The Acropolis: Topography, Architecture and Sculpture

A sacred landscape and a statement about Athens

The Acropolis was Athens’ elevated rocky stronghold and a major centre of worship. Its buildings and sculpture help explain how religion, artistic achievement and civic pride were connected in Athens during the age of Pericles, 462–429 BC. Honouring Athena, the city’s patron goddess, also advertised the importance of the city she protected.

The Persians had burned the Acropolis during Xerxes’ invasion. Pericles’ later building programme transformed this damaged sacred landscape. Work on the Parthenon began in 447 BC. Plutarch names Pheidias as the programme’s supervisor and Callicrates and Ictinus as the Parthenon’s architects. His praise for the buildings’ beauty and rapid construction shows their lasting reputation, although his admiring account should not be mistaken for a neutral assessment of every project.

The archaeological evidence comes in different forms. The friezes preserve ancient carved reliefs; the Athena sculpture is a later Roman copy; the west pediment is shown through a reconstruction; and the map is a modern plan. Each can answer different questions.

Reading the prescribed Acropolis map

Examine ‘Buildings on the Acropolis’, page 46, in the OCR prescribed sources booklet. Use its north arrow and its own numbered key: north is towards the top, and the principal entrance is on the west, or left, side.

A useful way to read the plan is to follow an approach through the Propylaea (4). This monumental gateway separated the entrance from the sacred precinct. The Temple of Athena Nike (5) lies just south of it. Beyond the gateway stands the bronze statue of Athena Promachos (3), while the large Parthenon (1) occupies the southern part of the summit. Athena therefore appeared in several forms: associated with victory as Nike, fighting in the front line as Promachos, and as the Virgin in the Parthenon.

The following groups make the remaining labels easier to understand:

These relationships matter. The theatre and sanctuary connect dramatic performance with the worship of Dionysus. The Odeon hosted musical competitions during the Panathenaic festival, linking cultural competition with religious celebration. Architecture did not simply provide impressive scenery: it created spaces for worship and performance.

The map is not a snapshot of one year. It brings together buildings from different stages of the site’s development. Many projects were unfinished when Pericles died in 429 BC, and the start of work on the Erechtheion is uncertain. Its presence on the plan does not prove that Pericles saw it completed. The plan also has no scale, so it supports relative positions rather than precise distance measurements.

Athena Parthenos: reading a Roman copy

The prescribed sculpture is the Varvakeion Athena, a small Roman marble replica of Pheidias’ Athena Parthenos, dating to the first half of the third century AD. The original stood inside the Parthenon and was made from gold and ivory, not marble.

(opens the full-size image in a new tab)

Start with what is visible. Athena stands upright in a long garment with carefully carved folds. She wears an elaborate helmet and an aegis across her upper body. In her right hand—on the viewer’s left—she holds a small winged figure of Nike. A shield stands beside her left side, with a snake visible behind it. These details combine divine authority with protection and victory: Athena is not presented simply as a peaceful goddess, but as a powerful guardian of Athens.

Pausanias’ description of the original adds evidence that the photograph alone cannot supply. He describes gold and ivory, Medusa’s head on Athena’s breast, a spear, Nike, a shield and a snake. He suggests that the snake may represent Erichthonios. That identification is a suggestion, not a certainty. His account helps interpret the sculpture, but a feature mentioned in writing should not automatically be claimed as clearly visible in the copy.

The copy is valuable because it preserves the broad arrangement and attributes of a lost statue. However, it was produced centuries later, at a much smaller scale and in different material. It cannot reproduce the original’s golden appearance or its impact inside the Parthenon. The original’s precious materials nevertheless indicate the resources Athens devoted to honouring its patron goddess.

It is also important to distinguish Athena Parthenos from Athena Polias. The ancient wooden image of Athena Polias, housed in the Erechtheion, had particular religious authority. The peplos offered at the Panathenaia belonged to this older image, not to Pheidias’ gold-and-ivory statue.

East V 31–35: the peplos scene

Examine ‘Parthenon frieze: Peplos scene, East V 31–35’, page 53, in the prescribed booklet. A frieze is a continuous sculptured band; this one encircled the Parthenon’s inner building. Its usual interpretation is an idealised version of the Panathenaic procession, held in Athena’s honour.

The prescribed section contains five figures. On the left, two smaller figures carry objects above their heads, interpreted as stools. A woman turns towards them. On the right, an adult and a smaller figure handle a folded cloth, usually identified as Athena’s peplos. The different directions in which the figures turn organise the scene into two related activities rather than a simple row of people.

The woman is commonly interpreted as Athena’s priestess and the adult handling the cloth as the archon-basileus, a religious official. These identifications are interpretations: the relief does not label its figures, and aspects of the scene remain debated.

The peplos scene stood centrally above the east doorway, with Olympian gods arranged to either side in the wider frieze. This prominent position made an offering to Athena a focal point of the building’s decoration. It connects skilled textile work, religious service and the identity of the city. It also provides evidence for female participation in religion, without demonstrating that women had equal political rights.

South XLV 137–140: cattle led to sacrifice

Examine ‘Parthenon frieze: Cattle led to sacrifice, South XLV 137–140’, page 54, in the prescribed booklet.

Here, cattle appear among their human attendants. Look at the animals’ heads, the handlers’ arms and the overlapping bodies. The arrangement conveys the practical work of bringing animals into a religious procession. Despite damage to the relief, the relationship between people and cattle remains recognisable.

The scene connects the Panathenaia with animal sacrifice. Together, the two prescribed frieze sections show different ways of honouring Athena: offering a garment and bringing animals for sacrifice. They represent coordinated communal worship rather than isolated acts of private devotion.

Their value lies in showing what Athens chose to celebrate on a major sacred building. Their limitation follows from that same purpose: an idealised artistic procession is not a photograph of a particular festival. It cannot establish exact participant numbers, the full sequence of events or whether everyone felt equally included.

The west pediment: Athena and Poseidon

Examine both the complete reconstruction and its central close-up under ‘Reconstruction of the Parthenon West Pediment’, page 52, in the prescribed booklet. A pediment is the triangular space beneath a temple’s sloping roof, unlike the continuous band of a frieze.

At the centre, helmeted Athena and Poseidon, holding his trident, move apart in dramatic poses. An olive tree stands between them. Rearing horses and chariots flank the central pair. Across the wider composition, standing figures give way to seated and reclining figures towards the ends, allowing the sculpture to fit the decreasing height of the triangular space.

The subject is the contest between Athena and Poseidon for the patronage of Athens, also identified by Pausanias. The olive tree connects the scene with Athena’s claim to the city. Displaying this myth on the Parthenon explained Athens’ special relationship with its patron goddess while acknowledging Poseidon’s place in its sacred traditions.

The reconstruction makes the likely overall composition intelligible, but it is not an intact ancient pediment. Restored poses, attributes and placements must not all be treated as securely surviving evidence. Pausanias independently supports the subject of the contest; that does not verify every reconstructed detail.

Connecting place, image and interpretation

These sources reinforce one another. The map locates spaces devoted to Athena, Dionysus and other deities. The statue presents Athena as a magnificent protector associated with victory. The friezes connect her worship with communal offerings and sacrifice. The west pediment links her to the city’s mythical origins.

Together, they support an interpretation of the Acropolis as both a sacred centre and a display of Athenian achievement. They are less able to reveal ordinary people’s private reactions, the costs of construction or opposition to Pericles. Those questions require other kinds of evidence.