Famous Greek Architecture - Essay Example

Greek architecture Lecturer: Acropolis is a Greek word that means, “The sacred rock, a high . All over the world, the Acropolis of Athens is the most recognized as the Acropolis of Athens. There are various acropolises in Greece; however, the Acropolis of Athens is one of the most recognized. This acropolis is basically dedicated to the Goddess Athena. Nonetheless, humans who lived in the prehistoric era populated the acropolis as well as the caves that were around it. Since it was situated at the heart of Athens, there are many myths, festivals as well as other important events connected to the sacred Acropolis. Thus, the acropolis portrays the grandeur and power of the empire (Dinsmoor, 2012). Most of the ancient sculptures were built out of either stone or wood. However, very few have survived to the present day. Most of the sculptures were free standing and were in the human form. In addition, they were nudes. This is because the Greeks saw beauty in the naked body of a human being. Some of the structures stood up right while others depicted human actions, for instance, some structures depicted the athletics actions. A good example is the Myron’s discus thrower. One of the most famous statues in Greek is the Venus de Milo that that was created in the second century. Ancient Greeks also painted their architectural and sculptures, however, very little of their original works remains. One of the most enduring paintings were that decorated ceramic pottery. Two of the major styles include the red figure and the black figure. The paintings and pictures on the pottery portray heroic as well as tragic stories of humans and Gods Origin of the Greek architecture Unlike the mycenean and Minoan ancestors, the Greeks did not have royalty to their culture. Thus, they did not see the need for places like their ancestors. This concludes as to why most of their architecture was devoted to their public buildings such as temples, market places, monumental gateways and council building. However, among these public buildings, the temple had the best of the captures. Geographical description The Acropolis can be looked at as a component of the earth since the Cretaceous period. It was built with limestone and was based on the Africa plateau. Is includes the philapappos hill likavitos hill, the nymps hills and the pnyx. This acropolis is also known as the cecropia, which was the mythological half serpent-man who was called cecrops; he was the first Athenian king. The Acropolis had a height of 70 meters; it was 300 meters long and 150 meters wide. Many people in Athens constructed their houses here after the Mycenaean era that resulted in the flat top of the acropolis. People preferred living in this area since they had spring waters and caves that made them perfect places for humans to inhibit. The history of acropolis Neolithic era The occupations of Acropolis, as well as Attica, can be dated back to 6 BC, that is, in the Neolithic era. A majority of the unique works of architecture, as well as arts, show that inhabitation around Attica may have started around the upper Paleolithic period. Mycenaean era During the Mycenaean era, which was in the 13th century, Athenians built a wall that was constructed around the Acropolis hill where the king lived. The king used to control all the small settlement s that was around the fortress. These walls, especially the ones built by Mycenaean kings were approximately eight meters high; the king’s palaces were also constructed inside the fortress. The walls comprised of two barricades. They were built in the typical Mycenaean style, which consisted of a tower, a wall and a barricade on its right side, which was meant for defense. There are very little remains of these walls and palaces in the present day. Mycenaean art is recognized by its domination of circular structures. It has tapped domes that had courses that were flat-bedded. These architectural forms did not adjourn into the ancient architectural forms of the Greek. However, it reappeared in the 400 BC. It was mostly found in the in the interior of large monumental tombs, for instance, the lion tomb of Cbidos. The dark ages Acropolis, especially the one of Athens does not have a major destruction in the Mycenaean era. This is because it was able to successfully resist the Dorians attacks, a fact that is supported by folktales of Athens. Thus, these walls do not show any sign of fire or any form of attack. However, the kylons as well as the Pisistratus overtook acropolis thus suggesting the transfer of power (Boardman et al, 2009). As a result, a nine-gate wall was constructed during this era. The wall was known as the “enneapylon” that was built around the water spring known as the “clepsydra." The sacred Acropolis era In the ancient Greece, the Acropolis was a sacred place; this is because a temple that was dedicated to Athenia Polias was built in the northeastern part of the hill. The temple was made up of limestone man documents and artifacts were found in this region. The temple was known as the bluebeard temple; it was named after the three-headed serpent that was believed to have a blue beard. By the end of the 6th century another temple had been built, this temple was called the archaios Naos; it was also called the old temple and was built by Peisistratus who were ruling by then. Acropolis flourished during the reign of the Peisistratus, at this time, various religious festivals as well as memorials were also recognized. Various artifacts and other forms of art bared the inscription that described the Athenian splendor in the archaic period. However, the blue beard temple was later destroyed by the Persians in the battle of marathon that took place in 490 BC; the Athenians were defeated. Later after the destruction of the blue beard temple, another larger and gladder structure was built, the structure was known as the “older Parthenon”. The Mycenaean gate was also destructed; it was later replaced with the “old propylon” that was a monument that was used for religious purposes. However, the “older Parthenon” monument was not finished since Persians attacked Athenians once again and destroyed it in 480 BC (Boardman et al, 2009). Moreover, they destroyed all the other monuments that were in Attica. The Athenians in small natural caves buried the artifacts that remained in order to save them. In addition, the Athenians constructed two new walls around Acropolis for security purposes. These walls were called “the walls of Themistocles” and the “wall of kimono." The articles that were buried are called the “Persian debris” in the present day. Among the architectural structures constructed in this period, the Parthenon was one of the most important. It is considered the finest architecture in Greek. Parthenon Acropolis, Parthenon, in particular, is one of the most characteristic monuments of the ancient civilization of Greece. The monument still stands as a symbol in various ways: it is one of the most important symbols of Greek civilization as well as democracy. Moreover, it symbolizes the commencement of the western civilization and as an icon in the European culture (Dinsmoor, 2012). Keeping in mind that it was a dedication to the Athena Perthenos, who was the patron Goddess, it was built under the instruction of Pericles: a political leader in the ancient Athens in the 5th century. As said earlier, the Parthenon was built between 446 and 437 BC. Its sculptural decorations were finished in 432 BC. Back in 1987, the monument was inscribed in the list of world heritage sites. The golden age of Athens The chief and sacred temples were constructed in as well as around Acropolis in this period, which was between 460 BC, and 430BC. Pericles, who was the ruler by then, was responsible for building most of the structures that were built at that time. Pericles was very ambitious. The constructions that he built lasted for more than a century. Phidias, who was a sculptor and Lctinus, and Callicrate who were architects were in charge of all the constructions as well as the major artifacts. Workers, particularly the laborers were paid a drachma for a day’s job. Monuments and temples such as the Propylaia, the Parthenon, the Erecntheion and the Athena temple were all constructed during this time. Temples that were in the northern region of Acropolis were used as houses of the earlier sects as well as the Olympian Gods and the ones on the southern side were dedicated to the Athena Goddess and her forms, for instance Polias, Pallas, Promachos and Nike. No major constructions were constructed from 404 BC up to the 1st century during the era of Peloponnesian. However, in the 7th century, a small temple was built; the temple was a dedication to Augustus. Rome was also built in this period, on the eastern side of Acropolis. Despite the many invasions of Greece by the Romans, Acropolis was still able to retain its charm and was saved from looting and destruction. Advert Christianity As time went by, human interference as well as natural degradation affected Acropolis. Christianity was introduced, and the ancient monuments were transformed into churches. Moreover, the structures were renamed, and they served as churches or cathedrals. In the medieval period, several structures became residential areas and headquarters for kings and other leaders such as the Turkish and Frankish leaders. As a result of war, attacks and invasions from other immediate kingdoms, most of the important structures were destroyed, for instance, the Parthenon was destroyed leading the loss of an historical monument. In the twentieth century, acropolis was excavated and more attention was paid to it (Boardman et al, 2009). However, the process of excavation as well as restoration is still going on. In spite of the unique symbolic as well as cultural values of a particular monument, the issue of removing scriptures from Acropolis by Elgin persists to shadow their history. In the present day, more than half of the sculptures of Parthenon some of the artifacts that were found were preserved in the Acropolis Museum. Some more buildings were added later as Acropolis was still in use, and after it was conquered by the Roman Empire. The Roman emperor, Hadrian added his own structures to the city, particularly acropolis, during his reign. After the rise of Christianity after Constantine, Parthenon was changed into a church as well as the Acropolis centre of Christian devotion. After the establishment of the Christianity, all the pagan images were destroyed and other amendments were made to the temples in order to bring them into alignment with Christianity. After the Rome and Byzantine Empire had fallen to the Turks, Acropolis was transformed into a place of worship for the Muslims, thus the Parthenon was transformed into a mosque. The buildings in Acropolis were later damaged due to ill use as well neglect because of the Turkish occupation, Acropolis suffered further destruction during the siege of venetian in 1687 CE after the Italian forces sought to remove the Turks from Greece . After the war of in 1821 CE, Greece reclaimed the acropolis (Boardman et al, 2009) References Dinsmoor, W. B. 2012. THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT GREECE: AN ACCOUNT OF ITS HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. Ward-Perkins, J. B. 2010. CITIES OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ITALY: planning in classical antiquity. Boardman, J., Griffin, J., & Murray, O. (Eds.). 2009. The OXFORD HISTORY OF GREECE AND THE HELLENISTIC WORLD. Oxford University Press. Read More