The religion of the city and the importance of the acropolis in Ancient Greece

“…that part of the soul which partakes of bravery and impetuosity, because it is phylonic, was placed closer to the head, between the brakes and the neck, in order to listen to reason and to restrain by force the desires, whenever they refuse to obey voluntarily the commands and logic coming from the acropolis”.

In the palatial society of the Mycenaean period, the religious and administrative centre was always located within the walled acropolis, the palace of the monarch, which ran a large region with many small settlements. On the contrary, the city-state of historical times, together with its periphery, was an autonomous political unit with a main large settlement, in which, from an urban planning point of view, the sanctuary of the patron deity and the market with public buildings dominated[1].

For the ancient Greeks, any place could be transformed into a place of worship, i.e. become a sanctuary, provided that the Greeks recognised in this place a sacred character, which could often be found in the majesty of the landscape or in the presence of a tomb or any other element of manifestation of the divine (rocks, trees, springs…). The sacred space was bounded, hence the noun temenos, from the verb temno (i.e. sacred ground clearly distinguished from non-sacred ground)[2].

The temple was the dwelling place of the god (naio means to dwell). The sacred images of the god, the statues stood or sat inside. Probably other objects belonging to the deity and dedicated to her as offerings were also kept there. The Parthenon, for example, on the Acropolis of Athens, housed the great gold and ivory statue of the armed Athena Parthenos, 11.5 metres high, the work of the sculptor Phidias. Much more than scholars once believed, the ancient Greeks treated these statues as idols, as figures in which the deity could literally unite[3].

The references by ancient Greek writers to the ideal location for the erection of temples and shrines reveal a desire for height and majesty. Archaeology widely confirms the ancient texts. The ancient Greeks preferred to build temples in or near the centre of the blight (market place), on natural heights, in positions above valleys and seas, or a combination of all of the above, as in Priene[4].

The emphasis placed on the prominence of a site is not only interpreted as a result of the need to project the solidarity and identity of a group of people. Ancient writers report that an elevated temple inspired more prayer, created a sense of security and was “pure”. Xenophon, in his work Socrates’ Memoirs (3,8,10) states that: “…temples and altars should be located on hills, so that they are inaccessible but also visible to all”. For, as he says, it is good to see the temple from a distance and to be able to address a prayer. In classical times, we see this, for example, in the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, the Temple of Artemis in Piraeus and the Temple of Athena in Priene, which are built on hills or high cliffs.

Vitruvius hints at another reason, of a purely religious nature. According to the Roman architect, the dwellings of the gods “should be situated on the highest possible point, so that one has the advantage of seeing from there the whole extent of the city walls.”[5] It is possible that the ancient Greeks believed something similar. The houses of their patron gods had to be able to inspect what they were meant to protect. And there is no other such place in a city than the Acropolis.

The importance of the Acropolis

The Greek polis shaped religion and in turn was shaped by it. It was the ‘main ideology’ of the city, shaping and giving meaning to all those elements that made up the identity of the city: its past, its natural environment and the relationship between its constituent parts. The rituals reinforced the coherence of the group. Much of the special character and sense of identity was due to the hero cults. These cults were linked to the mythical past of the city, surrounded the citizens’ relationship with it with sanctity, and at the same time constituted a means of communication with it. Religion was the aspect of the ideology of the city which all citizens should treat with the greatest possible respect. Thus a sign of disrespect towards religion was also a sign of a lack of legitimacy towards the city and the polity.

The worship of the gods occupied a central place in the life of the citizens of ancient Greece. Religion and everyday life were very closely intertwined. Religion was the centre of the city.[6] This perception is also related to the idea that the existence of the city was guaranteed by its relationship with the gods. Often in the origins of the city one can trace (directly or indirectly) a form of ‘guarantee/agreement’ on the part of the gods to provide protection, which the city’s cultic relations with the gods – and especially with the local patron deity – try to maintain. Such a type of guarantee is the reason for recourse to divination for the approval of the deity in the establishment of a colony. Those cities which believed that their origins were to be sought in the mythical past expressed this divine agreement through myth.

In Athens the myths which codify, among other things, this agreement of protection are those which refer to the Earth-born king Erichthonius and the claim of Attica by Athena and Poseidon. An olive tree, the gift offered by Athena, was the sign that sealed the relationship between the city of Athens and the goddess, guaranteeing the existence of Athens as well as the symbolic core of the city’s religion, which could not be located anywhere else but on the Acropolis. This perception is expressed in the tradition (Herodotus, 8.55) that this particular olive tree, when the Persians burnt it along with the rest of the Acropolis, the very next day had, in some miraculous way, developed a new shoot half a metre long. The fact that the olive tree, on the Acropolis, immediately sprouted in a miraculous way was indicative of the fact that the burning of the Acropolis did not mean the end of the city of Athens. This incident was a sign that the protection of Athena was still in force and at the same time it was a symbolic renewal of this protection and a guarantee for the continued existence of the city. The tradition concerning the Palladium, which Odysseus and Diomedes stole from Troy, since otherwise it would not have been possible to conquer the city, is an expression of the same concept: the Palladium had been given to Dardanus, the mythical ancestor of the Trojans, by his father Zeus, thus constituting a symbol of a ‘divine guarantee’ of a harmonious relationship between Troy and the gods. His loss was an indication that this guarantee no longer existed.

The cults of cities in the classical period can be classified into general categories based on the groups of their worshippers. One category is that in which the group of worshippers includes the whole city, within which cult practices were performed in the name of and for the well-being of the whole city. These are the central cults of the city. The type of these cults varied. A first group of these central cults is based at the geographical, social, religious and symbolic centre of the city, namely the Acropolis. This group includes the cults of deities which are explicitly linked to the identity and protection of the city as a whole. They thus emphasise and express those aspects of the city’s religion that contribute to maintaining its cohesion. In Athens, the city on which we are focusing, since the available data allow us to examine the religion of the city as a whole, the two main deities were Polya Athena and Polievs Zeus, whose temples were located on the Acropolis.

Except for a small section in the north-eastern area of the Acropolis rock, which belongs as a temple to Zees Polieus, and another small section in the south-western edge, next to the Propylaea, which is the sanctuary of Artemis of Brauronia, the whole of the other rock belongs essentially to Athena, who is worshipped as Polyas, the protector of the city. We can assume, of course, that the cult of Athena has ancient roots on the Sacred Rock. Certainly in Mycenaean times she must have been the main deity worshipped in the royal palace. Homer seems to have been aware of this connection when he mentions that Athena entered the “well-built palace of Erectheus”[7].

The first remains of a particular cult house of Athena that have survived to us date back to around 700 BC. They are the two stone bases located between the Parthenon and the Erechthion. The later building activity on the Acropolis has disappeared as well as traces of the earlier phase of the sanctuary. Thus, the building history of the Acropolis can be traced essentially from the 6th century BC, when not only one or two large temples were built, the precursors of the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, but also many other smaller buildings associated with the cult of Athena. The sacred spaces are concentrated with unusual density on the north side of the rock, where the Mycenaean mansion was, in the area where the temple of Polyas Athena, known as the Erechtheion, was built in the 5th century BC. The official name of the temple was: “the temple on the Acropolis, in which the ancient statue is located.

The Erectheion

The Erechtheion is a unique building in the Greek world. And this peculiarity was imposed on the architect by the religious and devotional needs that had to be served. For this reason, the Erechtheion remains the most sacred place on the Acropolis, even after the construction of the most glorious Doric temple in Greece, the Parthenon. The famous gold and ivory statue of Athena, which was erected at the Parthenon’s cemetery, could not take away the venerable sanctity of the goddess’s “two-petalled xuanos”, the heavenly statue, which had been faithfully preserved since ancient times in the “old temple”, i.e. in the Erechtheion. The multiple cultic needs that were fulfilled by the Erechthion included, apart from the “ancient statue”, all the other ancient relics of Attic worship, the “signs of the gods”: the tombs of Erechthes, the sacred serpent of Kecropa, the genarchs of the Athenian people, but also the marks from Poseidon’s trident, which struck and gushed water, the marks from Zeus’ thunderbolt as well as the “Erechthian Sea”, a spring gushing salt water; even the altars of the High Zeus, Poseidon and Erectheus, Hephaestus and the hero Boutis, the “sacrifice” and the ancient wooden xanion of Hermes; finally, there was the place of the sacred olive tree and the sanctuary of Pandrosus, near the altar of Hercules Zeus.

Another category of deity worship are those which were connected -but also supervised- with the central institutions of the city of Athens: the Voulaios Zeus and the Voulaios Athena (Xenophon, Greek, 2.3.53,55), the Agoraeus Zeus, the Delphinium Apollo, the Voulaios Hestia and the Voulaios Artemis. Most often the worship of this group took place in the Agora, the political and social centre, which also had a religious aspect. In the Agora was also the altar of the goddess Hestia. The flame burning on the altar was a symbol that the city was an autonomous political entity. Hero cults, which involved both sites considered to be the tombs of mythical heroes and the tombs of the founders of new cities, are an important category among those cults that were based in the Agora. In Athens they were: Theseus, Erichthonius/Erechteus and Kekropas. The sanctuary of Theseus was erected on the site of the Agora or the site of the Old Agora. The altars and tombs of Erichtheus and Kekropas were located on the Acropolis, at Erechthion and were closely connected with the worship of Polyad Athena and Poseidon.

Another important function of the Acropolis in classical Athens can be seen from its role and place in the most important festival of the city. Celebrations in classical Greece usually begin with a procession, which crosses the city from a specific point to the sanctuary of the deity, which is the object of worship, while the route followed is always fixed. The great religious festival of Athens was the Panathenaea, the celebration of the birthday of Athena, the patron saint of the city. The procession started from the gate of Athens called Dipylon, crossed Kerameikos, the Agora and reached the Acropolis. There it passes by the Propylaea, proceeds along the Parthenon to end up on the east side of the temple, in front of the great altar of Athena. The purpose of the procession was to carry the new veil, which had been woven by the Labatines and delivered to the archon-king, who in turn would decorate the xanon of Athena in Erechthion with it. This route allowed the procession to cross the three most important points of the city, the Cemetery (Kerameikos), the centre of political life (Agora) and the religious centre of the city, the Acropolis. In this way the world of the Dead – the invisible guardians of the city – is united with the world of the living and the world of the Gods.

As in any traditional City, so in Athens on the days of the Panathenaic Games, the three different levels of existence of the City (Agros/Cemetery – Agora – Acropolis) can be united and this in turn becomes a mirror of the Cosmos (which for the ancient Greeks consisted of Hades, Earth and Mount Olympus). It would not be an exaggeration to say that in those moments, the invisible Gates were opened and the energies of Heaven, Earth and the Underworld were united on the Acropolis, which became a magical hub that could then return this energy as a blessing to the citizens, confirming the power of the Goddess’ protection and renewing the Gods’ agreement with the people until the next festival.

Bibliography-Sources
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3. The Ancient Greek City, Oswyn Murray; Simon Price, Publisher. PATAKIS
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5. Timaeus, Plato, Athens, Athens, Greece. KAKTOS
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