I groaned when I saw it was a long way uphill from the gates to the citadel’s ruins. At least, the path was lined with trees on both sides. And the stone benches under the trees were reassuring. But once I began climbing, I realised it wasn’t too steep after all.
I was glad when I made it to the top. Not simply because I was done with the climbing, but because it was almost as if I’d stepped into the settings of Troy. The rough and slippery pathway, the stone monuments and their pillars, all seemed straight out of the epic movie! The morning sunshine was bright enough to make the Acropolis glow against the clear blue sky.
I’d heard a lot about the Parthenon, the main temple of the Acropolis in Athens. And there it stood–tall and imposing with its pillars. That was about it. But the descriptions on the placards were more than enough to intrigue me. This ‘temple’ wasn’t really a temple, even though it was dedicated to Athena, the goddess of warfare, battle strategies and skill. It was used as a treasury. While the goddess herself seemed like an embodiment of all things traditionally considered masculine, the name of the temple she presided over–Parthenon–means ‘virgin/maiden women’s apartments’.
The Acropolis contains 21 important sites within its premises. Like the Parthenon, some of these sites were dedicated to virgin goddesses. I wondered if it had something to do with the fact that women used to take refuge in citadels during wars. After all, I’d read enough Greek mythology to know that virgin women were treasured and protected as ‘assets’ during times of war.
So, I wasn’t surprised to learn that several parts of this citadel were meant to be lodgings for the important women of ancient Athens. For instance, the Arrephorion is a tiny building beside the Acropolis, which was meant to serve as quarters for noble Athenian girls who would fashion peplos (long garments) for use in the Panathenaic Games. Pandroseion is yet another part of the citadel, which was supposedly a refuge for Pandrosus, the daughter of Cecrops I, the first king of Attica Greece.
In the evening, I visited the top-floor café at the Acropolis Museum. It was the perfect spot to catch a night view of the ancient citadel. Out the glass windows, the Acropolis glowed a shade of pale gold.
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