Each stone in sunny Greece can tell its story to a concerned listener. Myths, legends and heroes are firmly intertwined in this beautiful ancient country.
Capital of Greece
Tourists visiting Greece do not disregard its beautiful capital - Athens. The ancient city impresses with its subtle beauty, snow-white beaches and architectural monuments, which everyone read about in school years.
The city, named after the goddess of wisdom of Athena, proudly carried the banner of enlightenment and justice not only to the Greeks, but to all the peoples of the Mediterranean. Athens for its long history knew the shame of destruction, periods of decline and unprecedented prosperity. It seems that the goddess herself patronized him and each time carefully lifted him from her knees. Many consider Athens a symbol of Greek culture, its song.
Modern athens
Tourists note that Athens managed to combine all the best in modern civilization with the cultural heritage of their ancestors. The city lives and breathes deeply. From Athens, they are an absolutely modern city. Highways, cafes, restaurants, bars and discos. It has everything to captivate a tourist. But if you are at least a little interested in the history of the city, he will generously open his treasury for you.
Athens Attractions
Athens is not without reason proud of its history. Walking, sightseeing the city, you can endlessly. The Acropolis is considered the true jewel of Athens. Twenty-five centuries of the history of this magnificent building will open to the eyes of a curious tourist.
Acropolis
The Acropolis is the most replicated historical monument in Greece. His power has shocked people so far. It is rather difficult to imagine that this monumental building was conceived, designed and built by the hands of ordinary people. Although the Greeks never considered themselves ordinary people. Everyone will tell you the legend of kinship with the gods. Now this monument is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Acropolis itself is built on a hill whose height is one hundred fifty-six meters. Unfortunately, not all of its buildings and ancient temples have survived to this day . But even the preserved monuments give an idea of the unprecedented beauty of this place.
Today you can see only a few monuments of Greek culture. At the entrance you will be met by the majestic gate of the Propylaea. On the slopes of the Acropolis, you can see two dilapidated ancient theaters. The Parthenon Temple, dedicated to the patroness of Athens, during its heyday brought the hearts of worshipers of the goddess cult into awe. The main decoration of the Acropolis was the Erechtheion Temple. Historians and archaeologists still consider it the most amazing and nontrivial monument of ancient Greece.
What is an Erechtheion?
This question is often asked by tourists, and residents of the city know exactly the answer to it. The Erechtheion Temple was an amazing fusion of several Greek cults. According to historical facts, the Greeks built their temples and shrines for one of the figures of the pantheon of the gods. The most revered were Athena and Zeus. Monumental temples were rebuilt in their honor, colorful celebrations and processions were held.
Ancient architects, creating the Acropolis, the temple of Erechtheion made it the main treasure. Even now, it is the best preserved of all represented on the hill. Its value to scientists lies in the fact that the Erechtheion temple was not intended for ordinary people to visit. Only worshipers had the right to enter, and inside the temple there were three shrines dedicated to Athena, Poseidon, and King Erechtheus.
Erechtheum: Temple Description
The combination of several cults in itself made the temple unique in its kind. Neither before nor after the Hellenes did not build such monumental structures.
At the site of the construction of the sanctuary, there was previously another temple, completely destroyed and burned by the Persians during the Greek-Persian war. By order of the great Pericles, the foundation of a new temple complex was laid at this place. The construction itself began after the death of Pericles and according to some reports, it lasted for more than fifteen years. The architect of the temple is considered to be the Greek Mnesicle. Although historians cannot come to a unanimous opinion on this issue. The architect had to show all his talents in order to design and build this miracle of architectural thought.
The soil on which the Erechtheion Temple stands has significant elevations. Therefore, the structure is located at once in several levels. This ingenious find of Mnesikla fits perfectly into the concept of the temple complex - serving several religious cults.
During the construction of the Hellenes, they used snow-white Pentelian marble and dark stone to decorate the frieze. Sunlight very successfully illuminated the amazing marble carvings surrounding the facade of the temple. The architect applied completely new solutions with the colonnade of the temple. According to the tradition of the Greeks, temples were decorated on all sides with massive columns. During the construction of the Erechtheion, they departed from this tradition. It was surrounded on three sides by beautiful porticoes, each different from the other in its style and size. Some scholars suggest that there was a fourth portico. But archaeologists have not found evidence of this.
What did the temple look like?
Now it is quite difficult to imagine what the temple looked like right after the construction was completed. Although historians, authoritative in scientific circles, assert that the Erechtheion temple was never completed. They believe that during the construction process the initial plan was changed and simplified several times. Due to the protracted Peloponnesian war, the Greeks were in a hurry to finish the costly construction and left some parts of the sanctuary unfinished. Despite these assumptions, our contemporaries managed to make his description. The plan of the Erechtheum temple is recreated in sufficient detail.
The total area of the temple is almost three hundred square meters. And this is without considering the porticoes framing the sanctuary! The temple was divided into three wings, each of which had a separate roof and was dedicated to its deity.
The eastern part belonged entirely to Athena Pallas, the keeper of the ancient city. Six columns adjoined its facade, the height of which was about six and a half meters. In this part of the Erechtheion temple was a beautiful statue of the goddess, illuminated day and night by the light of a golden lamp. It should be noted that this lamp itself is of considerable interest to scientists. Its creator, Callimachus, invented a special design that allowed to add oil to the lamp only once a year. This amount was enough for exactly three hundred sixty five days.
You could enter the north wing through the main door of the temple. The entrance was framed by four ornate marble columns.
Four half-columns framed the western wing, revealing a magnificent facade with frescoes. The entire facade was decorated with marble carvings with images of three Attic deities around the perimeter. Four high window openings fit perfectly into the proportions of the western wing and complemented this magnificent ensemble.
Erechtheion adjoined the southern part of the temple to the well-preserved portico Pandroseion. It was named after one of the daughters of Kekrops, a half-man half-serpent. The townspeople revered him as the founder of Athens. The portico was devoid of columns; it was supported by four graceful sculptures of Caryatid girls. The caryatids of the Erechtheion Temple represented an innovative technique in world architecture. For the first time in history, the Greeks used sculptures to support load-bearing structures. Subsequently, this technique began to be used in their works by architects of the whole world. Caryatids still amaze tourists with their magnificent performance: every face and clothing item is carved from white marble with the greatest skill and authenticity.
Now on the Acropolis are exact copies of these sculptures. Originals can be seen in the Acropolis Museum. There are also fragments of bas-reliefs from the facade of the Erechtheion Temple. One of the caryatids was secretly taken by the English lord to his homeland and is now on display at the British Museum.
In all parts of the temple were shrines. The main ones were dedicated to Athena, Poseidon and Erechtheus. On the territory of Erechtheion, military trophies and relics, strictly revered by the Athenians, were stored.
Legends and myths of the ancient sanctuary
What was really the famous Erechtheion temple in Athens? History carefully presented the closely intertwined legends.
According to one of them, the temple was built on the site of a dispute between Athena and Poseidon. Two deities argued about who would patronize the beautiful city. For a long time they were not able to resolve this issue. The townspeople offered the obstinate gods to give the city a gift. The one whose gift will be most useful will be recognized as the patron saint of the city. Poseidon, with a blow of a trident, split the hill, and brought down a stream of sea water on the city. Athena, in turn, grew an olive tree, which later became a symbol of Greece. Citizens gave primacy to the goddess of wisdom, and in honor of this dispute the Erechtheion Temple was erected. The Greeks still show tourists one of the walls of the structure, on which there is a deep trace from the trident of the god of the seas.
King Erechtean has a special place in Greek history. Under his domineering hand, Athens achieved the highest prosperity, and the cult of the goddess gained unprecedented influence in Greece. After the death of the legendary Erechtheus, they buried in the temple and created a sanctuary.
It was believed that inside the Erechtheion temple there is a cave where the serpent of the goddess Athena lived. Priestesses of the cult have always followed the mood of this snake. If he refused to bring food, then the city was promised serious trouble. According to some Greek myths, the serpent was the embodiment of the legendary king.
Inside the temple, a well with salt water has been preserved. The Greeks say that it was this water that poured out of the rock during the dispute between Poseidon and Athena. This well was especially guarded and revered by the ministers of the cult of Poseidon. It was believed that until the water in the well dried up, Athens would receive the patronage of not only their goddess, but also the controversial Poseidon. All these, of course, are funny legends. But scientists still cannot explain the origin of saltwater on the high hill of the Acropolis. She was subjected to various studies and laboratory analyzes. It is proved that this is really sea water, which could not be in the well. Moreover, the water level almost always remains the same.
The destruction of the temple of Erechtheion
The decline of Hellenic civilization virtually destroyed this amazing architectural monument. Until the seventeenth century, it was only slightly damaged, but the barbaric actions of the Venetians changed its appearance beyond recognition.
For many years, Christian priests performed the rites in the church, and later Turks who made them made it a harem for the sultan's wives.
Despite this, archaeologists managed to find a lot of valuable artifacts during excavations, which are now on display for tourists at the Acropolis Museum.
Greece gave the world the greatest architectural monuments that tourists from all over the world seek to see. The Acropolis is recognized as the most beautiful heritage of Greece, the Erechtheion temple has become the rarest pearl, which serves as the best decoration of this monument to the Hellenic civilization.