Greece - Fast Facts About Greece

By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide

By the 14th century B.C., Athens was already one of the major, wealthy centers of Mycenaean civilization. We know this because of area tombs, as well as evidence of a water supply system and heavy walls around the Acropolis. Theseus, the legendary hero, is given credit for unifying the area of Attica and making Athens its political center, but this probably happened c. 900 B.C. At the time, Athens was an aristocratic state, like those around it. Cleisthenes (508) marks the start of the period democracy associated so closely with Athens.

• Social Order of Athens
• Rise of Democracy

Acropolis

The acropolis was the high point of a city -- literally. In Athens, the Acropolis was on a steep hill. The Acropolis was the main sanctuary of Athens' patron goddess Athena, which was called the Parthenon. During Mycenaean times, there was a wall surrounding the Acropolis. Pericles had a Parthenon re-built after the Persians destroyed the city. He had Mnesicles design the Propylaea as a gateway to the Acropolis from the west. The Acropolis housed a shrine of Athena Nike and the Erechtheum in the 5th century.

The Odeum of Pericles was built at the foot of the southeastern part of the Acropolis [Lacus Curtius]. On the south slope of the Acropolis were sanctuaries of Asclepius and Dionysus. In the 330s a theater of Dionysus was built. There was also a Prytaneum perhaps on the north side of the Acropolis.

• More on the Acropolis
• Parthenon
• Odeum of Herodes Atticus

Areopagus

Northwest of the Acropolis was a lower hill where the Areopagus lawcourt was located.

Pnyx

The Pnyx is a hill west of the Acropolis where the Athenian assembly met.

Agora

The agora was the center of Athenian life. Laid out in the 6th century B.C., northwest of the Acropolis, it was a square lined by public buildings, which served Athens' needs for commerce and politics. The Agora was the site of the bouleuterion (council-house), the Tholos (dining hall), the archives, mint, lawcourts, and magistrates' offices, sanctuaries (Hephaisteion, Altar of the Twelve Gods, Stoa of Zeus Eleutherius, Apollo Patrous), and stoas. The agora survived the Persian wars. Agrippa added an odeum in c. 15 B.C. In the second century A.D. the Roman Emperor Hadrian added a library to the north of the Agora. Alaric and the Visigoths destroyed the Agora in A.D. 395.

References:

• _{Oliver T. P. K. Dickinson, Simon Hornblower, Antony J. S. Spawforth "Athens" The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth. © Oxford University Press.}
• _{Lacus Curtius Odeum}

1. Fast Facts About Ancient Greece
2. Topography of Ancient Athens
3. The Long Walls and the Piraeus
4. Propylaea
5. Areopagus
6. Fast Facts About the Greek Colonies

_{Image: C.C. Tiseb at Flickr.com}

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• Fast Facts About Greece
• Topography of Ancient Athens
• The Long Walls and Piraeus
• Propylaea
• Areopagus

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