Acropolis

I'm finally in Athens, Greece, and I've so far managed to rack up some of the nicest historical real estate anywhere in the world. The first place I went to was the famous Acropolis, with the easily recognizable Parthenon building as the main attraction. Most of the plateau is just rubble, but parts of some of the old structures still stand, although you can't access any.

The Acropolis (literally "the upper city") was razed and burned by the Persians in 480, which ironically may had led to better conservation than otherwise occurred. You see, the Athenians took all the rubble of various temples and statues and whatnot and buried them in situ. This means that they were well preserved until modern times, when they were dug up again by archaeologists. Also, the Parthenon probably wouldn't have seen the light of day iffin the Persians hadn't destroyed everything old up there.

The Parthenon.


From a different angle. It was originally a temple to Athena, daughter of Zeus and the patron godess of Athens.


This column by the entrance area once had a large bronze statue of Marcus Agrippa, son in law to the emperor Augustus, on top of it.


The gates from inside the Acropolis.


The Erechtheion, which was originally a temple to Athena and several other deities, was used as a harem by the Turkish commander in the 1600s.