Acropolis

The rocky citadel crowned by the Parthenon — the most important ancient site in the western world

The Acropolis is a rocky limestone hill rising 156 metres above the city, and the buildings on its summit are among the most influential ever constructed. The Parthenon (447–432 BC) dominates — a Doric temple of extraordinary mathematical precision, built in honour of Athena and once containing a 12-metre gold-and-ivory statue of the goddess. Alongside it, the Erechtheion carries its famous porch of six caryatid figures (one is a copy; the originals are in the Acropolis Museum below). The small Temple of Athena Nike guards the entrance ramp.

Arrive at opening time — 8am in summer — to get ahead of the cruise-ship groups. The ticket covers all the sites of the unified Acropolis area: the Theatre of Dionysus and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on the southern slope are included. A combined ticket also covers the Ancient Agora, Kerameikos, and several other sites and is valid for five days.

Wear proper footwear. The marble on the summit is extraordinarily slippery when wet and difficult even when dry.

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A story
The Parthenon spent most of its history as something other than a ruin. After serving as a temple to Athena for nearly a thousand years, it was converted to a Christian church in the 6th century AD, then to a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1458. In 1687, during a war between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, a Venetian shell struck the powder magazine the Ottomans had stored inside the building. The explosion blew out the entire centre of the structure and killed hundreds of people sheltering inside. The ruin we see today was created in a single afternoon.