My trip in Greece

Materie:	Appunti
Categoria:	Lingue
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Data:	26.09.2001
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About one month ago I went to Greece with my school frieends .
It was so interesting , because I could see a different cultureand also I met very kind people too.
In my life I have been every where;in France,England,Germany,Argentina
Paraguay,Austria,Brazil ,and everywhere in Italy, but I had never seen
Greece,specially Athenes that I liked verymuch.
Now,in this text, I will try to describe some monuments that I saw in Greece:

Attica

Attica where ancient Athens developed and achieved such great things , is a
charismatic and unique site , a blessed place.
At though the geographical position this place had an amazing development , as
far as art, sciences and philosophy, are concerned.
The peninsula ends to the south at cape Sounio. There we can admire the ruins of
the Poseidon temple.
Since ancient times due to the unique position of Attica in the Eastern
Mediterranean it was necessary to have a large harbor there, such as the Athenians
had at Piraeus, which is still the largest one in the country and which facilitates
communications in the area.
In and around the Attic basin there are areas whose history and beauty are equal
to Athens itself .Leaving the capital to the east we can see beautifull suburbs
and important archaeological sites and commercial centers (Marathon ,Rafina).

The Acropolis

The rock of the Acropolis rises up in the middle of the Athenian basin, 156 m,
above sea level , with a length of 300m. and a width of 150 m. Its position is of
particular strategic importance because of the view it affords of all the surrounding
area, and down to the sea. This is the reason it was inhabited even during the
prehistoric period.
The Palasgians, the first inhabitants of Athens , fortified this rock with walls made
of enormous slabs 6 m. wide.The cyclopean walls protected the king's palace and
the houses of his officers. During the early historical period a temple dedicated to
Poseidon, the god of the sea , and Athena, the goddess of wisdom, was erected on
the site of the old palace. The temple was destroyed twice and rebuilt both times.
In the 6th century B.C. it was decorated with marvellous works of sculpture.
The monuments we see today are works from the Classical period. It is thought that
they were erected by Pericles during the period 447-406 B.C. and reflect a single
plan.
There is also Phidias who was a sculptor but had far greater influence.
Acropolis monuments contain the most representative examples of the
astonishing Attican architecture of the Classical period.

The Parthenon : During the period 495-480 B.C. the Athenians began to build, on
the site of the present-day Parthenon, a marble six-columned Doric temple which
was never completed. Its sterobate and its foundation and a section of its upper
structure were later incorporated by Pericles into the the Parthenon.
Persians destroyed in 480 B.C. this half completed work and the
Athenians abandoned the idea of rebuilding the temple , until Pericles appeared in
the political arena and promoted the grandeur of Athens.
So at the highest point of the Sacred Rock the Athenians erected one of the most
perfect creations of the human spirit, a symbol of classical beauty and perhaps the
supreme achievement of ancient Greek architecture.
The erection began in 447 B.C. and the inauguration was held in 438 B.C. during
the celebration of the Panathenaic Games. The sculptural decoration of the
building would be completed in 432 B.C.Iktinos and Kallikrates are known as the
architects.The decoration program and the general supervision of the structural
work was handled by Phidias.

The Temple of Athena Nike.

This is a small ,elegant Ionian monument built on a bastion on the Southwest side
of the Rock of the Acropolis.The temple must have been built between 427-424
B.C. and Kallikrates is mentioned as its architect.
The religious statue of the Nike, with its cut-off wings, was housed in the nave ,
which was fashioned into a crypt by three steps.That is why Pausanias said in the
2nd century A.D. that the temple was dedicated to the Wingless Victoty (Nike =
Victory)

The Erechtheion.

The Erechtheion wich is the second large temple on the Acropolis, was erected
Later North of the Parthenon
Its construction started in 421 B.C., was halted for the Sicilian Campaign and was
completed between 409-405 B.C. Its architect is unknown even though many have
maintained it was Mnisiklis.
It was a pillared building , internally divided by a transverse wall into two
parts.The west side of the building was not enclosed by a wall but had five
openings separated by railings with four intermediary Ionic columns which during
the Roman period were converted into windows.
To the south was the Porch of the Caraytids which was built on the tomb of
Kekrops, with six kores statues which rest on the high continuous base and
gracefully support the entablature, of an Asian type, and the marble roof.
Five of the statues , which today have been replaced by plaster casts, are now
in the Acropolis Museum and there is one also at the British Museum of Lon=
don..