June 16th - Day 6

The Propylaia, including the pedestal of Agrippa

Today was day 2 of the Acropolis. The gods must have been smiling down on us today because it was not nearly as oppressively hot as it has been. There was a heavenly breeze that blew all day, which made it much cooler. It also made it very windy on the Acropolis as you might imagine :)

The focus of today's trip was the Propylaia and the Temple of Athena Nike. Propylaia means "gateways" and is the name given to the monumental entrance-way of the Athenian Acropolis. This was the main entrance of the Acropolis and what visitors would have seen as they approached the Acropolis from the west. We were allowed to go into the northwest wing (pictured here) of the Propylaia, which was a good thing as the Acropolis was extremely crowded this morning. Apparently there were 3 cruise ship groups who were there. We identified them by their funny stickers and group leaders with crazy signs...lol.

In front of the Propylaia and over to the left is a tall pedestal of blue-grey Hymettus marble known as the pedestal of Agrippa. On top of the pedestal was a four-horse charriot built in honor of Eumenes II, the king of Pergamon after his victory in the Panathenaic Games of 178 B.C. It was later rededicated to the Roman benefactor of the city, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.

The Temple of Athena Nike

One the southwest side is the Temple of Athena Nike, which was built upon a Mycenaean defense wall. This is where Athena was worshiped with the epithet (any word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality) Nike, or victory. We could only see this temple from a distance as restorations are currently underway on the southwest side. They wouldn't let us go over there due to the scaffolding and limited space, which was somewhat disappointing.

Round half-tower of a Byzantine building dating to
the 7th Century AD located outside of the museum

After visiting the Acropolis, we headed over to the official Acropolis Museum, which opened in June 2009. It is an interesting site, which combines very nicely the ancient and the modern. Openings outside and glass floors inside allow visitors to see the remains of an Athenian neighborhood located on the site of the museum. I was not able to take a lot of pictures in the museum, as pictures were not allowed in the lower galleries, but I did get a fabulous book on the Acropolis and the museum in the gift shop.

Metope of Hebe and Hera

The highlight of the museum has to be the top floor, which is dedicated to the Parthenon where the pediments (figures that have survived), the metopes, and the frieze are displayed. Many of these are badly damaged, which is why they have been removed from the actual Parthenon. Casts have been installed on the Parthenon in their place. There are a total of 92 metopes which were located around the outer colonnade of the Parthenon. Each one contains a self-contained scene, usually including two figures. The subjects of these scenes were taken from legendary battles and symbolized the victories of the Athenians against the Persians. The east side depicted the battle of the Olympian gods against the Giants, who tried to overthrow the order prevailing on Mount Olympus (Gigantomachy). The west side presented the fight of Athenian youths against the Amazons, who threatened even the Acropolis (Amazonomachy). The theme of the south side was the fight of the Thessalian youths (Lapiths) against the Centaurs who attempted to abduct their women during a wedding celebration (Centauromachy). The north side illustrated the Sack of Troy (Iliou Persis).

Part of the frieze depicting some of the Olympian Gods

The frieze, which was located around the upper part of the outside of the actual Parthenon building, consists of 115 blocks (total length is 160 meters) and was created by Pheidias. These blocks depict scenes from the Great Panthenaia, the greatest festival held in honor of Athena. The festival took place every 4 years, lasted 12 days and included rituals, sacrifices, as well as athletic and musical contests. The festivities culminated on the 28th day of the month – Hekatombaion in the heart of the summer – on Athena’s birthday. On that day, a procession advanced to the temple of Athena Polias (the Archaios Naos that was later replaced by the Erechtheion) in order to hand over to the priestess a new peplos for the old xoanon of the Goddess.

Some 378 human figures and deities and more than 200 animals, mainly horses, are presented in the process. Groups of horses and chariots occupy most of the space on the frieze. The sacrificial procession follows next, with animals and groups of men and women carrying ceremonial vessels and offerings. The procession concludes with the giving of the peplos, the gift of the Athenian people to the cult statue of the Goddess, a xoanon (ancient wooden statue). Left and right of the peplos scene sit the twelve gods of Mount Olympos.
From the entire frieze that survives today, 50 meters are in the Acropolis Museum, 80 meters in the British Museum, one block in the Louvre, whilst other fragments are scattered in the museums of Palermo, the Vatican, Würzburg, Vienna, Munich and Copenhagen.

We had an interesting debate on whether or not the metopes and pieces of the frieze should be returned to Athens in order to be housed together in the Acropolis Museum. Many of the metopes and frieze panels are in the British Museum and were sent there because there was not a proper building in Athens to house them. The British Museum has since made casts of the panels that they have and sent those back to Athens, and those are displayed with the panels located in Athens. Most of us, including myself, felt that now that Athens had a proper museum to house the collection, the remaining pieces should be returned to Athens so that the collection could be displayed together. I do not know what the feelings of the Greeks are on this, but it was a shame to see so many missing panels and know that they are somewhere else. It is such a magnificent collection that it would be amazing to see it all together and housed in the shadow of the Parthenon, which can be seen from the Parthenon gallery.

View of the Parthenon from the Parthenon Gallery