The Athenian Acropolis, Then and Now

In this episode, Emily and Cam talk about what it’s like to visit the Athenian Acropolis today; how that experience compares to what visitors would have seen in the fifth century BCE; when and why the remains of the structures there today were created (especially the Parthenon and the Erechtheion); and what those structures meant to ancient Athenians.Visit our homepage to subscribe and to find us on social media:https://havetogawilltravel.comEpisode Links:Our short blog post featuring pictures of Nashville’s replica of the Athena Parthenos statue.----------00:11 - Introduction02:05 - Visiting the Acropolis: the modern experience02:32 - The geography of Attica03:41 - Our first impressions of the Acropolis (and how Goethe did it better)05:45 - What visiting the Acropolis is like: sacred and profane space; the temple of Athena Nikē (and aspects of the gods); the Propylaia; the Parthenon; the Erectheion; the Dörpfeld Foundations14:23 - What visiting the Acropolis was like in the fifth century BCE14:30 - The ramp16:28 - Athena Promachos17:01 - Colorful temples17:38 - Dedications everywhere (and why dedications mattered)20:20 - How and when the structures on the Acropolis came to be20:25 - The basic context: Darius, Xerxes, and the Persian invasions of Greece22:20 - The Oath of Plataia: the Greeks swear not to rebuild their temples23:59 - What changed? War in the Aegean, the Peace of Kallias, and the Athenian Empire29:01 - The Parthenon29:26 - The basics of the Parthenon and Greek architectural orders32:38 - The Parthenon’s pediment sculptures: the west pediment group and the east pediment group37:31 - The metopes: the Amazonomachy (west), the Trojan War (north), the Gigantomachy (east), Lapiths vs. Centaurs (south)40:37 - The Ionic frieze and various interpretations of its imagery43:53 - Pheidias’ statue of Athena and its decoration46:04 - The meaning of the Parthenon’s sculpture: the Athenians, their empire, and their imperial mission49:41 - The Erechtheion49:49 - The fundamental weirdness of the Erechtheion52:08 - Why is it so strange? The persistence of ancient ritual.52:54 - The most sacred image of Athena: the Xoanon54:08 - Is the building we call the Erechtheion the building the ancient Athenians (and Pausanias) called the Erechtheion? Or is it the temple of Athena Polias?56:48 - Emily delivers a fine rant about the perils of “received wisdom” in Classics1:01:08 - Cam footnotes Emily’s rant with a digression on horror vacui1:02:02 - Wrap-up