It is the Athenian acropolis that most people mean when they refer to "the acropolis" without further qualification. In Athens, it was the site of the Parthenon, a temple to their patron goddess Athena and other important buildings.
The Athenian acropolis was inhabited as early as Neolithic times. During the Mycenaean era, there were fortifications and a palace. Building of temple monuments began in the 6th century B.C. In 480, when the Persians ravaged Athens [see Battle of Thermopylae], it provided a clean slate for Periclean building projects.
The acropolis, originally called Cecropia in honor of the Athenians' legendary ancestor Cecrops, rested on a rock plateau about 200 feet high and 1000' X 460' in area. The Temple of Athena Nike and the Propylaia (Propylaea) are on the Acropolis. The Erechtheum was on the north. Ancient kings also lived there.
Source:Robin Osborne "Athens" The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Brian M. Fagan, ed., Oxford University Press 1996. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
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Source: "The Attica of Pausanias," by Mitchell Carroll. 1907.
