Art & Architecture

• Kouros

  Κούρος (Kouros: youth. Plural: Κούροι, Kouroi) sculptures were abundantly produced in Ancient Greece during the Archaic era (700-480 BCE), continuing a centuries-old tradition of votive figure statues made of bronze which was previously of small scale. Around 600 BCE the…

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• The Kritios Boy Sculpture

  The Kritios Boy (or Kritian Boy). Marble. 1.17 m (3 ft 10 in) tall. Believed to be the creation of Krito, the teacher of Myron. Circa 480 BCE. The Kritios boy belongs to the Late Archaic period and is considered…

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• Temple of Athena Nike

  The small temple of Athena Nike is perched above the ascent to the Acropolis, and is visible as one approaches the Propylaea. The southwest of the Acropolis plateau, right next to the Propylaia, has been an important location of a…

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• Acropolis: Old Temple

  Between the Parthenon and the Erechtheion a careful observer can make out the foundations of an old temple dating to the 6th century BCE. With time it came to be known as the “Old Temple” for it was several times…

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• Erechtheion

  While the Parthenon was the most impressive temple on the Acropolis, another building, the Erechtheion was built to accommodate the religious rituals that the old temple housed. Construction of the Erechtheion began in 420 while the Peloponnesian war was interrupted…

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• Propylaea

  The Προπύλαια (Propylaea, Propylaia) were built as a monumental entrance to the Acropolis rock. It is an imposing building that surrounds the natural entrance to the plateau, and one approached it in ancient times through an inclining ramp that led…

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• Treasury of Atreus

  The tholos tomb at Mycenae known as “Treasury of Atreus”, built between 1350 and 1250 BCE, is the largest, best preserved, and one of the latest built in the Bronze Age. It is also known as “Tomb of Agamemnon”. Its…

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• Rhamnous: Temple of Nemesis

  The temple of Nemesis in Rhamnous was renown even before the fortified settlement acquired importance in the 5th c. BCE. Nemesis was the goddess that prescribed happiness and misery to mortals, and a zealous punisher of “hubris” (ύβρις)–the disrespectful arrogance…

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• Sounion: Temple of Athena

  The sanctuary of Athena Sounias (nominative singular case: Αθηνά Σουνιάς; genitive singular case: Ναός της Αθηνάς Σουνιάδος; Often transliterated as: Sounia, Sounias, Souniados) is built on a low hill in Sounion, a short distance from the better preserved and more…

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• Temple of Poseidon at Sounion

  Archaeological evidence indicates that Sounion was a sacred area as far back as the Bronze Age, but the temple visible in our day was built in the middle of the 5th century BCE (between 444 and 440 BCE). It was part of…

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