acropolis

(ἀκρόπολις). In nearly all the cities of Greece, which were usually built upon a hill or some natural elevation, there was a kind of tower or citadel, reared upon the highest part, to which the name ἀκρόπολις (upper town) was given. At Rome, the Capitolium (q.v.) was analogous in its purposes to the acropolis of Greek cities.

The Acropolis of Athens was situated on a plateau of rock, about 200 feet in height, 1000 in breadth from east to west, and 460 in length from north to south. It was originally called Cecropia, after Cecrops, the ancestor of the Athenians, whose grave and shrine were shown on the spot. On the north side of the Acropolis was the Erechtheum, the common seat of worship of the ancient gods of Athens, Athené Polias, Hephaestus, Poseidon, and Erechtheus himself, who was said to have founded the sanctuary. His house was possibly northeast of the Erechtheum. Pisistratus, like the ancient kings, had his residence on the Acropolis, and may have added the stylobate to the temple of Athené recently identified, south of the Erechtheum. The walls of the fortress proper were destroyed in the Persian wars, 480 and 479 B.C., and restored by Cimon. But the wall surrounding the foot of the hill, called the Pelasgicon or Pelargicon, and supposed to be a relic of the oldest inhabitants, was left in ruins. Cimon also laid the foundation of a new temple of Athené on the south side of the hill. This temple was begun afresh and completed in the most splendid style by Pericles, and called the Parthenon (q.v.). Pericles at the same time adorned the approach to the west side of the Acropolis with the glorious Propylaea, and began to rebuild the Erechtheum in magnificent style. (See Erechtheum; Propylaea.) There were several other sanctuaries on the Acropolis—that, for instance, of Artemis Brauronia, on the southeastern side of the Propylaea; the beautiful little temple of Athené Niké, to the southwest; and the Pandroseum, adjoining the temple of Erechtheus. There were many altars—that of Zeus Hypatos, for example—and countless statues, among them that of Athené Promachos, with votive offerings. Among the numerous grottos in the rock, one on the north side was dedicated to Pan, another to Apollo. See Athenae; and Boetticher, Die Akropolis von Athen, w. 36 plates (Berlin, 1888).