Athens was the starting point of European civilization.
In B.C., philosophers such as Plato and writers such as Aristophanes emerged here, who were like a spark that ignited the fire of civilization.
ins@ggts_photography
The democratic system of the Athenian city-state and the splendid Athenian Academy became the hands that lifted up this ignorant child in Europe for the first time to learn to walk, and since then it has been long and silent...
Among the most prestigious Acropolises, no one cannot be shaken. This architectural complex dedicated by the ancient Greeks to the gods is the epitome of the splendid ancient Greek civilization and a condensed history of Europe.
ins@hellas_drone
Originally, the Parthenon was a temple built by the Athenians for their patron god, Athena. Noble, symmetrical and exquisite, this white building is the best of Doric architecture, and even today, you can still feel the artistic essence that condenses around it.
ins@fravagnarelli
In the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was transformed into the Christian Church of Our Lady, and since then it has even become one of the four major Christian churches in the Eastern Roman Empire.
ins@_dannyalicea
During the Ottoman Turkish period, the Turks turned the Parthenon into a mosque; after the outbreak of the Turkish War, the mosque became an arsenal, and then the arsenal exploded, and the explosion almost turned the Parthenon into ruins.
After the independence of Greece, parthenon was devastated, and many exquisite marbles on the temple were stolen and transported to the British Museum and the Louvre... One can no longer see its most perfect form, but can only peek into a once beautiful and solemn hall from the scaffolding that never seems to be dismantled.
Time doesn't speak, and architecture is silent. But you can see the magnificent history behind the Parthenon from that superficial plain place – these stones of more than two thousand years old are the most irreplaceable cornerstone of Europe.
ins@pallisd
Along with the Parthenon, the Temple of Erechtheon, with its six maiden pillars, endured the storm. Legend has it that Athena and Poseidon, the god of the sea, competed for the patron saint of Athens, and the place where the temple was located was where they bet.
ins@elenfina
With a reverence for the gods, the Athenians built the Temple of Erechtheon. It is more innovative than the Parthenon, and the striking six maiden columns solve the double problem of load-bearing and aesthetic beauty with exquisite design.
ins@antonis_kanaris
I have to admire the Athenians' deep understanding of architecture - how they came up with these beautiful maidens to express a kind of purity and nobility.
ins@dani_bi90
If the Acropolis is the spiritual world of the Athenians, the theater is the door to the secular life of the Athenians.
ins@dino_kappa
From the story of the gods in the clouds of Mount Olympus, to the legend of the heroes of the Greek city-states, to the heart, soul, truth and dialectic of Socrates... Drama is not only entertainment, but also the fertile soil of the blossoming structure of ancient Greek civilization.
ins@iamthebas
There are two theaters on the southwest slope and the southeast slope of the Acropolis, and the Theater of Dionysus on the southwest slope was the place where dionysus was first prayed to the god of wine, Dionysus— and the far-reaching greek tragedy evolved from the celebration of the worship of Dionysus.
ins@skylightminusphotography
At the Festival of Dionysus, playwrights come up with their carefully prepared works to compete with their peers at a level of literary competition unmatched by the rest of the classical Greek world. The flourishing of the Athenian literary style and the richness of the spiritual world can be seen.
ins@chryssanthiepolyzou
On the southeast slope is a Roman-era theater of Atticus, which is still in use today, where many famous singers and orchestras have performed, and now the annual Athens Festival is also held here.
Sports life was equally important in ancient Greece. The site of the torch handover ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China was the Pan Athenaeum Stadium, the main stadium of the first modern Olympic Games in history.
ins@nathan_jermy
This ancient stadium is the only large stadium in the world built entirely of marble, and expensive and elegant marble seats have been built, and even a quarry hill has been hollowed out.
Looking northwest from the Acropolis below the hill, there is the ruins of a large area of ancient architecture. Magnificent in the desolation, solemn in the desolation, this is the famous ancient market of Athens.
ins@travel_inhershoes
The bazaar is not only a place for people to trade, but also a cornerstone of the formation of an ancient city. It is said that more than 2,000 years ago, Socrates often spoke and debated here, showing the world his philosophical and ingenious arguments.
ins@danis_p_gr
The bazaar, shaded by the huge figure of the Acropolis, complements the Acropolis on its own scale, and together constitutes the magnificent urban landscape of ancient Athens.
ins@trikaliotis_george
Hadrian's Arch, dedicated to the Roman Emperor Hadrian, still stands on an ancient road across Athens. It was once the dividing line between the old city and the new city of Athens, but now it has become a silent monument dividing the river of time in its ancient form.
ins@andieftr
Opposite it stand the ruins of the magnificent Temple of Olympian Zeus, also completed in Hadrian's time. The temple dedicated to Zeus had 104 Corinthian columns and was one of the largest in ancient Greece. Today, the temple has been destroyed, leaving only 15 stone pillars that stand tall in the sky, telling people about the glory of that year.
ins@wendytravelsnow
Around these two Roman buildings, there are narrow streets and low white houses with southern European characteristics, filled with a sense of unrestrained chaos, showing people the city's changes in the vicissitudes of the sea.
After more than a decade of roman rule, the arrival of the Turks seems to have disrupted the pace of Athens' history— if Athens had been in slow decline, Athens, ruled by Turkey, seemed to have lost its soul.
ins@spathumpa
All this was not corrected until after the independence of Greece. At that time, Athens was basically in ruins, and when King Otto I decided to move the capital to Athens, he was also determined to revive the glory of Athens.
Thus the "neoclassical trilogy" of The Academy of Athens, the University of Athens and the National Library were established, and these three buildings laid the foundation of new Athens and are the representative works of the revival of Athens today.
ins@giannistaxakis
The reliefs on the gables of the Academy of Athens were built in imitation of the Acropolis, and the two columns on the outside are at the top of Athena in armor and Apollo with a musical instrument, and below the columns are inscriptions of Socrates and Plato.
The University of Athens, on the outer walls imitate the surviving Greek frescoes, painted with the main greek gods, brightly colored and very beautiful.
The National Library is famous for its collection of ancient Greek books and literature, and the symmetrical curved staircase looks very elegant.
ins@fogalle
Compared with the magnificent relics complex that can only rely on imagination to restore the past, these three antique buildings are complete and magnificent, whether it is the overlapping use of doric columns and Ionic columns, or the ingenious craftsmanship and relief of sculpture, all truly reproduce the beauty of Athenian architecture.
ins@adrianwerner
But for a deeper taste of Athens, you can't miss some of the most important museums in Athens. The National Archaeological Museum of Athens, in particular, from prehistoric collections to sculpture collections to clay pot collections, opens a book worth reading and re-reading for all who have admired ancient Greek civilization.
ins@ioannastroni
Walking through the temple-like doors, a world full of art and fantasy will unfold to you, and the beautiful human body structure and exquisite details will make you sigh that this place is worthy of the source of European civilization.
The moment you look at the living sculptures, you can even travel through time and see the next millennium Renaissance break through the ground and thrive.
ins@charmednomad
In addition to the National Archaeological Museum, the Byzantine Museum, which understands the history of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Acropolis Museum, which is full of time travel, are also worth a visit.
ins@nealspencer__
These museums are not only the place where the Athenians retained the former Greek splendor, but also the "temple" of the modern European spirit, so that their souls can always rely on themselves and find their own time and return.
ins@herr_konstantinos
Over thousands of years, temples have evolved into villas, palaces, parliament halls, courts, theaters have become the inspiration for the design of opera houses, cinemas, gymnasiums... Architecture and art do not speak, they only silently accompany human beings, through one journey after another.
ins@wonguy974
When you come to the crowded Constitution Square, time travels from ancient times back to modern times. After independence, Greece once again "lived" on the map of the world by establishing its own national polity and constitution.
ins@ohhmyworld_
The Monument to the Unknown Soldier in the square, guarded by an elite infantry regiment of evzones dressed in traditional costumes, and a solemn and solemn changing of the guard held every day, comforts the unsung heroes and undead who sacrificed their lives for the independence of the motherland.
ins@giorgoskontompasis
Walking through the main street opposite Syntagma Square and into the life-filled Plaka Laneway, you will appreciate more of the lazy attitude of Athenians today.
ins@kostasboukou
In the age of seclusion, we should perhaps withdraw our spirits from those overly grandiose and glorious imaginations and grasp the pulse of the city.
©istock
After all, athens here is a flower that bloomed from the leafy plant of Athens a thousand years ago, and it has a vivid and dazzling temperament.
ins@vasilinapapapetrou
And whenever and wherever you look up, you can see the Parthenon standing tall. Especially in the evening, as the sun sets, against the backdrop of the afterglow, the majestic Acropolis is like a gentle deity, guarding her children.
ins@chris_kap.21
Athens is both a pilgrimage site and a valley of forgetting worries. European civilization fled from here, leaving behind a garden that had been lonely and desolate, allowing it to grow into a world of its own joy, which would remain beautiful until the next millennium.