What to See at the Acropolis of Athens: List of Temples and Buildings to Visit

Are you about to visit the Acropolis of Athens and want to know what are all the temples and attractions to visit?

In this article I will list all the major buildings and archaeological finds you will find within the site, those that have come down to us (such as the Parthenon) and those of which only the remains unfortunately remain, but which we can imagine thanks to the accounts of writers of the time including Vitruvius, Plutarch and Pausanias.

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The temples and buildings of the Acropolis of Athens

As you enter the Acropolis you will have before you a very varied set of views, as the architecture and the statue of Athena were arranged variously and not according to axes of symmetry or geometric relationships.

This choice was adopted in order to bring the buildings to life and make the most of them.

Although Athena is by far the most attested deity, nevertheless numerous other divine and heroic figures appear on the Athenian rock, and, more often than not, the scenes with mythical subjects appear closely connected to the cults of which attestations are known, making it possible to identify iconographically, as well as topographically, other personalities of the pantheon who on the Acropolis or on the immediate slopes are the object of devotion in special shrines: Apollo, Dionysus, Eros, Zeus, Aphrodite.

• The Propylaea
• The Parthenon
• The Temple of Athena Nike
• The Erechtheion
• The Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus
• The Shrine of Artemis Brauronia
• The Sanctuary of Pandion
• Odeum of Herod Atticus
• Shrine of Aphrodite Pandemos and Demeter
• Calcoteca
• Pandroseion
• Arrephorion
• Stoa of Attalus
• Stoa of Eumene
• Sanctuary of Asclepius
• Sanctuary of Dionysus
• Odeum of Pericles
• Sanctuary of Dionysus
• Sanctuary of Aphrodite and Eros
• Cave of Aglaurus
• Thission This small temple dedicated to the god Hephaestus dates back to 449 BC. The name derives from the presence of a frieze dedicated to the exploits of Theseus, after whom the temple was originally named.

The Propylaea of the Acropolis of Athens

Access to the Acropolis is through the monumental complex of the Propylaea, built between 437 and 432 BC.

Prior to their construction to access the sacred area one had to overcome one of the sharp difference in height between the end of the steep ramp to the Acropolis and the level of the esplanade, so it was under the direction of the architect Mnesicles that the volume of the Propylaea was built, the name literally means“at the gates,” it is a building body in which the Doric and Ionic orders interpenetrate, the former visible on the facades of the exterior elevations, while the latter is used inside.

The complex, which included two square halls behind the side wings of the eastern Doric portico and two larger ones facing the esplanade, was never finished because of opposition from supporters of the more ancient cults practiced on the acropolis rock, whose spaces were being eroded by Mnesicles’ design.

Only the central body and the two side wings were therefore built, the former to the north housing the Picture Gallery, while the south wing consists of a portico, the columns of which were placed at a distance to allow the transit of the Panathenaean procession.

The Parthenon in Athens

The Parthenon in Athens, built between 447 and 432 B.C., is the best-known monument on the Acropolis.

It was built by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates, while Phidias was its great and principal sculptor.

It is an octastyle and peripteral temple, surrounded by magnificent columns of Doric order. The pediments were adorned with admirable sculptures by Phidias, relating the birth of Athena and her struggle against Poseidon.

The interior space was thought to consist of two noncommunicating rooms: a smaller one of nearly square shape called the Parthenon (room of the virgin) and a larger one called the naos, rectangular in plan, which contained the precious gold and ivory statue of Athena created by Phidias.

The naos room was preceded by two porticoed rooms, the pronaos and opisthodomos.

The building is also famous for its sculptural decoration, which includes the metopes of the Doric frieze, the pediments with colossal figures, and the frieze 160 meters long and about one meter high, which wrapped around the entire perimeter of the cella. The frieze houses thousands of figures, in high and low relief and in the round.

The Temple of Athena Nike

Dating from 427 B.C., the temple of Athena Nike designed by Callicrates stands on the southwestern spur of the Acropolis, near the Propylaea I will tell you about later.

It is a small, extremely refined, amphiprostyle, tetrastyle temple of Ionic order, with a marvelous frieze.

The Erechtheion

TheErechtheion, dating from 421 – 405 B.C., is the monument of the most varied and unusual forms, far from the canonical type of the Greek temple. It consists of three bodies of buildings, all of which, however, are completely different from each other and not bound by laws of symmetry.

This temple stands on two different levels, connected essentially by a flight of steps north of the western portico.

The upper level in the eastern part of the main body was for the worship of Athena Polias, flanked by the loggia of the caryatids, while the western part, rising on a lower elevation of about three meters, was dedicated to the worship of Erechtheus, the sixth king of Athens in Greek mythology. The latter consisted of a vestibule and two adjacent rooms: the north portico and the enclosure in which the sacred olive tree of Athens grew.

Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus

Among the buildings of the Acropolis of Athens, we definitely find the sanctuary of Zeus Polieus (”Zeus protector of the city”), built during the Archaic period, and of which only the remains of the foundations remain.

The building, located east of the Erechtheion, consisted of a small enclosure of trapezoidal plan that guarded a small temple and two courtyards, probably used as stables for oxen intended for sacrifices.

Temple of Athena Polias

As you place yourself between the Parthenon and the Erechtheion you will notice the presence of some ruins. These are the foundations of theancient temple of Athena Polias dating back to the 6th century BC.

The goddess Athena was the patroness of the city of Athens and represented for the ancient Greeks wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice in times of peace and war, mathematics, strength, strategy, arts and crafts.

The temple, which was destroyed and rebuilt several times, was Doric in order (with six columns on the short side and 12 on the long side) and had a marble pediment.

It was oriented according to the west-east axis and its sides measured 21.3 and 43.15 o.

The foundations, which are still visible today, are composed of various materials and built in different techniques, making it difficult to reconstruct the architectural history of the building.

In 480 B.C.E. it was decided to replace it with the Erechtheion although several sculptures, preserved at the Acropolis Museum’s intent and depicting scenes from Greek mythology, have come down through the centuries to us.

Shrine of Artemis Brauronia

This shrine stood in the southwest wing of the Acropolis, and was dedicated to the goddess Artemis Brauroneion, protector of women in pregnancy and childbirth. Processions in her honor were held every four years.

The shape, trapezoidal, did not contain an actual temple, but a portico with three rectangular wings, in the center of the structure stood the altar of the goddess.

What remains are the seven steps that gave access to the sacred enclosure, dating from 430 BCE.

Sanctuary of Pandion

This sanctuary was located at the terminal part of the sacred street of the Acropolis. It is a heroon, that is, a sacred place dedicated to heroes, in this case the king of Athens Pandion.

It consisted of two buildings separated by a wall, the temple proper to the west, and ergastèrion to the east; this second room served as a workshop for the craftsmen who worked at the Acropolis. It was accessed through a propylaeum entrance, that is, a covered portico, on its west side.

The remains of the sanctuary were discovered during excavations for the construction of the Acropolis Museum in 2007.

Odeo of Herod Atticus

The term òdeion refers to small covered buildings in which plays, poetry and singing performances were held.

On the slope east of the Acropolis was one such amphitheater, still preserved today, dedicated to the Athenian philosopher and politician Herod Atticus, dating from 174 BCE.

It was a building that the philosopher had built in memory of his consort Regilla. Construction continued for about ten years, and the philosopher Pausanias described it in 174.

as you approach the building you will notice that there are carvings on some of the bricks bearing the initials ΘHΡ, possibly meaning ”Theater of Herod and Regilla.”

The theater suffered extensive damage in 267, following the invasion of the Herulians.

In the 1950s following a restoration project the auditorium and orchestra (the present stage) were upgraded. Since then the theater has always been a major auditorium of the famous Athens and Epidaurus Festival, which has been held annually since June.

The event features a wide range of events, including plays, concerts, ballets, operas, comedies, and ancient tragedies, and is famous for hosting the likes of Maria Callas, Jonas Kaufmann, Maurice Béjart, Mikīs Theodōrakīs, Dionysis Savvopoulos, and Maria Dragoni.

Sanctuaries of Aphrodite Pandemos and Demeter

These two shrines date from the earliest monumental phases of the Acropolis, in the 4th century BC.

To the temple of Aphrodite Pandemos belongs a frieze discovered in this vicinity and preserved inside the Acropolis Museum: there are carved doves holding a necklace with their beaks.

Calcoteca

This room served as storage for weapons, bronzes, ship rostrums, furniture, and sacred offerings. The word Chalkotheke in Greek means ”bronze store.” We know from an inscription dating back to the 4th century that the objects stored inside were objects of a census, and the list was engraved on a stele in front of the building.

Today the limestone foundations of the calcotheque remain, but we know that the building, which stood on the east side of the Acropolis, was rectangular in shape, 14 m by 43 m in length, and had a portico to the north, added later.

Thission

This small temple dedicated to the god Hephaestus dates back to 449 BC. The name comes from the presence of a frieze dedicated to the exploits of Theseus, after whom historians initially named the temple.

It is a temple dedicated to the god Hephaestus, also called Hephaisteion, and represents one of the best-preserved Doric temples of classical antiquity.

It is a peripteral, hexastyle temple with thirteen columns on the major sides, 39.44 m long and 16.90 m wide.

The cella is distila in antis, with the pronaos deeper than theopisthodomos. Inside, the cella once had a double interior colonnade running on the two long sides and at the bottom, serving as a stage backdrop for the group of two cult statues of Athena and Hephaestus executed by Alkamenes between 421 and 415, as evidenced by epigraphic accounts of the expenses for the making of the group in bronze, on a base of Eleusinian limestone and marble reliefs.

Pandroseion

This building was located northeast of the Erechtheion, and housed the small shrine of Pandrosus, one of the daughters of Cecrope, goddess of dew.

Inside was preserved the olive tree sacred to Athena, which legend has it was reborn in a single night after the destruction of the Persian army. The sanctuary also housed thealtar of Zeus.

Arrephorion

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This building located on the northern part of the Acropolis complex served as the quarters for the arrefore, the 4 aristocratic-class youths, aged between seven and eleven, who were to weave the peplos each year for processions in honor of the goddess Athena. Two other young girls were instead given the task of carrying the goddess’s sacred vessels in the procession.

This building consisted of a single hall measuring 4.50 by 4.50 m and was preceded by a portico; at the back it had a courtyard and a staircase, which through underground passages connected it to the temple of Aphrodite.

Only the remains of the high poros block foundation survive of the building today, but it is clear that the building included a square hall and a peribolos.

The identification of the building with the Arrephorion is supported by the existence of a staircase within the northern fortification wall that led to a lower level outside the acropolis; in fact, ancient sources relate that the “descent of the Arrephoroi” was part of the ritual of the Arrephorie festival.

Stoá of Eumene

A stoá means a covered portico for public use; in the Acropolis there was one named after Eumene, its builder, who built it between the Odeo of Herod Atticus and the Theater of Dionysus.

It was built leaning against a retaining wall on the slopes of the hill, was on two levels and consisted of a single double-aisled hall with Doric columns in the outer part and Ionic columns in the inner upper order and chalice capitals in the upper floor.

What you can see today is a reconstruction, built in the 1950s by the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, which now houses the Agora Museum.

Stoá of Attalus

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Attalus’s, was a stoa’ with a portico with two rows of columns, a full 116.5 m long, named after the King of Pergamum who made a gift of it in 140 BC.

The upper floor housed workshops and was accessible by two side staircases.

Sanctuary of Asclepius

This shrine, dedicated to Asclepius, the god of medicine, also served as a shelter for the sick.

It consisted of a square enclosure inside which was the temple and a portico of Doric order with a double nave. About fifty meters long. Overlooking this portico was a cave equipped with a spring to which healing powers were attributed.

During the early Christian era the sanctuary was readapted and transformed into a basilica.

Theater of Dionysus

This grand theater, rediscovered in the late 19th century, was built to host celebrations in honor of Dionysus, the goddess of wine, agriculture, and the theater.

This building hosted theatrical performancessuch as the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides or the comedies of Aristophanes.

The structure that has come down to us dates largely from Roman times, but scholars have identified as many as nine different construction phases there.

the theater was rebuilt in the fourth century B.C. and could seat up to 17. 000 people arranged in 64 rows , of which only 20 have come down to the present day intact.

Odeum of Pericles

This covered theater was erected by Pericles to host the musical competitions held during the Panathenaean celebrations. Unfortunately, only the foundations survive today, but we know thanks to Plutarch and Vitruvius that unlike the classical semicircular shape that was adopted for theaters, this one had a square shape.

From the records that have come down to us we know that the theater was probably inspired by a Persian tent, with a grandiose roof, supported by as many as nine rows of ten inner pillars, totaling 90, and made from the wood of warships captured during the wars against the empire of Xerxes.

The building inside housed the stage for the musicians, a space for the orchestra choir, and service rooms.

The Odeum was burned down during the wars against the Romans, in 87 BC, during the siege of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. It was later rebuilt by the ruler of Cappadocia, Ariobarzane II, a great admirer of Greek culture.

Sanctuary of Dionysus

Also dating to the same years as Pericles’ odeum is the second, more recent, temple within the sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus, a Doric tetrastyle building in which was housed the chrysoelephantine statue of the god by Alcamenes and the stoa that, to the north, closes the sanctuary. The sanctuary was surrounded by a polygonal wall.

Cave of Aglaurus

The shrine of Aglaurus, the daughter of Cecrope, mythical first king of Attica, was a place of worship located on the slopes of the Acropolis in Athens.

It was a small shrine dedicated to Aglaurus, the location of which has not yet been established with certainty, however, in 1980 an ancient stele was found on the eastern slope below a cave, dedicated by the Athenians to a priestess of Aglaurus with inscriptions dating back to the 3rd century BCE; it gave grounds for the thesis that and Aglaureion must have been on the eastern slope.

The Acropolis Museum

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The Acropolis Museum is located about a hundred meters from the Parthenon, in the Athenian neighborhood of Makryianni, among several archaeological sites including ruins from the fifth century A.D. preserved inside the building and visible through the glass floor of the second floor.

It is a modern building, opened in 2009, which houses about 8,000 square meters of artifacts, mostly sculptural. From the Neolithic to Late Antiquity, the museum traces the history of the Acropolis: from the sculptural apparatus to the architectural and decorative features of its buildings.

On the third floor is the famousroom dedicated to the Parthenon in which the original sculptures and frieze are displayed, some of which were brought back to Greece from England after being plundered by Earl Thomas Bruce of Elgin.

Inside the museum you can also find a café, restaurant and gift store.

All the monuments of the Acropolis: summary

Monument	Present state	Historical period
The Propylaea	Preserved	437 – 432 BC
The Parthenon	Preserved	445 – 438 BC
The temple of Athena Nike	Preserved	424 – 420 b.c,
The Erechtheion	Preserved	421 – 405 b.c
The Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus	Archaeological finds of notches in the ground to establish foundations.	Early decades 6th century BC.
The Temple of Athena Polias	Remains of the foundations	6th century BC
The Shrine of Artemis Brauronia	Archaeological finds	5th century B.C.
The Sanctuary of Pandion	Archaeological finds	430 BC
Theater of Dionysus	Preserved	4th century b.c.e.
Odeum of Herod Atticus	Preserved	174 b.c.e
Sanctuary of Aphrodite Pandemos and Demeter	Archaeological remains	4th century BC.
Calcoteca	Remains of the foundations	5th century bc.
Pandroseion	Archaeological remains	421 BC
Arrephorion	Remains of the foundations	470 BC.
Stoa of Attalus	Archaeological remains	140 B.C
Stoa of Eumene	archaeological remains	2nd century bc.
Sanctuary of Asclepius	Archaeological remains	44 BC. – 14 AD.
Sanctuary of Dionysus	Archaeological remains	435 BC ca.
Odeum of Pericles	Archaeological remains	435 BC ca.
Sanctuary of Aphrodite and Eros	Archaeological remains	mid-5th century bc
Cave of Aglaurus	Archaeological remains of a stele	3rd century B.C.
The Thission	Preserved	449 BC

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusions

Here we come to the conclusion of this article, in which I have listed for you the main temples and monuments of the Acropolis of Athens.

We have seen the main attractions (such as the Parthenon and the Erechtheion), and some of secondary, but no less important, interest.

If you have any doubts or questions, please leave a comment below. I will be happy to answer them!