Acropolis

Acropolis

Who: Athenians; Pericles

What: The rocky hill at the center of the city. The location of the Parthenon, a magnificent temple to Athena.

When:447 BCE. Pericles persuaded the assembly to fund the city’s largest building project ever in honor of Athena, the city-state’s patron goddess.

Where: Athens, Greece

Why: To please Athena, protector of Athens. Also, to show off Athenian military power, artistic skill, state unity. Significance: Eventually, the Parthenon on the Acropolis was the most famous building in all of Greece. Building it cost (in today’s USD) almost a billion, a phenomenal sum for a Greek city-state to raise. The money came either from Delian League dues, taxes, and the financial reserves of Athena’s sanctuaries. The Parthenon also held images of Athenians, and proclaimed the self-confidence of Golden Age Athens.