Editing Acropolis of Athens (section)

===The Periclean building program===
[[File:The Parthenon in Athens.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Parthenon]], as seen from the north-west in 1978]]

After winning at [[Battle of the Eurymedon|Eurymedon]] during 468 BC, [[Cimon]] and [[Themistocles]] ordered the reconstruction of the southern and northern walls of the Acropolis. Most of the major temples, including the [[Parthenon]], were rebuilt by order of [[Pericles]] during the so-called [[Age of Pericles|Golden Age of Athens]] (460–430 BC). [[Phidias]], an Athenian sculptor, and [[Ictinus]] and [[Callicrates]], two famous architects, were responsible for the reconstruction.<ref>[http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Ictinus_and_Callicrates_wi.html "Ictinus and Callicrates with Phidias"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104070801/http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Ictinus_and_Callicrates_wi.html |date=2013-01-04 }}, ''Architecture Week''. Retrieved 3 December 2012.</ref>

During 437 BC, [[Mnesicles]] started building the [[Propylaea (Acropolis of Athens)|Propylaea]], a monumental gate at the western end of the Acropolis with [[Doric order|Doric]] columns of [[Pentelic]] marble, built partly upon the old Propylaea of Peisistratos.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/386642/Mnesicles |title=Mnesicles |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=6 December 2012 |archive-date=20 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220065801/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/386642/Mnesicles |url-status=live }}</ref> These colonnades were almost finished during 432 BC and had two wings, the northern one decorated with paintings by [[Polygnotus]].<ref name="McCulloch1841">{{cite book |last=McCulloch |first=John Ramsay |title=A Dictionary, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical: Of the Various Countries, Places and Principal Natural Objects in the World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ufYRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA205 |year=1841 |publisher=Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans |pages=205–}}</ref> About the same time, south of the Propylaea, building started on the small Ionic [[Temple of Athena Nike]] in Pentelic [[marble]] with [[tetrastyle]] porches, preserving the essentials of Greek temple design. After an interruption caused by the [[Peloponnesian War]], the temple was finished during the time of [[Nicias]]' peace, between 421 BC and 409 BC.<ref name="Mark1993">{{cite book |last=Mark |first=Ira S. |title=The Sanctuary of Athena Nike in Athens: Architectural Stages and Chronology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kaLJOgRoRoC&pg=PA72 |year=1993 |publisher=ASCSA |isbn=978-0-87661-526-3 |pages=72– |access-date=2016-05-29 |archive-date=2023-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217134536/https://books.google.com/books?id=0kaLJOgRoRoC&pg=PA72 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Erechtheum Acropolis Athens.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Erechtheion]], viewed from the south-west, looking across the remains of the Old Temple in 2015]]

Construction of the elegant temple of [[Erechtheion]] in Pentelic marble (421–406 BC) was by a complex plan which took account of the extremely uneven ground and the need to circumvent several shrines in the area. The entrance, facing east, is lined with six Ionic columns. Unusually, the temple has two porches, one on the northwest corner borne by Ionic columns, the other, to the southwest, supported by huge female figures or [[caryatid]]s. The eastern part of the temple was dedicated to [[Athena Polias]], while the western part, serving the cult of the archaic king [[Erechtheus|Poseidon-Erechtheus]], housed the altars of [[Hephaestus]] and Voutos, brother of Erechtheus. Little is known about the original plan of the interior, which was destroyed by fire during the first century BC and has been rebuilt several times.<ref>[http://www.ancient-greece.org/architecture/erechtheion.html Thomas Sakoulas, "Erechtheion"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131004205/http://www.ancient-greece.org/architecture/erechtheion.html |date=2013-01-31 }}, Ancient-Greece.org. Retrieved 7 December 2012.</ref><ref>[http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=973Ioanna Venieri, "Erechtheion"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129125700/http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=973Ioanna |date=2014-11-29 }}, Odysseus. Retrieved 7 December 2012.</ref>

During the same period, a combination of sacred precincts including the temples of Athena Polias, [[Poseidon]], [[Erechtheus]], [[Cecrops I|Cecrops]], [[Herse]], [[Pandrosos]] and [[Aglauros]], with its Kore Porch (Porch of the Maidens) or Caryatids' Balcony was begun.<ref>[http://www.calvin.edu/academic/clas/pathways/acropoli/aere3.htm "The Acropolis of Athens"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402231011/http://www.calvin.edu/academic/clas/pathways/acropoli/aere3.htm |date=2012-04-02 }}. Retrieved 9 February 2013.</ref> Between the temple of Athena Nike and the Parthenon, there was the [[Brauroneion|Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia]] (or the Brauroneion), the goddess represented as a bear and worshipped in the [[deme]] of Brauron. According to Pausanias, a wooden statue or ''[[xoanon]]'' of the goddess and a statue of [[Artemis]] made by [[Praxiteles]] during the 4th century BC were both in the sanctuary.<ref>[http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/content/sanctuary-artemis-brauronia-0 "The Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924083719/https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/content/sanctuary-artemis-brauronia-0 |date=2020-09-24 }}, Acropolis Museum. Retrieved 9 February 2013.</ref>
[[File:Propylaea-athens.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Propylaea (Acropolis of Athens)|The Propylaea]] in 2005]]

Behind the Propylaea, Phidias' gigantic bronze statue of [[Athena Promachos]] ("Athena who fights in the front line"), built between 450 BC and 448 BC, dominated. The base was {{cvt|1.50|m|0}} high, while the total height of the statue was {{cvt|9|m|0}}. The goddess held a lance, the gilt tip of which could be seen as a reflection by crews on ships rounding Cape [[Sounion]], and a giant shield on the left side, decorated by [[Mys (artist)|Mys]] with images of the fight between the [[Centaur]]s and the [[Lapiths]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Mikalson |first=Jon D. |title=Ancient Greek Religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_0Xa5uL8ZOEC&pg=PA73 |access-date=9 February 2013 |year=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-5819-3 |pages=73–}}</ref> Other monuments that have left almost nothing visible to the present day are the [[Chalkotheke]], the [[Pandroseion]], [[Pandion's sanctuary]], Athena's altar, Zeus Polieus's sanctuary and, from Roman times, the circular [[Temple of Roma and Augustus]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Brouskarē |first=Maria S. |title=The monuments of the Acropolis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gj5oAAAAMAAJ |access-date=9 February 2013 |year=1997 |publisher=Ministry of Culture, Archeological Receipts Fund |pages=56–57 |isbn=978-960-214-158-8}}</ref>