MT woke up before sunrise.
Don got up at 6:50 am.
We
went to breakfast in the World Café around 7:30, and vacated our stateroom
at 8:00, as directed.
Since
we were not going to the airport to depart on a flight booked through Viking or
using a Viking extension in Athens, we just picked up our suitcases in the cruise
terminal baggage room and found a taxi out front. Our friendly driver
was Christos. We paid the standard rate of €25, plus a €5 tip. On the way to our
hotel, he took us past the closest Catholic church.
We
arrived at the Best Western Plus Amazon hotel around 8:30, and our room
was ready.
Around 10:05, we headed for the Acropolis. But on the way there, we again passed through the Pláka district.
Pláka (Greek: Πλάκα) is the old historical neighborhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis. It incorporated labyrinthine streets (most of which are pedestrianized) and neoclassical architecture. Pláka is built on top of the residential areas of the ancient town of Athens. Even though only a few houses date back further than the Ottoman period (1453-1830), it is the oldest area of the city, continuously inhabited for around 3,000 years. Pláka was developed mostly around the ruins of the Ancient Agora of Athens. During the years of Ottoman rule, it was known as the “Turkish quarter” of Athens. Until the late 19th century, Pláka had a sizable community of Arvanites (Albanian soldiers who settled in Greece in service of the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century).
The name “Pláka” was not in use until after the Greek War of Independence (1821-30). The origin of the name is uncertain; it may have come from “Pliak Athena,” meaning “Old Athens” in Arvanitika (a variety of Albanian spoken by the Arvanites) via Albanian plaka, meaning “old,” or from the presence of a “plaque” that once marked its central intersection (of its two main streets, Kydathineon and Adrianou).
Adrianou street, running
north-south, divided the district into two areas: the Ano Pláka (Upper Pláka)
right under the Acropolis, and the Kato Pláka (Lower Pláka), between Syntagma
and Monastiraki.
We happened upon the Pláka Stairs. [NOTE: From this point on, in order to integrate MT’s photos with Don’s, it was necessary to note that the time on her iPhone was about 7 minutes behind that on his camera.]
One place in the Pláka district
that attracts tourists is the Pláka Stairs, located especially at Mnisikleous
street. The stairs lead straight up the slope of the Acropolis Hill.
Taverna o Geros tou Moria (Greek: Ταβερνα ο
γεροσ του Μωρια), since 1926, is located at Mnisikleous 27 (just off Thrasyillou
St.) in the Pláka District, under the Acropolis. It is at the top of Mnisikleous
St. and the top of the Pláka Stairs. It is divided over the houses on either
side of the steps and the steps themselves.
But first we stopped at the small Church of the Metamorphosis Sotiros at the foot of the north side of the Acropolis.
The Church of the Metamorphosis
Sotiros (Greek: Μεταμόρφωση του Σωτήρος), dated to the 11th century.
Dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Savior, it is affectionately called
“Sotirakis,” meaning the little Savior, because of its small size. The church
is also called “Sortira tou Kottaki,” after the Athenian family that once owned
it. The addition of the family name distinguished it from the other Church of
the Metamorphosis in the Upper Pláka, which is also called “Sotiraki.” Originally
dedicated to Virgin Mary the Savior, it functioned as a Russian Orthodox church
from 1847 to 1855. It is situated just to the north of the Acropolis, on
Theorías street at the intersection with Klepsydras street in the Pláka
district. It is a Byzantine tetrastyle (four-columned) cross-in-square church with an
Athenian dome. A large arch still visible on the north exterior outlines the
original entrance. The north side is in part built with the normal cloisonné
system of masonry (sculpted stones surrounded by brick), but the west side if
made of rubble and marble bits (possibly from the ruins of a nearby ancient temple
or an early Christian church), indicating a lot or repairs made over time. The
Athenian-style dome is well proportioned but with time has lost the marble
facing in top of the windows and just under the tiles.
An acropolis (Greek: ἄκροπόλις,
romanized akropolis, from akros = at the point, end, or top; or akron = highest
+ polis = city) is the fortified upper part of an ancient Greek city. Plural acropoleis.
Athens: Acropolis , seen from the Hill of the Muses (By Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany - The Acropolis of Athens viewed from the Hill of the Muses, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37881267).
The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a flat-topped rocky outcrop that rises 150 m (490 ft) above sea level over the city of Athens. It contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Although the term acropolis is generic and there are many other acropoleis in Greece, the significance of the acropolis of Athens is such that it is commonly known as “The Acropolis” without qualification. During ancient times, it was also known more properly as Cecropia, after the legendary serpent-man Cecrops, the supposed first king of Athens.
Athens: Acropolis , seen from Mount Lycabettus at dawn(By User:Leonard G. - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2205944).
Athens: Acropolis site plan showing major archaeological remains (By Madmedea. - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1710261); key to callouts: 1 = Parthenon, 2 = Old Temple of Athena, 3 = Erechtheum, 4 – Statue of Athena Promachos, 5 = Propylaea, 6 = Temple of Athena Nike, 7 = Eleusinion, 8 = Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia or Brauroneion, 9 = Chalkotheke, 10 = Pandroseion, 11 = Arrephorion, 12 = Altar of Athena, 13 = Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus, 14 = Sanctuary of Pandion, 15 = Odeon [Theater] of Herodes Atticus, 16 = Stoa of Eumenes, 17 = Sanctuary of Asclepius or Asclepieion. 18 = Theater of Dionysus Eleuthereus, 19 = Odeon of Pericles, 20 = Temenos of Dionysus Eleuthereus, 21 = Aglaureion.
The Theater of Herodes Atticus,
also known as Odeon of Herodes Atticus or Herodeion (Greek: Ωδείο Ηρώδου του Αττικού or Ηρώδειο)
or Herodion or Iródio, is a stone Roman theater hollowed out on the southwest
slope of the Acropolis. The structure was completed between 161 and 174 AD and
renovated in 1950. It was built by the Greek Herodes Atticus (101-177 AD), a
Greco-Roman politician and sophist who served as a Roman senator, in memory of
his Roman wife. It was originally a steep-sloped theater with a three-story
stone front wall and a wooden roof made of cedar of Lebanon. It lasted until the
roof was destroyed and the theater left in ruins by the Heruli (a Germanic
tribe) in 267 AD.
Athens: Historical image of Odeon of Herodes Atticus (ca. 1880) (By Brooklyn Museum - Theater of Dionysius, Athens, Greece.Uploaded by palnatoke, No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27885617).
The audience stands and the
orchestra (stage) were restored using Pentelic marble in the 1950s. Behind the
stage, the distinctive colonnade once
held statues of the nine Muses. The theater, which seats 5,000 spectators, is
still in use today.
An odeon, odeion,
odeum, or odea [all from ancient Greek ᾠδεῖον (ōideîon), from ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”, although the latter two are through Latin], especially in
ancient Greece or Rome, was a roofed building used for musical performances or
poetry competitions; hence a theater or concert hall in modern times.
We would see more of this theater later.
To the right (our left) of the entrance was the Temple of Athena Nike.
The Temple of Athena Nike
(Greek: Ναός Αθηνάς Νίκης, Naós Athinás
Níkis) is a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena Nike built to commemorate
the Athenians’ victory over the Persians. Nike means “victory” in Greek, and
Athena was worshiped in this form, representative of being victorious in war. Built
in 426-421 BC, at the site of at least two earlier shrines dedicated to the
same goddess, it was the earliest fully Ionic temple on the Acropolis. Proportionally,
the small building was more heavily adorned than any Ionic temple in the
history of Greek architecture. It has a prominent position on a steep Mycenean bastion
at the southwest corner of the Acropolis to the right of the entrance, the
Propylaea. In contrast to the Acropolis proper, which is a walled sanctuary
entered through the Propylaea, the Victory (Nike) Sanctuary was open, entered
from the Propylaea’s southwest wing and from a narrow staircase on the north.
The sheer walls of its bastion were protected on the north, west, and south by the
Nike Parapet, named for its frieze of Nikai (plural) celebrating victory and
sacrificing to their patroness, Athena Nike.
The temple has four Ionic columns 4
m (13 ft) high at each portico end. After being destroyed by the Ottomans on
1686, it was reconstructed in 1834-38. On the point of collapse in 1936, it was
again dismantled and reconstructed according to information resulting from more
recent research.
We would see more of this temple after viewing more of the Theater of Herodes Atticus.
Athens: Philopappos Monument
on top of the Hill of Muses (By © Guillaume Piolle, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6030667).
In Greek or Roman architecture, a propylaion
(Greek, with plural propylaia) or propylaeum (Latin with
plural propylaea), from the Greek pro = before + pylē = gate, was an
entrance, vestibule, or portico before a building or group of buildings;
especially, in the plural, the structure forming the entrance to the Acropolis.
Athens: Acropolis – Propylaia,
with Pedestal of Agrippa (left) and Temple of Nike Athena (right) flanking
steps leading to six-columned west façade of central building (By George E.
Koronaios - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90461000).
The structure consists of a central
building with two adjoining wings on the outer (west) side, one to the north
and one to the south. The central building has a standard six-columned façade
both to the west to those entering the Acropolis and on the east for those departing.
The columns echo the proportions (but not the size) of those of the Parthenon.
The central building contains the gate wall, which contains five gates and
divides the portico. The current marble stairway was built around 52 AD, and,
following the Herulian invasion (267 AD), was constructed
immediately in front of the Propylaia as part of the further fortification of
the citadel and the city. Parts of the Propylaia were accidentally destroyed
when struck by lightning in 1645 and severely damaged by an explosion of a
powder magazine in 1656, foreshadowing the even greater damage to the Parthenon
from a similar cause in 1687. Starting in 1984, the Propylaia was partly restored;
all scaffolding was removed at the end of 2009. Then a contract for restoration
of the central building was awarded in 2013.
Athens: Acropolis – 1891
drawing of what the west side of the Propylaia might have looked like sometime
after 267 AD when the Beulé Gate was constructed in front of the west
staircase, with Temple of Athena Nike to right of the 6-columned façade; at the
left, behind the Propylaia, is the over 12-m tall statue of Athena that has
been lost (Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=156815).
Athens: Acropolis – Propylaia
from the southwest in 1882, with Pedestal of Agrippa at left (By William James
Stillman - This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by
the National Gallery of Art. Please see the Gallery's Open Access Policy.,
CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80955952).
Athens: Acropolis – Propylaia,
with Pedestal of Agrippa at left and Temple of Athena Nike at right, probably
late 19th-century (By Unknown author - LSH 104633 (hm_dig18148), Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44815586).
The Buelé Gate is named after the French archaeologist Ernest Buelé, who discovered it. It was built in 267 AD, after the raid of the Heruli, a Germanic people, as part of the Roman fortifications of the Acropolis. The gate was framed to the north and south by two rectangular towers. Both the gate and the towers were made or reused stones from earlier structures, such as the choregic monument of Nikias that was situated on the south slope of the Acropolis between the Theater of Dionysus and the Stoa of Eumenes. That monument, built in 320-319 BC, was dismantled in late antiquity. The gate was in use for several centuries, while rooms were added to the inner side for protection from the weather for the guards and those who entered the citadel through it. In the 11th century, an upper floor was built on the gate to provide better protection of the entrance to the Acropolis entrance. In 1686, when the Ottoman Turks destroyed the Temple of Athena Nike, they used the marble to build a bastion for artillery over the gate. At the time of the Frankish occupation (1204-1311), the use of the gate ceased. The gate remained covered until Buelé discovered it 1852 and excavated it in 1852. Due to the poor state of preservation of the gate towers, consolidation works were carried out in the late 19th century.
Athens: Acropolis – Pedestal
of Agrippa (By Andrzej Otrębski - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25514075).
The Pedestal of Agrippa is located west of the Propylaia and the same height as the Temple of Athena Nike to the south. It was built in 178 BC in honor of Eumenes II of Pergamon to commemorate his victory in the Panathenaic Games chariot race. It is 8.9 m high. It was the base of a bronze quadriga (drawn by four horses abreast) chariot, life-size, probably driven by Eumenes and/or his brother Attalus II.
Athens: Acropolis – Temple of
Athena Nike, viewed from the Propylaia (By Jebulon - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50802579).
The Temple of Athena Nike is the earliest fully Ionic temple on the Acropolis. It has a prominent position on a steep bastion at the edge of a high cliff at the southwest corner of the Acropolis to the right (west) of the Propylaia entrance. In contrast to the Acropolis proper, which is a walled sanctuary entered through the Propylaia, this Victory Sanctuary was open, entered from the Propylaia’s west wing and from a narrow staircase on the north. Nike means “victory” in Greek, and Athena was worshiped in this form, representative of being victorious in war.
There is evidence that the location
was used for religious ritual already in the Mycenaean age (roughly 1600-1100
BC). A small temple of Athena Nike had been built here in the 6th century BC.
After it was demolished by the Persians in 480 BC, this new temple was built
over the remains. Constructed of white Pentelic marble, the new temple was
built in stages, as wartime funding allowed. Construction began in 449 BC and was
finished around 420 BC. If still in use by the 4th century AD, it would have
been closed during the persecution of pagans (non-Christians) in the late Roman
Empire. The temple sat untouched until it was demolished in 1686 by the Ottoman
Turks, who used the stones to build a defensive wall that surrounded the hill. It
was excavated in the 1830s, and, in 1834 following the independence of Greece,
it was reconstructed from remaining parts. In 1998, it was dismantled so that
the crumbling concrete floor could be replaced, and its frieze was removed and its
fragments placed in the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum. Copies of
these are fixed in their place on the temple. Eventually, the entire building
was reassembled using the original pieces, with some fill wherever needed.
These additions can be recognized since they are of a lighter color than the original
marble. A third reconstruction was carried out in 2010.
The temple is a tetrastyle
(four-column) Ionic structure with a colonnaded portico at both the front and rear
façades. These columns on the east and west sides were monolithic (made of a
single block of stone rather than using horizontal column drums). The temple
housed a statue of Athena Nike that lacked the customary wings, which Pausanias
in the 2nd century said was so that she could never leave Athens.
The remains of the sanctuary of
Athena Hygieia are located in front of the southernmost column at the southeast
corner of the east porch of the Propylaia. On the right (south) immediately after
entering the Acropolis through the east porch of the Propylaia, is the site of
the small open-air shrine of Athena Hygieia. The remains consist of several
marble bits and pieces, the most recognizable of which are the foundations and
sides of the sanctuary’s rectangular altar and a semicircular statue base
inscribed with a dedication to Athena Hygieia. The marble statue base, discovered
in 1839, is inscribed with the Greek dedication: “The Athenians (dedicated this)
to Athena Hygieia. Pyrrhos the Athenian made it.” The 2nd-century AD traveler
Pausanias wrote that there was a statue of Hygieia and one of Athena Hygieia
near the entrance of the Acropolis. According to Plutarch (46-120 AD), Pericles
set up a bronze statue of Athena Hygieia near the altar of that goddess on the
Acropolis, after asking for her to inspire a physician to a successful course
of treatment for a worker injured during the construction of the Parthenon in
the 5th century BC. The semi-cylindrical form of the base is thought to have been
designed so that the statue could stand directly in front of the column of the
east porch.
In Athens, Hygieia was the
subject of a local cult from at least the 7th century BC. The already existing
worship of Athena Hygieia had nothing to do with Hygieia, the goddess of
health, but merely denoted the recognition of the power of healing as one of the
attributes of Athena, which gradually became crystallized into a concrete
personality.
In Greek, as well as Roman, mythology,
Hygieia (Ancient Greek: Ὑγιεία or Ὑγεία; Latin: Hygēa or Hygīa)
was one of the Asclepiadae, the daughters and sons of Asklepios (Latin:
Asclepius), the god of medicine, and his wife Epione. Hygieia was the goddess
(personification) of health (Greek: ὑγίεια, hugieia), cleanliness, and sanitation.
Hygieia also played an important part in her father’s cult. While her father
was more directly associated with healing, she was associated with the
prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health. Her name became the
source of the word hygiene.
Hygieia was usually worshiped in
the same temples with her father. However, the cult of Hygieia as an independent
goddess did not begin to spread until the Delphic oracle recognized her, and
after the devastating Plague of Athens (430-427 BC) and Rome in 293 BC. In
Greek art, she is often pictured as a woman feeding a serpent out of a saucer.
Thus, her symbol is a (sometimes drinking) serpent. Her sacred snake together
with the rod of Asclepius is the symbol of medicine (although, especially in
the US, the similar caduceus, the traditional symbol of Hermes with two
snakes winding around an often winged staff, may be used as the symbol of
medicine). The original Hippocratic Oath began with the invocation “I swear by
Apollo the Healer and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the
gods….”
The Parthenon (Greek: Παρθενώνας,
Parthenónas) is a former temple on the Acropolis, dedicated to the goddess
Athena. Construction began in 447 BD, when the Athenian Empire was at the peak
of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although decoration of the building
continued until 432 BC. It replaced an older temple of Athena that was destroyed
in the Persian invasion of 480 BC. It is the most important surviving building
of Classical Greece, generally considered the zenith of the Doric order.
In common with other Greek temples,
the Parthenon is of a post and lintel construction and is surrounded by Doric columns.
There are eight columns at either end and 17 on the sides. There is a double
row of columns at either end. The colonnade surrounds an inner masonry
structure, the cells, which is divided into two compartments. At either end of
the building, the gable is finished with a triangular pediment occupied by
sculpted figures.
The Parthenon’s name is from the
Greek word παρθενών (parthenon), which referred to the “unmarried women’s
apartments” in a house and in the Parthenon’s case seems to have been used at
first only for a particular room in the western cella (inner chamber) of the
temple that housed a group of four young girls chosen to serve Athena each
year. Since the Greek παρθένος (parthénos) meant “maiden, girl, unmarried woman,
or virgin,” another theory is that the name Parthenon means the “temple of the
virgin,” referring to Athena.
Although the Parthenon is architecturally
a temple, it is not really one in the conventional sense. Although a small
shrine has been excavated within the building, on the site of an older temple
dedicated to Athena, the Parthenon never hosted the cult of Athens, patron of
Athens. Rather, it should be viewed as a grand setting for Phidias’ colossal
votive statue of Athens, which was not related to any cult and is not known to
have inspired any religious fervor.
In the final decade of the 6th century
AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin
Mary. After the Ottoman conquest, it was turned into a mosque in the early 1460s.
In 1687, an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian
bombardment during the siege of the Acropolis. The resulting explosion severely
damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures. Since 1975, numerous large-scale
restoration projects have been undertaken, the latest expected to finish in
2020.
Only a very small number of
sculptures remain in situ; most of the surviving sculptures are now in museums.
From 1800 to 1803, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed some of the surviving
sculptures, now known as the Elgin Marbles and displayed in the British Museum
in London. The British Museum also holds other fragments from the Parthenon
sculptures acquired from various collection s that have no connection with Lord
Elgin. Other surviving sculptures are in museums or storerooms in Athens and in
various museums in Europe.
Phidias (c. 480-439 BC)
was a Greek sculptor, painter, and architect who designed the statues of Athena
on the Acropolis, namely the Athena Parthenos inside the Parthenon and the
colossal Athena Promachos which stood between it and the Propylaia. Both are
now lost and are known only through smaller copies from ancient and modern
times.
Athena Parthenos inside the Parthenon
and was designed as the focal point. Parthenos, meaning maiden or
virgin, was an epithet of Athena. It was the most renowned cult image of
Athens. According to the 2nd-century AD traveler and writer Pausanias, the statue
was around 26 cubits (around 11.5 m, or 35 ft 9 in) tall. It was a chryseleohantine
(made of gold and ivory) sculpture. Around 447 BC, the Athenian tyrant Lachares
removed the gold sheets to pay his troops, and the bronze replacements were
probably gilded thereafter. An account mentions it in Constantinople in the
10th century AD.
Varvakeion Athena (By Unknown
(After Phidias' Athena Parthenos) - Marsyas, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=470164).
The Athena Promachos was a
colossal bronze statue of Athens that stood between the Parthenon and the
Propylaia and between the Erechtheion and the Propylaia. In the 2nd century AD,
Pausanias referred to it as “the great bronze Athena.” The designation Promachos
is not attested before a dedicatory inscription in the early 4th century AD. In
ancient Greece, the Promachoi (singular Promachos), literally
translated as “forefighters,” were the soldiers fighting in the first rank of a
phalanx. It came to mean a defender or champion. It was erected around 456 BC
either to memorialize the Battle of Marathon or in gratitude to Athena for her
contribution to victories in the Persian Wars. According to various sources, it
was either over 12 m (39.4 ft) or around 9.1 m (30 ft) tall. According to
Pausanias, the top of Athena’s helmet and the tip of her spear could be seen by
sailors and anyone approaching Athens from Attica, as far away as Sounion,
which is 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Athens. The statue overlooked Athens for
approximately 1,000 years, until shortly after 465 AD, when it was transported to
Constantinople, which had become a safe haven for many surviving Greek
sculptures under the protection of the Eastern Empire. It is documented that,
during a riot taking place in Constantinople in 1203 AD, a “drunken crowd” of
Crusaders destroyed a large bronze statue of Athena, which is now thought to
have been the Athena Promachos. The exact form of the statue is unknown. Greek
coins from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD show the only known images of Phidias’
Athena Promachos: on one side is the depiction of the Acropolis from the north
with a large statue of Athena between the Propylaia and the Erechtheion, facing
toward the west.
Ancient Athenian coin depicting
Athena on one side and on the reverse Athena Promachos on Acropolis (By Peter
Oluf Brøndsted - http://el.travelogues.gr/travelogue.php?view=206&creator=890384&tag=3,
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66722357).
Painting, from 1846, of Acropolis
portraying the statue of Athena Promachos as visible from far away, as reported
in ancient texts; it shows the great bronze figure carrying a great spear in
her right hand (rather than an owl as indicated from copies and coins) (By Leo
von Klenze - Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1387333).
Athens: Parthenon – reconstruction of east pediment (By No machine-readable author provided. Crissov assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=345977).
A tethrippon (plural tethrippa) was a 4-horse chariot. A tethrippon was also a 4-horse chariot race established as an Olympic event in 680 BC with a length of 12 laps around the hippodrome, with sharp turns around the posts at either end.
Athens: photo under “East Pediment”
in Wikipedia entry on Parthenon with caption: “Part of the east pediment still
found on the Parthenon (although part of it, like Dionysos, is a copy)” (By Dorieo
- Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3156404).
Athens: Parthenon – photo
of “Elgin Marbles east pediment” in the British Museum” showing (left to right)
arm of unidentified figure, head of horse, reclining Dionysos, Hestia, Dione, and
Aphrodite (CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=439402 ).
Athens: photo under “See
also” at end of Wikipedia entry on Parthenon with caption: “Reclining Dionysos,
from the Parthenon east pediment, ca. 447-433 BC” in British Museum, Former
Elgin collection (By Unknown, under supervision by Phidias - Marie-Lan Nguyen
(User:Jastrow), 2007, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1423312).
Athens: photo with caption: “Sculpted horse head on [northeast corner of] eastern pediment of Parthenon, Athens, Greece. This is a copy of the original in the British Museum in London, which accounts for it being in good condition, while those near it have almost weathered away.” (By © Guillaume Piolle, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4696798).
The Temple of Rome and Augustus
was the sole major architectural supplement to the 5th- and 4th-century BC building
complex on the Acropolis.
An architrave (in
Classical architecture) is a main beam resting across the capitals at the tops
of columns. Those who have given it any attention have often, but not exclusively,
seen it as a symbol or Romanization. While the building has largely been viewed
either a monument to Roman power or a skillful Athenian subornation of Augustus’
victory into Athenian past glory, it was arguably both. The inscription on the
architrave says: “The people [Athenians, dedicated the temple] to the goddess
Roma and Caesar Augustus ….”
The Erechtheion (or
Erechtheum) is an Ionic temple on the north side of the Acropolis that was
dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon. It is situated on the most sacred site
of the Acropolis, which is said to be where Poseidon left marks of his trident
in the rocks and Athena’s olive tree sprouted, in their battle for patronage of
the city. The temple as seen today was constructed in 421-406 BC. It is
believed to have been a replacement for the temple of Athena Polias (Protectress
of the City of Athens) destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. The sculptor and
mason was Phidias, who also built the Parthenon. It derived its name from a
shrine dedicated to the legendary Greek hero Erechthonius. (In ancient Greece a
hero was the mortal offspring of a human and a god.) Some have suggested
that it may have been built in honor of the legendary king Erechtheus, who is
said to have been buried nearby. Erechtheus and the hero Erechthonius were
often syncretized (blended in identity).
The Erechtheion was associated with
some of the most ancient and holy relics of the Athenians. The eastern part of
the building was dedicated to Athena Polias and held a statue of the goddess
carved in olive wood. The western part served the cult of Poseidon-Erechtheus
and held a rock with the marks of Poseidon’s trident and the salt water well
called the Erechtheis that resulted from Poseidon’s strike; it also held the
altars of the god Hephaistus and the hero Boutes, brother of Erechtheus, as
well as the Pandroseion, the sacred precinct of Kekrops’ daughter Pandrosus.
The need to preserve multiple
adjacent sacred precincts likely explains the complex design. The main
structure consists of up to four compartments, the largest being the east
cella, with an Ionic portico on its east end. On the north side, there is
another large porch with six columns, and on the south, the famous Porch of the
Maidens.
The entire temple was built
entirely of white Pentelic marble, with friezes of black limestone that bore sculptures
executed in relief in white marble. It had elaborately carved doorways and windows,
and its columns were ornately decorated (far more than is visible today). The
Erechtheion underwent extensive repairs and reformation for the first time
during the 1st century BC, after its catastrophic burning by the Romans. If it
was still in use by the 4th century AD, the temple would have been closed
during the Roman persecution of pagans (non-Christians). The building was
altered decisively during the early Byzantine period, when it was transformed into
a church. With this alteration, many architectural features of the ancient
building were lost, so that our knowledge of the interior arrangement of the building
is limited, It became a palace under Frankish rule and the residence of the
Turkish commander’s harem in 1463 during the Ottoman period. In 1827, during
the Greek War of Independence (1821-29), the building was bombarded by the
Ottomans and severely damaged. It went through a period of restoration from 1977
to 1988.
Athens: Acropolis – Porch of
Cryatids of the Erechtheion, showing all six caryatids (By No machine-readable
author provided. Harrieta171 assumed (based on copyright claims). - No
machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright
claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=594464).
The Porch of the Maidens, or Porch of the Caryatids, has six draped female figures (caryatids) as supporting columns. A caryatid (Latin form of Ancient Greek: Karyatis, plural karyatides) was a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support, taking the place of a column or pillar and supporting an entablature on her head; karyatides literally means “maidens of Karyai,” an ancient town on the Peloponnese peninsula that had a temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis. The Erechtheion caryatids are of the type called cephora (“basket bearer”), representing the maidens (priestesses) who carried sacred objects used in the feasts of the goddesses Athena and Artemis. This porch was built to conceal the giant 15-ft beam needed to support the southwest corner over the Kekropion (honoring the mythical king and hero Kekrops), after the building was drastically reduced in size and budget following the onset of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC.
One of the caryatids from the
Porch of Cryatids now displayed in the British Museum (By I, Sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17552891).
At
the start of the southern slope, we came to the Bronze Foundries.
Athens: Acropolis – remains of Bronze Foundry on southern slope (By Andrzej Otrębski - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25494523).
12:24 PM (Cropped) – Athens: Acropolis – Top center drawing on sign for Bronze Foundries; English part of legend reads: Stoa of Eumenes 1; Asklepeion 2; Ancient Peripatos street 3; “Pelargic Wall” 4; ΗΟΡΟΣ ΚΡΕΝΕΣ Inscription 5; Naiskoi 6; Cistern 7; Archaic Fountain 8; Inscriptions shed 9; Bronze Foundries 10 [shaded red]; Polygonal Wall 11; at lower left is gray area labeled “Visitors passage.”
Internet sources show a photo of the stone with “ΗΟΡΟΣ ΚΡΕΝΕΣ” inscribed on it and say that a marble boundary stone (stelle) with the inscription “horos krenes,” meaning “boundary of the spring” was set up along the Peripatos on the south slope.
The Greek ΝΑΙΣΚΟΙ (Naiskoi) is the
plural of naiskos, meaning a shrine or a small temple in classic order
with columns or pillars and pediment; the term is also used in ancient Greek
cemeteries for grave reliefs or shrines with statues (often of the person who
died) and since they lack columns are properly called “grave stellai.”
In the pottery of ancient Greece, a
kylix (Greek ΚΎΛΙΞ, plural ΚΎΛΙΚΕΣ, kylikes; also spelled cylix)
is the most common type of wine-drinking cup. It has a broad, relatively
shallow body raised on a stem from a foot. The almost flat interior circle of
the bottom of the cup was generally the primary surface for painted decoration
in the black-figure or red-figure pottery styles of the 6th and 5ch century BC.
The term comes from the Greek kylix, meaning “cup,” which is a cognate
of the Latin calix, the source of the English word “chalice.”
Next, we came to ruins tentatively identified as the Temple of Themis.
The Temple of Themis is
mentioned by Pausanias (2nd century AD): “After the sanctuary of Asclepius, as
you go by this way toward the Acropolis, there is a temple of Themis.” Themis
was a Titan goddess of divine law and order. (In Greek, the word themis referred
to divine law, those rules of conduct long
established by custom; unlike the word nomos, this term was not usually
used to describe laws of human decree.) Themis was an early bride of Zeus and
his first counsellor. She was often represented seated beside his throne advising
him on the precepts of divine law and the rules of fate. She was also a
prophetic goddess who presided over the most ancient oracles, including Delphi.
In this role, who was the divine voice (themistes) who first instructed
mankind in the primal laws of justice and morality.
Continuing down the path on the southern slope, we came to the Temple of Asklepios.
The Sanctuary of Asklepios,
the Asklepion, was founded in 420-419 BC for the cult of the healer god (and
of his daughter Hygieia). The place where it was built was selected because
there was a small spring in the Acropolis rock, a very essential element for
the cleaning of patients. The sanctuary consisted of the small Temple of Asklepios
and two halls (stoas), one in the Doric style and the other Ionic. The Doric
stoa was a two-story building with a façade of 17 Doric columns, built in
300-299 BC. This was used as an infirmary and incubation hall for visitors who
stayed overnight at the Asklepion and were miraculously cured. The restoration
project for the façade of this stoa includes the reconstruction of three marble
columns, together with parts of the epistyle, the Doric frieze, the cornice,
and part of the columns of the first floor. A second, smaller Ionic stoa could
be found westwards. It served as a guesthouse with four rooms in which the
priests and various visitors to the shrine resided. The sanctuary was destroyed
in 267 AD by the Heruli and later on was
replaced by a Christian basilica dedicated to the Saints Anargyri, not
by chance, since they are considered protectors of health.
A stoa (plural stoai
or stoae), in ancient Greek architecture, is a walkway or portico, covered by a
roof supported by columns, and was commonly for public use. Usually of the
Doric order, lining the side of the building, they created a safe, enveloping,
protective atmosphere that combined useful inside and outside space. Later
examples were built as two stories and incorporated inner colonnades, usually
in the Ionic style.
An epistyle, also
known as an architrave, is a massive piece of stone or wood laid immediately on
top of the capital of a column or pillar.
Athens: Acropolis – Stoa of
Eumenes with Peripatos path in foreground and part of wall around Acropolis in
background (By Tomisti - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39226784).
The Stoa of Eumenes II was a colonnade built on the south slope of the Acropolis by King Eumenes II (197-159 BC) of Pergamon around 160 BC. The 1st-century BC Roman author Vitruvius makes reference to this building when speaking about the purpose of stoai erected near theaters as serving as a refuge for the spectators in inclement weather conditions or as stores for theater props. The Stoa of Eumenes was constructed south of the Askpelion staircase and the Peripatos path, on an artificial terrace. To retain the pathway to the north, an arched retaining wall was constructed along the northern edge of the site. Today, the ancient level of the stoa floor has been restored, with many of the pillars of the ground floor colonnade still in place. Viewers from the lower part of the Theater of Herodes Atticus had access to the ground floor of the two-story gallery. The gallery was in use until the 3rd century AD, when it was destroyed and its material used in the construction of the Valerian wall, which was built around 260 AD, partly along the lines of older walls around the city of Athens and partly as a new fortification to protect the city against Barbarian attacks. In the middle of the 13th century (some sources say 11th or 12th century), the northern retaining wall of the arcade was incorporated into the Rizokastro Wall, which was built around the Acropolis in the first half of the 13th century around the Acropolis rock. The ruins of the Stoa. of Eumenes were uncovered by archaeologists in 1877-78.
A stylobate, in
classical Greek Architecture, was a continuous flat pavement supporting row of columns. Some methodologies use the
term stylobate to describe the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped
platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of
the temple). Others use the term to refer to the entire platform. The platform
was built on a leveling course that flattened out the ground immediately
beneath the temple.
Athens: Acropolis – view,
from top of Acropolis, of south slope with ruins of Theater of Dionysos, with
city of Athens below (By Vislupus - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73124257).
Athens: Acropolis – ruins of
Theater of Dionysos (By Nicholas Hartmann - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52043063); Don added red box to show location of preceding photo.
Around 500/470 BC, the temporary
wooden stands around the orchestra were replaced by an earthen semicircular sloping
theatron (auditorium) in which up to 14,000 people could sit or stand. Here
the great tragedies and comedies of the 5th and 4th centuries BC were performed
as part of contests. The theater was also still used for choral competitions. Around
340 BC, a more elaborate temple was constructed just to the south of the archaic
shrine. This may have been commissioned as part of a building program by the
Athenian chief magistrate, orator and financial expert Lykourgos around 338-326
BC. Like its predecessor, this temple was a non-peripteral, but it did have a
Doric tetrastyle prostyle porch. Around
300 BC, Lykourgos ordered the construction of a monumental theater with 64
concentric tiers of limestone seats radiating fan-wise from the orchestra. Built
between 342 and 326 BC, it was the first theater built of stone.
When the drama had taken its final
form, Lycurgus, chief magistrate of Athens from 337 BC, renovated the theater
completely to seat 16,000 spectators, dressing it with marble. South of the
theater and behind the stage, there was the Sanctuary of Dionysus. In the
southern wall of the stage was a small stoa, and nearby was the archaic temple
of Dionysus. Next to it, a new Doric temple was erected in 340 BC.
During Roman sack of Athens in 86
BC, the theater and sanctuary were heavily damaged, but the damage was repaired
abound 60 BC. Sometime in the 1st century AD, the orchestra floor was paved
with marble slabs in alternating colors. In 61/62 AD, a new stage was built in
honor of Dionysos and the Emperor Nero. The theater was used for Roman
gladiatorial spectacles, adding a marble balustrade and metal railing to
protect spectators.
The sack of Athens by the Herulians
in 267 AD brought the theater life to an end. At the beginning of the 5th
century, it was altered to serve as a meeting place of the Assembly of the
citizen body. A stoa-like structure was built in front of it. The orchestra
area was enclosed by a marble parapet. In 435 AD, an edict of Emperor Theodosius
II ordered the closing of all pagan (non-Christian) sanctuaries and temples,
bringing worship of Dionysos here to an end. At the end of the 5th century, a
Christian basilica was built over the eastern embankment of the theater, and
the orchestra was used as the church’s open courtyard. At some point, the
church was destroyed, and in the 11th century, the Rizokastro Wall was built,
enclosing the lower slopes of the Acropolis and running across parts of the
sanctuary. In the early 19th century, a British colonel identified this area as
the Sanctuary of Dionysos, and excavations in 1862-86 revealed the essential
structures an monuments of the sanctuary.
Architectural terminology related
to columns:
A peripteral building
(or peripteros) is a style of ancient Greek temple in which the cella
(inner chamber) is surrounded by a single row of columns in a colonnade. It is surrounded
on all four sides of, creating a four-sided arcade. The adjective and noun are
based on the Greek roots peri- (around) and pteron (colonnade).
Thus, non-peripteral would mean a temple
without a surrounding colonnade.
A distyle (or distyle
building) is a small temple-like building with two columns.
However, distyle in antis
means a temple where two columns are set between two antae.
Antae (plural of anta)
are square brick columns, basically pillars or posts, on either side of a
doorway. The smaller columns between the antae are “columns in antis” (in
meaning “between”). Antae are slightly projecting piers that terminate the
walls of the cella. They differ from pilasters, which are purely decorative and
do not have the structural support function of antae.
A colonnade made up of 4 columns is
tetrastyle; of 6,
hexastyle; of 8, octastyle, of 9, ennastyle; of 10, decastyle; of 12, dodecastyle.
Prostyle is a type of columnation consisting of
free columns in a front portico only and across the full front of a structure.
At the lower east side of the Theater
of Dionysos is the statue of Menander (or Menandros). Menander (Greek Μένανδρος,
Menandros; c. 342/41 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek dramatist and the best-known
representative of Athenian New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies. Menander found
many Roman imitators, including Terence, whom Julius Caesar called “dimidiatus
Menander” (Latin dimidiatus meaning “incomplete, imperfect, half”). His plays
held a place in the standard literature of Western Europe for over 800 years after
his death. Unfortunately, the works of Menander were lost during the Middle
Ages, although 23 of the plays were said to still have been available in
Constantinople in the 11th century and are known in modernity only in highly fragmented
form, much of which was discovered in the 20th century. Only one play, “Dyskolos”
(“The Grouch”), which won a prize in the Dionysia in 315 BC, has survived almost
entirely.
Athens: Acropolis – statue
of Menander (By Paweł 'pbm' Szubert (talk) - Own work, CC
BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41685489).
Athens: Acropolis – at right
is the statue of Menander on the eastern parodos of the Theater of Dionysos (By
George E. Koronaios - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83785894).
To the left of the statue is a historical marker sign with text in Greek and English;
the English part of the text reads:
“The eastern parodos was the main
entrance into the theater, through which priests and officials arrived for the
theatrical performances during the Dionysian festival of the city. The northern
side of this entrance was chosen as the site for the erection of statues
honoring the most important dramatic poets, who symbolized the perennial values
of classic education and functioned as examples for participants in the theatrical
contests.
“The program of building and completion
of the new theater during the Lycurgan era (336-324 B.C.) included the erection
of the posthumous honorary monument to the three Tragedians (Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides) in the main entrance around 330 BC.
“East of this monument the honorary
base and statue of the most important representative of the Bew [sic!, New]
Comedy, Menander, was erected in 291-290 B.C. He wrote over 100 plays but won
the [Dionysia] contest only a few times. His innovative work focused on
ordinary people and he is considered the father of psychological drama. At the
age of 51, he drowned while swimming off Piraeus. The monument in his honor was
erected immediately after his death while Athens was under the rule of the
Macedonian King, Demetrios Poliorketes. The poet is represented seated on an
honorary throne, his beardless face mirroring the new fashion introduced by
Alexander the Great.
“The ancient base of the statue,
which was revealed in 1862, is inscribed with the name of the poet. As well as
the signatures of the sculptors, sons of the famous sculptor Praxiteles. The
inscription reads: ‘Kefisodotos and Timarchos made it.’ The original statue was
copied many times during the Roman era, because of the Romans’ particular admiration
for the plays of Menander. The identification of the position and form of this
monument permitted its restoration, with the reconstruction of the lost two
steps of the bathron, the repositioning of the ancient base, and the didactic
use of a cast replica in place of the lost original.”
Based on the Roman-era copies, a
cast replica has replaced the lost original statue.
Burrowed into the Acropolis rock above
the Theater of Dionysos is a cave that was once sacred to the goddess Artemis. Residents
of Athens used to refer to this only as “the hole,” unaware of its significance
in ancient and Christian times.
In front of this cave and above it
are the remains of the Choregic Monument of Thrasyllos, erected in 320
BC by Thrasyllos of Dekeleia, a judge and sponsor of the contests of the Great
Dionysia, when he dedicated the cave to Dionysos. In ancient Greece, it was common
for choregic monuments to be built by a choregos (Greek: ΧΟΡΗΓΌΣ), the sponsor
of a chorus in the annual dramatic and choral contests of the Great Dionysia festival,
to celebrate his team’s victory.
This monument was built in the form
of a small temple and fills the opening of the natural cave. Around the natural
hollow in the rock, stone was cut away to form a cave 6.2 m deep and 6 m high,
just below the south wall of the Acropolis and above the Theater of Dionysos.
The rock face was cut back to form a flat vertical surface, and the mouth of the
cave was enlarged into a rectangular opening. Over the front of the cave, a
marble Doric portico was constructed, 7,7 m wide and 8.4 m high. This portico was
an almost exact copy of the west façade of the south wing of the Propylaia, with
two monumental door openings with antae to the sides and a central pillar supporting
enormous doors and an entablature with eleven olive wreaths above an architrave.
(One of the marble pilaster capitals was rediscovered in 1985 in a storeroom of
the National Museum in Athens.) On the architrave was an inscription saying: “Thrasyllos,
son of Thrasyllos of Dekeleia, set this up, being choregos and winning in the
men’s chorus for the tribe of Hippothonthis.” Above the monument, three steps
cut into the rock led to a platform on which the bronze tripod awarded as the prize
of the contest was displayed. In 270 BC, Thrasyllos’ son Thrasykles enlarged
the monument to celebrate similar choregic victories of his own. Then two more
inscriptions were added to the architrave, one of which said: “Thrasykles, son
of Thrasyllos of Dekeleia, was agonothete [person who directed or presided over
great public competitions]. Hippothontis won the boy’s chorus.” Presumably, two
more choregic tripods were placed atop the monument at this time. Probably around
the 4th century AD, the tripods are thought to have been replaced by or set up
on three statues, of which the central one, thought to depict Dionysos, was
still standing in the 17th and late 18th centuries before Lord Elgin removed it
in 1802 to London, where it is now displayed as one of the “Elgin Marbles” in
the British Museum. The other two statues may have been replaced by the two large
Corinthian columns, from the Roman period, which were also erected for the display
of choregic tripods and still stand above the cave. The monument rests against
the Wall of Cimon, a defensive wall surrounding the Acropolis that was built
after the Persian Invasion. Its location made it visible to the whole city of
ancient Athens.
Athens: Acropolis – reconstruction of Choregic Monument of Thrasyllos as it might have appeared in the time of Thrasykles (By Davide Mauro - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68649033).
Sometime in the Christian era, probably
during the period of Ottoman rule (from the mid-15th century until the Greek
War of Independence broke out in 1821), the cave of the monument was converted
into a Christian chapel dedicated to Panagia Spiliótissa (Greek: ΠΑΝΑΓΊΑ
ΣΠΗΛΙΏΤΙΣΣΑ, Our Lady of the Cave). This was a place where mothers brought
their sick children.
After the construction of the small
church in the cave behind the façade of the monument, the monument was preserved
almost intact until 1827 with some alterations, such as the blocking of its two
openings with walls. The monument collapsed when hit by cannon fire in 1827,
during the siege of the Acropolis by the Ottoman Turks during the Greek War of
Independence. Three of its structural parts are standing; the rest lie on the
ground. The taller of the two columns above the monument has a large hole,
probably caused by the Turkish bombardment. The monument was much more elaborate
than the surviving parts suggest.
Following the establishment of the
Greek state in 1834, the Archaeological Society announced the restoration of
the monument. However, a large part of its marble stone was controversially used
in the 19th century for the restoration of the Byzantine-style Russian Orthodox
Church of Panaghia Sotiras tou Nikodimou on Filellinon Street. Restoration work
finally began in 2003. Now the main source of the monument’s pre-1827 condition
are drawings and descriptions from a detailed study of the site by Stuart and
Revett in 1751-53.
Athens: Acropolis –
reconstruction of Choregic Monument of Thrasyllos from 1751-53 study (By James
Stuart, Nicholas Revett - http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/stuart1825bd2/0117?sid=807c0fd7a9ebc5da7395685ab9ddf151,
CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34290206).
Athens: Acropolis – Choregic
Monument of Thrasyllos, current state of restoration work (By George E. Koronaios
- Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87633115).
Athens: Acropolis – two Corinthian columns above the Choregic Monument of Thrasyllos (By Tomisti - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48017240).
The Choragic Monument of
Lysikrates, also called the Lantern of Demosthenes, is located on a small square
of the same name (Plateía Lysikrátous), on Lisikratous street on the west side
of Tripodon street, in the east of the Pláka district near the Acropolis. It was
erected by the choregos Lysikrates, a wealthy patron of musical performances in
the theater of Dionysus to commemorate the prize in the dithyramb contest of
the city Dionysia in 335/334 BC, of Which performance he was liturgist. This
monument is a cylindrical structure built on a square podium out of porous stone
(2.93 m) with six Corinthian columns of Pentelic marble, rising to a circular
marble dome, and panels of Hymettian marble. It is the first known use of the
Corinthian order of columns on the exterior of a building in Greece. The dome
has an elegant finial of acanthus leaves that supported the winner’s bronze trophy.
Despite Lord Elgin’s attempts to remove it to England, it is the city’s only intact choragic monument. Lord
Byron wrote some of his poem “Childe Harold” sitting in this monument during
his final visit to Athens in 1810.
In ancient Greek theater, the choregos
(from χορόσ “chorus” + ἡγεῖσθαι
“to lead”) was a wealthy Athenian
citizen who assumed the public duty (choregiai) of financing the preparation
of the chorus and other aspects of dramatic production.
A dithyramb
was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine
and fertility.
An Internet search for “Konstantinos
[Ig?] Pllliologos 9. 2 .1404 29. 5.
1453” yielded a hit at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_XI_Palaiologos
for Constantine XI Palaiologos (8 February 1405-29 May 1453), also known
by his full name Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos (Greek:
Κωνσταντῖνος Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος, Kōnstantinos Dragasēs Palaiologos) or just Dragaš
Palaeologus, the last Emperor of the Byzantine Empire (1448-53) and Autocrat of
the Romans. His death in battle at the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 marked
the end of the Byzantine Empire, an institution tracing its origin to Constantine
the Great’s foundation of Constantinople as the Roman Empire’s new capital in
330 AD. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans also marked the definitive
end of the Roman Empire, founded by Augustus almost 1,500 years earlier. The
Wikipedia entry includes the following photo of “Statue of Constantine XI in
Athens” in front of the same background with inscription.
Athens: statue of Constantine
XI in 2011 (By Кардам - http://www.aviewoncities.com/gallery/showpicture.htm?key=kvegr0321,
CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16749903).
The statue of Constantine XI is almost hidden among the greenery at the west end of Mitropoleos Square opposite the fabulous Metropolitan Church. The tremendous sculpture shows the hero in full armor brandishing a sword with his upraised right hand.
According to the Greek City Times.com
(https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/06/09/statue-of-the-last-byzantine-emperor-is-unveiled-in-piraeus/),
in June 2020, a statue of Constantine XI was “unveiled in Athens … in the
square of the Holy Metropolis Church in Piraeus (Athens)” (photos show it
identical to Don’s except that the statue is free-standing in front of and to
the left of the main entrance of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens at the
east end of the square). Constantine XI is remembered not only for being the last
Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, who put up a brave last stand against the
Ottomans of Sultan Mehmet II, but also for his last speech to his officers and
allies before the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Today, Emperor Constantine XI
is considered a national hero in Greece.
The “new” statue of Constantine XI,
in its new place by the entrance of the Cathedral, has been placed on a truly
new base with the same quotation from his last speech that was previously on
the stone monument behind the statue.
The Metropolitan Cathedral of
Athens
(Greek: Καθεδρικόσ Ναόσ Ευαγγελισμού τησ Θεοτόκου, romanized
Kathedrikós Naós Evangelismoú tis Theotókou, meaning Cathedral of the Annunciation
of the Mother of God) is popularly known as the Mitrópoli or Mētrópolis. It is
the cathedral church of the Archbishopric of Athens and all Greece. When Athens
became the capital of Greece in 1834, a cathedral was needed here. Its construction
began in 1842, using marble from 72 demolished churches to build its immense
walls. It was completed in 1862 and dedicated to the annunciation of the Mother
of God. It is a three-aisled, domed basilica that measures 40 m (130 ft) long,
20 m (65 ft) wide, and 24 m (80 ft) high. It has three aisles, a dome over the
crossing, and twin bell towers on the west. Over its 20 years of construction,
it was designed by three different architects in a mixed Romanesque-Renaissance-Byzantine
style. Its 19th-century architecture is not generally admired, especially when
compared to the small 12th-century Byzantine church Panagia Gorgoepikoos (Our
Lady Who Swiftly Hears), also known as the Agios Eleftherios (Church of St.
Eleftherios) or Kikrí Mitrópoli (Little Metropolis), located just a few feet
away.
The square in front of the
Cathedral is called Plateia Mitropoleos (Metropolitan Square).
Archbishop Damaskinos Papandreou (1891-1949) was the
archbishop of Athens and all Greece from 1941 until his death. He was also the
regent of Greece between the pull-out of the German occupation force in 1944
and the return of King George II to Greece in 1946. During the German
occupation, he frequently clashed with the German authorities and the quisling
government, and he formally protested the German effort to exterminate Jews in
Greece, writing that he and others of the Orthodox faith followed the words of
St. Paul that “there is neither Jew nor Greek.”
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