Yesterday, Sunday, we visited the Acropolis, which was the religious center of Athens. It is set on top of a hill right in the middle of the city. It is home to the Parthenon (the Temple of Athena), and the Erectheum (the Temple of Poseidon and Athena). There is also a smaller Temple of Athena Nike near the entrance.

This place was huge. It’s obvious why the ancient Athenians chose this sight – from the hill you can see the entire city, and from almost anywhere in the city, you can see the Acropolis. It was awesome seeing the real Parthenon, especially since I’ve seen the Parthenon replica in Nashville several times. The real Parthenon is incredible simply because of the sheer size of it and everything around it. The Athenians held spared no expense in creating this beautiful place of worship and wonder.

We also got to see the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, and the Agora. This is where the day to day life of the Athenians took place. This is where Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle would teach their schools of students. This is where Paul came and started spreading the idea of a God becoming flesh and being murdered at the hands of mortal men and then being resurrected from the dead. This is where he gave his famous and powerful sermon recorded in Acts 17.

We had the opportunity to walk where the great thinkers, philosophers, politicians, poets, generals, and evangelists walked. It would have given me chills had it not been so blazing hot.

2 Comments

  2. In ancient Greece, each city state (Corinth, Thebes, Thesaloniki, etc.) had an acropolis of its own. A city’s acropolis was generally a citadel/fort/outpost built on the highest point of the city to be able to see the enemies approaching. If an enemy was laying siege to the city, the citizens could all go up to the acropolis for defense. When “The Acropolis” was built in Athens, it was originally built as one of these citadels, but after being destroyed by the Persian army, the leaders of Athens decided to rebuild it as the religious center of the city. The officials set out to make The Acropolis the pride of Athens and all of Greece.

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