Keywords
Acropolis, Athens, mythology, Parthenon, Erechtheion, Theater of Dionysus, ancient Greece, storytelling, history, architecture
Summary
This conversation explores the rich history and mythology surrounding the Acropolis of Athens, focusing on its significant monuments such as the Parthenon, Erechtheion, and the Theater of Dionysus. Through storytelling, the discussion highlights how ancient Greek mythology shaped the cultural and architectural landscape of Athens, revealing the deep connections between the city’s history, its gods, and its people.
Takeaways
- The Acropolis is a symbol of ancient Greek civilization.
- Mythology plays a crucial role in understanding ancient history.
- The Parthenon was built to honor the goddess Athena.
- Athena Nike represents victory in battle for the Athenians.
- The Erechtheion incorporates the grave of a mythical king.
- The competition between Athena and Poseidon shaped Athens’ identity.
- The Theater of Dionysus was central to the development of Western theater.
- The Acropolis was a place of worship and cultural significance.
- Ancient Greeks used storytelling to convey their history and values.
- The monuments of the Acropolis reflect the artistic achievements of ancient Greece.
Sound Bites
“The Acropolis has been fortified for many years.”
“Athena Nike helps the Athenians to be victorious.”
“The body of water is named the Aegean Sea.”
Timeline
00:00 – Introduction
01:49 – Mythology and the Acropolis
02:25 – Temple of Athena Nike
04:51 – The Story of King Aegeus
06:48 – The Parthenon
08:20 – The Myth of the Parthenon
11:25 – The Erechtheion
13:08 – The Battle at the Erechtheion
16:28 – The Theater of Dionysus
17:51 – Conclusion
Transcript
Introduction (00:00)
Stephen Parker: Welcome to the Take Me to Europe podcast with your host, cultural anthropologist Monique Skidmore.
Monique Skidmore: Today we’re off to experience the antiquity, myths, and realities of some of the world’s oldest and most significant monuments. These monuments are scattered all over the top and the sides of an enormous rock called the Acropolis of Athens.
I’ll be talking with an Athens tour guide, but not just any tour guide. Danae Kousouras is trained in storytelling.
The Acropolis has been fortified for many, many years now, but no matter how steep the sides of the Acropolis and how mighty its walls, the city was vanquished several times over, but it just feels like there’s only one war that really seems to have ticked off the ancient Greeks the Greco-Persian Wars.
When they were finally over, it left Athenians wanting to build eternal monuments to celebrate their democracy, civilization, and arts. And so, 2,500 years ago, a guy called Pericles ordered the best Greek architects, sculptors, builders, and craftsmen to get busy building monuments on the Acropolis.
And so today we see some impressive ruined buildings like the Propylaia, the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Erechtheion and the Theatre of Dionysus.
But they weren’t always like that, and to understand why they built what they did, you have to understand what ancient Greeks believed happened at the Acropolis. Because the Acropolis was the place of the gods. It was where they hung out where they battled and where mortals paid their respects to the gods.
So in order to find out what happened on the Acropolis according to the ancient Greeks, I turned to professional storyteller Danae Kosouris.
Mythology and the Acropolis (01:49)
Danae Kousouras: Hello, thank you for the invitation, Monique. Mythology is a group of stories. I grew up with bedtime stories. There is no way to learn and understand ancient Greek history and art without referring to mythology.
Monique Skidmore: What is it then about the mythology of ancient Athens and about the Acropolis that’s so important to you?
Danae Kousouras: Well, it’s amazing how mythology can give life to the ruins of the Acropolis. The temples were decorated with mythical stories that introduced the visitor to the reason for their existence.
The Temple of Athena Nike (02:25)
Monique Skidmore: So for the last 2,500 years, thousand years, visitors, tourists, travelers, they’ve all walked up and panted their way up the Acropolis Hill to come to the great entrance to the Acropolis, the Propylaia. But before this impressive entranceway is a small temple. Why is there a tiny temple of Athena Nike jutting out from the entrance of the Acropolis?
Danae Kousouras: Goddess Athena, being the goddess of wisdom and war strategy in this temple is worshipped as the goddess who helps the Athenians to be victorious.
She stands by them in time of war, and she helps them to prevail on the battlefields. To be more specific, the Athenians depicted on the temple one of the most defining battles of their history, the Marathon battle against the Persians. It is the battle when the unexpected happened: the tiny little Athenian army defeated for the first time the huge, powerful Persian army.
The thing is that many battles followed after that. It’s a war that lasted for approximately 15 years. At the end of the war, the Greeks prevailed. The Athenians were the leaders of the Greeks. So many years later, approximately 30 years after the end of the war and since Athens was looted during the war, the Athenians, under the leadership of Pericles, decided to apply a constructive plan on the top of the Acropolis.
Three temples and one central gateway, all dedicated to goddess Athena, who helped them during the war. Now the interesting part is the location of the Temple of Athena Nike. It is located outside of the central gate and it is the first thing a visitor sees while climbing the Acropolis.
And it’s up there Athena Nike, wingless. That means the cult statue of Athena has no wings, because all Nikes had wings in antiquity and Greek mythology, but Athena as victory is actually trapped in this territory.
So it’s a clear message to the rest of the world: Beware enemies and friends, because with her we’re always victorious, and that makes sense, then why it’s right at the front there, so that everyone can see it.
The Story of King Aegeus (04:51)
Monique Skidmore: Okay, so the temple of Athena Nike is just sitting out from the Propylaia, and the Propylaia is about as impressive an entrance as you can get anywhere in the world.
It’s built atop the steepest cliffside of the Acropolis, and it seems like an excellent place if you’re intent on committing suicide or throwing yourself off the Acropolis. Was that tried in ancient Greece?
Danae Kousouras: Yes, this has happened many times in real life, but only one time in mythology.
Monique Skidmore: And that’s the one we’re interested in.
Danae Kousouras: Yes, that’s the story of King Aegeus, the king of Athens. His son is Theseus, a top-notch hero of the city. He sailed to Crete in order to kill the Minotaur.
The Athenian ship had sailed Athens in black sails, but before he goes, Theseus gave a promise to his father to change the sails to white in case his mission is accomplished and if he survives. So the father, Aegeus, is waiting on the top of the Acropolis.
Even the modern visitor of the Acropolis, if he turns his back to the Propylaia, has a clear view of the port of Athens. So, we can feel the agony of Aegeus waiting for his son who goes to Crete.
He enters the labyrinth, he kills the beast, and he’s on his way back to Athens. And there is a real celebration on the ship, wine, dances. You get the picture, right? And they forgot to change the sails.
Aegeus stares at the sea and he sees the Athenian ship returning with black sails. He thought his son is dead, and he finds no other reason to continue with his life. He fell off the cliff and he died.
The body of water you see from the top of the Acropolis is named the Aegean Sea in order to honour him, so nobody would ever forget his story.
The Parthenon (06:48)
Monique Skidmore: Well, after that sad story about Greeks who were having too good a time on the boat and simply forgot to change the sails, let’s go through the Propylaia and come to the flat top of the Acropolis.
Danae Kousouras: What we see once we cross the Propylaia is the western part, let’s say the back side of the temple. So on the very top, the Athenians decided to depict the story of Athena and Poseidon, but we’ll come back to this story later.
The most important part of the temple is the eastern part, and there we have the story of the birth of the goddess Athena. In the center we have Zeus on the throne, Athena on his side, and a level down we have what we call the Metopes in archaeology: square panels with reliefs depicting mythical battles – Amazons against the Athenians, the Trojan War, the Centaurs against the Lapiths.
What is represented there is the eternal human struggle against the forces of nature and the enemies. Inside, behind the columns, on the top of the external wall of the temple, we have the Panathenaic procession, which was a real event in ancient Athens, celebrating the birthday of goddess Athena. A great procession. The whole society participated, climbing up the Acropolis, offering gifts to their goddess.
The Myth of the Parthenon (08:20)
Monique Skidmore: And a lot went on in the Parthenon, so as a political monument. There’s one central myth, though, that explains the importance of the Parthenon to Greece and to Athens. Can you tell us what that myth is?
Danae Kousouras: It’s definitely the story of the birth of goddess Athena. So according to the story, it’s Zeus, the father of Athena, who was informed by a prophecy that the child his wife has at that time his wife was Metis, not Hera, yet would give him a grandson that eventually will dethrone him and kill him.
So he will lose his power. And do you understand? He didn’t like him. So he will lose his power. So he tries to find a way to eliminate the danger. This is a titan, so she cannot die. So he has to find another way.
He had a plan. One day he enters into her room with an idea. ” Darling,” he said, “let’s play the transformation game. Can you change your form three times in three different things?”
And innocent Metis responded, “yes, of course, look at me.” And one time she became a big brown bear. The next time she became a river. The third time she became a tiny little fly and as a fly she was flying around Zeus’ head, teasing him.
But when the time was right, Zeus opens his mouth and ate the fly. Problem solved right, he ate her – not at all! A few months later, he suffered from terrible headache, so he asked for help, and his son, Hephaestus, runs with his axe and cracks Zeus’ head, and out of the opening of his head we have a goddess, goddess Athena, an adult in full armor, and this is the moment that is captured by the ancient sculptors.
So in the center of this pediment we have Zeus looking on his daughter for the first time, face to face, and Athena noticed that her father is not happy with her existence and she asked the reason.
And Zeus told her about the prophecy. And this is the moment that Athena promised her father to stay forever a virgin goddess, a maiden. She will never have a husband or a child in her life, and the Greek word for virgin is parthenos, and this is the reason why the name of the temple is the Parthenon, because it’s the house of the maiden.
Monique Skidmore: So beautifully described. They’re really quite complex stories and you’ve done a wonderful job of getting us right to the actual name of the Parthenon.
Danae Kousouras: Well, the bottom line of this story is that it’s not by chance we have the birth of Athena as a central myth of the Parthenon, because, remember, these temples were built after the Persian War. It’s the beginning of the Golden Age of Athens. A new goddess is born, a new era begins for the city.
The Erechtheion (11:25)
Monique Skidmore: And when we’ve got this beautiful, enormous building that is just so impressive, you then turn to your left and you see an odd but lovely but odd and small building that seems a little out of scale compared to the Parthenon.
This is the Erechtheion and it’s got a couple of odd parts about it. So it has a porch of the maidens facing the Parthenon, but it’s also the site of an epic battle. So could we start with the porch? Tell me something about why we have these draped figures of women on this tiny little porch, outside this very odd little building.
Danae Kousouras: The amazing Caryatids as they are known. We have many interpretations about these girls, but the most prevalent one is the one that explains that these girls were the daughters of a mythical king called Cecrops.
So according to the myth, this legendary king was buried on this very ground. So when the Athenians built the Erechtheion, they decided to incorporate his grave into the original temple, and over his grave, they created this porch that instead of columns, they put these female statues of amazing beauty, girls originally holding vessels in their hands.
The vessels had sacred liquids, let’s say wine or olive oil, and holes on the bottom, so the liquid dripped on the ground. This is a religious ceremony. It’s pouring libation to the dead king, but also to the dead of the city.
The Battle at the Erechtheion (13:08)
Monique Skidmore: My favorite thing about the Erechtheion is the battle between two gods. Can you tell us why the Erechtheion looks the way it does?
Danae Kousouras: That’s a very good question. Well, the Erechtheion. We can safely say that it has a three-partite division. It’s the balcony with the maidens dedicated to Kekrops, the central room is dedicated to Athena, and the third room, another beautifully decorated porch with ionic columns, was dedicated to Poseidon.
So we have three personalities being honored there, right Cecrops, Athena, Poseidon and one story. So when Cecrops was the, let’s say, the king of the region called Cekropia, back then he wanted to find the most suitable god to become the protectress of his city, and he has two candidates, Athena and Poseidon.
Well, both of them had to offer a gift to the locals, and the locals would decide by voting over the best gift. So Poseidon takes his trident, he threw it on the ground, a big hole opened and seawater gushed out.
Monique Skidmore: Because he’s the god of the sea.
Danae Kousouras: Exactly. It’s a great gift to the Athenians – dominance over the sea, protection in the sea. But on the other hand, Athena very calmly kneels on the ground. She hits her spear, and an olive tree sprouts. A peaceful gift, right? A symbol of agriculture and prosperity.
So all men in the city voted for Poseidon’s gift. All women in the city voted for Athena’s gift and, thankfully, women were more than men. And this is how Athena won the competition. The city was named after her because of her gift.
Monique Skidmore: And at the Erechtheion, now we can see the olive tree.
Danae Kousouras: The olive tree, exactly, not the mythical olive tree? No, maybe not, but we can see the mythical hole in the roof still of the Erechtheion. You can see the mythical hole on the porch where Poseidon is worshipped, deliberately left empty in order to mark the gift of the God, but the olive tree archaeologists planted 200 years ago. It’s on the exact same location that the ancient Athenians had their sacred olive tree.
Monique Skidmore: Through the hole in the Erechtheion roof where Poseidon’s trident flew through the air. It struck the ground and we can see marks in the ground and a spring. Is that right?
Danae Kousouras: There is a hole in the ground, yes, a big one, and there was a cistern underneath, so the ancient Athenians used to fill it with water, seawater.
And the amazing thing is that every time it’s windy up there, and it’s very often, if you close your eyes, you hear the sound of the wind through the columns, but what you actually hear is the sound of the waves of the sea, and it’s an illusion, but it works.
The Theatre of Dionysus (16:28)
Monique Skidmore: Denae, I’d like us now to take a quick wander down the slope of the Acropolis to the last structure that I’m hoping we’ll have a chat about today, the Theatre of Dionysus, and I do a terrible job at pronouncing that word.
Danae Kousouras: Well, it’s not just any theater, it’s the place where the notion of theater was born. Dionysus was the god of wine, the god of drama, the god of theater. So in this little corner of the earth, the Athenians decided to honor this god with religious festivals.
Part of these festivals were the theatrical contests, the presentation of the tragedies and the comedies. And now think about it – the tragedy and the comedy are amongst the most influential literary inventions of Greece, and it is there that tragedy in comedy as a genre, is being given its definite form, always in a religious frame.
A theatre for the ancient Athenians was not only entertainment, but it was the best way to teach the society the stories of the gods, the heroes, the kings, their past, the values of life, and how to become and act as citizens.
Monique Skidmore: So this little theatre down the slope of the Acropolis was, in fact, the birthplace of Western theatre.
Danae Kousouras: Exactly.
Conclusion (17:51)
Monique Skidmore: So there you have it, a quick dip into the lives of the gods and goddesses of Athens, a look at what those ancient playwrights got up to in the theatre of Dionysus, and some great tips about your next trip to the Acropolis of Athens. I’d like to thank the wonderful and knowledgeable storyteller and tour guide, Danae Kousouris, from Alternative Athens.
Stephen Parker: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Take Me to Europe podcast. Hop onto our website, takemetoeuropetours.com and sign up to our newsletter to learn more about Europe’s hidden and most exciting destinations, and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast series.
