Acropolis of Athens
A flat-topped rock 150 m above the city where Pericles spent the 5th century BC erecting the buildings that still define Athens.
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Four structures commissioned by Pericles — the Parthenon, Propylaea, Erechtheion, and Temple of Athena Nike — share a 3-hectare outcrop that has been occupied since the 4th millennium BC. The Parthenon's wrecked interior is not ancient decay: in 1687 a Venetian cannonball struck Ottoman gunpowder stored inside and the explosion seriously damaged the Parthenon and the other buildings.
What to look for
- The Parthenon's gutted core, caused by the 1687 Venetian bombardment that ignited gunpowder the Ottoman garrison had stored inside
- The surviving stretch of Cyclopean circuit wall — 760 m long, up to 10 m high, built in the late Bronze Age to defend the hill
- The Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion, both part of Pericles' coordinated 5th-century BC building program
The hilltop sits 150 m above sea level and covers about 3 ha — the climb to reach the monuments is part of the visit.
Acropolis of Athens is one of 36 sights worth the detour in Athens, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Athens pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Athens
- ParthenonA temple built to celebrate a war victory that went on to become a church, a mosque, and a gunpowder depot — blown apart in 1687 and still being reassembled.
- Platonic Academy (Akadimia Platonos)Aristotle studied here for twenty years before leaving to found his own school — and the word "academy" has followed ever since.
- Classical AthensDemocracy was invented here in 508 BC — and it took a bribe at Delphi to get it started.
- Olympic Stadium Athens "Spyros Louis"Santiago Calatrava's white steel roof arches over the same track where Athens opened the 2004 Olympics — and hosted three Champions League finals.
- ErechtheionThe one Greek temple that broke every rule of classical architecture — and scholars still can't agree on what it was actually called.
- Daphni MonasteryGold-ground mosaics survive inside an 11th-century monastery built on top of an Apollo sanctuary the Goths wrecked — and Lord Elgin took the rest.