Modern Athens was born long before the new era and already in the 5th century BC played a leading role in the history of Ancient Greece. Athens was a city-state where democracy was formed in ancient times and the art of theater and philosophy took on classical forms. Today, the Greek capital attracts thousands of tourists who fell in love with the lessons of the history of the Ancient World at school, because it was here that this very history was created. If you're looking for information on what to see in Athens, don't be limited to the Acropolis and the Athenian Agora. In the historical part of the Greek capital, you will find many ancient monuments, each of which is worthy of leading the rating of attractions. Don't forget about the Athens museums too! They contain priceless collections of ancient Greek treasures, which were carefully preserved by the land of Attica for the descendants of Homer and Odysseus.
TOP 10 attractions of Athens
Acropolis of Athens
Acropolis in Ancient Greece was the name for the fortified and elevated part of the city. It served as a refuge for residents in the event of an enemy attack, and temples were usually built on the top of the acropolis for the gods, who were considered city patrons. The most famous ancient Greek acropolis is located in Athens and, having climbed it, you can look at the ruins of the structures of Ancient Greece, depicted on the pages of history books around the world:
- The Parthenon is a temple dedicated to Athena, the goddess of military strategy and wisdom.
- Temple of Niki Apteros, built of marble in the first third of the 5th century BC
- The Propylaea is the front gate that forms the entrance to the Acropolis.
- Hecatompedon is the oldest temple built during the reign of Peisistratus. The sculptures that adorn its pediment are kept in the New Museum at the Acropolis of Athens.
The hill itself is located in the center of old Athens. It began to be built up under the Mycenaeans in the 15th-13th centuries BC, but the buildings of that era were destroyed by the Persians during the Greco-Persian wars. The surviving temples and ruins date back to a later period.
Parthenon
The largest and most significant temple of the Athenian Acropolis was built in the 5th century BC. in honor of the goddess Athena the Virgin. The authors of the project were architects Iktin and Callistratus, and the sanctuary was decorated by the ancient Greek sculptor Phidias, a friend of the famous orator and founding father of Athenian democracy Pericles.
The Parthenon began to be erected after the end of the Greco-Persian wars. The temple is surrounded on all sides by a colonnade, the height of which exceeds 10 meters. Each of the 46 columns with twenty grooves along their entire length has a diameter of 1.9 m at the base.
The temple was thought out in great detail. Architects highlight the concept of the Parthenon curvature, which means a special curvature, designed to correct the errors of human vision, so that the temple looks perfectly straight. For example, corner columns are inclined towards the center and middle ones - towards the corners, and the diameter of the section of the columns changes smoothly along the longitudinal axis so that they do not look concave.
Pentelian marble was used in the construction of the Temple of Athena, and the blocks were carefully ground and fitted tightly without mortar. On the pediments of the Parthenon there were sculptural groups depicting the life of the ancient Greek gods. The originals of the surviving statues are now in museums.
Erechtheion
The most beautiful temple of the Athenian Acropolis, the Erechtheion was built in honor of Athena, Poseidon and Erechtheus - the mythological king of the city of Athens. The asymmetrical layout of the sanctuary is due to the fact that the soil under it had a significant drop and the builders took this into account when creating the project.
The northern and eastern Ionic porticos decorate the entrances. On the southern side of the Erechtheion is the Portico of Caryatid, the most popular part of the temple in historical textbooks and tourist brochures. Six two-meter tall Pentelian marble statues depicted women supporting a beamed ceiling. You can look at the original sculptures in the Acropolis Museum in Athens, and today the portico of the Erechtheion is decorated with exact copies of ancient masterpieces by an unknown sculptor.
Temple of Olympian Zeus
Half a kilometer southeast of the Acropolis hill, there is another attraction of Athens, left from the time of Ancient Greece - the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The largest Greek temple was built over 650 years, starting in the 6th century BC.
The first stone in the building was laid under Pisistratus, but at first the temple was even dismantled again in order to use the stone to build a defensive wall. The sanctuary was completed only under the Roman emperor Hadrian and was solemnly opened during his visit to Athens. The solemn event became the highlight of the 132 year pan-Greek festivities program.
Unfortunately, only one corner of the Temple of Olympian Zeus has survived to this day. You can see only 16 columns, each of which is crowned with carved capitals, but even the ruins will allow you to imagine the power and grandeur of the once largest temple in Ancient Greece.
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
The Greek orator Herod Atticus, a wealthy and respected citizen, loved his wife Regilla so much that after her death he decided to perpetuate the memory of the deceased. The project of the memorial was truly grandiose, and after a while, in 165 AD. an amphitheater appeared in Athens. It is located on the southern slope of the Acropolis Hill and has the classic form of an ancient theater.
The amphitheater of Herodes Atticus seats up to 5,000 spectators. It was faced with white marble, and in the niches of the stage there were antique statues, which, alas, have not survived to our times.
The rest of the odeon is perfectly preserved and today it is called the main stage of the festival, which takes place annually in summer in Athens. World famous opera singers including Maria Callas have performed on the stage of the Herodes Atticus amphitheater, and even danced the Bolshoi Ballet.
The best view of the odeon opens from the Acropolis, and you can get to the amphitheater by buying a ticket to one of the concerts.
Theater of Dionysus
Another magnificent ancient amphitheater of Athens can be found on the southeastern slope of the Acropolis. It is listed as the oldest in the world and was originally built of wood.
Performances in the Dionysus amphitheater took place during the Great and Lesser Dionysias. Spectators were offered competitions of three authors of tragedies, each of whom staged several performances on the stage on mythological subjects.
In the IV century BC. the theater has undergone a large-scale reconstruction. The wooden benches were replaced with marble ones, and the stage was also rebuilt from stone. Dionysus' odeon now held up to 17,000 spectators, and the upper rows of seats extended to the foot of the Acropolis.
In the first row were boxes for honorary citizens of Athens, and their names were engraved on the benches. In the second row, the emperor Hadrian and his entourage usually sat. Later in the 1st century A. D. the theater of Dionysus was partially rebuilt so that gladiatorial battles could be carried out in it.
New Acropolis Museum
The first museum to display artifacts discovered during the excavation of the Acropolis appeared in Athens back in 1874. Over time, the number of valuable finds exceeded the possibilities of the previous exhibition, and in 2009 the Greek president opened a new museum, which now exhibits unique evidence of the history of Ancient Greece.
The New Acropolis Museum exhibits antique statues and marble fragments of columns, in particular, you can see in the halls the original sculptural groups that adorned the Parthenon and other temples of the Acropolis.
National Archaeological Museum
The largest museum in the country has more than 20 thousand exhibits telling about the history of Ancient Greece. The richest collection of antique sculptures and ceramics attracts millions of visitors every year.
The most valuable exhibits of the museum were found during archaeological excavations. The most famous are the finds of the Neolithic era from the settlements of Thessaly, dating back to the seventh millennium BC.
The museum presents exhibits of the Mycenaean culture discovered by Schliemann, burial gifts from the tombs of Pylos and Kythera. The most significant pieces in the collection of sculptures were found in the Temple of Afea on the island of Aegina and in the Temple of Athena at Mycenae. Ceramics are represented by amphoras - red-figured and black-figured. The most famous examples are an amphora depicting the centaur of Nessus and two Dipelonian burial amphorae from Attica.
The museum exhibits a wide range of antiquities from Egypt and the Middle East. You will see stone statues of pharaohs of the pre-dynastic period, funerary statues of the Old Kingdom and a mummy.
Numismatic Museum
The most interesting Athenian museum dedicated to numismatics is located in the capital of Greece in a house that belonged to the historian and archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. The exposition was created in 1838 with the aim of preserving the cultural heritage of Greece and introducing it to as many people as possible.
In the Numismatic Museum of Athens, more than 500 thousand exhibits are exhibited. Since the beginning of the first archaeological excavations on the territory of the country, a huge number of valuable treasures have been discovered - Byzantine and Ancient Greek, medieval and modern. The finds formed the basis of the museum collection.
The earliest exhibits date from the XIV century BC. Unique coins circulating in Greek city-states belong to the Hellenistic and Roman periods. There are numismatic treasures in the museum from Western Europe, the Ottoman Empire and Byzantium.
Plaka
The oldest urban area, Plaka is best for exploring the Greek capital, walking, souvenir shopping and dining in classic Athenian taverns.
The narrow streets of Plaka winding along the eastern and northern slopes of the Acropolis, houses on them are built on the foundations of the ancient era, and the atmosphere in taverns and wine cellars is the best way to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of good old Greece, which still has everything to make a tourist feel like better than home.
