Every stone in sunny Greece can tell its story to an indifferent listener. Myths, legends and heroes are closely intertwined with each other in this beautiful ancient country.
Capital of greece
Tourists visiting Greece do not leave withoutattention to its beautiful capital - Athens. The ancient city is striking in its fine beauty, white beaches and architectural monuments, which everyone read about during his school years.
The city, named after the goddess of wisdom, Athena, withproudly carried the banner of enlightenment and justice not only to the Greeks, but also to all the peoples of the Mediterranean. Athens for its long history knew the shame of destruction, periods of decline and unprecedented flourishing. It seems that the goddess herself patronized him and each time carefully raised from her knees. Many consider Athens a symbol of Greek culture, its song.
Modern Athens
Tourists note that Athens managed to combine inimagine all the best in modern civilization with the cultural heritage of their ancestors. The city lives and breathes deeply. From the side of Athens is an absolutely modern city. Highways, cafes, restaurants, bars and discos. It has everything to captivate the tourist. But if you are even a little interested in the history of the city, it will generously open for you its treasury.
Athens Attractions
Athens is not without reason proud of its history.Walking, exploring the sights of the city, you can endlessly. The Acropolis is considered the true jewel of Athens. Twenty-five centuries of the history of this magnificent structure will open to the eyes of a curious tourist.
Acropolis
Acropolis - the most replicated historicalmonument of greece. His power still shocks people. Imagine that this monumental building was conceived, designed and built by the hands of ordinary people, is quite difficult. 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 heightis 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 only see a fewmonuments of Greek culture. At the entrance you will be greeted by the magnificent gate of the Propylaea. On the slopes of the Acropolis, two dilapidated ancient theaters can be seen. The Parthenon temple, dedicated to the patroness of Athens, in its heyday, led to the awe of the worshipers of the goddess. 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 the Erechtheion?
This question is often asked by tourists, and residentscities know exactly the answer. The Erechteion 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 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 templeThe 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 to be visited by ordinary people. Only clergymen had the right to enter there, and inside the temple there were three shrines dedicated to Athena, Poseidon, and King Erechtheus.
Erechtheion: temple description
The union of several cults in itself made the temple unique in its kind. Neither before nor after the Greeks built such monumental structures.
At the place of construction of the sanctuary was previouslyanother temple, completely destroyed and burned by the Persians during the Greco-Persian war. By order of the great Pericles at this place laid the foundation of a new temple complex. Construction itself began after the death of Pericles, and according to some data lasted more than fifteen years. The architect of the temple is considered to be Greek Mnesikla. Although in this matter, historians can not come to a unanimous opinion. 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 hassignificant height differences. Therefore, the structure is located at once in several levels. This brilliant discovery of Mnesicla fit perfectly into the concept of the temple complex - serving several religious cults.
During the construction of the Hellenes used snow-whitePenteley marble and dark stone for finishing the frieze. The sunlight very successfully illuminated the amazing marble carvings surrounding the facade of the temple. The architect applied a completely new solutions and with the colonnade of the temple. According to the tradition of the Greeks, temples were decorated on all sides with massive columns. With the construction of the Erechteion, this tradition was removed. It was surrounded on three sides by beautiful porticos, each different from the other in its style and size. Some scholars suggest that there was a fourth portico. But the evidence of this archaeologists have not found.
What did the temple look like?
It's pretty hard to imagine what it looked like.the temple after immediately after construction. Although authoritative historians of historians argue that the Erechtheion temple was never completed. They believe that during the construction process the original plan was changed and simplified several times. Due to the prolonged Peloponessian 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 a description of it. The plan of the Erechtheion temple is recreated in sufficient detail.
Общая площадь храма составляет почти триста square meters. And this is without taking into account 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 entirelyAthena Pallada, the keeper of the ancient city. Six columns adjoined to its facade, the height of which was about six and a half meters. In this part of the temple, the Erechtheion was a beautiful statue of the goddess, illuminated day and night with 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, which allowed to add oil to the lamp only once a year. This amount lasted exactly three hundred and sixty-five days.
The north wing could be entered through the main door of the temple. The entrance was framed by four ornate marble columns.
The west wing was framed by four half-columns,overlooking the magnificent facade with frescoes. The entire facade was decorated on the perimeter with marble carvings with images of three Attic deities. Four high window openings perfectly fit the proportions of the western wing and complement this magnificent ensemble.
The Erechteion adjoined the southern part of the temple perfectly.The portico Pandroseion, which has survived to our day. He was named in honor of one of the daughters of Kekrops, half-man, half-laugh. The townspeople revered him as the founder of Athens. The portico was deprived of columns, it was supported by four exquisite sculptures of caryatid girls. The caryatids of the Erechtheion temple were an innovative device in world architecture. For the first time in history, the Greeks used sculptures to support supporting structures. Subsequently, this technique began to be used in their works by architects around the world. The caryatids still amaze tourists with their magnificent performance: each dash of face and piece of clothing is carved out of white marble with the greatest skill and authenticity.
Now on the Acropolis are exact replicas of thesesculptures. 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 exported by the English lord to their homeland and is now on display at the British Museum.
There were shrines in all parts of the temple. The main ones were devoted to Athena, Poseidon and Erechtheus. War trophies and relics strictly revered by the Athenians were kept on the territory of the Erechteion.
Legends and myths of the ancient sanctuary
What was actually the famous temple of the Erechtheion in Athens? History carefully presented closely intertwined legends.
According to one of them, the temple was erected in place.dispute between Athena and Poseidon. Two deities argued about who will patronize the beautiful city. For a long time they could not 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 hit the trident split the hill, and brought down the flow of sea water to the city. Athena, in turn, grew an olive tree, which later became a symbol of Greece. The primacy of the townspeople gave the goddess of wisdom, and in honor of this dispute, the Erechtheion temple was built. The Greeks still show tourists one of the walls of the building, which left a deep mark on the trident of the god of the seas.
King Erechthey holds a special place in the Greekstories. Under his imperious hand, Athens achieved the highest prosperity, and the cult of the goddess gained unprecedented influence in the territory of Greece. After the death of the legendary Erechthea, they buried it in the temple grounds and created a sanctuary.
It was believed that the Erechtheion is located inside the templethe cave where the serpent of the goddess Athena lived. The priestesses of worship always followed the mood of this snake. If he refused to bring food, then the city promised serious trouble. According to some Greek myths, the serpent was the embodiment of the legendary king.
Внутри храма сохранился колодец с соленой водой.The Greeks say that it was this water that poured out from the cliff during the dispute between Poseidon and Athena. This well was specially guarded and revered by the ministers of the cult of Poseidon. It was believed that while the water in the well had not dried up, Athens would receive the protection of not only its goddess, but also the controversial Poseidon. All this, of course, funny legends. But scientists still can not explain the origin of the salty sea water on the high hill of the Acropolis. She underwent various studies and laboratory tests. It is proved that it is really sea water, which could not be in the well. Moreover, the water level is almost always the same.
Destruction of the Erechtheion Temple
The decline of the Hellenic civilization is practicallydestroyed this amazing monument of architecture. Until the seventeenth century, it was subjected to only minor damage, but the barbaric actions of the Venetians changed its appearance beyond recognition.
For many years, Christian priests performed ceremonies in the church, and the Turks who came later made him a harem for the sultan's wives.
Despite this, archaeologists were able to find during the excavations a lot of valuable artifacts, which are now exposed to tourists in the Acropolis Museum.
Greece gave the world the greatest monumentsarchitecture see tourists from all over the world. Acropolis is recognized as the finest legacy of Greece. The Erechteion temple has become a rare gem that serves as the best decoration of this Hellenic civilization monument.
