The Ancient City of Athens

All images ©1995 by Kevin T. Glowacki & Nancy L. Klein 
Department of Classical Studies 
Indiana University, Bloomington, In 47405

©Copyright
All of the images presented here are from the personal slide collection of Kevin T. Glowacki and Nancy L. Klein. You are free to download and use unmodified copies of these images for non-commercial purposes providing that you include a reference to this site and copyright notice. If you use any of these images for presentations or papers, or have any comments or suggestions, we would appreciate hearing from you by email or post. (We especially enjoy email from students & teachers in grade school & high school!)

• Indiana University Bloomington Home Page.
• IU Classical Studies Home Page.
• Archaeological Institute of America, Central Indiana Society Home Page.
• The WWWorld of Archaeology. (From ARCHAEOLOGY Magazine).
• Exploring Ancient World Cultures. ("An exhibition of WWW sites pertaining to ancient world cultures," by Anthony F. Beavers of the University of Evansville and Bill Hemminger.)

Topography & Monuments of Ancient Athens

One of the most important sources for the topography of Athens (in particular) and Greek archaeology (in general) is an eye-witness account written by the traveler Pausanias in the 2nd century A.D. Pausanias spent several years traveling throughout Greece and he recorded many fascinating details about the famous cities, temples, and monuments -- which were already considered ancient even in his own day! Athens was one of the first places he visited on his journey and his description of the city provides us with some invaluable clues about the location, form, decoration, function, and historical significance of many prominent monuments. (It provides us with some problems too, since the evidence from modern archaeological excavation does not always readily agree with what Pausanias records. Is it a matter of physical preservation? Or a problem with our methods of archaeological interpretation? Or could it be that sometimes Pausanias and/or his tour guides got a few of the "facts" mixed up -- a phenomenon all too familiar to any modern traveler who has tried to absorb all of the sights & sounds & history of one of the great cities of the world!).

Of the many possible ways in which THE ANCIENT CITY OF ATHENS could have been organized, we have chosen to present the monuments in essentially the same order as they were visited by Pausanias. For each section, we have also provided a "link" to an English translation of Pausanias from the PERSEUS Project (a great website where you can learn much more about ancient Greek culture, literature, history, and art!). Although not everything mentioned by Pausanias has been preserved, and despite the fact that Pausanias tended to omit monuments of the Roman period (which were, after all, "modern" as far as he was concerned), we think that this is a natural and effective way to structure our "virtual tour" of the city. KALO TAXIDI!

• The Kerameikos: Kerameikos Cemetery, Public & Private Grave Monuments, "Themistoklean" Wall, Sacred Gate, Dipylon Gate, Pompeion.



• The Agora: Commercial & Civic Center of Ancient Athens: Royal Stoa, Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios, Temple of Apollo Patroos, Metroon, Bouleuterion, Tholos, Monument of the Eponymous Heroes, Hephaisteion, Altar of the 12 Gods, Stoa of Attalos, Church of the Holy Apostles.



• The Roman Agora, Tower of the Winds, & the Library of Hadrian: Gate of Athena Archegetis, Colonnade, Fountain, Propylon, "Agoranomion", Public Latrines; Water Clock of Andronikos, The Eight Winds.



• The North Slope of the Akropolis: "Longs Rocks" & the Northwest Caves (Caves of Apollo & Pan), Sanctuary of Eros & Aphrodite, Rock-cut Niches, Peripatos Inscription.



• The East Slope of the Akropolis: East Cave, Rock-cut Beddings for Altars & Monuments, The "True Aglaureion"?



• The Arch of Hadrian.



• The Olympieion & Southeast Athens: Temple of Olympian Zeus, "Peisistratid" column drums, Panathenaic Stadium.



• The Street of the Tripods and the Lysikrates Monument.



• The South Slope of the Akropolis & the Theater of Dionysos.



• The Akropolis: The Propylaia, Temple of Athena Nike, the Parthenon, the Erechtheion. (IN PROGRESS)



• The Philopappos Monument.



• The Pnyx: Meeting Place of the Ancient Athenian Democratic Assembly, Bema (Speaker's Platform), Sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos.

Support Archaeological Research!

THE ANCIENT CITY OF ATHENS has been ranked as one of the TOP 5% of all WWW sites by Point Survey!!!