Acropolis of Athens

14 pictures · 15 May 2025

The rocky hill above Athens was walled by Mycenaean builders and given its religious character by the cult of Athena Polias, and after the Persians burned its monuments the building programme of Perikles raised the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike; restoration continues today. My pictures look down from a rope-railed path onto a Roman stone theatre, its curved marble tiers and arcaded stage wall under grey cloud, with workers setting up equipment below. Crowds climb the marble steps of the columned gateway. On the bare rock plateau, scattered blocks, low foundations, the caryatid porch, scaffolding and a crane among the Parthenon columns, and the city spreading to hills and sea.