Acropolis Museum

Hours & Ticketing

Entrance
Public entrance at Dionysiou Areopagitou Street.
Entrance for groups at Mitseon Street.

Tour Buses
A bus drop off point for groups is available at Hatzichristou Street and entrance for groups is at Mitseon Street.

Hours
Tuesday to Sunday: 8.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.
Monday: Closed.
Last admission: 7.30 p.m.
Galleries cleared at 7.45 p.m.
Closed: 1 January, 25 March, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 25 December and 26 December.

Admission
General admission fee: 5 euros.
Reduced admission fee: 3 euros.
Free admission (For information on visitors who are entitled to enter the Museum at a reduced admission fee or free admission, please press here).

How to purchase tickets:

– Tickets from the Museum Ticket Desk

No restriction exists in the number of tickets available from the Ticket Desk during Museum opening hours.

– Tickets via the e-ticketing service

The Museum website provides an e-ticketing service for a restricted number of visitors during six (6) specific time slots. Tickets bought via e-ticketing can be collected from the Museum Ticket Desk.

Glyfada

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Glyfada Γλυφάδα
The marina of Glyfada
Location
Glyfada
Coordinates	37°52′N 23°45′E / 37.867°N 23.75°E / 37.867; 23.75Coordinates: 37°52′N 23°45′E / 37.867°N 23.75°E / 37.867; 23.75
Government
Country:	Greece
Periphery:	Attica
Prefecture:	Athens
Districts:	2
Mayor:	Ioannis G. Theodoropoulos (since: 2006)
Population statistics (as of 2001[1])
City
– Population:	80,409
– Area:	25.366 km2 (10 sq mi)
– Density:	3,170 /km2 (8,210 /sq mi)
Other
Time zone:	EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (min-max):	0 – 5 m (0 – 16 ft)
Postal:	166 xx
Telephone:	210
Auto:	Z

Glyfada (Greek: Γλυφάδα) is a suburb of Athens, situated in the southern parts of the Athens Metropolitan Area. The area, which is home to many of Greece’s millionaires, ministers and celebrities, stretches out from the foot of the Hymettus mountain and reaches out to embrace the Saronic Gulf. It is the largest of Athens‘ southern suburbs. This fashion-conscious suburb is known in Greece for its upmarket cafes, well-known restaurants, boutiques and cosmopolitan summer clubs; Glyfada has also been called “Knightsbridge-on-Sea”,^[2] or “Hellenic Hamptons”.^[3]

Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Geography 3 Transportation 4 Municipality 5 Sports 6 Famous residents and people 6.1 People 7 Historical population 8 Districts 9 Twin cities 10 See also 11 References 12 External links

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[edit] History

In the ancient period, the area was a deme known as Aixone (Αιξωνή). Today, Glyfada is a city packed with some of the capital’s best-known nightclubs , upscale restaurants and shops. It could be argued to be one of the most “Americanized” of Athenian municipalities, since an American airbase was located nearby in the 1980s. The base’s population contributed in part to Glyfada’s character, leading to a unique blend of Greek and American atmosphere and cuisine. Although the base is now gone and the school relocated, Glyfada still retains part of its American flavour while continuing to offer distinctly Greek cuisine, entertainment and nightlife.

Glyfada was established as the heart of Athens’ southern suburbs, because of its prime waterfront location, rich commercial centre, and modern business district. It has been described as the headpoint of the ‘Athens Riviera’ and features some of Europe’s most opulent seafront residences, gardens and extensive beachfront property, with a modern marina.

The town hall is located at the center of the municipality; nearby, Glyfada’s shopping district has one of the most vibrant and diversified commercial centres of Athens’ neighbourhoods, with a collection ranging across specialist and designer boutiques. Its proximity to a succession of beaches and a concentrated seaside club scene also greatly increases the number of visitors during the summer months. The area’s shopping district runs across Metaxa Avenue and Grigoriou Labraki Street while both the offices of major businesses and shopping areas also dot the Avenues Voyliagmenis, Goynari and Gennitika.

[edit] Geography

Location of Glyfada Municipality in Athens Prefecture

Glyfada Marina includes marine space and coastal land area totaling 3 kilometers, and a concrete land mass between basins A and B with a length of roughly 250 meters, between basins B and G with a length of roughly 150 meters, between basins G and D with a length of roughly 300 meters, and between basin D until the end of the basin of roughly 350 meters, with all harbor facilities and buildings found within this space.

Northwest is the forested wooded golf course of Athens, the Glyfada Golf Club, located south of the old Airport of Athens. To the east and northeast is an urban sprawl which spreads over the southwest shoulder of Mt. Hymettus and its rocky landscape. The roads are lined and curved to nearly NW at a 90 degree angle, and it also encompasses a marina and a popular beach, while its beaches are located in the western part of the municipality. Half of the municipality is located on rocky landscape of Mount Hymettus. The urban sprawl of Athens began in the 1950s and 1960s and continued into the 1990s, when housing development continued in that part of Hymettus.

[edit] Transportation

Glyfada is connected to central Athens via two major avenues (Posidonos and Vouliagmenis) and a tram line which goes across the seaside next to Posidonos Avenue. On the quay at Glyfada is a rescue and rehabilitation centre for sea turtles, run by ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece. The staff there provide free educational tours of the facilities and treatments for visitors.

[edit] Municipality

32,492 people registered with the Municipality of Glyfada voted during the Municipal Elections of October 2006. At the second round, 54.79% of the votes were for Ioannis G. Theodoropoulos, who is the mayor of Glyfada for the 2006-2010 period.

Greece Wiki

Greece

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hellenic Republic Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Ellīnikī́ Dīmokratía
Flag National emblem
Motto: Eleftheria i Thanatos, (Greek: “Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος”, “Freedom or Death”) (traditional)
Anthem: Ὕμνος εἰς τὴν Ἐλευθερίαν Ýmnos eis tīn Eleftherían Hymn to Liberty1
Location of  Greece (green)– on the European continent (light green & grey) – in the European Union (light green)  —  [Legend]
Capital (and largest city)		Athens 38°00′N 23°43′E / 38°N 23.717°E / 38; 23.717
Official languages		Greek
Demonym		Greek
Government		Parliamentary republic
–	President	Karolos Papoulias
–	Prime Minister	George Papandreou
Legislature		Parliament
Modern statehood
–	Independence from the Ottoman Empire	25 March 1821
–	Recognized	3 February 1830, in the London Protocol
–	Kingdom of Greece	7 May 1832, in the Convention of London
–	Current constitution	11 June 1975, Third Hellenic Republic
EU accession		1 January 1981
Area
–	Total	131,990 km2 (96th) 50,944 sq mi
–	Water (%)	0.8669
Population
–	2010 estimate	11,306,183[1] (74th)
–	2001 census	10,964,020[2]
–	Density	85.3/km2 (88th) 221.0/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2008 estimate
–	Total	$341.688 billion[3] (33rd)
–	Per capita	$30,681[3] (26th)
GDP (nominal)		2008 estimate
–	Total	$357.548 billion[3] (27th)
–	Per capita	$32,105[3] (27th)
Gini (2005)		332 (low) (36th)
HDI (2007)		▲ 0.942[4] (very high) (25th)
Currency		Euro (€)3 (EUR)
Time zone		EET (UTC+2)
–	Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Drives on the		right
Internet TLD		.gr4
Calling code		30
1	Also the national anthem of Cyprus.
2	CIA World Factbook.
3	Before 2001, the Greek drachma.
4	The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states.

Greece /ˈɡriːs/ (help·info) (Greek: Ελλάδα, transliterated: Elláda [e̞ˈlaða] , historically Ἑλλάς, Hellás, IPA: [eˈlas]), also known as Hellas and officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Ellīnikī́ Dīmokratía, [e̞liniˈkʲi ðimokraˈti.a]),^[5] is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula. The country has borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east and south of mainland Greece, while the Ionian Sea lies to the west. Both parts of the Eastern Mediterranean basin feature a vast number of islands, islets and rock islands.

Modern Greece traces its roots to the civilization of ancient Greece, generally considered to be the cradle of Western civilization. As such, it is the birthplace of democracy,^[6] Western philosophy,^[7] the Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, and Western drama,^[8] including both tragedy and comedy.

Greece is a developed country, a member of the European Union since 1981,^[9] a member of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union since 2001, NATO since 1952,^[10] the OECD since 1961,^[11] a founding member of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and a member of ESA since 2005.^[12] Athens is the capital; Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion, Larissa, Volos, Ioannina, Kavala, Rhodes, Chania and Serres are some of the country’s other major cities.

Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 20th century 2 Government and politics 2.1 Political parties 2.2 Peripheries and prefectures 2.3 Foreign relations 3 Geography 3.1 Climate 4 Economy 4.1 Maritime industry 4.2 Tourism 4.3 Numismatics 5 Transport 6 Demographics 6.1 Immigration 6.2 Religion 6.3 Languages 7 Education 8 Culture 8.1 Philosophy 8.2 Literature 8.3 Science and technology 8.4 Cuisine 8.5 Music 8.6 Sports 8.7 Mythology 9 Armed forces 10 International rankings 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links

//

History

Main article: History of Greece

The Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens.

Alexander the Great on his horse Bucephalus.

Greece was the first area in Europe where advanced early civilizations emerged, beginning with the Minoan civilization in Crete and then the Mycenean civilization on the mainland. Later, city-states emerged across the Greek peninsula and spread to the shores of the Black Sea, South Italy and Asia Minor reaching great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, expressed in architecture, drama, science and philosophy, and nurtured in Athens under a democratic environment.

Athens and Sparta led the way in repelling the Persian Empire in a series of battles. Both were later overshadowed by Thebes and eventually Macedon, with the latter under the guidance of Alexander the Great uniting and leading the Greek world to victory over the Persians.

The Hellenistic era was brought only partially to a close two centuries later with the establishment of Roman rule over Greek lands in 146 BC.^[13] Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch, Seleucia and the many other new Hellenistic cities in Asia and Africa founded in Alexander’s wake.^[14]

The Greek peninsula as a part of the Byzantine Empire in purple, c.1180, at the end of the Komnenian period.

The destruction of the turkish flagship at Chios by Constantine Kanaris,during the Greek Revolution(1821-1830). Painted by Nikiphoros Lytras.

The subsequent mixture of Roman and Hellenic cultures took form in the establishment of the Byzantine Empire in 330 AD around Constantinople. Byzantium remained a major cultural and military power for the next 1,123 years, until the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. On the eve of the Ottoman conquest, much of the Greek intelligentsia migrated to Italy and other parts of Europe not under Ottoman rule, playing a significant role in the Renaissance through the transmission of ancient Greek works to Western Europe.^[15] Nevertheless, the Ottoman millet system contributed to the cohesion of the Orthodox Greeks by segregating the various peoples within the empire based on religion, as the latter played an integral role in the formation of modern Greek identity.

After the Greek War of Independence, successfully waged against the Ottoman Empire from 1821 to 1829, the nascent Greek state was finally recognized under the London Protocol. In 1827, Ioannis Kapodistrias, from Ionian Islands, was chosen as the first governor of the new Republic. However, following his assassination, the Great Powers installed a monarchy under Otto, of the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach. In 1843, an uprising forced the King to grant a constitution and a representative assembly.

Due to his unimpaired authoritarian rule, he was eventually dethroned in 1863 and replaced by Prince Vilhelm (William) of Denmark, who took the name George I and brought with him the Ionian Islands as a coronation gift from Britain. In 1877, Charilaos Trikoupis, who is attributed with the significant improvement of the country’s infrastructure, curbed the power of the monarchy to interfere in the assembly by issuing the rule of vote of confidence to any potential prime minister.

20th century

King Constantine I (centre) and Eleftherios Venizelos (seated, with back to camera) in 1913, during the Balkan Wars.

As a result of the Balkan Wars, Greece increased the extent of its territory and population. In the following years, the struggle between King Constantine I and charismatic Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos over the country’s foreign policy on the eve of World War I dominated the country’s political scene, and divided the country into two opposed groups.

In the aftermath of WWI, Greece fought against Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal, a war which resulted in a massive population exchange between the two countries under the Treaty of Lausanne.^[16] According to various sources,^[17] several hundred thousand Pontic Greeks died during this period.^[18] Instability and successive coups d’état marked the following era, which was overshadowed by the massive task of incorporating 1.5 million Greek refugees from Asia Minor into Greek society. The Greek population in Istanbul had shrunk from 300,000 at the turn of the century to around 3,000 in the city today.^[19]

On 28 October 1940 Fascist Italy demanded the surrender of Greece, but Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas refused and in the following Greco-Italian War, Greece repelled Italian forces into Albania, giving the Allies their first victory over Axis forces on land. The country would eventually fall to urgently dispatched German forces during the Battle of Greece. The German occupiers nevertheless met serious challenges from the Greek Resistance. Over 100,000 civilians died from starvation during the winter of 1941–42. In 1943 virtually the entire Jewish population was deported to Nazi extermination camps.^[20]

Territorial evolution of Greece until 1947.

After liberation, Greece experienced a bitter civil war between communist and anticommunist forces, which led to economic devastation and severe social tensions between rightists and largely communist leftists for the next 30 years.^[21] The next 20 years were characterized by marginalisation of the left in the political and social spheres but also by rapid economic growth, propelled in part by the Marshall Plan.

King Constantine‘s dismissal of George Papandreou‘s centrist government in July 1965 prompted a prolonged period of political turbulence which culminated in a coup d’état on 21 April 1967 by the United States-backed Regime of the Colonels. The brutal suppression of the Athens Polytechnic uprising on 17 November 1973 sent shockwaves through the regime, and a counter-coup established Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis as dictator. On 20 July 1974, as Turkey invaded the island of Cyprus, the regime collapsed.

Former premier Konstantinos Karamanlis was invited back from Paris where he had lived in self-exile since 1963, marking the beginning of the Metapolitefsi era. On the 14 August 1974 Greek forces withdrew from the integrated military structure of NATO in protest at the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus.^[22][23] The first multiparty elections since 1964 were held on the first anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising. A democratic and republican constitution was promulgated on 11 June 1975 following a referendum which abolished the monarchy.

Meanwhile, Andreas Papandreou founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in response to Karamanlis’s conservative New Democracy party, with the two political formations alternating in government ever since. Greece rejoined NATO in 1980.^[22] Traditionally strained relations with neighbouring Turkey improved when successive earthquakes hit both nations in 1999, leading to the lifting of the Greek veto against Turkey’s bid for EU membership.

Greece became the tenth member of the European Communities (subsequently subsumed by the European Union) on 1 January 1981, ushering in a period of remarkable and sustained economic growth. Widespread investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the European Union and growing revenues from tourism, shipping and a fast-growing service sector have raised the country’s standard of living to unprecedented levels. The country adopted the Euro in 2001 and successfully hosted the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

Government and politics

Main articles: Politics of Greece and List of political parties in Greece

The Hellenic Parliament in central Athens.

Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776–1831),first head of state of independent Greece.

The current President of Greece, Karolos Papoulias.

Greece is a parliamentary republic.^[24] The nominal head of state is the President of the Republic, who is elected by the Parliament for a five-year term.^[24] The current Constitution was drawn up and adopted by the Fifth Revisionary Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975 after the fall of the military junta of 1967–1974. It has been revised twice since, in 1986 and in 2001. The Constitution, which consists of 120 articles, provides for a separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and grants extensive specific guarantees (further reinforced in 2001) of civil liberties and social rights.^[25] Women’s suffrage was guaranteed with a 1952 Constitutional amendment.

According to the Constitution, executive power is exercised by the President of the Republic and the Government.^[24] From the Constitutional amendment of 1986 the President’s duties were curtailed to a significant extent, and they are now largely ceremonial; most political power thus lies in the hands of the Prime Minister.^[26] The position of Prime Minister, Greece’s head of government, belongs to the current leader of the political party that can obtain a vote of confidence by the Parliament. The President of the Republic formally appoints the Prime Minister and, on his recommendation, appoints and dismisses the other members of the Cabinet.^[24]

Legislative powers are exercised by a 300-member elective unicameral Parliament.^[24] Statutes passed by the Parliament are promulgated by the President of the Republic.^[24] Parliamentary elections are held every four years, but the President of the Republic is obliged to dissolve the Parliament earlier on the proposal of the Cabinet, in view of dealing with a national issue of exceptional importance.^[24] The President is also obliged to dissolve the Parliament earlier, if the opposition manages to pass a motion of no confidence.^[24]

The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature and comprises three Supreme Courts: the Court of Cassation (Άρειος Πάγος), the Council of State (Συμβούλιο της Επικρατείας) and the Court of Auditors (Ελεγκτικό Συνέδριο). The Judiciary system is also composed of civil courts, which judge civil and penal cases and administrative courts, which judge disputes between the citizens and the Greek administrative authorities.

Political parties

Main article: Political parties of Greece

Since the restoration of democracy, the Greek two-party system is dominated by the liberal-conservative New Democracy (ND) and the social-democratic Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).^[27] Other significant parties include the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS). The current prime minister is George Papandreou, president of the PASOK, who on October 4, 2009, won with a majority in the Parliament of 160 out of 300 seats.

Peripheries and prefectures

Main articles: Peripheries of Greece, Prefectures of Greece, and Municipalities and communities of Greece

Administratively, Greece consists of thirteen peripheries subdivided into a total of fifty-one prefectures (nomoi, singular Greek: nomos). There is also one autonomous area, Mount Athos (Greek: Agio Oros, “Holy Mountain”), which borders the periphery of Central Macedonia.

Map	Number	Periphery	Capital	Area (km²)	Area (sq mi)	Population
	1	Attica	Athens	3,808	1,470	3,761,810
	2	Central Greece	Lamia	15,549	6,004	605,329
	3	Central Macedonia	Thessaloniki	18,811	7,263	1,871,952
	4	Crete	Heraklion	8,259	3,189	601,131
	5	East Macedonia and Thrace	Komotini	14,157	5,466	611,067
	6	Epirus	Ioannina	9,203	3,553	353,820
	7	Ionian Islands	Corfu	2,307	891	212,984
	8	North Aegean	Mytilene	3,836	1,481	206,121
	9	Peloponnese	Kalamata	15,490	5,981	638,942
	10	South Aegean	Ermoupoli	5,286	2,041	302,686
	11	Thessaly	Larissa	14,037	5,420	753,888
	12	West Greece	Patras	11,350	4,382	740,506
	13	West Macedonia	Kozani	9,451	3,649	301,522
	–	Mount Athos (Autonomous)	Karyes	390	151	2,262

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Greece

Greece is a member of the European Union since 1981,^[9] a member of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union since 2001, NATO since 1952,^[10] the OECD since 1961,^[11] the WEU since 1995, a founding member of Black Sea Economic Cooperation and a member of ESA since 2005.^[12]

Prominent issues in Greek foreign policy include the enduring dispute over Cyprus, differences with Turkey over the Aegean sea, as well as the naming dispute with the Republic of Macedonia, which Greece refers to internationally by the provisional reference “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Greece

Topographical map of Greece.

Albania Rep. Macedonia Bulgaria Turkey Greece Athens Thessaloniki Kavala Thasos Alexandroupoli Samothrace Corfu Igoumenitsa Larissa Volos Ioannina Chalcis Patras Corinth Nafplion Sparta Areopoli Piraeus Eleusina Laurium Heraklion Macedonia Thrace Epirus Thessaly Euboea Central Greece Peloponnese Mt. Olympus Lefkada Kefalonia Zakynthos Lemnos Lesbos Chios Samos Andros Tinos Mykonos Icaria Patmos Naxos Milos Santorini Kos Rhodes Karpathos Kassos Kythira Gavdos Aegean Sea Sea of Crete Myrtoan Sea Ionian Sea Mediterranean Sea Crete Aegean Islands Cyclades Dodecanese Ionian Islands

Greece consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland jutting out into the sea at the southern end of the Balkans, the Peloponnesus peninsula (separated from the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth), and numerous islands (1400, 227 of which are inhabited), including Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Chios, the Dodecanese and the Cycladic groups of the Aegean Sea as well as the Ionian Sea islands. Greece has the tenth longest coastline in the world with 14,880 km (9,246 mi); its land boundary is 1,160 km (721 mi).

Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains or hills, making the country one of the most mountainous in Europe. Mount Olympus, a focal point of Greek culture throughout history culminates at Mytikas peak 2,917 m (9,570 ft), the highest in the country. Once considered the throne of the Gods, it is today extremely popular among hikers and climbers. Western Greece contains a number of lakes and wetlands and is dominated by the Pindus mountain range. The Pindus reaches a maximum elevation of 2,637 m (8,652 ft) at Mt. Smolikas and is essentially a prolongation of the Dinaric Alps. The Vikos-Aoos Gorge is yet another spectacular formation and a popular hotspot for those fond of extreme sports.

View of Mount Olympus from Litochoro.

Vikos Gorge,Epirus.

The range continues through the central Peloponnese, crosses the islands of Kythera and Antikythera and find its way into southwestern Aegean, in the island of Crete where it eventually ends. The islands of the Aegean are peaks of underwater mountains that once constituted an extension of the mainland. Pindus is characterized by its high, steep peaks, often dissected by numerous canyons and a variety of other karstic landscapes. Most notably, the impressive Meteora formation consisting of high, steep boulders provides a breathtaking experience for the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit the area each year.

Northeastern Greece features another high-altitude mountain range, the Rhodope range, spreading across the periphery of East Macedonia and Thrace; this area is covered with vast, thick, ancient forests. The famous Dadia forest is in the prefecture of Evros, in the far northeast of the country.

Expansive plains are primarily located in the prefectures of Thessaly, Central Macedonia and Thrace. They constitute key economic regions as they are among the few arable places in the country. Rare marine species such as the Pinniped Seals and the Loggerhead Sea Turtle live in the seas surrounding mainland Greece, while its dense forests are home to the endangered brown bear, the lynx, the Roe Deer and the Wild Goat.

Phytogeographically, Greece belongs to the Boreal Kingdom and is shared between the East Mediterranean province of the Mediterranean Region and the Illyrian province of the Circumboreal Region. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature and the European Environment Agency, the territory of Greece can be subdivided into six ecoregions: the Illyrian deciduous forests, Pindus Mountains mixed forests, Balkan mixed forests, Rodope montane mixed forests, Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests and Crete Mediterranean forests.

Climate

Main article: Climate of Greece

The climate of Greece can be categorised into three types (the Mediterranean, the Alpine and the Temperate) that influence well-defined regions of its territory. The Pindus mountain range strongly affects the climate of the country by making the western side of it (areas prone to the south-westerlies) wetter on average than the areas lying to the east of it (lee side of the mountains). The Mediterranean type of climate features mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. The Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete, the Eastern Peloponnese and parts of the Sterea Ellada (Central Continental Grece) region are mostly affected by this particular type of climate. Temperatures rarely reach extreme values along the coasts, although, with Greece being a highly mountainous country, snowfalls occur frequently in winter. It sometimes snows even in the Cyclades or the Dodecanese.

The Alpine type is dominant mainly in the mountainous areas of Northwestern Greece (parts of Epirus, Central Greece, Thessaly, Western Macedonia) as well as in the central parts of Peloponnese, including parts of the prefectures of Achaia, Arcadia and Laconia, where extensions of the Pindus mountain range pass by. Finally, the Temperate type affects Central Macedonia and East Macedonia and Thrace; it features cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers with frequent thunderstorms. Athens is located in a transitional area featuring both the Mediterranean and the Temperate types. The city’s northern suburbs are dominated by the temperate type while the downtown area and the southern suburbs enjoy a typical Mediterranean type.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Greece

GDP Growth of Greece compared to the Eurozone between 1996 and 2006.

The main building of the Bank of Greece in Athens.

Aerial view of the central districts of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city and a major economic and industrial center.

Annual growth of Greek GDP has surpassed the respective levels of most of its EU partners.^[28] The tourism industry is a major source of foreign exchange earnings and revenue accounting for 15% of Greece’s total GDP^[29] and employing, directly or indirectly, 16.5% of the total workforce.

The Greek labor force totals 4.9 million, and it is the second most industrious between OECD countries, after South Korea.^[30] The Groningen Growth & Development Centre has published a poll revealing that between 1995 and 2005, Greece was the country with the largest work/hour ratio among European nations; Greeks worked an average of 1,900 hours per year, followed by the Spanish (average of 1,800 hours/year).^[31] In 2007, the average worker made around 20 dollars, similar to Spain and slightly more than half of average U.S. hourly income. Immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force, occupied mainly in agricultural and construction work.

Greece’s purchasing power-adjusted GDP per capita is the world’s 26^th highest. According to the International Monetary Fund it has an estimated average per capita income of $30,661 for the year 2008,^[32] a figure comparable to that of Germany, France or Italy. According to Eurostat data, Greek PPS GDP per capita stood at 95 per cent of the EU average in 2008.^[33] Greece ranks 18th in the 2006 HDI,^[34] 22nd on The Economist‘s 2005 worldwide quality-of-life index.^[35] According to a survey by the Economist, the cost of living in Athens is close to 90% of the costs in New York; in rural regions it is lower.

However, the Greek economy also faces significant problems, including rising unemployment levels, an inefficient government bureaucracy and widespread corruption.^[36]

In 2009, Greece had the EU’s second lowest Index of Economic Freedom (after Poland), ranking 81^st in the world.^[37] The country suffers from high levels of political and economic corruption and low global competitiveness relative to its EU partners.^[38][39]

Although remaining above the euro area average, economic growth will turn negative in 2009 for the first time since 1993.^{[40][verification needed]} An indication of the trend of over-lending in recent years is the fact that the ratio of loans to savings exceeded 100% during the first half of the year.^[41] By the end of 2009, as a result of a combination of international (financial crisis) and local (uncontrolled spending prior to the October 2009 national elections) factors, the Greek economy faced its most severe crisis after 1993, with the second highest budget deficit as well as the second highest debt to GDP ratio in the EU.

Maritime industry

Main articles: Greek shipping and List of ports in Greece

Piraeus is the largest marine – based shipping centre of Greece and also the commercial hub of Greek shipping, with most of Greece’s shipowners basing their commercial operations there.

The shipping industry is a key element of Greek economic activity dating back to ancient times.^[42] Today, shipping is one of the country’s most important industries. It accounts for 4.5% of GDP, employs about 160,000 people (4% of the workforce), and represents 1/3 of the country’s trade deficit.^[43]

During the 1960s, the size of the Greek fleet nearly doubled, primarily through the investment undertaken by the shipping magnates Onassis and Niarchos.^[44] The basis of the modern Greek maritime industry was formed after World War II when Greek shipping businessmen were able to amass surplus ships sold to them by the United States Government through the Ship Sales Act of the 1940s.^[44] According to the BTS, the Greek-owned maritime fleet is today the largest in the world, with 3,079 vessels accounting for 18% of the world’s fleet capacity (making it the largest of any other country) with a total dwt of 141,931 thousand (142 million dwt).^[45] In terms of ship categories, Greece ranks first in both tankers and dry bulk carriers, fourth in the number of containers, and fourth in other ships.^[45] However, today’s fleet roster is smaller than an all-time high of 5,000 ships in the late 70’s.^[42]

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in Greece

Elias Beach on the Greek island of Mykonos.

An important percentage of Greece’s income comes from tourism. In 2004 Greece welcomed 16.5 million tourists. According to a survey conducted in China in 2005, Greece was voted as the Chinese people’s number one choice as a tourist destination,^[46] and 6,088,287 tourists visited only the city of Athens, the capital city. In November 2006, Austria, like China, announced that Greece was the favourite destination.^{[47][dead link]}

Numismatics

Main article: Greek euro coins

See also: Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Greece)

In Greece, the euro was introduced in 2002. As a preparation for this date, the minting of the new euro coins started as early as 2001, however all Greek euro coins introduced in 2002 have this year on it; unlike other countries of the Eurozone where mint year is minted in the coin. Eight different designs, one per face value, was selected for the Greek coins. In 2007, in order to adopt the new common map like the rest of the Eurozone countries, Greece changed the common side of their coins. Before adopting the Euro in 2002 Greece had maintained use of the Greek drachma from 1832.

Greece has one of the richest collections of collectors’ coins in the Eurozone, with face value ranging from 10 to 200 euro, mainly issued to commemorate the 2004 Summer Olympics. These coins are a legacy of an old national practice of minting of silver and gold commemorative coins. Unlike normal issues, these coins are not legal tender in all the eurozone. For instance, a €10 Greek commemorative coin cannot be used in any other country.

Transport

The Rio-Antirio bridge near the city of Patras is the longest cable-stayed bridge in Europe and second in the world.

Main article: Transport in Greece

Since the 1980s, the roads and rail network of Greece has been significantly modernised. Important works include the Egnatia highway that connects north west Greece (Igoumenitsa) with northern and north west Greece. The Rio-Antirio bridge (the longest suspension cable bridge in Europe) (2250 m or 7382 ft long) connects the western Peloponnesus from Rio (7 km or 4 mi from Patras) with Antirion on the central Greek mainland. An expansion of the Patras-Athens national motorway towards Pyrgos in the western Peloponnese is scheduled to be completed by 2014. Most of the highway connection of Athens to Thessaloniki has also been upgraded.

The metropolitan area of the capital Athens had a new international airport (opened in 2001), a new privately run suburban motorway Attiki Odos (opened 2001), and an expanded metro system (since 2000).

Most of the Greek islands and many main cities of Greece are connecting by air mainly from the two major airlines of Greece, Olympic and Aegean air. Maritime connections have been improved with modern high-speed craft, including hydrofoils and catamarans. Railway connections play a somewhat lesser role than in many other European countries, but railways too have been expanded, with new suburban connections around Athens, a modern intercity connection between Athens and Thessaloniki, and upgrading to double lines in many parts of the 2500 km (1550 mi) network. International railway lines connect Greek cities with the rest of Europe, the Balkans and Turkey.

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of Greece and Greeks

The Hermoupolis port in the island of Syros is the capital of the Cyclades.

The port of Volos city in Thessaly region.

The official Statistical body of Greece is the National Statistical Service of Greece (NSSG). According to the NSSG, Greece’s total population in 2001 was 10,964,020.^[48] That figure is divided into 5,427,682 males and 5,536,338 females.^[48] As statistics from 1971, 1981, and 2001 show, the Greek population has been aging the past several decades.^[48]

The birth rate in 2003 stood 9.5 per 1,000 inhabitants (14.5 per 1,000 in 1981). At the same time the mortality rate increased slightly from 8.9 per 1,000 inhabitants in 1981 to 9.6 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2003. In 2001, 16.71% of the population were 65 years old and older, 68.12% between the ages of 15 and 64 years old, and 15.18% were 14 years old and younger.^[48]

Greek society has also rapidly changed with the passage of time. Marriage rates kept falling from almost 71 per 1,000 inhabitants in 1981 until 2002, only to increase slightly in 2003 to 61 per 1,000 and then fall again to 51 in 2004.^[48] Divorce rates on the other hand, have seen an increase – from 191.2 per 1,000 marriages in 1991 to 239.5 per 1,000 marriages in 2004.^[48] Almost two-thirds of the Greek people live in urban areas. Greece’s largest municipalities in 2001 were: Athens, Thessaloniki, Piraeus, Patras, Iraklio, Larissa, and Volos.^[49]

Throughout the 20th century, millions of Greeks migrated to the US, Australia, Canada, UK and Germany, creating a thriving Greek diaspora. The migration trend however has now been reversed after the important improvements of the Greek economy since the 80’s.

Immigration

Due to the complexity of Greek immigration policy, practices and data collection, truly reliable data on immigrant populations in Greece is difficult to gather and therefore subject to much speculation. In 1986, legal and unauthorized immigrants totaled approximately 90,000. A study from the Mediterranean Migration Observatory maintains that the 2001 Census from the NSSG recorded 762,191 persons residing in Greece without Greek citizenship, constituting around 7% of total population and that, of these, 48,560 were EU or EFTA nationals and 17,426 Cypriots with privileged status. People from the Balkan countries of Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania make up almost two-thirds of the total foreign population. Migrants from the former Soviet Union (Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Moldava, etc.) comprise 10% of the total.^[50]

The greatest cluster of non-EU immigrant population is in the Municipality of Athens –some 132,000 immigrants, at 17% of local population. Thessaloniki is the second largest cluster, with 27,000, reaching 7% of local population. After this, the predominant areas of location are the big cities environs and the agricultural areas. At the same time, Albanians constituted some 56% of total immigrants, followed by Bulgarians (5%), Georgians (3%) and Romanians (3%). Americans, Cypriots, British and Germans appeared as sizeable foreign communities at around 2% each of total foreign population. The rest were around 690,000 persons of non-EU or non-homogeneis (of non-Greek heritage) status.

According to the same study, the foreign population (documented and undocumented) residing in Greece may in reality figure upwards to 8.5% or 10.3%, that is approximately meaning 1.15 million – if immigrants with homogeneis cards are accounted for.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Greece

Flag of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Holy Trinity monastery, in Meteora, central Greece.

The constitution of Greece recognizes the Greek Orthodox faith as the “prevailing” religion of the country, while guaranteeing freedom of religious belief for all.^[24] The Greek Government does not keep statistics on religious groups and censuses do not ask for religious affiliation. According to the State Department, an estimated 97% of Greek citizens identify themselves as Greek Orthodox.^[51] However, in the Eurostat – Eurobarometer poll of 2005, 81% of Greek citizens responded that they believe there is a God,^[52] which was the third highest percentage among EU members behind only Malta and Cyprus.^[52]

Estimates of the recognized Muslim minority, which is mostly located in Thrace, range from 98,000 to 140,000,^[51][53] (between 0.9% and 1.2%) while the immigrant Muslim community numbers between 200,000 and 300,000. Albanian immigrants to Greece (approximately 700,000) are usually associated with the Muslim faith, although most are secular in orientation.^[54] In the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne Greece and Turkey agreed to a population transfer based on upon cultural and religious identity. About 500,000 Muslims were expelled from Greece, predominantly Turks, but also other Muslims.^[55]

Judaism has existed in Greece for more than 2,000 years. Sephardi Jews used to have a large presence in the city of Thessaloniki (by 1900, some 80,000, or more than half of the population, were Jews),^[56] but nowadays the Greek-Jewish community who survived the Holocaust is estimated to number around 5,500 people.^[51][53]

Greek members of Roman Catholic faith are estimated at 50,000^[51][53] with the Roman Catholic immigrant community approximating 200,000.^[51] Old Calendarists account for 500,000 followers.^[53] Protestants, including Greek Evangelical Church and Free Evangelical Churches, stand at about 30,000.^[51][53] Assemblies of God, International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and other Pentecostal churches of the Greek Synod of Apostolic Church has 12,000 members.^[57]

Independent Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost is the biggest Protestant denomination in Greece with 120 churches.^[58] There are not official statistics about Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost, but the Orthodox Church estimates the followers in 20,000.^[59] The Jehovah’s Witnesses report having 28,243 active members.^[51][53][60] There are also 653 Mormons,^[61] 501 Seventh-day Adventists,^[62] and 30 Free Methodists.^[51][63] The ancient Greek religion has also reappeared as Hellenic Neopaganism,^[64] with estimates of approximately 2,000 adherents (comprising 0.02% of the general population).^[65]

Languages

Main articles: Languages of Greece and Minorities in Greece

Greece is today relatively homogeneous in linguistic terms, with a large majority of the native population using Greek as their first or only language. The Muslim minority in Thrace, which amounts to approximately 0.95% of the total population, consists of speakers of Turkish, Bulgarian (Pomak) and Romani. Romani is also spoken by Christian Roma in other parts of the country.

Further minority languages have traditionally been spoken by regional population groups in various parts of the country. Their use has decreased radically in the course of the 20th century through assimilation with the Greek-speaking majority. This goes for the Arvanites, an Albanian-speaking group mostly located in the rural areas around the capital Athens, and for the Aromanians and Moglenites, also known as Vlachs, whose language is closely related to Romanian and who used to live scattered across several areas of mountaneous central Greece. Members of these groups ethnically identify as Greeks^[66] and are today all at least bilingual in Greek. In many areas their traditional languages are today only maintained by the older generations and are on the verge of extinction.

Near the northern Greek borders there are also some Slavic-speaking groups, whose members identify ethnically as Greeks in their majority. Their dialects can be linguistically classified as forms of either Macedonian (locally called Slavomacedonian or simply Slavic), or Bulgarian (distinguished as Pomak in the case of the Bulgarophone Muslims of Thrace.^[67]

The Jewish community in Greece traditionally spoke Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), today maintained only by a small group of a few thousand speakers.

Among the Greek-speaking population, speakers of the distinctive Pontic dialect came to Greece from Asia Minor after the Greek genocide and constitute a sizable group.

Education

Main article: Education in Greece

The Academy of Athens is Greece’s national academy and the highest research establishment in the country.

The building of the Faculty of Education at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Compulsory education in Greece comprises primary schools (Δημοτικό Σχολείο, Dimotikó Scholeio) and gymnasium (Γυμνάσιο). Nursery schools (Παιδικός σταθμός, Paidikós Stathmós) are popular but not compulsory. Kindergartens (Νηπιαγωγείο, Nipiagogeío) are now compulsory for any child above 4 years of age. Children start primary school aged 6 and remain there for six years. Attendance at gymnasia starts at age 12 and last for three years. Greece’s post-compulsory secondary education consists of two school types: unified upper secondary schools (Ενιαίο Λύκειο, Eniaia Lykeia) and technical–vocational educational schools (Τεχνικά και Επαγγελματικά Εκπαιδευτήρια, “TEE”). Post-compulsory secondary education also includes vocational training institutes (Ινστιτούτα Επαγγελματικής Κατάρτισης, “IEK”) which provide a formal but unclassified level of education. As they can accept both Gymnasio (lower secondary school) and Lykeio (upper secondary school) graduates, these institutes are not classified as offering a particular level of education.

Public higher education is divided into universities, “Highest Educational Institutions” (Ανώτατα Εκπαιδευτικά Ιδρύματα, Anótata Ekpaideytiká Idrýmata, “ΑΕΙ”) and “Highest Technological Educational Institutions” (Ανώτατα Τεχνολογικά Εκπαιδευτικά Ιδρύματα, Anótata Technologiká Ekpaideytiká Idrýmata, “ATEI”). Students are admitted to these Institutes according to their performance at national level examinations taking place after completion of the third grade of Lykeio. Additionally, students over twenty-two years old may be admitted to the Hellenic Open University through a form of lottery. The Capodistrian university of Athens is the oldest university in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Greek education system also provides special kindergartens, primary and secondary schools for people with special needs or difficulties in learning. Specialist gymnasia and high schools offering musical, theological and physical education also exist.

Some of the main universities in Greece include:

National and Capodistrian University of Athens • National Technical University of Athens • University of Piraeus • Agricultural University of Athens • University of Macedonia (in Thessaloniki)  • University of Crete • Technical University of Crete • Athens University of Economics and Business • Aristotle University of Thessaloniki • University of the Aegean (across the Aegean Islands)  • Democritus University of Thrace • University of Ioannina • University of Thessaly • University of Western Macedonia • Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences • University of Patras • Charokopeio University of Athens • Ionian University (across the Ionian Islands)

Culture

Main articles: Culture of Greece and List of Greeks

The ancient theatre of Epidaurus is nowadays used for staging ancient Greek drama shows.

The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, with its beginnings in the Mycenaean and Minoan Civilizations, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, the Hellenistic Period, through the influence of the Roman Empire and its Greek Eastern successor the Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman Empire too had a significant influence on Greek culture, but the Greek War of Independence is credited with revitalizing Greece and giving birth to a single entity of its multi-faceted culture throughout the ages.

Philosophy

Main article: Ancient Greek philosophy

Most western philosophical traditions began in ancient Greece in the 6th century BC.The first philosophers are called “Presocratics” which designates that they came before Socrates. The Presocratics were from the western or the eastern colonies of Greece and only fragments of the original writings of the presocratics survive, in some cases merely a single sentence. A new period of philosophy started with Socrates.Like the Sophists, he rejected entirely the physical speculations in which his predecessors had indulged, and made the thoughts and opinions of people his starting-point. Aspects of Socrates were first united from Plato, who also combined with them many of the principles established by earlier philosophers, and developed the whole of this material into the unity of a comprehensive system. Aristotle of Stagira ,the most important disciple of Plato, shared with his teacher the title of the greatest philosopher of antiquity but while Plato had sought to elucidate and explain things from the supra-sensual standpoint of the forms, his pupil preferred to start from the facts given us by experience. Except from these three most significant Greek philosophers other known schools of Greek philosophy from other founders during ancient times were Stoicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism and Neoplatonism.^[68]

Literature

Main articles: Greek Literature and Ancient Greek literature

Dionysios Solomos (1798–1857), national poet. His Hymn to Liberty became the Greek anthem.

The manuscript of the poem “Thermopyles” (Θερμοπύλες) by Constantine P. Cavafy.Cavafy’s poems are, typically, concise but intimate evocations of real or literary figures and milieux that have played roles in Greek culture.He is considered probably the greatest modern greek poet.

The timeline of the greek literature can be separated into three big periods:the ancient,the byzantine and the modern greek literature.

At the beginning of Greek literature stand the two monumental works of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.Though dates of composition vary, these works were fixed around 800 BC or after.In the classical period many of the genres of western literature became more prominent. Lyrical poetry, odes, pastorals, elegies, epigrams; dramatic presentations of comedy and tragedy; histories, rhetorical treatises, philosophical dialectics, and philosophical treatises all arose in this period.The two major lyrical poets were Sappho and Pindar. The Classical era also saw the dawn of drama. Of the hundreds of tragedies written and performed during the classical age, only a limited number of plays by three authors have survived: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.The surviving plays by Aristophanes are also a treasure trove of comic presentation ,while Herodotus and Thucydides are two of the most influential historians in this period. The greatest prose achievement of the 4th century was in philosophy with the works of the three great philosophers.

Byzantine literature refers to literature of the Byzantine Empire written in Atticizing, Medieval and early Modern Greek,and it is the expression of the intellectual life of the Byzantine Greeks during the Christian Middle Ages.

Modern Greek literature refers to literature written in common Modern Greek, emerging from late Byzantine times in the 11th century AD.The Cretan Renaissance poem Erotokritos is undoubtedly the masterpiece of this period of Greek literature.It is a verse romance written around 1600 by Vitsentzos Kornaros (1553-1613).Later,during the period of Greek enlightenment (Diafotismos),writers such as Adamantios Korais and Rigas Feraios will prepare with their works the Greek Revolution (1821-1830).

Contemporary Greek literature is representated by many writers,poets and novelists:Dionysios Solomos,Andreas Kalvos,Angelos Sikelianos,Kostis Palamas,Penelope Delta,Yannis Ritsos,Alexandros Papadiamantis,Nikos Kazantzakis,Andreas Embeirikos,Kostas Karyotakis,Gregorios Xenopoulos,Constantine P. Cavafy,Demetrius Vikelas ,while George Seferis and Odysseas Elytis have awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Science and technology

Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum.

Broadband internet availability is widespread in Greece; approximately 15.6% of the general population have broadband connections to the internet,^[69][70] mainly ADSL2. Internet cafes that provide net access, office applications and multiplayer gaming are also a common sight in the country, while mobile internet on 3G cellphone networks and public wi-fi hotspots are existent, but not as extensive.

Because of its strategic location, qualified workforce and political and economic stability, many multinational companies such as Ericsson, Siemens, SAP, Motorola and Coca-Cola have their regional R&D Headquarters in Greece.

The General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Hellenic Ministry of Development is responsible for designing, implementing and supervising national research and technological policy.

In 2003, public spending on R&D was 456.37 million euros (12.6% increase from 2002). Total research and development (R&D) spending (both public and private) as a percentage of GDP has increased considerably since the beginning of the past decade, from 0.38% in 1989, to 0.65% in 2001. R&D spending in Greece remains lower than the EU average of 1.93%, but, according to Research DC, based on OECD and Eurostat data, between 1990 and 1998, total R&D expenditure in Greece enjoyed the third highest increase in Europe, after Finland and Ireland.

Greece’s technology parks with incubator facilities include the Science and Technology Park of Crete (Heraklion), the Thessaloniki Technology Park, the Lavrio Technology Park and the Patras Science Park.Greece has been a member of the European Space Agency (ESA) since 2005.^[12] Cooperation between ESA and the Hellenic National Space Committee began in the early 1990s. In 1994, Greece and ESA signed their first cooperation agreement. Having formally applied for full membership in 2003, Greece became ESA’s sixteenth member on 16 March 2005. As member of the ESA, Greece participates in the agency’s telecommunication and technology activities, and the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Initiative.

Cuisine

Main article: Greek cuisine

Greek salad with additional ingredients.

Greek cuisine is often cited as an example of the healthy Mediterranean diet. Greek cuisine incorporates fresh ingredients into a variety of local dishes such as moussaka, stifado, Greek Salad, spanakopita and the world famous Souvlaki. Some dishes can be traced back to ancient Greece like skordalia (a thick purée of potatoes, walnuts, almonds, crushed garlic and olive oil), lentil soup, retsina (white or rosé wine sealed with pine resin) and pasteli (candy bar with sesame seeds baked with honey). Throughout Greece people often enjoy eating from small dishes such as meze with various dips such as tzatziki, grilled octopus and small fish, feta cheese, dolmades (rice, currants and pine kernels wrapped in vine leaves), various pulses, olives and cheese. Olive oil is added to almost every dish. Sweet desserts such as galaktoboureko, and drinks such as ouzo, metaxa and a variety of wines including retsina. Greek cuisine differs widely from different parts of the mainland and from island to island also uses some flavorings more often than other Mediterranean cuisines do: oregano, mint, garlic, onion, dill and bay laurel leaves. Other common herbs and spices include basil, thyme and fennel seed. Many Greek recipes, especially in the northern parts of the country, use “sweet” spices in combination with meat, for example cinnamon and cloves in stews.

Music

Main article: Greek music

Mikis Theodorakis is one of the most popular Greek composers.

Greek music extends far back into Ancient times were mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons, instruments during that time period included the double-reed aulos and the plucked string instrument, the lyre, especially the special kind called a kithara. Music played an important role in the education system during ancient times were boys taught music from the age of six. Later it was influences from the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe and the Byzantine Empire that changed Greek music. While the new technique of polyphony was developing in the West, the Eastern Orthodox Church resisted any type of change. Therefore, Byzantine music remained monophonic and without any form of instrumental accompaniment. As a result, Byzantine music was deprived of polyphony and instrumental accompaniment, elements of which in the West encouraged an unimpeded development of art. However, the isolation of Byzantium, which kept music away from polyphony, along with centuries of continuous culture, enabled monophonic music to develop to the greatest heights of perfection. Byzantium presented with a melodic treasury of inestimable value for its rhythmical variety and expressive power the monophonic Byzantine chant.

Along with the Byzantine chant, a form of artistic musical creation, the Greek people also cultivated the Greek folk song which is divided into two cycles, the akritic and klephtic. The akritic was created between the 9th and 10th centuries A.D. and expressed the life and struggles of the akrites (frontier guards) of the Byzantine empire, the most well known being the stories associated with Digenes Akritas. The klephtic cycle came into being between the late Byzantine period and the start of the Greek War of Independence struggle in 1821. The klephtic cycle, together with historical songs, paraloghes (narrative song or ballad), love songs, wedding songs, songs of exile and dirges express the life of the Greeks. There is a unity between the Greek people’s struggles for freedom, their joys and sorrow and attitudes towards love and death.

The Second World War, German occupation of Greece and the Greek Civil War decisively influenced the Greek folk song. After the first World War and the 1922 debacle, the trend towards urban living focused on Athens where popular musicians congregated and, in 1928, founded their own professional society: the Athens and Piraeus Musicians Society. Until the early years of this century, musical tradition was preserved in the villages where there was little contact with the outside world. The events and social changes of the 20th century changed the fate of the folk song in Greece. Once the seat of folk song was the village, now the reverse applies. The commercialized folk song spreads in all directions to the remotest villages. The authentic songs and dances have been replaced by the stylized modern “folk songs” written by contemporary musicians which they write new lyrics to authentic folk tunes, changing them enough to ensure copyright protection.

Sports

Inside the Olympic Stadium of Athens Spiros Louis.

Main article: Sport in Greece

Greece, home to the first modern Olympics, holds a long tradition in sports. The Greek national football team, currently ranked 12th in the world,^[71] won the UEFA Euro 2004 in one of the biggest surprises in the history of the sport.^[72] The Greek Super League is the highest professional football league in the country comprising of 16 teams. The most successful of them are Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens. The Greek national basketball team has a decades-long tradition of excellence in the sport. As of August 2008 it is ranked 4th in the world.^[73] They have won the European Championship twice in 1987 and 2005,^[74] and have reached the final four in three of the last four FIBA World Championships, taking the second place in 2006. The domestic top basketball league, A1 Ethniki, is composed of fourteen teams. The most successful Greek teams are Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Aris, AEK Athens and PAOK. Water polo and volleyball are also practiced widely in Greece while cricket, handball are relatively popular in Corfu and Veroia respectively. As the birth place of the Olympic Games, Greece was most recently host of 2004 Summer Olympics and the first modern Olympics in 1896.

In 2009, Greece beat France in the under-20 European Basketball championship.^[75]

Mythology

Main article: Greek mythology

Armed forces

Main article: Military of Greece

Armed forces

Frigate Psara, MEKO-200 HN type of the Hellenic Navy branch. Two Hellenic Air Force Mirage 2000 are getting ready to take off.

The Hellenic Armed Forces are overseen by the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (Γενικό Επιτελείο Εθνικής Άμυνας – ΓΕΕΘΑ) and consists of three branches:

• Hellenic Army
• Hellenic Navy
• Hellenic Air Force

The civilian authority for the Greek military is the Ministry of National Defence. Furthermore, Greece maintains the Hellenic Coast Guard for law enforcement in the sea and search and rescue.

Greece currently has universal compulsory military service for males while females (who may serve in the military) are exempted from conscription. As of 2006, Greece has mandatory military service of 12 months for male citizens between the ages of 19 and 45. However, as the Armed forces had been gearing towards a complete professional army system, the government had promised that the mandatory military service would be cut or even abolished completely. Greek males between the age of 18 and 60 who live in strategically sensitive areas may be required to serve part-time in the National Guard, service in the Guard is paid. As a member of NATO, the Greek military participates in exercises and deployments under the auspices of the alliance.

International rankings

Main article: International rankings of Greece

Organization	Survey	Ranking
United Nations Development Programme	Human Development Index 2006[76] Human Development Index 2004[77] Human Development Index 2000[77]	18 out of 177 24 out of 177 24 out of 177
International Monetary Fund	GDP per capita (PPP)[78]	18 out of 180
The Economist	Worldwide Quality-of-life Index, 2005[79]	22 out of 111
Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal	Index of Economic Freedom[80]	57 out of 157
Reporters Without Borders	Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006[81] Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2005[82] Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2004[83]	32 out of 168 18(tied) out of 168 33 out of 167
Transparency International	Corruption Perceptions Index 2006[84] Corruption Perceptions Index 2005[85] Corruption Perceptions Index 2004[86]	54 out of 163 47 out of 158 49 out of 145
World Economic Forum	Global Competitiveness Report[87]	47 out of 125
Yale University/Columbia University	Environmental Sustainability Index 2005[88]	67 out of 146
Nationmaster	Labor strikes[89]	13 out of 27
A.T. Kearney / Foreign Policy	Globalization Index 2006[90] Globalization Index 2005[91] Globalization Index 2004[92]	32 out of 62 29 out of 62 28 out of 62

See also

Greece portal

Main articles: Outline of Greece and Index of Greece-related articles

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Parthenon – Wiki

The Parthenon (Ancient Greek: Παρθενών) is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena whom the people of Athens considered their protector. Its construction began in 447BC and completed in 432BC on the Athenian Acropolis, although decorations of the Parthenon continued until 431BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered one of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of ancient Greece and of Athenian democracy, and one of the world’s greatest cultural monuments. The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a program of selective restoration and reconstruction to ensure the stability of the partially ruined structure.^[1]

The Parthenon itself replaced an older temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon, that was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BC. Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon was used as a treasury. For a time it served as the treasury of the Delian League, which later became the Athenian Empire. In the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After the Ottoman Turk conquest, it was turned into a mosque in the early 1460s, and it had a minaret built in it. On 26 September 1687 an Ottoman Turk ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian bombardment. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures. In 1806, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed some of the surviving sculptures, with Ottoman Turk permission. These sculptures, now known as the Elgin Marbles or the Parthenon Marbles, were sold in 1816 to the British Museum in London, where they are now displayed. The Greek government is committed to the return of the sculptures to Greece, so far with no success.^[2]Name

The origin of the Parthenon’s name is unclear. According to Jeffrey M. Hurwit, the term “Parthenon” means “the virgin’s place”, and seems to have originally referred only to a particular room of the Parthenon; it is debated which room this is, and how the room acquired its name. One theory holds that the “parthenon” was the room in which the peplos presented to Athena at the Panathenaic Festival was woven by the arrephoroi, a group of four young girls chosen to serve Athena each year.^[3] Christopher Pelling asserts that Athena Parthenos may have constituted a discrete cult of Athena, intimately connected with, but not identical to, that of Athena Polias.^[4] According to this theory, the name of Parthenon means the “temple of the virgin goddess”, and refers to the cult of Athena Parthenos that was associated with the temple.^[5] The epithet parthénos (Greek: παρθένος), whose origin is also unclear,^[6] meant “virgin, unmarried woman”, and was especially used for Artemis, the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and vegetation, and for Athena, the goddess of strategy and tactics, handicraft, and practical reason.^[7][8][9] It has also been suggested that the name of the temple alludes to the virgins (parthenoi), whose supreme sacrifice guaranteed the safety of the city.^[10]

The first instance in which Parthenon definitely refers to the entire building is in the 4th-century BC orator Demosthenes. In the 5th-century building accounts, the structure is simply called ho naos (“the temple”). The architects Mnesikles and Kallikrates are said to have called the building Hekatompedos (“the hundred footer”) in their lost treatise on Athenian architecture,^[11] and in the 4th century and later the building was referred to as the Hekatompedos or the Hekatompedon as well as the Parthenon; the 1st-century AD writer Plutarch referred to the building as the Hekatompedon Parthenon.^[12]

Design and construction

Floor plan of the Parthenon.

The first endeavor to build a sanctuary for Athena Parthenos on the site of the present Parthenon was begun shortly after the Battle of Marathon (c. 490-488 BC) upon a muscular limestone foundation that extended and leveled the southern part of the Acropolis summit. This building replaced a hekatompedon (meaning “hundred-footer”) and would have stood beside the archaic temple dedicated to the Athena Polias. The Older or Pre-Parthenon, as it is frequently referred to, was still under construction when the Persians sacked the city in 480 BC and razed the Acropolis.^[13][14]

In the mid-5th century BC, when the Athenian Acropolis became the seat of the Delian League and Athens was the greatest cultural centre of its time, Pericles initiated an ambitious building project which lasted the entire second half of the century. The most important buildings visible on the Acropolis today– the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike– were erected during this period. The Parthenon was built under the general supervision of the sculptor Phidias, who also had charge of the sculptural decoration. The architects, Iktinos and Kallikrates, began in 447 BC, and the building was substantially completed by 432, but work on the decorations continued until at least 431. Some of the financial accounts for the Parthenon survive and show that the largest single expense was transporting the stone from Mount Pentelicus, about 16 kilometres from Athens, to the Acropolis. The funds were partly drawn from the treasury of the Delian League, which was moved from the Panhellenic sanctuary at Delos to the Acropolis in 454 BC.

Although the nearby Temple of Hephaestus is the most complete surviving example of a Doric order temple, the Parthenon, in its day, was regarded as the finest. The temple, wrote John Julius Cooper, “Enjoys the reputation of being the most perfect Doric temple ever built. Even in antiquity, its architectural refinements were legendary, especially the subtle correspondence between the curvature of the stylobate, the taper of the naos walls and the entasis of the columns.”^[15] Entasis refers to the slight bulge of the columns as they rise, though the observable effect on the Parthenon is considerably more subtle than on earlier temples with their noticeably cigar-shaped columns. The stylobate is the platform on which the columns stand. As in many other classical Greek temples,^[16] it has a slight parabolic upward curvature intended primarily to shed rainwater. The columns might therefore be supposed to lean outwards, but they actually lean slightly inwards; and since they are all the same height, the curvature of the outer stylobate edge is transmitted to the architrave and roof above: “all follow the rule of being built to delicate curves” Gorham Stevens observed when pointing out that in addition, the west front was built at a slightly higher level than that of the east front.^[17] It is not universally agreed what the intended effect of these ‘optical refinements’ was; it may serve as a sort of “reverse optical illusion.”^[18] As the Greeks may have been aware, two parallel lines appear to bow, or curve outward, when intersected by converging lines. In this case, the ceiling and floor of the temple may seem to bow in the presence of the surrounding angles of the building. Striving for perfection, the designers may have added these curves, compensating for the illusion by creating their own curves, thus negating this effect and allowing the temple to be seen as they intended. It is also suggested that it was to enliven what might have appeared an inert mass in the case of a building without curves, but the comparison ought to be with the Parthenon’s more obviously curved predecessors than with a notional rectilinear temple.

Some studies of the Acropolis, including the Parthenon, conclude that many of its proportions approximate the golden ratio. The Parthenon’s facade as well as elements of its facade and elsewhere can be circumscribed by golden rectangles.^[19] This view that the golden ratio was employed in the design has been disputed in more recent studies.^[20]

Measured at the stylobate, the dimensions of the base of the Parthenon are 69.5 metres by 30.9 metres (228.0 x 101.4 ft). The cella was 29.8 metres long by 19.2 metres wide (97.8 x 63.0 ft), with internal colonnades in two tiers, structurally necessary to support the roof. On the exterior, the Doric columns measure 1.9 metres (6.2 ft) in diameter and are 10.4 metres (34.1 ft) high. The corner columns are slightly larger in diameter. The Parthenon had 46 outer pillars and 19 inner pillars in total. The stylobate has an upward curvature towards its centre of 60 millimetres (2.36 in) on the east and west ends, and of 110 millimetres (4.33 in) on the sides. The roof was covered with large overlapping marble tiles known as imbrices and tegulae.

Sculptural decoration

The Parthenon from the south. In the foreground of the image, a reconstruction of the marble imbrices and tegulae (roof tiles) forming the roof is visible, resting on wooden supports.

The Parthenon, an octostyle, peripteral Doric temple with Ionic architectural features, housed the chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos sculpted by Phidias and dedicated in 439/438 BC. The decorative stonework was originally highly coloured.^[21] The temple was dedicated to the Athena at that time, though construction continued until almost the beginning of the Peloponnesian War in 432. By the year 438, the sculptural decoration of the Doric metopes on the frieze above the exterior colonnade, and of the Ionic frieze around the upper portion of the walls of the cella, had been completed. The richness of the Parthenon’s frieze and metope decoration is in agreement with the function of the temple as a treasury. In the opisthodomus (the back room of the cella) were stored the monetary contributions of the Delian League, of which Athens was the leading member.

Metopes

Main article: Metopes of the Parthenon

Detail of the West metopes, illustrating the current condition of the temple in detail after 2,500 years of war, pollution, erratic conservation, pillage and vandalism.

The ninety-two metopes were carved in high relief, a practice employed until then only in treasuries (buildings used to keep votive gifts to the gods). According to the building records, the metope sculptures date to the years 446-440 BC. Their design is attributed to the sculptor Kalamis. The metopes of the east side of the Parthenon, above the main entrance, depict the Gigantomachy (mythical battles between the Olympian gods and the Giants). The metopes of the west end show Amazonomachy (mythical battle of the Athenians against the Amazons). The metopes of the south side—with the exception of the somewhat problematic metopes 13–20, now lost—show the Thessalian Centauromachy (battle of the Lapiths aided by Theseus against the half-man, half-horse Centaurs). On the north side of the Parthenon the metopes are poorly preserved, but the subject seems to be the sack of Troy.

The metopes present surviving traces of the Severe Style in the anatomy of the figures’ heads, in the limitation of the corporal movements to the contours and not to the muscles, and in the presence of pronounced veins in the figures of the Centauromachy. Several of the metopes still remain on the building, but with the exception of those on the northern side, they are severely damaged. Some of them are located at the Acropolis Museum, others are in the British Museum and one can be seen at the Louvre museum.

The smaller room [the opisthodomos] was used as treasury.

Pediments

The 2nd-century traveller Pausanias, when he visited the Acropolis at the end of the second century AD , only mentioned briefly the sculptures of the pediments (gable ends) of the temple, reserving the majority of his description for the gold and ivory statue of the goddess inside.

East pediment

Part of the East pediment still found on the Parthenon.

The East pediment narrates the birth of Athena from the head of her father, Zeus. According to Greek mythology Zeus gave birth to Athena after a terrible headache prompted him to summon Hephaestus‘ (the god of fire and the forge) assistance. To alleviate the pain he ordered Hephaestus to strike him with his forging hammer, and when he did, Zeus’s head split open and out popped the goddess Athena in full armour. The sculptural arrangement depicts the moment of Athena’s birth.

Unfortunately, the center pieces of the pediment were destroyed even before Jacques Carrey created otherwise useful documentary drawings in 1674, so all reconstructions are subject to conjecture and speculation. The main Olympian gods must have stood around Zeus and Athena watching the wondrous event, with Hephaestus and Hera probably near them. The Carrey drawings are instrumental in reconstructing the sculptural arrangement beyond the center figures to the north and south.^[22]

West pediment

The west pediment faced the Propylaia and depicted the contest between Athena and Poseidon during their competition for the honor of becoming the city’s patron. Athena and Poseidon appear at the center of the composition, diverging from one another in strong diagonal forms with the goddess holding the olive tree and the god of the sea raising his trident to strike the earth. At their flanks they are framed by two active groups of horses pulling chariots, while a crowd of legendary personalities from Athenian mythology fills the space out to the acute corners of the pediment.

The work on the pediments lasted from 438 to 432 BC, and the sculptures of the Parthenon pediments are some of the finest examples of classical Greek art. The figures are sculpted in natural movement with bodies full of vital energy that bursts through their flesh, as the flesh in turn bursts through their thin clothing. The thin chitons allow the body underneath to be revealed as the focus of the composition. The distinction between gods and humans is blurred in the conceptual interplay between the idealism and naturalism bestowed on the stone by the sculptors.^[23] The pediments no longer exist.

Athena Parthenos

Main article: Athena Parthenos

The only piece of sculpture from the Parthenon known to be from the hand of Phidias^[24] was the statue of Athena housed in the naos. This massive chryselephantine sculpture is now lost and known only from copies, vase painting, gems, literary descriptions and coins.^[25]

Older Parthenon

Main article: Older Parthenon

The first endeavour to build a sanctuary for Athena Parthenos on the site of the present Parthenon was begun shortly after the Battle of Marathon (c. 490-88 BC). This building replaced a hekatompedon (meaning “hundred-footer”) and would have stood beside the archaic temple dedicated to Athena Polias. The “older Parthenon”, as it is frequently referred to, was still under construction when the Persians sacked the city in 480 BC and razed the Acropolis. The existence of the proto-Parthenon and its destruction were known from Herodotus,^[26] and the drums of its columns were plainly visible built into the curtain wall north of the Erechtheum. Further material evidence of this structure was revealed with the excavations of Patagiotis Kavvadias of 1885-90. The findings of this dig allowed Wilhelm Dörpfeld, then director of the German Archaeological Institute, to assert that there existed a distinct substructure to the original Parthenon, called Parthenon I by Dörpfeld, not immediately below the present edifice as had been previously assumed.^[27] Dörpfeld’s observation was that the three steps of the first Parthenon consisted of two steps of Poros limestone, the same as the foundations, and a top step of Karrha limestone that was covered by the lowest step of the Periclean Parthenon. This platform was smaller and slightly to the north of the final Parthenon, indicating that it was built for a wholly different building, now wholly covered over. This picture was somewhat complicated by the publication of the final report on the 1885-90 excavations, indicating that the substructure was contemporary with the Kimonian walls, and implying a later date for the first temple.^[28]

If the original Parthenon was indeed destroyed in 480, it invites the question of why the site was left a ruin for thirty-three years. One argument involves the oath sworn by the Greek allies before the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC^[29] declaring that the sanctuaries destroyed by the Persians would not be rebuilt, an oath from which the Athenians were only absolved with the Peace of Callias in 450.^[30] The mundane fact of the cost of reconstructing Athens after the Persian sack is at least as likely a cause. However, the excavations of Bert Hodge Hill led him to propose the existence of a second Parthenon, begun in the period of Kimon after 468 BC.^[31] Hill claimed that the Karrha limestone step Dörpfeld took to be the highest of Parthenon I was in fact the lowest of the three steps of Parthenon II, whose stylobate dimensions Hill calculated to be 23.51×66.888m.

One difficulty in dating the proto-Parthenon is that at the time of the 1885 excavation the archaeological method of seriation was not fully developed; the careless digging and refilling of the site led to a loss of much valuable information. An attempt to make sense of the potsherds found on the acropolis came with the two-volume study by Graef and Langlotz published 1925-33.^[32] This inspired American archaeologist William Bell Dinsmoor to attempt to supply limiting dates for the temple platform and the five walls hidden under the re-terracing of the Acropolis. Dinsmoor concluded that the latest possible date for Parthenon I was no earlier 495 BC, contradicting the early date given by Dörpfeld.^[33] Further Dinsmoor denied that there were two proto-Parthenons, and that the only pre-Periclean temple was what Dörpfeld referred to as Parthenon II. Dinsmoor and Dörpfeld exchanged views in the American Journal of Archaeology in 1935.^[34]

Function

Although the Parthenon is architecturally a temple and is usually called so, it is not really one in the conventional sense of the word.^[35] A small shrine has been excavated within the building, on the site of an older sanctuary probably dedicated to Athena Ergane,^[35] but the Parthenon never hosted the cult of Athena Polias, protector of Athens: the cult image which was bathed in the sea and to which was presented the peplos, was an olivewood xoanon, located at an older altar on the northern side of the Acropolis.^[36] Thus the Parthenon was essentially a treasury as well.

The colossal statue of Athena by Phidias was not related to any cult^[37] and never inspired any recorded religious fervour.^[36] It did not seem to have any priestess, altar nor cult name.^[38] According to Thucydides, Pericles once referred to the statue as a gold reserve, stressing that it “contained forty talents of pure gold and it was all removable”.^[39] The Athenian statesman thus implies that the metal, obtained from contemporary coinage,^[40] could be used again without any impiety.^[38]

The Parthenon should then be viewed as a grand setting for the votive statue of Phidias rather than a cult site.^[41] It also served as a treasury: the funds of the Delian League, transferred from Delos to Athens in 454 BC, were housed in one of its rooms.

Later history

[edit] Christian church

The Parthenon survived as a temple to Athena for close to a thousand years. It was certainly still intact in the 4th century AD, by which time it was already as old as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is now, and far older than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. But by that time Athens had been reduced to a provincial city of the Roman Empire, albeit one with a glorious past. Sometime in the 5th century AD, the great cult image of Athena was looted by one of the Emperors, and taken to Constantinople, where it was later destroyed, possibly during the siege of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD.

The Parthenon’s position on the Acropolis allows it to dominate the city skyline of Athens.

Shortly after this, the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church. In Byzantine times it became the Church of the Parthenos Maria (Virgin Mary), or the Church of the Theotokos (Mother of God). It was the fourth most important pilgrimage in the Eastern Roman Empire after Constantinople, Ephessos and Thessalonica.^[42] In 1018, the emperor Basil II went on a pilgrimage to Athens directly after his final victory over the Bulgarians for the sole purpose of worshipping at the Parthenon.^[42] In medieval Greek accounts it called the Temple of Theotokos Atheniotissa and often indirectly referred to, as famous without explaining which temple they were referring to precisely, thus establishing that it was indeed well known.^[42]

At the time of the Latin occupation it became for about 250 years a Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady. The conversion of the temple to a church involved removing the internal columns and some of the walls of the cella, and the creation of an apse at the eastern end. This inevitably led to the removal and dispersal of some of the sculptures. Those depicting gods were either possibly re-interpreted according to a Christian theme, or removed and destroyed.

Ottoman mosque

In 1456, Athens fell to the Ottomans, and the Parthenon was converted again, into a mosque. Contrary to subsequent misconception, the Ottomans were broadly respectful of ancient monuments in their territories and did not willfully destroy the antiquities of Athens, but at the same time made no special effort to protect them. In times of war they were willing to demolish them to provide materials for walls and fortifications. A minaret was added to the Parthenon, and its base and stairway are still functional, leading up as high as the architrave and hence invisible from the outside. Otherwise, the Ottomans did not further modify the building. European visitors in the 17th century, as well as some representations of the Acropolis hill, testified that the building was largely intact.

Destruction

The southern side of the Parthenon, which sustained considerable damage in the 1687 explosion

Fragment of an exploded shell found on top of a wall in the Parthenon, thought to originate from the time of the Venetian siege

In 1687, the Parthenon suffered its greatest blow when the Venetians under Francesco Morosini attacked Athens, and the Ottoman Turks fortified the Acropolis and used the building as a gunpowder magazine. On 26 September a Venetian mortar, fired from the Hill of Philopappus, blew the magazine up and the building was partly destroyed.^[43] Morosini then proceeded to attempt to loot sculptures from the ruin. The internal structures were demolished, whatever was left of the roof collapsed, and some of the pillars, particularly on the southern side, were decapitated. The sculptures suffered heavily. Many fell to the ground, and souvenirs were later made from their pieces. Consequently some sections of the sculptural decoration are known only from the drawings made by Flemish artist Jacques Carrey in 1674.^[44] After this, much of the building fell into disuse and a smaller mosque was erected.

The 18th century was a period of Ottoman Turk stagnation; as a result, many more Europeans found access to Athens, and the picturesque ruins of the Parthenon were much drawn and painted, spurring a rise in philhellenism and helping to arouse sympathy in Britain and France for Greek independence. Amongst those early travellers and archaeologists were James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, who were commissioned by the Society of Dilettanti to survey the ruins of classical Athens. What they produced was the first measured drawings of the Parthenon published in 1787 in the second volume of Antiquities of Athens Measured and Delineated. In 1801, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, the Earl of Elgin, obtained a firman (edict) from the Sultan to make casts and drawings of the antiquities on the Acropolis, to demolish recent buildings if this was necessary to view the antiquities, and to remove sculptures from them. Although the existence of the firman is doubtful, as the original document has not been rescued, he took this as permission to collect all the sculptures he could find. He employed local people to detach them from the building itself; a few others he collected from the ground, and some smaller pieces he bought from local people. The detachment of the sculptures caused further irreparable damage to what was left of the building, as some of the frieze blocks were sawn in half to lessen their weight for shipment to England.

[edit] Independent Greece

When independent Greece gained control of Athens in 1832, the visible section of the minaret was demolished from the Parthenon, and soon all the medieval and Ottoman buildings on the Acropolis were destroyed. However the image of the small mosque within the Parthenon’s cella has been preserved in Joly de Lotbinière’s photograph, published in Lerebours’s Excursions Daguerriennes in 1842: the first photograph of the Acropolis.^[45] The area became a historical precinct controlled by the Greek government. Today it attracts millions of tourists every year, who travel up the path at the western end of the Acropolis, through the restored Propylaea, and up the Panathenaic Way to the Parthenon, which is surrounded by a low fence to prevent damage.

Dispute over the marbles

Main article: Elgin Marbles

Life-size pediment sculptures from the Parthenon in the British Museum

Today, the Parthenon Marbles which were removed by the Earl of Elgin are in the British Museum. Other sculptures from the Parthenon are now in the Louvre in Paris, in Copenhagen, and elsewhere, but most of the remainder are in Athens in the new Acropolis Museum, that was opened officially on Saturday, June 20, 2009.^[46][47] A few can still be seen on the building itself. The Greek government has been campaigning since 1983 for the British Museum sculptures to be returned to Greece.^[46] The British Museum has steadfastly refused to return the sculptures,^[48] and successive British governments have been unwilling to force the Museum to do so (which would require legislation). Nevertheless, talks between senior representatives from Greek and British cultural ministries, and their legal advisors took place in London on 4 May 2007. These were the first serious negotiations for several years, and there are hopes that the two sides may move a step closer to a resolution.^[49]

Reconstruction

A reconstructed segment of the Parthenon.

In 1975, the Greek government began a concerted effort to restore the Parthenon and other Acropolis structures. After some delay a Committee for the Conservation of the Acropolis Monuments was established in 1983.^[50] The project later attracted funding and technical assistance from the European Union. An archaeological committee thoroughly documented every artifact remaining on the site, and architects assisted with computer models to determine their original locations. Particularly important and fragile sculptures were transferred to the Acropolis Museum. A crane was installed for moving marble blocks; the crane was designed to fold away beneath the roofline when not in use. In some cases, prior re-construction was found to be incorrect. These were dismantled, and a careful process of restoration began.^[51] Originally, various blocks were held together by elongated iron H pins that were completely coated in lead, which protected the iron from corrosion. Stabilizing pins added in the 19th century were not so coated, and corroded. Since the corrosion product (rust) is expansive, the expansion caused further damage by cracking the marble.^[52] All new metalwork uses titanium, a strong, light, and corrosion resistant material.

The Parthenon will not be restored to a pre-1687 state, but the explosion damage will be mitigated as much as possible, both in the interest of restoring the structural integrity of the edifice (important in this earthquake-prone region) and to restore the aesthetic integrity by filling in chipped sections of column drums and lintels, using precisely sculpted marble cemented in place. New Pentelic marble is being used from the original quarry. Ultimately, almost all major pieces of marble will be placed in the structure where they originally would have been, supported as needed by modern materials.

Pollution hazards

Pollution damage to the Parthenon.

An immediate problem facing the Parthenon is the environmental impact of the growth of Athens since the 1960s. Corrosion of its marble by acid rain and car pollutants has already caused irreparable damage to some sculptures and threatens the remaining sculptures and the temple itself. Over the past 20 years, the Greek government and the city of Athens have made some progress on these issues, but the future survival of the Parthenon does not seem to be assured.

See also

The Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee, USA is a full-scale replica of the original Greek Parthenon.

• New Acropolis Museum
• Erechtheum
• Nashville Parthenon – a full scale and polychromed replica of the original as seen by the ancients
• National Monument, Edinburgh
• Greek temple
• List of megalithic sites

Notes

1. ^ Ioanna Venieri. “Acropolis of Athens”. Hellenic Ministry of Culture. http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2384. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
2. ^ “Greece urges Britain to return sculptures”. UPI.com. 2009-06-22. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/06/22/Greece-urges-Britain-return-sculptures/UPI-36201245680874/. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
3. ^ Hurwit, The Athenian Acropolis, 161–163.
4. ^ Research has revealed a shrine with altar pre-dating the Older Parthenon, respected by, incorporated and rebuilt in the north pteron of the Parthenon (Pelling, Greek Tragedy and the Historian, 169).
5. ^ “Parthenon”. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
6. ^ Parthenon, Online Etymology Dictionary
7. ^ Bernal, Black Athena Writes Back-CL, 159
8. ^ Frazer, The Golden Bough, 18
9. ^ “Parthenos”. Encyclopaedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/parthenos.html.
10. ^ Whitley, The Archaeology of Ancient Greece, 352
11. ^ Harpocration.^{[citation needed]}
12. ^ Plutarch, Pericles 13.4.
13. ^ Hurwit, The Parthenon and the Temple of Zeus, 135
14. ^ Ioanna Venieri http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2384
15. ^ John Julius Norwich, Great Architecture of the World, 2001, p.63
16. ^ And in the surviving foundations of the preceding Older Parthenon (Penrose, Principles of Athenian Architecture 2nd ed. ch. II.3, plate 9).
17. ^ Penrose op. cit. pp 32-34, found the difference motivated by economies of labour; Gorham P. Stevens, “Concerning the Impressiveness of the Parthenon” American Journal of Archaeology 66.3 (July 1962:337-338).
18. ^ Archeologists discuss similarly curved architecture and offer the theory. Nova, “Secrets of the Parthenon,” PBS. http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1849622/6070405
19. ^ Van Mersbergen, Audrey M., “Rhetorical Prototypes in Architecture: Measuring the Acropolis”, Philosophical Polemic Communication Quarterly, Vol. 46, 1998.
20. ^ See e.g. George Markowsky (January 1992). “Misconceptions about the Golden Ratio” (PDF). The College Mathematics Journal Volume 23 (No 1). http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/teaching/maa/markowsky.pdf.
21. ^ “Tarbell, F.B. ”A History of Ancient Greek Art”. (online book)”. Ellopos.net. http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/history-of-ancient-greek-art-12.asp. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
22. ^ “Thomas Sakoulas, Ancient Greece.org”. Ancient-greece.org. 2007-04-21. http://www.ancient-greece.org/art/parthenon-ped-east.html. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
23. ^ “Thomas Sakoulas, Ancient Greece.org”. Ancient-greece.org. 2007-04-21. http://www.ancient-greece.org/art/parthenon-ped-west.html. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
24. ^ Kenneth D. S. Lapatin, Chryselephantine Statuary in the Ancient Mediterranean World, 2002, p.63.
25. ^ N. Leipen, Athena Parthenos: a huge reconstruction, 1972.
26. ^ Herodotus Histories, 8.53
27. ^ W. Dörpfeld, “Der aeltere Parthenon”, Ath. Mitteilungen, XVII, 1892, p. 158-89 and W. Dörpfeld, “Die Zeit des alteren Parthenon”, AM 27, 1902, 379-416
28. ^ P. Kavvadis, G. Kawerau, Die Ausgabung der Acropolis vom Jahre 1885 bis zum Jahre 1890, 1906
29. ^ NM Tod, A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions II, 1948, no. 204, lines 46-51, The authenticity of this is disputed, however; see also P. Siewert, Der Eid von Plataia (Munich 1972) 98-102
30. ^ See Minott Kerr, “The Sole Witness”: The Periclean Parthenon
31. ^ B. H. Hill, “The Older Parthenon”, AJA’, XVI, 1912, 535-58
32. ^ B. Graef, E. Langlotz, Die Antiken Vasen von der Akropolis zu Athen, Berlin 1925-33
33. ^ W. Dinsmoor, “The Date of the Older Parthenon”, AJA, XXXVIII, 1934, 408-48
34. ^ W. Dörpfeld, “Parthenon I, II, III”, AJA, XXXIX, 1935, 497-507, and W. Dinsmoor, AJA, XXXIX, 1935, 508-9
35. ^ ^{a b} S. Deacy, Athena, Routledge, 2008, p.111.
36. ^ ^{a b} Burkert, Greek Religion, Blackwell, 1985, p.143.
37. ^ MC. Hellmann, L’Architecture grecque. Architecture religieuse et funéraire, Picard, 2006, p.118.
38. ^ ^{a b} B. Nagy, “Athenian Officials on the Parthenon Frieze”, AJA, Vol.96, No.1 (January 1992), pp.55.
39. ^ Thucydides 2.13.5. Retrieved September 11, 2008.
40. ^ S. Eddy, “The Gold in the Athena Parthenos”, AJA, Vol.81, No.1 (Winter, 1977), pp.107-111.
41. ^ B. Holtzmann and A. Pasquier, Histoire de l’art antique : l’art grec, École du Louvre, Réunion des musées nationaux and Documentation française, 1998, p.177.
42. ^ ^{a b c} Anthony Kaldellis Associate Professor (Department of Greek and Latin, The Ohio State University), A Heretical (Orthodox) History of the Parthenon, p.3
43. ^ Theodor E. Mommsen, The Venetians in Athens and the Destruction of the Parthenon in 1687, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 45, No. 4 (October – December, 1941), pp. 544–556
44. ^ T. Bowie, D. Thimme, The Carrey Drawings of the Parthenon Sculptures, 1971
45. ^ Neils, The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present, 336– the picture was taken in October 1839
46. ^ ^{a b} Greek Premier Says New Acropolis Museum to Boost Bid for Parthenon Sculptures, International Herald Tribune
47. ^ “Parthenon”. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
48. ^ “The Parthenon Sculptures: The Position of the British Museum Truistees and Common Misconceptions”. The British Museum. http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/news_and_press_releases/statements/the_parthenon_sculptures/facts_and_figures.aspx. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
49. ^ Talks Due on Elgin Marbles Return, BBC News
50. ^ Lina Lambrinou, “State of the Art: ‘Parthenon of Athens: A Challenge Throughout History” (pdf file) with bibliography of interim conservation reports;
51. ^ “The Surface Conservation Project” (pdf file). Once they had been conserved the West Frieze blocks were moved to the museum, and copies cast in artificial stone were reinstalled in their places.
52. ^ Hadingham, Evan (2008). “Unlocking the Mysteries of the Parthenon”. Smithsonian Magazine. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/parthenon.html. Retrieved 2008-02-22.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Parthenon

Look up parthenon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• The Acropolis of Athens: The Parthenon (official site with a schedule of its opening hours, tickets and contact information)
• (Hellenic Ministry of Culture) The Acropolis Restoration Project
• The Athenian Acropolis by Livio C. Stecchini (Takes the heterodox view of the date of the proto-Parthenon, but a useful summary of the scholarship.)
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Acropolis, Athens
• Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County — The Parthenon
• Google Sketchup 3D Model of Parthenon (simplistic)
• Parthenon virtual tour Interactive 360° panoramas in high resolution.
• The Friends of the Acropolis
• Illustrated Parthenon Marbles – Dr. Janice Siegel, Department of Classics, Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia
• Parthenon:description, photo album
• A Wikimedia video of the main sights of the Athenian Acropolis

Another Hostory of the Parthenon

The Parthenon

At the approximate position where the Parthenon was built later, the Athenians began the construction of a building that was burned by the Persians while it was still under construction in 480 BCE. It was presumably dedicated to Athena, and after its destruction much of its ruins were utilized in the building of the fortifications at the north end of the Acropolis. Not much is known about this temple, and whether or not it was still under construction when it was destroyed has been disputed. Its massive foundations were made of limestone, and the columns were made of Pentelic marble, a material that was utilized for the first time. The classicalParthenon was constructed between 447-432 BCE to be the focus of the Acropolis building complex. The architects were Iktinos and Kallikrates (Vitruvius also names Karpion as an architect) and it was dedicated to the goddess Athena Pallas or Parthenos (virgin). The temple’s main function was to shelter the monumental statue of Athena that was made by Pheidias out of gold and ivory. The temple and the chryselephantine statue were dedicated in 438, although work on the sculptures of its pediment continued until completion in 432 BCE.

The Parthenon construction cost the Athenian treasury 469 silver talents. While it is almost impossible to create a modern equivalent for this amount of money, it might be useful to look at some facts. One talent was the cost to build one trireme, the most advanced warship of the era. (http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Classics/CL56/CL56_LN11.html), and
“…one talent was the cost for paying the crew of a warship for a month” (D. Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, 61). According to Kagan, Athens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war had 200 triremes in service, while the annual gross income of the city of Athens at the time of Perikles was 1000 talents, with another 6000 in reserve at its treasury.

The Parthenon is a temple of the Doric order with eight columns at the façade, and seventeen columns at the flanks, conforming to the established ratio of 9:4. This ratio governed the vertical and horizontal proportions of the temple as well as many other relationships of the building like the spacing between the columns and their height.

The cella was unusually large to accommodate the oversized statue of Athena, confining the front and back porch to a much smaller than usual size. A line of six Doric columns supported the front and back porch, while a colonnade of 23 smaller Doric columns surrounded the statue in a two-storied arrangement. The placement of columns behind the statue was an unusual development since in previous Doric temples they only appeared on the flanks, but the greater width and length of the Parthenon allowed for a dramatic backdrop of double decked columns instead of a wall.

The back room sheltered Athena’s treasure and four columns of the Ionic order supported its roof. The introduction of elements of the Ionic order in a predominately Doric temple was more dramatic in the development of a continuous freeze on the exterior wall of the cella. While the integration of Doric and Ionic elements on the same temple was not a new development in Greek architecture, it was rare, and bestowed on the Parthenon a delicate balance between austere and delicate visual characteristics.

All temples in Greece were designed to be seen only from the outside. The viewers never entered a temple and could only glimpse the interior statues through the open doors. The Parthenon was conceived in a way that the aesthetic elements allow for a smooth transition between the exterior and the interior that housed the chryselephantine statue of Athena. A visitor to the Acropolis who entered from the Propylaia would be confronted by the majestic proportion of the Parthenon in three quarters view, with full view of the west pediment and the north colonnade. As the viewer moved closer, the details of the sculpted metopes would become decipherable, and when in proximity to the base of the columns, parts of the frieze would become evident in tantalizing colorful glimpses peering from the spaces between the columns.

Moving towards the east and looking up towards the exterior of the cella, a visitor would be mesmerized with the masterful depiction of the Panathenaic procession as it appeared in cinematic fashion on the frieze which was visually interrupted by the Doric columns of the exterior. This was certainly a scene that every Athenian could relate to through personal experience, making thus the transition between earth and the divine a smooth one. A visitor moving east would eventually turn the corner to face the entrance of the Parthenon, and there he would be confronted with the birth of Athena high above on the east pediment, and just beyond it, the arrephores folding the peplos among the Olympian gods and the heroes of the frieze.  Then, just below, the “peplos” scene, through the immense open doors, any visitor would be enchanted by the glistening gold and ivory hues of the monumental statue of Athena standing at the back of the dim cella. The statue of Athena Pallas reflected its immense stature on the tranquil surface of the water-pool floor, and was framed by yet more Doric columns, this time smaller, in a double-decked arrangement that made the interior space seem as if it were even larger and taller than the exterior.

It seems certain that the master planners of the Parthenon conceived it as a theatrical event. The temple was constructed with the movements of the viewer in mind, and by the arrangement of the temple, the monumental sculptures of the pediment, and the detailed frieze, the emotions of the visitors were choreographed to prepare them for the ultimate glimpse of the majestic Athena Parthenos at the interior of the naos, and to maximize the effect of an awe inspiring visit.

As a post and lintel temple, the Parthenon presents no engineering breakthrough in building construction. However its stylistic conventions have become the paradigm of Classical architecture, and its style has influenced architecture for many centuries after it was built.

The Parthenon is a large temple, but it is by no means the largest one in Greece. Its aesthetic appeal emanates from the refinement of many established norms of Greek architecture, and from the quality of its sculptural decoration. The Parthenon epitomizes all the ideals of Greek thought during the apogee of the Classical era through artistic means. The idealism of the Greek way of living, the attention to detail, as well as the understanding of a mathematically explained harmony in the natural world, were concepts that in every Athenian’s eyes set them apart from the barbarians. These ideals are represented in the perfect proportions of the building, in its intricate architectural elements, and in the anthropomorphic statues that adorned it.

Some of these details were found in other Greek temples while some were unique to the Parthenon. The temple owes its refined appeal to the subtle details that were built into the architectural elements to accommodate practical needs or to enhance the building’s visual appeal.

The fact that there are no absolute straight lines on the Parthenon bestows a subtle organic character to an obvious geometric structure. The columns of the peristyle taper on a slight arc as they reach the top of the building giving the impression that they are swollen from entasis (tension) – as if they were burdened by the weight of the roof; a subtle feature that allots anthropomorphic metaphors to other wise inanimate objects.

The peristyle columns are over ten meters tall, and incline slightly towards the center of the building at the top (about 7 cm), while the platform upon which they rest bows on a gentle arc which brings the corners about 12 cm closer to the ground that the middle.

The architects of the Parthenon appear to be excellent scholars of visual illusion, an attribute undoubtedly sharpened by years of architectural refinement and observation of the natural world. They designed the columns that appear at the corners of the temple to be 1/40th (about 6 cm) larger in diameter than all the other columns, while they made the space around them smaller than the rest of the columns by about 25 cm. The reason for this slight adaptation of the corner columns is due to the fact that they are set against the bright sky, which would make them appear a little thinner and a little further apart than the columns set against the darker background of the building wall. The increase in size and decrease of space thus compensates for the illusion that the bright background would normally cause.

These subtle features set the Parthenon apart from all other Greek temples because the overall effect is a departure from the static Doric structures of the past, towards a more dynamic form of architectural expression. Moreover, the intricate refinements of the forms required unprecedented precision that would be challenging to achieve even in our time. But it was not mere grandeur through subtlety that the Athenians desired. It is evident that they sought to out-shine all other temples of the time through the lavish sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, and its imposing dimensions.  The doors that lead to the cella were abundantly decorated with relief sculptures of gorgons, lion heads and other bronze relief ornaments.

The Athenian citizens were proud of their cultural identity, and conscious of the historical magnitude of their ideas. They believed that they were civilized among barbarians, and that their cultural and political achievements were bound to alter the history of all civilized people. The catalyst for all their accomplishments was the development of a system of governance the likes of which the world had never seen: Democracy.

Democracy, arguably the epitome of the Athenian way of thinking, was at center stage while the Parthenon was built. This was a direct democracy where every citizen had a voice in the common issues through the Assembly that met on the Pnyx hill next to the Acropolis forty times per year to decide on all matters of policy, domestic or foreign.

The fact that common people are depicted as individuals for the first time at the Parthenon frieze was owed to the fact that for the first time in history every citizen of a city was recognized as a significant entity and a considerable moving force in the polis and the observable universe.

Parthenon Facts

• Year Built: 447-432 BCE
• Precise Dimensions:
  • Width East: 30.875 m
  • Width West: 30.8835 m
  • Length North: 69.5151 m
  • Length South: 69.5115 m
• Width to Ratio: 9:4
  • Width to height Ratio (without the Pediments): 9:4
• Number of stones used to built the Parthenon: Approximated at 13400 stones.
• Architects: Iktinos and Kallikrates
• Parthenon Cost: 469 talents
• Coordinates (of Plaka area just below the Acropolis): 37° 58’N, 23° 43’E

History of the Parthenon

History of the Parthenons

The construction of the Parthenon was a key political issue not only for Athens, but for all Greece. Among others, Thucydides deals extensively with this issue in explaining the causes of the Peloponnesian War, the catastrophe that brought Greek classical civilization to a tragic end. The beginning of the construction in 447 B.C. is related to a decisive turning point in Greek politicis: In 448 B.C. occurred the death of Cimon, the leader of the oligarchic party in Athens, which stood for an understanding with Sparta and for a sacred union of all the Greeks in a national war against Persia. Cimon’s death gave a chance to Pericles, the leader of the democratic party, to proceed to a total reversal of Athenian policy. Pericles’ aim was to transform the Delian league, which had been created for the purpose of opposing Persian expansion, into an instrument of Athenian imperialism. The key point of this imperialistic policy was to force the other Greek cities to pay tribute to Athens. Money had been originally collected by Athens on the ground of providing for the transport of the Athenian fleet which defended all the Greeks against Persia. However, by developing the Athenian fleet, the policy of Cimon built the power of the democratic party. According to Greek political conceptions and practices, only those who served their country militarily had the right to participate in political decisions. The lower classes could not serve in the land army, which was open to those able to provide their own armor and, even more important, those who had received the gymnastic education that only the relatively well-to-do could afford. The poor an uneducated could serve as oarsmen in the fleet and receive pay for it. Hence, the development of the fleet permitted the formation of a democratic party whose program was political power and state subsidies for the poor and uneducated. The policy of Pericles aimed at collecting tribute from other Greek cities for the purpose of establishing various forms of financial subsidies for the poor and the democrats. This was the reason why democracy and imperialism came to be identified.

In the pursuit of this policy Pericles, immediately after the death of his political opponent, Cimon, signed a peace treaty with Persia (448 B.C.). This peace treaty should have meant the dissolution of the Delian League, created by Cimon, and the end of the collection of money by Athens. Pericles, instead, used the old slogans of the patriotic war against Persia to justify the continuation of the Delian League as a naked instrument of Athenian exploitation. An appeal was launched to all Greek cities for the convocation of a Panhellenic Congress which should discuss the restoration of the temples destroyed by the Persians in their invasion of the Greek mainland in 480-479 B.C. and the repayment of the votive offerings due to the gods for their assistance in the successful repulsion of the Persians on that occasion. The appeal for the Panhellenic Congress fell on deaf ears, but Pericles proceeded to enforce the policy which he would have liked to see sanctioned by the Congress. The construction of the Parthenon was started as a symbol of the right of Athens to collect tribute from other Greek cities. The historian J. B. Bury, who was a follower and friend of John Stuart Mill, understood quite well the working of Athenian democracy, and explained the matter in these terms:

We shall miss the meaning of the architectural monuments which now began to rise under the direction and influence of Pericles, if we do not clearly grasp their historical motive, and recognize their immediate connexion with the Persian war. It devolved upon the city, as a religious duty, to make good the injuries which the barbarians had inflicted upon the habitation of her gods, and fully pay her debt of gratitude to heaven for the defeat of the Mede.

It is in the light of these historical facts that one must consider the archaeological remains. The Temple of Athena that had been desecrated and destroyed by the Persians was not rebuilt; instead, there was initiated the construction next to it of a temple intended to replace it. Since the Parthenon was intended to be a replacement for the Old Temple, it had to reproduce its main features. But, since the Goddess Athena was entitled not only to a new home, but also to thanks for the deliverance from the Persians, the new temple had to be larger. Hence, the question of the dimensions became important. The main and original body of the Old Temple had a width of 50 trimmed lesser feet and a length of 105 such feet, which comes to a fraction of a foot less than 100 Roman feet.¹ Hence, it was decided that the new temple should have principle dimensions of 100 feet, that is, to be hekatompedon.

In order to find an explanation for the shifts in plan, the first step should be to compare in detail the dimensios of the several plans. It is only from the dimensions that one can arrive at establishing the characteristics of each of the three plans; only after these characteristics have been established is it possible to formulate hypotheses as to why one plan was abandoned for another.

The result of these calculations throws new light on the history of the several Parthenons. Parthenon I doubled the dimensions of the Old Temple in its amphiprostyle form and was planned as 100 x 250 Greek feet. The arrangement of the columns according to the pattern 8 x 17 resulted in a crowding of the columns on the fronts. Parthenon II was assigned a dimension of 84 x 240 feet, so that it would double the surface of the Old Temple in its peripteral form. The number of columns was kept at 17 on the flanks, but was reduced to 6 on the fronts. This solution was far from being ideal, since the temple was long and narrow, with the columns too widely spaced on the fronts. Parthenon III returned to the plan of Parthenon I, with dimensions of 100 x 250 feet and a pattern of 8 x 17 columns, but the width was reckoned in geographic feet, so that in actual length it came to 111.11 of the feet used on the flanks; this permitted giving the columns on the fronts the same spacing as that given to the columns on the flanks.

Parthenon I had an excellent spacing of the columns on the flanks, consisting of normal intercolumnia of 15½ feet and corner spaces of 17, but the spacing was made narrower on the fronts. Parthenon II tried to even the spacing of the columns on the fronts and flanks; on the fronts 15 and 17 feet, on the flanks 14¾ and 16¾ feet. Parthenon III finally adopted the spacing of 15½ and 17 feet on both flanks and fronts.

Having established the probable rationale for the shifts in the several plans of the Parthenon, it is possible to solve on firmer grounds the problem of their relative chronology.

Syriopoulos argued that Parthenon I was initiated by Pericles one year before the conclusion of peace with Persia (late 449 or early 448 B.C.). he tried to follow the argument of Dörpfeld who, against Kolbe’s contention that Parthenon I was initiated in 478 B.C. had objected that no major construction could have been started in Athens as long as there was the possibility of a new Persian invasion, that is, before the Peace of Callias (late 449 or early 448 B.C.). Then Syriopoulos juggled the figure to 450 B.C. in order to allow sufficient time for two shifts in plan before 444 B.C. But both Dörpfeld and Syriopoulos overlooked the historical datum that, after the crushing victory scored by Cimon at the battle of Eurymedon (about 468 B.C.), there was a period of time in which the Athenians could believe that the Persian danger had been eliminated forever, even without a formal peace treaty. There is wide agreement among historians on this point. J.B. Bury states: ”The victory on the Pamphylian river freed Greece from all danger on the side of the Persian Empire.” N.G.L. Hammond is equally emphatic: ”The danger of invasion by Persia was dispelled by victory at the Eurymedon river and by troubles which followed the assassination of Xerxes in 465.” G.B. Grundy observers: ”The Eurymedon had been a decisive action. More had been accomplished on that one day than in the whole decade of warfare that preceded it. All men must thereafter have believed that the fear of Persia in the Aegean had become remote: many must have believed that it had been banished forever.” Grundy continues by underscoring that the demobilization of most of the military forces caused acute unemployment among the poor of Athens, and suggests: ”Cimon may have realized to a certain extent the economic necessities of the time—the tale of his large liberality in support of the poor suggests that such may have been the case.”

Plutarch reports that with the money supplied by Cimon there was built not only the south wall of the Acropolis, but there was also initiated the construction of the Long Walls linking Athens with Peiraeus. Plutarch lists other projects in the Agora and the Academy and adds: ”It was he, likewise, who first embellished the Acropolis with those fine and ornamental places of exercise and resort, which they afterwards so much frequented and delighted in.” In this policy of providing employment to the poor through public works, Cimon may have started the construction of the Parthenon; Pericles completed it for exactly the same reasons. The archaeological data support what is suggested by the historical information, since the building of the south wall, or Cimonian Wall, is related to the erection of the substructure of the Parthenon. Hence, it is safe to conclude that Parthenon I began to be built in the period of Cimon’s political leadership, when it appeared that Athens was finally at peace and when the unemployment caused by the peace provided one further justification for starting to replace the temple destroyed by the Persians.

The period of peace initiated by the victory of Eurymedon did not last long. In 465 B.C. Athens had to initiate a major military campaign against Thasos, a campaign that marked the beginning of the rupture of the alliance between Athens and Sparta. By 461 B.C. the supporters of a warlike foreign policy, the party of Pericles, had imposed their way and Cimon was ostracized. As a result of this policy Athens found herself at war with both Sparta and Persia. The end of the period of peace could explain why the construction of Parthenon I did not proceed beyond the platform.

Whereas Syriopoulos ascribes Parthenon I to the period immediately preceding the peace with Persia, I would ascribe the resumption of the work in the form of Parthenon II to the period following the peace. Syriopoulos has erroneously considered the plan of Parthenon II to be more economical than that of Parthenon I, for the reason that Parthenon II is a smaller temple, but he has not taken into account the fact that while Parthenon I was bigger in size it was intended to be of poros limestone and, hence, less expensive. Hill had remarked that the ”second project” was ”a more costly… marble temple.” Syriopoulos, in the mistaken assumption that Parthenon II was a more modest project, ascribes it to Thucydides, son of Melesias.

It is true that from Plutarch’s Life of Pericles we learn that Thucydides denounced Pericles as a reckless waster of the public wealth and opposed his building projects, but we also learn that Thucydides had lost on this issue even before being ostracized. Hence, there is no need to conclude that Parthenon III was initiated only after the ostracism of Thucydides (443 B.C., or possibly one or two years earlier).

The text of the inscription indicates that after the conclusion of the peace with Persia (end of the legal year 449/8 B.C.) it was decided to proceed with the construction of the Parthenon. The appropriate legislation was voted in the course of the year 448/7 B.C. and the board that was to supervise the finances of the project began to function in the year 447/6 B.C.

Since it was decided that the new temple should be of Pentelic marble, this created an engineering problem, since the substructure had been planned to support a temple of poros, which is a much lighter material. In order to reduce the pressure on the parts of the substructure that were weaker, on account of being higher in relation to the natural ground, the new temple was made smaller all around in relation to the substructure. The new temple (Parthenon II) was still centered on the substructure, leaving unutilized a part of the substructure which was equal on each of the two fronts and on each of the two sides. Since the temple had to be hekatompedos and had to be double of the Old Temple, a new formula based on the surface was adopted in order to respect the two concepts of hekatompedos and of double. However, after the platform of the new temple was erected, it was realized that the plan of a long and narrow temple with only 6 columns on the fronts was esthetically unsatisfactory. Hence, the number of columns on the fronts was increased to 8. This was made possible by abandoning the idea that the temple should rest on the substructure: the new platform was made to extend to the north of the substructure. In order to avoid putting weight on the weakest part of the substructure, the southeast corner, the addition of 10 trimmed lesser feet to the length of the temple was all applied to the western side. Parthenon III had the same number of columns as Parthenon I, but the width was computed by geographic feet so that the temple could be hekatompedos and at the same time wider than Parthenon I.s

Because the steps of Parthenon III do not fit the outline of the substructure, it became necessary to raise the level of the terrace around the Parthenon in order to conceal the substructure completely, including the four top layers which had been intended to be exposed. Syriopoulos and other writers before him have suggested that this was achieved by raising the height of the Cimonian Wall. But Gorham Phillip Stevens has argued, in my opinion conclusively, that this was achieved by constructing a new wall halfway between the substructure and the Cimonian Wall. This wall runs parallel to the souh side of the substructure and extends to the east of it. As a result the terrace to the south of the Parthenon came to be at two levels: the southern half, just to the north of the Cimonian Wall, remained at the old level, whereas the northern half, to the north of the new wall, was raised higher in order to cover the top layers of the substructure. The new retaining wall (called S2 by archeologists) had foundations that did not reach the rock, but were supported by the earth filling piled up behind the Cimonian Wall. Since the new wall rests on loose earth, one tried to improve its foundations by placing at the very bottom of them column drums similar to those imbedded in the north wall. This is one more piece of evidence that these drums came from the workshop of Parthenon III.

References

1. The foot that I call Roman and which is often called Attic by metrologists, was the basis of the Athenian system of volumes and weights established by Solon.

The Acropolis of Athens

What would a visit to Athens be without going to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon? And still people ask me why the Parthenon is so important. Its because it was the most perfect building built by the world’s most advanced civilization and even though we have been studying it for centuries we are still not sure how they did it.

The Acropolis is the one historical site you can’t miss. You can take a tour or wander up there yourself but during the summer, whatever you do, unless it is overcast, go early or late in the day. It can get very hot up there and gasping for breath can take way from your ability to marvel at the greatest of all archaeological sites. Getting to the Acropolis is easy and more pleasant than ever because the large avenues which border the south and west of the site (Apostolou Pavlou in Thission and Dionissiou Areopagitou in Makrianni) have been turned into giant pedestrian streets with cafes and restaurants and the walk is quite pleasant. From the Plaka and Monastiraki side it has always been a car-less, enjoyable walk and all you have to do is walk uphill from wherever you are and when you get to the top and there are woods instead of buildings, and steps, take a right. After climbing the steps you are at the entrance, or the Propylaea, which was completed in 432 just before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian wars. The main architect was Mnesicles, a colleague of Phidias. To your left is the Pinacotheca and a Hellenistic pedestal and on the right the tiny temple to Nike Athena or the Athena of Victory which commemorates the Athenians victory over the Persians. This small temple stands on a platform that overlooks the islands of Saronic Gulf and used to house a statue of Athena. It was dismantled by the Turks in 1686 so they could use the platform for a large cannon. It was rebuilt between 1836 and 1842 and again taken apart and rebuilt in 1936 when it was discovered that the platform was crumbing. If you looking from the propylaea towards Pireaus on a clear day you can see ships waiting outside the port of Pireaus, the islands and the mountains of the Peloponessos beyond. The Parthenon and other main buildings on the Acropolis were built by Pericles in the fifth century BC as a monument to the cultural and political achievements of the inhabitants of Athens. The term acropolis means upper city and many of the city states of ancient Greece are built around an acropolis where the inhabitants can go as a place of refuge in times of invasion. It’s for this reason that the most sacred buildings are usually on the acropolis. It’s the safest most secure place in town. As little as 150 years ago there were still dwellings on the Acropolis of Athens. Those of you who have read Aristophanes will recall that in Lysistrata the women have Athens barricaded themselves in the fortress in protest, being tired of their men going to war against Sparta. Depriving them of sex, cooking and care it was a terrific strategy that might even work today. Regardless, the play opened the door to the subject of sexual frustration in comedy and without it we might not have Woody Allen. Nowdays there are still protests which occasionally take place by site employees closing the Acropolis to tourists, some of whom have waited a lifetime to come to Greece. Thankfully these are rare and of short duration. The best time to go up there is the late winter or spring when even this stone mountain is not immune to the proliferation of grass and wildflowers which seem to burst from every crack. Even in December, January and February the Acropolis can be surprisingly green. Even having seen a thousand photographs one is still not prepared for the immensity of the Parthenon. The building was designed by the architects Kallikrates and Iktinos as the home of the giant statue of Athena. It took 9 years to build and was completed in 438 BC and is probably the most recognizable structure in the world next to the golden arches of McDonalds. From a temple it became a church, a mosque and finally as a storage facility for Turkish gunpowder. In 1687 the Venetians bombarded it from below. A cannon ball hit the gun powder and blew it up. What makes the Parthenon so facinating is that to look at it you would think that is is made up of interchangable pieces. For example the columns are stones placed on top of each other and you could replace one piece of a column with any of the others. Not true. Each piece of the Parthenon is unique and fits together like the world’s biggest and heaviest jigsaw puzzle. Lines that look straight are actually not. The ancient Greeks understood the mechanics of site and that to make a line look straight it had to be tapered or curved. The Parthenon is the most perfect and the most immitated building in the world. The restoration work you see has been going on for the last 30 years and may go on for another 30. The more they try to put it back together the more respect and awe they have for the ancient Greeks.

The Erecthion sits on the most sacred site of the Acropolis where Poseidon and Athena had their contest over who would be the Patron of the city. Poseidon thrust his trident into the rock and a spring burst forth, while Athena touched the ground with a spear and an olive tree grew. Athena was declared the victor and the great city of Athens was named for her while Poseidon was given a small village in Syros after it was discovered he had merely ruptured a water main. (not really).The building itself contains the porch of the maidens or Caryatids which are now copies, four of which have been placed in the Acropolis museum, hopefully to be reunited with a fifth taken from the Acropolis by Lord Elgin and put in the British Museum more than a century ago.

A question in my mind is why not rebuild the Parthenon to it’s former glory? It is not as if the destruction of it is sacred history that must be preserved, in fact the 300 years since the explosion is a relatively short time-span in the history of the building. Much of the Parthenon has been taken apart and put back together with pieces being replaced or clamped  to remedy the wear and tear of centuries, in particular the last 20 or so years of air pollution. As it stands now, though it is a tribute to the glorious past and the achievement of the Ancient Athenians it is also at the same time a reminder that whatever is good in man is eventually overcome by ignorance, war and a hunger for domination. I say rebuild the entire Acropolis as an inspiration that whatever is wrong with the world can be righted. (Until some idiot blows it up again).

My favorite spot is at the flag where Athens stretches out endlessly below. You can see the Plaka beneath you, the ruins of the giant Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Olympic stadium nestled in a pine covered hill, an island of green in a sea of concrete. To the left of the stadium is the Zappion building and the National Gardens. To the right of the stadium you can see another large patch of green which is the First Cemetery. The Acropolis is a great place to get your bearings and get an understanding of the layout of the city. In fact the more you know Athens the more interesting it is to come up here and see familiar landmarks.

If you stand by the flag and look to your left you will see Mount Lycabettos rising from the neighborhood of Kolonaki , with the Hilton and the Athens Tower at Ambelokipi in the distance. The large green area is the National gardens. The Acropolis is a great place to get your bearings in Athens. You can see as far as Kifissia on a clear day. When the Germans occupied Athens in WWII, the Evzone who guarded the Greek flag which flew from the Acropolis, was ordered by the Nazis to remove it. He calmly took it down, wrapped himself in it and jumped to his death.

The plaque by the flag commemorates Manolis Glezos and Apostolis Santas, the two eighteen year-old heroes who tore down the Nazi flag flying from the Acropolis on the night of May 30th, 1941. It is of particular interest because these names are known not only by Greeks, but by many Europeans, because this act of  courage and  resistance to Nazi oppression was an inspiration to all subjected people. Later through reading the book Athens:The City by John Tomkinson I found out that Glezos, who became a member of the Greek resistance, was condemned to death for treason in 1948 and imprisoned for being a communist. He was later elected a member of the Panhellenic Socialist Party (PASOK).

Below the Acropolis is the theater of Herod Atticus built by the Romans in 161 AD and  still used today for classical concerts, ballet, performances of high cultural value and Yanni. Further on is the Theater of Dionysious the first stone theater and home to Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides and Aristophanes. It was rebuilt around 342 BC by Lykourgos and then enlarged by the Romans to be used for gladiator fights. In July of 2003 I saw Jethro Tull here. It was the first rock concert held in the ancient theater and though perhaps some people hope it was the last I would be happy to see more. How about Deep Purple with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra? Maybe Procul Harum? Emerson, Lake and Palmer? The Stooges? Where’s Leonard Cohen when you really need him?

Below the Acropolis is the rock of Areopagos or what we called in high school ‘Blow Hill’. (Don’t ask). The steps are very slippery so be careful as you climb them, but once you do you won’t want to come down (unless it is 100 degrees). You have a great view of the Agora, the Plaka, Monastiraki, Omonia and much of Athens. Great place to watch the sunset. Or come up at night with a bottle of wine and your true love, and watch the lights of the city. This is where Saint Paul spoke to the people of Athens in AD 51 and the tablet imbedded in the stone contains his words. There is a cleft in the rock at the bottom of the hill that is a shrine to the Furies. Afterwards, continue back around the Acropolis and  down the hill into the Ancient Agora below. Part of it is free and you can go through it to get back to Adrianou Street, or you can pay the entrance fee and walk the streets of ancient Athens. If you decide to hang out awhile in the ancient Agora take a look at the rebuilt Stoa of Attalos, now a museum which features many of the every day items found in the area.

Fun Fact! The ancient agora which to the untrained eye looks looks like a jumble of rocks and broken pavement (to the trained eye as well) was once a vibrant neighborhood and part of the Plaka and Monastiraki. The American School of Classical studies came in the fifties and kicked everyone out of their houses and businesses and demolished the buildings that had stood there for centuries to dig here. So next time you are walking through the Plaka and thinking that you wish there was more of Athens like this, remember that there used to be and be thankful that they did not destroy it all. But to be fair it is archaeological excavations like the agora which give Athens much of its precious green space.

The small temple known as the Thission was built in 449 BC and is virtually intact. Supposedly named for Theseus because his exploits were shown on the frieze, it is now believed that it was actually a temple to Hephaestos and Athena. Unfortunately they realized their mistake too late and the entire neighborhood is called Thission. The temple was used as a Church, dedicated to Saint George, known as Saint George the Lazy because it was only open one day of the year. The neighborhood of Thission is full of cafes, bars and restaurants and like other areas around the Acropolis has been made pedestrian friendly, it’s streets turned into walkways and landscaped with trees and flowers.

You may notice at the entrance to the Acropolis and the paths leading up to it the licensed guides who for around 50 Euros or so, will give you a tour so that you may leave the area more informed then when you got here. One of the most well-known was Teresa Mitsopoulou, an Archaeologist and writer of some renown. Several of her books are considered controversial by her fellow archaeologists because they seem to prove a link between Chinese and Ancient Greek culture that if correct could change much of what we believe about the past.  Theresa has gotten older now and cannot climb the ancient hill as quickly and as easily as she once used to and is no longer guiding tours. But she has been described by one travel agent as “… to the Parthenon, what an old monk is to a monastery. If one has the time and patience to sit with her much can be gained. She has been a licensed Acropolis Guide since 1954, in my view a contemporary priestess”. See Theresa’s website at www.greecetravel.com/archaeology/mitsopoulou Athens Walking Tours also offers an Acropolis Tour that begins at Syntagma Square and visits the major sites around the Acropolis. You can also contact them for individual tour guides. If it’s a warm sunny day and you are walking along the pedestrial avenue that goes around the Acropolis, directly in line with the Propylea and close to the Cave of the Nymphs you will find Giorgos Gavalas, playing his guitar, tamborines and kazoo as he has for many years. Girogos was the bass-player for Dionysious Savopoulos during his Kitato-Vromiko Psomi period and considered one of, if not the best bass player in Greek rock. (Those who have listened to the album Vromiko Psomi will certainly remember his playing). Having played the concerts and the clubs Giorgos prefers to play his jazz-folk influenced songs for the people who pass by. He has a dozen or so self-produced CDs which he sells for 5 euros each. As you will realize, Gavalas is no ordinary street musician. This is a man who has paid his dues and now performs on his own terms, beneath the Acropolis where Plato, Socrates, Pericles and the other ancient Greeks once walked. He also represents a period of Greek rock music which slipped under the radar screen of those of us in the west, when bands played in underground clubs and sang anti-government songs, masked in poetry, during Greece’s military dictatorship. Giorgos Gavalas is a living part of modern Greek history and a visit with him following your trip to the ancient Acropolis, to hear a few songs and pay your respects or just to say hello is something I recommend. Acropolis Information The Acropolis is open from 8am to 6:30 pm every day. These hours can change depending on the season and sometimes it is open in the evening of the full moon in the summer. They don’t allow you to bring backpacks or day bags on the Acropolis. You have to check them so if you need to bring a bag with you be sure to have a spare pocket for your valuables. The cost of entrance to the Acropolis is about 12 euros and is good for the other sites in the area including the ancient agora, theatre of Dionysos, Kerameikos, Roman Agora, Tower of the Winds and the Temple of Olympian Zeus and is supposedly good for a week. You can also buy individual tickets to these other sites. One way to get to the Acropolis is to walk up from the Plaka and keep climbing until you come to the small road that goes around it and head west (to your right). The entrance is up from the rock of Areopagos. The easiest way is to follow Dioysiou Aeropagitou, the large pedestrian street that starts near Hadrian’s Arch and goes around the north of the Acropolis until you come to the marble paths that lead up the hill. This road becomes Apostolou Pavlou which is also car-less and continues past the cafes of Thission to the lower Ermou and Kerameikos archaeological site which is at the bottom of Monastiraki. The Acropolis Museum is now open.

What To Eat and How to Order it

Fried Kalamari	Grilled Octopus	Horiatiki Salad	Lamb Fricasse

The Greeks love to eat. (Who doesn’t?) Many Americans have a fear of coming to Greece because they are afraid of the food. There’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s not like Mexican. Nothing is so spicy you can’t eat it and the seasonings they use are the very same ones you have on the spice shelf in your Kitchen. And unlike the crappy oil that terrorizes the hearts of many Americans, Olive oil is good for you and will keep you alive long after many of your friends have taken the next step in their spiritual evolution.

What usually happens when you walk into a restaurant is after finding a table (almost always outdoors between the months of May and October), you will be permitted or encouraged to go to the kitchen to see what they have to offer. There will be a large steam table full of pots with different dishes in them. Pick out what looks good and don’t be afraid to ask your cook, waiter or host “ Tea ee neh aff-toe ?”. You have just asked “What is this?” Try to remember what it’s called until you get back to the table or else you can tell the guy right there “Theh-low aff-toe .” It will magically appear on your table. They will also show you their assortment of meats and fishes for grilling. It’s usually all pretty fresh. Some of the fish may have been frozen and the squid generally comes from the Atlantic or Monterey California in the summer months. If you see fried squid on a tray don’t order it. You don’t want anything fried unless it is cooked to order which is generally the case. If I am beginning to intimidate you remember that 90% of the people in restaurants speak English. Greek food is not spicy. If you like spicy food and can’t survive without it bring a bottle of your favorite hot sauce.

List of foods and Descriptions Marouli Salata Ouzo Mini and Octopus Lakerda Filet of…. I forget Sadziki (sahd- zee -key): Yogurt, cucumber and garlic, and salt. Great on fresh Greek bread. Melitzana Salata (mel-its- zan -na sal- ah -ta): Eggplant salad. Like Babaganoush in the middle east. Eaten on bread. Tarama Salata (tah-rah- mah sal- ah -tah): roe of carp. Greek caviar. Don’t be afraid to try it. It doesn’t taste like you expect. Eaten on bread. Saganaki (saga- nah -ki): fried cheese. Sometimes comes with tomato sauce. I like it plain with lemon. Capari Salata (cap-ah-ri sa- lah -tah): Caper salad. Sifnos specialty. Goes on bread. Tiro Salata (tee-row sa- lah -tah): Cheese salad. Strong sometimes spicy. Spread on bread Olives (ill- yes ): a hundred different varieties. Don’t say you don’t like olives until you have tried them all. You may find one you can’t live without. Casseri(keh- seh -ree) Soft cheese like mozzerela. Keftedes (kef- teh -des): Deep-fried Meatballs. Other areas have their own variety of keftedes. Sifnos has Revithiakeftedes (reh-veeth-ya-kef- teh -des), made from chickpeas. Santorini has Domatokeftedes (tho-mah-toh-kef- teh -des) made from Tomatoes. There are also Tirokeftedes (tee-row-kef- teh -des) made with cheese and psarokeftedes (psah-row-kef-teh-des) made with fish. They are all delicious. Spanakopita (span-ah- koh -pee-tah) Spinach pie Tiropita (tee- row -pee-ta): Cheese pie Kreatopita (kray-ah- toh -pee-tah): Meat pie Choriatiki Salata (hoe-ree-ah-tee-key sa- lah -tah): Village salad or what we in America call a Greek Salad, except here you usually don’t get lettuce. It generally consists of Tomatoes(tho- mah -tes),Cucumbers(an- goo -ree), Onions(crem- ee -thya), Feta, Oil( la -thee), vinigear ( ksee -dee) and olives(ill- yes ). Sometimes they leave off the feta so you have to ask for it and they charge you extra. When I order I ask for a hoe-ree-ah-tee-key meh feh-tah, a village salad with feta, just to avoid this. If you want it without any of the above items just tell the waitor: hoe- ris (without) and the name of the item. Lakanika (la- cah -nee-kah): Cabbage salad. Horta ( hoar -ta): Boiled greens. Very healthy and good with lemon, oil and vinigear. Vleeta ( vlee -tah): Cooked and served like horta but different greens. Restaurants will have one or the other. Yigendes ( yee -gen-des): Big beans like lima beans served either with oil and lemon or with tomatoe sauce. Fava( fah -vah): Dip or stew made from yellow split peas that can be eaten with a spoon or with bread. Kolokithikia Vrasta(koh-loh-kee- thak -ya vras- tah ): Boiled zuchinni seasoned with oil, lemon and sometimes vinegar. Patates Tiganites (pa- tah -tes tee-gah-nee- tes ): fried potatoes. Greek french fries blows MacDonalds away. It must be the oil. Patates to Fourno (pa- tah -tes toh for -no): Oven roasted potatoes. My favorite dish. Briam(bree- am ): roast vegetables. Usually contains potatoes, onions, zucchini, eggplant, garlic and tomatoes. Rivithia (reh- vee -thya): Chickpea stew. Araka (ah-rah- kah ): Peas. Cooked with onions and tomatoes. Stifado(stee- fah -doh): Stew made with lots of small onions, tomatoes and either rabbit (kou- nell -ee), lamb(ar- nee ), or octopus(ock-toh- poh -thee). Dolmades (doh- mah -des): Grape-leaves stuffed with rice, onions and sometimes ground beef. Macaronia (mak-ah- ron -ya): Spagetti as we call it. Served with ground beef (meh kee- mah ) or tomatoe sauce ( sal -tsa). If you want to say without meat say ho-ris kray-ahs. Mousaka (moo-sah- kah ): Baked and similar eggplant parmegeon but not as tomato saucy. Contains eggplant, potatoes, onions, ground beef, oil, cinnamin, and a flour, milk and butter topping. Pastitsio(pah- sti -tsyo): Like Lasagna but not as saucy. Layered noodles, meat, tomato sauce and topping similar to mousaka but denser. Anginares (ang-ee- nar -es): Artichokes in lemon and egg sauce with potatoes. Lamb (arn-nee)Dishes Fricasse (arn- nee free-cah- seh ): Stew made with spinach, lemon, eggs and oil. Psito(psee- toh ) Leg of lamb roasted with potatoes. Sti Carbona(stee- car -bon-ah): charcoal grilled. Pidakia (pie- dye -kya): Ribs grilled. Chicken (Koh- toh -poo-loh) Psito or To Fourno (toh four -no): Oven Roasted with potatoes or roast. Me Saltsa (meh sal -tsah): In red sauce. Tis skaras(tis ska -ras): On the grill Souvlas ( sou -vlas): Shishkabob Stithos ( stee -thos): Breast Podi ( po -thee): Leg Grilled Meats Brizoles (bree- zoh -les):Steak Khirini (khe-ree- nee ) Pork Souvlakia (sue- vlak -yah): Shish-cabob Loukanika (lou- con -ee-kah): sausage Kokoretsi(ko-ko- ret -see): Entrails of lamb wrapped up and roasted on a spit. Kontosouvli (konto- sou -vli): Big hunks of pork cooked on a spit. Fish Astako (as-tak- ko ): Lobster. Mediteranean style no claws Garides (ga- ree -des): Shrimp, usually large and grilled Xifia (ksee- fee -ya): Swordfish. Grilled steaks or souvlaki. Barbounia(bar- boon -ya): Red Mullet. Expensive and delicious grilled or fried. Marides(mar- ree -des): Small deep-fried fish that can be eaten whole, heads bones and all. Gopes ( go -pes): Small tasty inexpensive fish served fried or grilled. Soupia(soup- ya ): Cuttle fish. Served grilled or with a red wine-sauce. Midia ( Me -dia): Mussels, Steamed or in a wine sauce. Bakaliaro(bak-ah- lar -oh): Fried codfish served with garlic sauce (skor-da-ya). Galeos (ga- lay -os), shark is also served this way. Octopodi (ock-toh- poh -thee) Octopus. Delicious like filet-minion. Can be served grilled (tis ska -ras) or boiled ( vrah -stah). Excellent with ouzo by the sea. Kalamarikia (kah-la-ma- rike -ya): Squid. Frozen is usually fried in small pieces. Fresh is usually fried whole. Both delicious with lemon. Sardeles (sar- dell -es): Sardines. Can be served fried, or from the can with oil. In Lesvos a special treat is pastes (pas- tess ) which means that the sardines were caught that morning, salted on the boat and served raw that night. With ouzo it can’t be beat. Rega( reh -ga): smoked herring in olive oil. Usually an appetizer. Psarosoupa (psar- oh -soup-ah): Fish soup. Potatoes, lemon and egg base, can be ordered with or without fish. Misc. Bread is psoh- me . Eggs are av- ga . Omelet is Om-eh- let -ah. Try it with feta or the famous potato omelets(pa-ta-to om-eh-let-ah). Watermellon is kar- poo -zee Honeydew Melon is peh- pon -ee Apple is me -lo Rice pudding is ree- zo -gah-low Yogurt is ya- oar -ti With fruit is me fruit -ta With honey is me meh -lee Wine is Krah- see . Red is Koh -kee-no. White is as -pro. Kee-ma is homemade from the barrel. Patsa (Pat-sa): Tripe soup. Good for hangovers. Glass is po- tee -ree. Caraffe is ka-ra- fa -kee. Bottle is boo- kal -ee. Water is neh- ro . Menu is cat- ah -lo-go. Check is lo-ga-ree-as- mo . Thank-you is ef-ka-ree- sto .

Attica Zoologica Park

There’s Something Happening at the Zoo

Attica Zoological Park

There are 3 important reasons to visit Athens. The first is the Acropolis. The second is because you have to come here to get to the islands. The Athens Zoo is the third. Since I last visited the Zoological Park they have gone through a lot of changes and have become more of a real zoo with a large variety of animals. There is truly something happening at the zoo. Read this article and then visit the press release from the Attika Zoological Park

Its All Happening at the Zoo: Attica Zoological Park

You can always count on the Athens News to tell you something you didn’t know about Athens. From the latest on the Elgin Marbles to the most recent political scandal, the paper which comes out every Friday is full of information on politics, current events, art, culture and travel. Every week they feature an in-depth article on places of interest that are not widely known, like an organic pistachio farm in Aegina or a restored traditonal village in Crete. But no article arroused my interest like the one on the Attica Zoological Park in the Januray 11th 2002 issue. Well, actually it arroused my wife’s interest. When she told me about it I was only half listening and the thought of a zoo in Athens made me think of the small zoo in the National Gardens which has a handful of fairly common animals that look pretty unhappy and a population of ducks that have taken over every cage. It is an accepted fact that except for perhaps donkeys and sheep, which are more practical than pets, Greeks and animals don’t have an affinity for each other and the thought of another Greek Zoo brought forth in me feelings of pity for any animal unlcuky enough to be transferred here, which along with the zoo in Kabul has to be the animal equivelant of Siberia.

“This zoo is different” Andrea assured me. “It is run by a Frenchman and it’s brand new and it is out in the country, near the new airport in Spata.” I looked at the article and agreed to call George the Famous Taxi Driver to take us there on Monday morning. It certainly seemed like an interesting place and worthy of an hour or so on a nice day. And then after that we could go a beach taverna at Loutsa for lunch! Monday was a clear sunny day, the kind that makes me feel blessed to be in Greece and George picked us up at the Attalos Hotel at nine sharp. We had discussed going to Delphi and this change in plans seemed a little odd to George. Who would go to Spata unless they were going to the airport? I showed him the article and he seemed slightly interested but probably in his mind he was thinking that if there were anything more than some chickens and goats he would be surprised. We followed the directions from the article and took a left at the Veropoulos Supermarket on to the road to Loutsa and then took a left on the road to the Spata cemetary through fields of grapes and olive groves passing a sign here and there with an arrow that told us we were heading in the right direction. As we neared the top of a hill we saw the park and were very surprised. “It’s big!” I said. “It has to be. It is the 3rd largest bird collection in the world with over 2000 birds from 320 different speices.” said Andrea, reading from the paper. “And there are other animals besides birds.”

Our Visit to the Athens Zoo

We pulled into a big parking lot with only a couple cars in it and suddenly we were filled with excitement, particularly Andrea and my daughter Amarandi, who could not get out of the car fast enough, and ran to the entrance. Sitting there next to the ticket booth was a huge owl who watched us in an intense but dis-interested way as owls and cats seem to be able to do. We paid our 10 Euro admission (kids pay 8 euro) and walked into a world which could not be any more different from modern Athens if it had been on another planet. There were ponds of turtles, fish and ducks, surrounded by trees, plants and flowers and acres of large buildings with giant outdoor cages the size of basketball courts. We followed the map that was given to us and spent at least two hours seeing the most amazing display of animals in their natural settings.

Maybe it has been awhile since I have been to a zoo but I don’t remember ever going to one that when you came upon a cage the animals came to the front to get a good look at you. But that is what these birds do. Some came so close I had to ask them to move a step or two back so I could get them into focus with my camera. Maybe it is because these birds came from other zoos and had grown up with humans or maybe because the zoo was new they had not become indifferent to the passing masses of humanity and people were still of interest to them. But these birds came right up to you and some, like the African Grey parrots put their heads right up to the cage and indicated that it was perfectly ok with them if you pet them. The Conyers all hung on the side of the cage as close to me as they could get and screeched wildly when I began to leave, stopping only when I returned. These birds loved company!

The zoo is split into different sections. The smaller birds have cages the size of my living room while the large birds live in giant enclosed gardens. It is quite a feeling when a flock of birds, with wingspans of five-feet or more, fly over your head going from the pond on one side of the cage to the large tree on the other. As I wandered around taking pictures and watching the animals I didn’t even notice that I had lost my family and they didn’t notice that I was missing until we finally met up at the coffee shop at about the halfway point. Even the coffee shop had a couple impressive parrots that seemed insulted if you did not come up to the cage and hang out with them while you sipped your capuccino. (To top it off the coffee was excellent. When was the last time you went to a zoo that had good coffee?) Right next door to the cafe is an educational center with a collection of butterflies, moths, insects, scorpions and the kinds of bugs that you would rather see mounted than crawling up your leg. The zoo belongs to the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums which has established humane standards for keeping animals in captivity, their diet and health as well as the education of visitors and breeding programs for endangered species. In the words of Diana Farr Lewis who wrote the Athens News article “ A well run zoo is like an ark, preserving species until the human race grows up enough for all of us to live together. ” It was in the reptile house that I met the owner and curator of the Zoo, Jean-Jacques Lesueur where he and an employee were relocating a couple small pythons. According to the Athens News article he is from Paris but has been visiting Greece since 1955. He has a profound love for animals and wanted to create a zoo where the animals were treated well. Since Greece was one probably the only European country without a proper zoo he set out on a mission that may one day make the Athens Zoological Park the yardstick to which all other zoos are measured when it comes to diversity and the humane treatment of the animals. The presense of such a place in Greece will not only enhance the country’s image abroad but will set an example for people here . The zoo is also private. In other words it gets no funding from the Greek government but gets all it’s money from the admission fees and the support of a few companies. Most of the people who come are from schools and on weekends there are some people who visit out of curiosity. But the zoo only opened in May and most Athenians don’t know about it. If they did they would come in droves because besides the Acropolis, I can’t think of a more interesting place to go in Athens. Mr. Lesueur also told me that they were adding some new animals encluding monkeys and large cats. Already there are two linx, a few kangaroos, a couple deer and the smallest ponies I have ever seen. I suppose that besides the size of the zoo and the number of animals there, the most impressive thing was the care they are given. These are happy, healthy animals living in a place that is comfortable even by jungle standards. Perhaps the oddest thing is that you are so surrounded by ostriches, parrots, eagles, owls, toucans, storks and pelicans that you forget where you are. Suddenly you look up and see you are in the midst of an olive grove on the plains of Attika with Mount Hymittos in the background. The zoo is beautifully landscaped and it is a pleasure to just wander through the pathways among the trees, grass and ponds. The Attica Zoological Park is definately worth a visit, especially if you have children. You can do what we did and spend a couple hours walking around and talking to the animals and then drive a few kilometers down the road to the seaside town of Loutsa and have a nice fish lunch at a beach taverna before heading back into Athens. If you happen to be in the airport with a couple hours or more between flights then why sit around looking at stressed people when you can jump in a cab and see a bunch of happy animals? The Zoo is open every day of the year from 9:00 to sunset. English is spoken and all the animals have their signs in English and Greek. For information you can call 210 663-4724 or 5. You can e-mail them at zoo@atticapark.gr

The Best Coffee in Athens

Cafes, Espresso, Greek Coffee and Frappe There was a time I didn’t drink coffee. I can still sort of remember it. The sun still came up in the morning. The birds still sang. Little children played in the park. Then I met Andrea Jerome. She was a coffee fanatic . She had to be coaxed from the bed with quadruple espressos and inspired to keep working with semi-hourly installments. I thought I could cure her. Guess what. Now I am just as bad. Yes, the sun still comes up, the birds still sing and children still play in the park. But not until I have had my first cup of coffee. It used to be that going to Greece was a step back to the stone age as far as coffee went. We could drink a Greek coffee, you know the stuff they used to call Turkish coffee until 1974 when the Turks invaded Cyprus and even the harbor of Turkolimino became Microlimino. But Greek coffee has to be made right and there was a period when many places that served it, with the exception of the most die-hard old men cafeneon, did not put that much care into it. Plus, drinking it takes time. You literally have to wait for the dust to settle and you can only drink it to a certain point. Any further and you are chewing coffee. Yeah it can get you off and that is, after all, our intention. But the cups are so small and my lips and appetite so big that there is a psychological factor that makes it less satisfying for me in the morning. Afternoon is a different story and after early ouzo with the rest of a long day ahead, a well-made Greek coffee can’t be beat.

Frappe’s are the lifeblood of Greek society. Made with instant Nescafe mixed with milk, water lots of sugar and ice, a frappe will provide you with a chemical buzz like caffeine only more intense and under it’s effects you are likely to have very profound thoughts as the dust is shaken off synapses long retired from duty. The Greeks drink these all day and never leave the cafes. Maybe the reason so much wine and whisky is consumed in Greece is directly related to the frappe consumption. But there is something decadent about starting the day with a frappe rather than a cup of coffee. So you have hot Nescafe. Same nervous buzz, but for me that means doing the Greek equivalent of the 3 martini lunch, the one carafaki ouzo mesimeri. Yes things were tough for us in the old days. We used to bring our coffee with us, ground in sealed bags which took up valuable luggage space along with our mini espresso maker and gas burner. But you never knew if you were going to be able to find a decent cup of coffee and we had to be prepared. Who wants to be in the most beautiful country in the world feeling shitty? There were places you could find an espresso. The Grande Bretagne Hotel and a couple of the very fancy cafes and restaurants. But just because they were expensive did not mean they were going to be any good. And who wants to drink coffee in a place where you feel uncomfortable if you did not bring your own butler and chauffeur?

Then just recently and just as in the USA, espresso began being served everywhere. Some of the old cafe’s bought new espresso machines and more and more coffee bars began opening. Now you can find cappuccino, espresso and something called fredo which is iced cappuccino, a sort of snob-frappe, almost everywhere. But do people know how to make a decent cappuccino in Greece? That is the question because who cares if you can get it on every corner if it does not get you off? In many places you can get great espresso. Maybe better than in the USA. Whether it is better than in Italy I don’t know. But cappuccino, we have discovered, are more a matter of chance. But leave it to Andrea to come up with a plan that insures that there will be enough caffeine in your coffee drink to get you to the next cup, whether that is in 5 minutes or in five hours. When we wake up in the morning we go to one of our favorite cafes and each order a double espresso. Then, (this is the important part), we order zes toe ga la ksekorees ta . That means ‘hot milk on the side’. Then you can pour it in to your double espresso for the desired taste to go with the required potency. A couple of these and you can climb the Acropolis several times if you have to. if you start dragging in the afternnoon just one of these will get you to dinner where the wine can take over. Memorize it: Thee ploh es press o meh zes toe ga la ksekorees ta (Double espresso with hot milk on the side)

But there is more. This is something I invented many years ago and I think it is delicious. But in 15 years of attempts I have only been able to convince one of my American friends, Steve Gratz, to try it. And even with his testimony combined with mine, I can’t convince any of my Greek friends that this is one if the greatest and most practical drinks on the planet. I called it Frapouzo . You order a frap pe me ga la, meh trio , which is an iced Nescafe with milk and sugar ( meh trio means one-to-one but implies not too sweet which in Greece is pretty sweet. Skeh to means no sugar. Glee ka means sweet but to me is virtually un-drinkable). You also order an ouzo skeh-to. As soon as the waitor turns his back pour the ouzo into the frappe. You won’t believe how good it tastes and the feeling is not bad either. If you are feeling low and don’t want to waste precious vacation time being depressed, one or two of these will do the trick. Any more and you are on your own. Note: Lonely Planet liked my Frapouzo so much they put it in their World Food-Greece book (but they spelled my name wrong and messed up the name of my website.)

So we may as well face that some of us are seriously hooked on coffee and the thought of going somewhere that good, strong coffee is not available fills us with a kind of angst. Maybe once we were strong, independent and caffeine free, but now we must face the fact that a good strong cup of coffee is required to motivate us to experience the wonders that Greece has to offer. We can always take the steps to quitting our addiction when we return home where we have familiar surroundings and plenty of psychiatrists to get us through those first difficult weeks, months or years. But to quit drinking coffee in Greece is like trying to quit smoking in Greece, or giving up food and sunlight. In Greece we drink coffee. And there is plenty of coffee for everyone. Athens is loaded with coffee shops. These are some of my favorites…

The Diorofo is in the City Market on the corner of Aiolou and Evripidou streets. It is in an old neo-classic mansion of which the downstairs is a cafe and upstairs is a restaurant. They even have a big screen that shows the ever-falling Greek stock market and probably for that reason they have a bar too. But I sit outside and watch the people walk by on Aiolou which is one of the main pedestrian streets of Athens. This is one of my primary hangouts because it is the closest good coffee to the Hotel Attalos. Andrea’s favorite cafes is Eliasporo (also known as Katerina‘s, the name of the owner) in Psiri on the corner of Maoulis and Palados at Iroon Square. Convenient because it is also an ouzerie with great mezedes so you can spend the whole day there. Also try the traditional zacharo plasteion (sweet shop) right across the street from the Taverna Psiri on Ag Nikolaos Street which is one of the streets that connects to the square. Coco Cafe is a bargain for espresso lovers in the same building as the Lesvos Shop on Athinas Street next to the Hotel Attalos. They now have tables and chairs right out on Athinas street a great place to people watch if you want to see the real Athinians. Check out Athina 122 (I think thats the number) also across from the Attalos. Its owned by a retired Greek-American from Boston and though it has the ambience of a pretzel shop at the local mall, he has good and inexpensive coffee.

Another great place is the Terina where Adrianou street meets Kapni Karea at the small Platia by Hadrian’s wall.  Lots of different kinds of coffee and a huge international menu and the interior is beautifully decorated. You can sit in the square outside when it is sunny and warm. The owner also has the traditional fish tavern Psaras. Like Psaras Terina is high quality and very professional. Also the cafe called Kapni Karea Hristopoulou street (alley actually) between Ermou and Metropolis street right by the small Church of Kapni Karea. If you stay there long enough in the afternoon people arrive for ouzo, mezedes and live rembetika music. My wife likes the Cafe Central which is a big Parisian style cafe on Metropolis street right next to the main cathedral, the one that has been under scaffolding for the last twenty years.

The Cafe Dioscouri is at 39 Andrianou right in the flea market. If you are going to the Sunday market come here early because it fills up. They make excellent coffee and it is a good spot to watch the people go by. If you are coming from the Plaka you will have to go around Hadrian’s Library to get there since Andrianou comes to an end and begins on the other side. This is a great place to watch people on Sunday. It gets crowded so you have to come early. Even if it is there are half a dozen or more cafes on the street overlooking the Stoa of Attalos and the Ancient Agora. In terms of view, people-watching and finding good coffee this is the best street in Athens. My favorite hangout in the winter was Diodos which is a cafe-ouzerie right across the street from the entrance to the Ancient Agora on lower Adrianou street. Very friendly service and good espresso and other coffees. Another one of those places that you can come for a coffee pick-me-up in the afternoon and make the gentle transition to ouzo and meze and hang out for the next 6 or 7 hours. They have dinner too. Look for the most traditional chairs and tables and thats the place.

You will have to wander around the Plaka a bit if you want to find the Cafe-Milkshop Klepsydra and I can’t even say for sure if they make good espresso. But the cafe was owned by Andrea’s friend Tstisinos who died and it is a favorite of locals. I included it because of the way it looks in this picture and out of respect for Andrea’s friend. If you find it let me know about the coffee. I think it is on Trassivolou street at the corner of either Klepsidras or Alimberti right under the Acropolis. I met the new owner one day when I was wandering around shooting photos for my Athens Graffiti page and he was a really nice guy and offered to treat me a coffee without even knowing I had a famous website, so go check it out since every good deed should not go unrewarded.

At Fokinos Negri in Kypseli there are dozens of cafes, one after the other and in the afternoon they are crowded with people. Some of the cafes are for old people and some for young. The most popular cafes can have a couple hundred tables and are always packed at any time of the day. Though most people sit outdoors some of the interiors of these cafes are spectacular and it seems like they try to out-do each other to have the cleanest and most interesting restrooms. It also seems that they change the furniture and decor every year which gives you an idea of how much money is to be made in the cafe business. The street itself is a big pedestrian mall, like a park that goes on for several blocks. There are some good restaurants here too. Try the Foibos Cafe at #19 which is a small un-pretentious place across the park from most of the larger cafes. They play classical music and jazz and are owned by a very nice Greek-Australian woman named Julia and her two sons. If you take the #2, 4 or 9 trolley from the top of Syntagma in front of the park, going towards Omonia you get off at Platia Kypseli and walk down. You can walk there from the Archaeological Museum up Patission street and make a right on Agia Melitiou and left on Drossopoulou. I love Fokinos Negri. Its the kind of area that people go to Paris for and it is right here in central Athens.

When you climb to the top of a mountain and there is a coffee shop there that overlooks all of Athens, does it really matter how good the coffee is? I would have loved to have sampled an espresso but after climbing Lykavettos I did not want to risk having a heart attack so I will let you be the judge as to whether the cafe belongs on the same page as these others. From the cafe you can see the Acropolis and all of Athens and even the ships leaving Pireaus for the islands. You don’t have to climb the mountain if you don’t want to. The Funicular is a train that goes up and down the mountain and you can catch it at the top of Ploutarchou Street. Walk down. It is easy and good exercise. On the other side of the coin the fast food place on the corner of Ermou and Athinas, though lacking in atmosphere, actually make their Greek coffee the old style…in hot sand!

Just down the street from Byzantino restaurant in the Plaka is a wonderful breakfast place on the corner of Geronda and Daedelou, just a block from the square. It is called Tristrato and it is run by a middle aged gentleman and his daughter, or maybe it’s his wife, or his sister, or just someone who works there. Or maybe he works for her since her name is on the card. I don’t really know or care and neither should you. But it is a lovely traditional galatadiko which is a milk and pastry shop. Great yogurt which you can get with fruit, nuts, honey or all of the above. Lots of different coffees and pastries and the whole place is furnished in antiques. There are cafes all over Athens. Anywhere there is a square or a space on the street to fit a few tables you will find a cafe, cafe-bar or cafeneon. Some other places to hang out and enjoy a coffee or a drink and watch life are Thission, the cafe in the national Gardens, Zappion, the path to the Acropolis, and any of the major public squares with the exception of Monastiraki and Omonia which for the time being are construction sites. Half the major avenues downtown are being converted into pedestrian streets and that means even more cafes. In a country like Greece where the climate is prefectly suited for hanging out and drinking coffee there can never be enough cafes. I almost forgot to mention. There are now a couple Starbucks in Athens and I am sure there will be more. It’s like bringing coals to Newcastle but if you are one of those people who refuse to visit a country that does not have a Starbucks then you are in luck. To be honest with you I LOVE Starbucks Frappuccino. It’s like a milkshake with a buzz and is tough to beat on a hot day in Athens. For inexpensive but decent espresso, capuccino, latte, fredo etc check out the Grigoris chain which are all over the city and even on some of the ferry boats. They also have spanakopita, tiropita, and lots of other pitas and sandwiches as well as traditional Greek coffee. The Flo-cafe chain also has cheap coffee drinks and they are everywhere.