OLD AND NEW GREECE_THE PARTHENON AND VIEW OF ATHENAI
Greece is a
small county, not larger than the state of New York. It lies in the southern
part of the Balkan Peninsula between the Ionian and the Aegean Seas. The
population of the entire country is not more than 6,480,000, less than that of
the city of New York. Athenai, its capital, has a population of about 453,000.
The part of
Athenai we see in the distance is new. The high conical hill in the far
distance is Mount Lycabettus. The white building on its summit is a chapel of
St. George. It is a common custom in Greece to erect churches and monasteries
on hilltops and St. George is one of the principal saints in the Greeks church.
The ancient
city centered about the Acropolis, a limestone plateau that rises sharply above
the surrounding plain to a height of 500 feet above sea level. It was once a
fort and later the residence of the kings of Athenai. Finally it became the
seat of religious worship and the great museum of Athenian art.
The most noted
building on the Acropolis was the Parthenon, the magnificent ruins of which
still stand. The columns before us are of the northeastern part. Within the
Parthenon was a statue of Athena. The statue was made of wood covered with
plaster. Over this was laid plates of ivory and gold. The gold used was worth
$750,000. This statue was the work of Phidias. The Parthenon was begun in 447
B.C. and was completed ten years later.
Copyright by the Keystone View Company
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