acropolis

—acropolitan /ak'reuh pol"i tn/, adj.

/euh krop"euh lis/, n.

1. the citadel or high fortified area of an ancient Greek city.

2. the Acropolis, the citadel of Athens and the site of the Parthenon.

[1655-65; < Gk akrópolis. See ACRO-, -POLIS]

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(Greek: "city at the top") Central, defensively oriented district in ancient Greek cities, located on the highest ground and containing the chief municipal and religious buildings.

The renowned Athens Acropolis (5th century BC), atop a craggy walled hill, is home to four main edifices

the Propylaea (see propylaeum), Parthenon, Erechtheum (Ionic temple noted for its caryatid porch), and Temple of Athena Nike

all built from white marble plentiful in the region.

The Acropolis, Athens, second half of the 5th century BC, with the Parthenon at centre and the ...

Toni Schneiders

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▪ ancient Greek district

Greek“city at the top”

  central, defensively oriented district in ancient Greek cities, located on the highest ground and containing the chief municipal and religious buildings. Because the founding of a city was a religious act, the establishment of a local home for the gods was a basic factor in Greek city planning. From both a religious and a military point of view, a hilltop site was highly desirable: militarily, because an acropolis had to be a citadel; religiously, because a hill was imbued with natural mysteries—caves, springs, copses, and glens—that denoted the presence of the gods.

   Athens has the best-known acropolis, built during the second half of the 5th century BC. The Athenian acropolis, located on a craggy, walled hill, was built as a home of Athena, the patron goddess of the city. The structures that survive consist of the Propylaea (propylaeum), the gateway to the sacred precinct; the Parthenon, the chief shrine to Athena and also the treasury of the Delian League; the Erechtheum, a shrine to the agricultural deities, especially Erichthonius; and the Temple of Athena Nike, an architectural symbol of the harmony with which the Dorian and Ionian peoples lived under the government of Athens.

 

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