
Erechtheus. The Erechtheion is most definitely not the largest building in the
Acropolis, but for what it lacks in size it gains in well thought out planning
and decoration.
The temple Athena Nike was created by the architect Kallikrates.
This temple built in Ionic order is the smallest of all the temple buildings
within the walls of the Acropolis. Made of once again, white marble it sits on
an ancient bastion, and was rebuilt once in 435 B.C. to 420 B.C. to its present
day form.
It details four ionic columns on each end and the rest is load-bearing
walls. On the east end, the relief frieze depicts the conference of the gods,
while the other sides show scenes from battles. The temple was built to
commemorate the victory over the Persians. The temple's placement is to
represent the guarding of the entrance of the Acropolis, or the Propylaia. Even
though nearly fifteen hundred years have passed since it construction, the
temple of Athena Nike still stands intact, other than having no roof structure,
like the other temples.
This is because all the temples' roofs were made of
wood, and of course over the years have now deteriorated. Nonetheless, the
temple, Athena Nike will stand to let viewers appreciate the tireless work of
the Greek architects for years to come. The final, and most majestic temple of
the acropolis is the Parthenon.
It is the most important and characteristic
monument of the ancient Greek civilization and still remains its international
symbol. It was dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the patron goddess of Athens. It
was built between 447 and 438 B.C. and its sculptural decoration was completed
in 432 B.C.
The construction of the monument was initiated by Perikles; the
supervisor of the whole work was Pheidias, the famous Athenian sculptor, while
Iktinos and Kallikrates were the architects of the building. The temple is built
in the Doric order and almost exclusively of Pentelic marble. It is peripteral,
with eight columns on each of the narrow sides and seventeen columns on each of
the long ones.
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