LIFELONG LIVING PROGRAMME-COMENIUS
MULTILATERAL SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS
Project name:
Project number:
WHERE DO CULTURES MEET?
2011-TRI-COM06-24248
Project meeting at 5th Lyceum of Nea Smirni
Mini Travel Guide
Athens-Nafplio
Athens
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens
dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest
cities, with its recorded history spanning around 3,400 years.
Classical Athens was a powerful city-state. A centre for the arts,
learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and
Aristotle's Lyceum it is widely referred to as the cradle of
Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy largely
due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements
during the 5th and 4th centuries BC in later centuries on the
rest of the then known European continent. Today a
cosmopolitan metropolis, modern Athens is central to
economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in
Greece. In 2008, Athens was ranked the world's 32nd richest
city by purchasing powerand the 25th most expensive in a UBS
study. The city of Athens has a population of 4,013,368 Athens
is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland.
An etiological myth explaining how Athens acquired this name
was well known among ancient Athenians and even became
the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the
Parthenon. Both Athena and Poseidon requested that they
become patrons of the city and give their name to it, so they
competed with one another for the honour, offering the city
one gift each. Poseidon produced a salt water spring by striking
the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However,
some myths suggest that he created horses out of sea foam as
a gift for Athens. Athena created the olive tree, symbolizing
peace and prosperity. The Athenians, under their ruler Cecrops,
accepted the olive tree and named the city after Athena.
Athens sprawls across the central plain of Attica that is often
referred to as the Athens or Attica Basin (Greek: Λεκανοπέδιο
Αττικής). The basin is bounded by four large mountains: Mount
Aegaleo to the west, Mount Parnitha to the north, Mount
Penteli to the northeast and Mount Hymettus to the east.[21]
Beyond Mount Aegaleo lies the Thriasian plain, which forms an
extension of the central plain to the west. The Saronic Gulf lies
to the southwest. Mount Parnitha is the tallest of the four
mountains , and has been declared a national park.
Athens is built around a number of hills. Lycabettus is one of
the tallest hills of the city proper and provides a view of the
entire Attica Basin. The geomorphology of Athens is deemed to
be one of the most complex in the world due to its mountains
causing a temperature inversion phenomenon which, along
with the Greek Government's difficulties controlling industrial
pollution, was responsible for the air pollution problems the
city has faced. This issue is not characteristic of Athens alone;
for instance, Los Angeles and Mexico City also suffer from
similar geomorphology inversion problems.
Acropolis
The Acropolis of Athens is an
ancient citadel located on a high
rocky outcrop above the city of
Athens and containing the
remains of several ancient
buildings of great architectural
and historic significance, the
most famous being the
Parthenon. Acropolis means
"high city" in Greek. Although there are many other acropoleis
in Greece, the significance of the Acropolis of Athens is such
that it is commonly known as "The Acropolis" without
qualification. The Acropolis was formally proclaimed as the
preeminent monument on the European Cultural Heritage list
of monuments on 26 March 2007.
Parthenon
The Parthenon is a temple on the
Athenian Acropolis, Greece,
dedicated to the maiden goddess
Athena, whom the people of Athens
considered their patron. Its
construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at
the height of its power.
East pediment
The east pediment narrates the birth
of Athena from the head of her father,
Zeus. According to Greek mythology,
Zeus gave birth to Athena after a
terrible headache prompted him to
summon Hephaestus' (the god of fire
and the forge) assistance. To alleviate
the pain, he ordered Hephaestus to strike him with his forging
hammer, and when he did, Zeus's head split open and out
popped the goddess Athena in full armour. The sculptural
arrangement depicts the moment of Athena's birth.
Unfortunately, the centrepieces of the pediment were
destroyed even before Jacques Carrey created otherwise useful
documentary drawings in 1674, so all reconstructions are
subject to conjecture and speculation. The main Olympian gods
must have stood around Zeus and Athena watching the
wondrous event, with Hephaestus and Hera probably near
them. The Carrey drawings are instrumental in reconstructing
the sculptural arrangement beyond the center figures to the
north and south.
West pediment
The west pediment faced the Propylaia and depicted the
contest between Athena and Poseidon during their competition
for the honor of becoming the city's patron. Athena and
Poseidon appear at the center of the composition, diverging
from one another in strong diagonal forms, with the goddess
holding the olive tree and the god of the sea raising his trident
to strike the earth. At their flanks, they are framed by two
active groups of horses pulling chariots, while a crowd of
legendary personalities from Athenian mythology fills the space
out to the acute corners of the pediment.The work on the
pediments lasted from 438 to 432 BC, and the sculptures of the
Parthenon pediments are some of the finest examples of
classical Greek art. The figures are sculpted in natural
movement with bodies full of vital energy that bursts through
their flesh, as the flesh in turn bursts through their thin
clothing. The thin chitons reveal the body underneath as the
focus of the composition. The
distinction between gods and humans is blurred in the
conceptual interplay between the idealism and naturalism
bestowed on the stone by the sculptors. The pediments no
longer exist.
The Elgin Marbles
The Elgin Marbles are a
collection of classical Greek
marble sculptures (mostly by
Phidias and his assistants),
inscriptions and architectural
members that originally were
part of the Parthenon and other
buildings on the Acropolis of Athens. Thomas Bruce, the 7th
Earl of Elgin obtained a controversial permit from the Ottoman
authorities to remove pieces from the Parthenon while serving
as the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to
1803.
Chryselephantine statue of Athena
The Parthenon’s main function was to provide
shelter for the monumental chryselephantine
(made of gold and ivory) statue of Athena that
was created by Pheidias and dedicated in 438
BCE. The statue stood approximately 9 or 11
meters (around 40 ft.) tall. It has not survived
to our day, but we have enough accounts of its
existence along with a number of smaller
marble copies, including the one on exhibit at
the National Museum of Athens.
Athena stands holding a Nike (Victory) on her right hand that
extends forward from the elbow, as if offering Nike to the
Athenian citizens. With her left hand she supports her shield
which shelters a snake as it rests on the ground, and her lance
that rests on her left shoulder.She is dressed with an Attica
peplos, and on her head she wears a richly decorated helmet
with a sphinx at the apex and two Pegasi on each side. Her
breastplate is adorned with snakes and the head of Medusa at
the center.
The statue was a hollow construction with a wooden armature
that supported the outer surfaces of the golden drapery, and
the ivory flesh of Athena. The statue was situated close to the
south end of the cella and was surrounded by a procession of
double-decked Doric columns on its flanks as well as the back.
The floor of the cella in front of it was a shallow pool of water
or oil, which added further drama to the statue’s context with
its reflective surface.
Mount Lycabettus
Mount Lycabettus, is a Cretaceous
limestone hill in Athens, Greece. At 277
meters above sea level, the hill is the
highest point in the city that surrounds it.
Pine trees cover its base, and at its two
peaks are the 19th century Chapel of St.
George, a theatre, and a restaurant.
Zappeion
The Zappeion is a building in the
National Gardens of Athens in the heart
of Athens, Greece. It is generally used
for meetings and ceremonies, both
official and private.
Ancient Agora
The Ancient Agora of Classical Athens
is the best-known example of an
ancient Greek agora, located to the
northwest of the Acropolis and
bounded on the south by the hill of
the Areopagus and on the west by the hill known as the
Kolonus Agoraios, also called Market Hill.
Propylaea
The monumental gateway to the
Acropolis, the Propylaea was built
under the general direction of the
Athenian leader Pericles, but Phidias
was given the responsibility for
planning the rebuilding the Acropolis
as a whole at the conclusion of the
Persian Wars. According to Plutarch, the Propylaea was
designed by the architect Mnesicles, but we know nothing
more about him. Construction began in 437 BCE and was
terminated in 432, when the building was still unfinished.
Old Temple of Athena Nike
The Temple of Athena Nike is a
temple on the Acropolis of
Athens. Built between 427 and
424 BC, the temple is the
earliest fully Ionic temple on the Acropolis. It has a prominent
position on a steep bastion at the south west corner of the
Acropolis to the right of the entrance, the Propylaea. In
contrast to the Acropolis proper, a walled sanctuary entered
through the Propylaea, the Nike Sanctuary was open, entered
from the Propylaea's southwest wing and from a narrow stair
on the north.
Erechtheion
The Erechtheion is an ancient
Greek temple on the north
side of the Acropolis of
Athens. The temple as seen
today was built between 421
and 406 BC. Its architect may have been Mnesicles, and it
derived its name from a shrine dedicated to the legendary
Greek hero Erichthonius.
Athena Promachos
The Athena Promachos ("Athena
who fights in the front line") was
a colossal bronze statue of
Athena sculpted by Pheidias,
which stood between the
Propylaea and the Parthenon on
the Acropolis of Athens. Athena was the goddess of wisdom
and warriors and the protectress of Athens.
Keramikos
Keramikos is an area of Athens,
Greece, located to the northwest of
the Acropolis, which includes an
extensive area both within and
outside the ancient city walls, on
both sides of the Dipylon. Gate and
by the banks of the Eridanos River. It was the potters' quarter
of the city, from which the English word "ceramic" is derived,
and was also the site of an important cemetery and numerous
funerary sculptures erected along the road out of the city
towards Eleusis.
Panathenaic Stadium
The Panathenaic Stadium also
known as the Kallimarmaro is an
athletic stadium in Athens that
hosted the first modern Olympic
Games in 1896.
Monastiraki
Monastiraki is a flea market
neighborhood in the old town of
Athens, Greece, and is one of the
principal shopping districts in
Athens. The area is home to
clothing boutiques, souvenir shops, and specialty stores, and is
a major tourist attraction in Athens and Attica for bargain
shopping.
Plaka
Pláka is the old historical
neighborhood of Athens, clustered
around the northern and eastern
slopes of the Acropolis, and
incorporating labyrinthine streets and
neoclassical architecture
Hellenic Parliament
The Hellenic Parliament is the
Parliament of Greece, located in the
Parliament House (Old Royal Palace),
overlooking Syntagma Square in
Athens. It is a unicameral legislature of
300 members, elected for a four-year term.
Sounion
Cape Sounion is noted as the site of
ruins of an ancient Greek temple of
Poseidon, the god of the sea in
classical mythology. The remains are
perched on the headland, surrounded
on three sides by the sea. The ruins bear the deeply engraved
name of English Romantic poet Lord Byron. The site is a popular
day-excursion for tourists from Athens, with sunset over the
Aegean Sea, as viewed from the ruins, a sought-after spectacle.
Theatre of Dionysus
The Theatre of Dionysus
Eleuthereus is a major open-air
theatre and roman and one of the
earliest preserved in Athens. It was
used for festivals in honor of the
god Dionysus. It is sometimes
confused with the later and betterpreserved Odeon of Herodes Atticus, located nearby on the
southwest slope of the Acropolis.
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is
a stone theatre structure located
on the south slope of the
Acropolis of Athens. It was built
in 161 AD by the Athenian
magnate Herodes Atticus in
memory of his wife, Aspasia
Annia Regilla. It was originally a
steep-sloped amphitheater with a three-story stone front wall
and a wooden roof made of expensive, cedar of Lebanon
timber. It was used as a venue for music concerts with a
capacity of 5,000.
Thiseio
Thiseio is the name of a
neighborhood in downtown
Athens, Greece, northwest of
the Acropolis, 1.5 km
southwest of downtown, and
1 km southwest of city hall;
its name derives from the
Temple of Hephaestus, also
known as Τhiseio, as it was, in
earlier times, considered a temple of Theseus. The area also
takes in the ancient Agora, Petralona, and Kerameikos, which
includes the Assomaton Square.In Assomaton Square there is
Agioi Assomatoi church.
Nafplio
Nafplio is a seaport town in the
Peloponnese that has expanded
up the hillsides near the north
end of the Argolic Gulf. The
town was the capital of the First
Hellenic Republic, from the start of the Greek Revolution in
1821 until 1834. Nafplio is now the capital of the regional unit
of Argolis.
Bourtzi
The castle of Bourtzi is located in
the middle of the harbour of
Nafplio. The Venetians completed
its fortification in 1473 to protect
the city from pirates and invaders
from the sea. It was then transformed into residence of the
executioners of convicts from the castle of Palamidi.
Palamidi
Palamidi is a fortress to the east
of the Acronauplia in the town of
Nafplio in the Peloponnese
region of southern Greece.
Nestled on the crest of a 216metre high hill, the fortress was
built by the Venetians during
their second occupation of the
area (1686-1715).There are 857 steps in the winding stair from
the town to the fortress. However, to reach the top of the
fortress there are over one thousand. Locals in the town of
Nafplio will say there are 999 steps to the top of the castle, and
specials can be found on menus that incorporate this number
to catch a tourist's eye.
Epidaurus
Epidaurus was a small city in
ancient Greece. The theatre is
marveled for its exceptional
acoustics.
Mycenae
Mycenae is an archaeological
site. In the second millennium
BC Mycenae was one of the
major centres of Greek
civilization, a military stronghold
which dominated much of
southern Greece. The period of Greek history from about 1600
BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to
Mycenae.