Скачать или смотреть Akropolis Propylaea

The Akropolis has gone through many changes in its long history. It began as a simple rock, was settled as early as the Neolithic period, and then became a fortress in the Mycenaean period. Stone buildings started appearing in the 7th century BCE, but the famous structures whose ruins remain visible today date mainly from a period of construction in the 5th century BCE. The location of the Akropolis is closely tied with Athens' foundation myth. Supposedly, it was the site where Athena and Poseidon competed for the city's patronage. This connection gave the Akropolis a sacred aura, and it was considered the religious heart of the city. After the archaic buildings of the old Akropolis—most notably the temple of Athena Polias—were burned down in 480 BCE by Xerxes' Persian army, the great general and statesman Perikles resolved to transform the naturally imposing rock into a huge monument to Athens' political, military, and cultural greatness. Thus began the most ambitious building program the Greek world had even seen at the time. Seven million drachmae were spent on the whole project, which has been deemed by UNESCO as "the supreme expression of the adaptation of architecture to a natural site". The Parthenon alone cost 469 talents—nearly 3 million drachmae, and the equivalent of approximately 12 tons of silver. To justify the massive cost, Perikles cited the need to immortalize Athens' greatness, but also called the attention to the jobs the project would create for hundreds of stone cutters, carpenters, metal workers, painters, and unskilled laborers, all of whom were grateful for the opportunity to make more money.