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🏛️ The Acropolis of Athens
A marble temple on a rocky hill, built 2,500 years ago for the goddess Athena — and still standing over Athens.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikimedia Commons
📍 Where is it?
📍 Athens, Greece — see it on the big map →
High on a rocky hill above Athens, in Greece, stands the Acropolis. Its most famous building is the Parthenon, a great marble temple built between 447 and 432 BCE — more than 2,500 years ago — for Athena, the goddess of wisdom and the protector of the city.
The ancient Greeks were brilliant builders. The Parthenon looks perfectly straight, but it is full of clever tricks: its columns lean inwards slightly, and the floor curves up in the middle, so the building looks perfect to the human eye. Inside once stood a huge statue of Athena made of gold and ivory.
Over the centuries, the Parthenon was damaged by wars and explosions, but it still stands. It is the most famous symbol of ancient Greece — the place where ideas like democracy and theatre were born. People from all over the world climb the hill to stand where Athenians stood thousands of years ago.
🤩 Wow fact!
The Parthenon's columns lean inwards slightly and its floor curves up — clever tricks that make it look perfectly straight.
🧠 Quiz time!
Who was the Parthenon built for?