Acropolis [antikvár]

THE ACROPOLIS A rocky hill rises from the Attic plain, from the heart of the city of Athens; it is the " Acropolis ", of all hill-top citadels surely the most famous. The extraordinary attraction this hill exerts on men is to be accounted for by its harmonious beauly and its wealth - still great in spite of past ravages - of monuments of inestimable cultural valu e, but no less by the recollection that this hill was rendered sacred by its choice as the privileged site of the temples and much venerated sanctuaries of the gods, especially of Athene, divine protectress of the city, and, last but by no means least, by the incomparable panoramic view of city, surrounding countryside and sea which the visitor enjoys from its crown. If we direct our gazé full circle, we catch the blue shimmer of the waters of the Saronic Gulf to the south, and the distant glisten of mountains: Mt. Hymettus to the east, Mt Parnes to the north and, between these and to the west, Mt. Pentelicus and Mt. Aegaleos. These mountains are already familiar to us from the writings of early Attic authors. But what the Attic masters of this early period produced in works of architecture and plastic art, all this was subject to the transforming impact of time. Was all this swept aside with the end of the era? One thing is certain: when there is talk of the headsprings of European, indeed of humán culture in generál, then that source which gushed forth in ancient Greece must always be lauded as being among those that have never run dry. Athens acted as the great catchment point which fed this stream most generously: as centre of science and philosophy, queen of drama, and home of the fine arts. The most venerable witness to the artistic creativeness of ancient Athens is its proud citadel, the Acropolis. 3