The acropolis of Athens can be considered the most representative of the Greek acropolises. It is a rock, flat at the top, which rises 156 meters above sea level above the city of Athens. The plateau is 140 m wide and almost 280 m long. It is also known as Cecropia after the legendary man-snake Cecrops, the first Athenian king. The Acropolis was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The remains dating back to the archaic era, but traces were found dating back to the Neolithic and Paleolithic; It certifies that some imposing constructions risen to the acropolis at the end of the seventh century BC, an era in which the walls dating back to the Mycenaean age lost their defensive importance. In the first half of the 6th century BC, after the expulsion of the Pisistratides, the acropolis ceased to be a fortress. The ancient fortifications, the buildings, the Templar buildings and the statues were destroyed during the Persian occupation of 480 BC. The first reconstructive efforts of the Athenians focused on the most useless works. The walls and bastions were reconstructed under the government of Temistocles and Cimone, while during the age of Pericles, to celebrate the victory over the Persians and the political, economic and cultural primacy of Athens, the reconstruction of the acropolis was created, with the Construction of the Parthenon (inside which a colossal statue of Athena Parthenos was erected, created by Fidia and today lost), the Propilei and later of the Erest and the Temple of Athena Nike. In the late Roman Empire the Parthenon was transformed into a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In the Middle Ages the acropolis was transformed into a military fortress first by the Franks and then by the Turks. In 1687 the Venetians bombed the Acropolis, causing great damage to the Parthenon, which, since it contained gunpowder deposits, jumped into the air. During the domination of the Ottoman Empire, the Acropolis was stripped of most of the marbles that adorned the pediments and the metope by Lord Elgin who brought them to England. In the nineteenth century the first excavations and restorations of the temples began, which led to sensational discoveries, such as the famous archaic statues of girls, the Kores. Most of the finds are exhibited in the Acropolis Museum of Athens. During the liberation works of the Acropolis of Athens from the fortified structures built by the Turks, in 1852-1853 the French archaeologist Charles Ernest Beulé discovered the large staircase leading to the acropolis and the fortified door of the Roman era, since then called Porta Beulé , which still constitutes the main access to the archaeological complex.

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