The first fortifications on a rocky spur measuring 300 m by 130 m, rising on the outskirts of Athens, appeared long before the onset of the classical period. Already in archaic times, majestic temples, sculptures, and various religious objects were located here. The Acropolis is also called in honor of Kekrops, who, according to legend, was the first king of Athens and the founder of the Acropolis.
During the Mycenaean period (XV-XIII centuries BC), the Acropolis was a fortified royal residence. In the VII-VI centuries. BC e. There was a lot of construction going on here. Under the tyrant Peisistratus (560-527 BC), the temple of the goddess Athena Hekatompedon was built on the site of the royal palace. In 480 BC. e. During the Greco-Persian wars, the temples of the Acropolis were destroyed by the Persians. The inhabitants of Athens swore an oath to restore the shrines only after the expulsion of enemies from Hellas.
In 447 BC. e. on the initiative of Pericles, new construction began on the Acropolis; the management of all the work was entrusted to the famous sculptor Phidias, who, apparently, was the author of the project that formed the basis of the entire complex, its architectural and sculptural appearance. The architects Callicrates, Ictinus, Mnesicles, Archilochus and others also worked on the creation of the ensemble of the Acropolis.
In the 5th century, the Parthenon became the Church of Our Lady, and the statue of Athena Parthenos was transported to Constantinople. After the conquest of Greece by the Turks, the temple was turned into a mosque, to which minarets were added, and then into an arsenal; The Erechtheion became the harem of the Turkish pasha, the temple of Nike Apteros was dismantled, and the bastion wall was built from its blocks. During the siege of the Acropolis in 1687, after being hit by a Venetian mortar cannonball, the explosion destroyed almost the entire central part of the Parthenon, as it contained a Turkish ammunition depot. When the Venetians unsuccessfully attempted to remove the sculptures from the temple, several statues were broken. At the beginning of the 19th century, Lord Elgin tore out a number of metopes, tens of meters of frieze and almost all the surviving sculptures of the Parthenon pediments, and a caryatid from the portico of the Erechtheion.
In 1827, during the defense of the Acropolis by Greek rebels, the Erechtheion temple was badly damaged by a Turkish cannonball. Previous attempts by the Turks to blow up the Acropolis using underground mines were thwarted by the Greek sapper Kostas Hormovitis, whose name is given to one of the central streets.