Προπύλαια (Ακρόπολη Αθηνών)

( Propylaia (Acropolis of Athens) )

The Propylaia (Greek: Προπύλαια; lit.'Gates') is the classical Greek Doric building complex that functioned as the monumental ceremonial gateway to the Acropolis of Athens. Built between 437 and 432 BCE as a part of the Periklean Building Program, it was the last in a series of gatehouses built on the citadel. Its architect was Mnesikles, his only known building. It is evident from traces left on the extant building that the plan for the Propylaia evolved considerably during its construction, and that the project was ultimately abandoned in an unfinished state.

 Topographical map of the Propylaia by G. Kawerau, reconstructions are in red.[1] The remains of the Older Propylon are indicated at 87, and its conjectured placement is the dotted red line adjacent.

The approach to the Acropolis is determined by its geography. The only easily accessible pathway to the plateau lies between what is now the bastion of the Temple of Athena Nike and the terrace of the Agrippa Monument. In Mycenaean times the bastion (also referred to as the pyrgos or tower) was encased in a cyclopean wall, and amongst the few Mycenaean structures left in the archaeological record is a substantial wall on the terrace of the bastion that was part of the system of fortifications of the Acropolis.[2] This wall must have terminated at the first gateway, though opinions differ on the reconstruction of this earliest entrance.[3] At some point in the archaic period a ramp replaced the bedrock pathway; the buttress wall on the north side of the existing stairway is from this period.[4] This was followed shortly after Marathon by a programme of renovation on the Acropolis including the replacement of the gateway with a ceremonial entrance, usually referred to as the Older Propylon, and the refurbishment of the forecourt in front of it.[5] At this time, a section of the western Bronze Age wall, south of the gateway, received a marble lining on its western face and an integrated base at the northern extent for a perirrhanterion, or lustral basin. Bundgaard identified several remnants of this propylon and postulated a significant gatehouse situated between the Mycenaean wall and the archaic apsidal structure known as Building B.[6] What is evident, however, is that if the archaic gatehouse was not destroyed in the Persian attack of 480 then it must surely have been dismantled to facilitate the building works later in the century.[7]

 Propylaia's conjectured original plan in gray, extant building in black

Mnesikles was appointed architect of the new propylon in 438.[8] From traces left in the construction of the final building it has been possible to reconstruct the development of the building plans during its construction. It was the practice of Greek builders to prepare for the bonding of joining walls, roof timber and other features in advance of the following phase of construction. From the socket for the roof beam and the spur walls on the north and south flanks of the central hall it can be discerned that the original plan was for a much larger building than its final form.[9] Mnesikles had planned a gatehouse composed of five halls: a central hall that would be the processional route to the Acropolis, two perpendicular flanking halls – north and south of the central hall – that would have spanned the whole width of the western end of the plateau, and two further, eastward projecting halls that were at 90 degrees to the north-south halls. Of these only the central hall, the north-east hall (the Pinakotheke) and a truncated version of the south-east hall reached completion. Furthermore, it is evident from the adaption of the stylobate that a stepped platform was added to the interior of the central hall such that the western-most tympanum and roof were raised above the rest of the building. The reasons for these alterations have been the cause of much speculation. They include practical considerations of the site,[10] religious objections to the displacement of the adjoining shrines,[11] and cost.[12] Whatever the reason it is clear that the project was abandoned in an unfinished state in 432 with the lifting bosses remaining and the surface of the ashlar blocks left undressed.

 "Lifting bosses"[13] on the Propylaia

Alterations to the Propylaia in the classical period were slight,[14] the most significant being the construction of a monumental stairway in pentelic marble built in the reign of Claudius, probably 42 CE, and arranged as a straight flight of steps.[15] This included a central inclined plane along which the sacrificial animals could be led, also a small dog-leg stairway on the Nike bastion that led to the Temple of Athena Nike. This project was supervised by the Athenian Tib. Claudius Novius,[16] and is assumed to have been an Imperial benefaction from the great expense that must have been occurred.[17]

The Propylaia’s post-classical history sees it return to a military function beginning with the construction of the Beulé Gate[18] in the late third century CE, perhaps associated with the refortification of Athens in the form of the Post-Herulian Wall.[19] Built from the dismantled elements of the Choragic Monument of Nikias this gate may have been in response to the Herulian invasions.[20] Sometime in the early Byzantine period the south wing was converted into a chapel. This conversion must not have taken place before the end of the sixth century, since in all other cases of ancient monuments being converted into Christian churches, there is no evidence of an earlier application of such a process.[21] The central section of the Propylaia was converted into a church in the tenth century CE when it was dedicated to the Taxiarches. The colonnade of the north-east wing was also walled off. In the same period, and specifically during the reign of Justinian, the large cistern between the north wing and the central building of the Propylaia was also constructed.[22] During the De la Roche era of occupation the complex was converted to a fortified residence similar in form to the crusader castles of the Levant by building the Rizokastro Wall, fortifying the Klepsydra, removing the entrance through the Beulé Gate, building the protective enclosure in front of the gate to the west of the south-west corner of the Nike Tower (now the only remaining entrance to the Acropolis) and also building the bastion between the Nike bastion and the Agrippa pedestal.[23] The Propylaia then served as Ducal Palace to the Acciaioli family, at which time the so-called Frankish Tower was built. In the main building, the central passage still served as the only means of entry to the interior of the Acropolis[citation needed]. It is almost certain that the spaces between the Doric and Ionic columns of the northern part of the west hall were blocked by, probably low, walls, limiting a space that would have served as an antechamber for the ruler's residence in the north wing.

Under the Tourkokratia the Propylaia served both as a powder magazine and battery emplacement and suffered significant damage as a result.[24] Only after the evacuation of the Turkish garrison could excavation and restoration work begin. From 1834 onwards the Medieval and Turkish additions to the Propylaia were demolished. By 1875 the Frankish Tower built on the south wing of the Propylaia was demolished, this marked the end of the clearing of the site of its post-classical accretions. The second major anastylosis since the early work of Pittakis and Rangavis was undertaken by engineer Nikolaos Balanos in 1909-1917.[25]

^ P. Kavvadias, G. Kawerau, (1907). Die Ausgrabung der Akropolis vom Jahre 1885 bis zum Jahre 1890. ^ Wright, 1994, p.325 lists the remains ^ Wright, p.328 ^ E. Vanderpool, in Bradeen and McGregor, (eds.), Φορος, pp.159–160, argues that the ramp “de-militarized” the Acropolis and turned it from a fortress into a religious centre. ^ Dinsmoor 1980, Eiteljorg 1993 doubts it ^ Bundgaard, 1957, pp.55-63. Dinsmoor Jr, 1980, p.2 n.10 questioned whether Building B occupied this site at all. ^ Shear, 2016, pp.273-274. ^ Philochorus, FGrH 328 F 36, cited by Harpokration, s.v. προπύλαια ταῦτα (p 101 Keaney), the archon was Euthymenes (437/6)IG I3 462, line 3. Cf. also Heliodoros, FGrH 373 F 1, Plut. Per. 13.12. ^ Shear, 2016, pp.278-279 ^ "perfect symmetry between the southwest and northwest wings would have required dismantling much of the still-impressive stretch of Cyclopean masonry south of the Propylaia", Hurwit, The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles, 2004, p.158 ^ W.B. Dinsmoor, The architecture of ancient Greece, Norton, 1975, pp.204-205. However recent scholarship questions whether the demos didn't supersede the priesthood, R. Parker, Athenian Religion, Oxford, 1996, pp-125-127. ^ Shear, 2016, p.312 ff notes that the revolt of Potidaea in 432 could have changed the political climate against further building works. The Kallias Decrees, IG I3 52 434/3 BCE, appear to have already halted work on the Propylaia, J.M. Hurwit, The Athenian Acropolis, 1999, p.155. ^ A. Trevor Hodge, "Bosses Reappraised," In Omni Pede Stare: Saggi Architettonici e circumvesuviani in memoriam Jos de Waele, 2005, Mols & Moormann, (eds.) disputes that this was their function. ^ Some restoration work might have been done, Tanoulas, 1994, p.23. Also two brass equestrian groups were placed on the tops of the pilasters forming the western ends of the crest of each of the lateral wings. Stevens, Architectural Studies, pp.82-83. ^ The final steps to the Propylaia might have been in the zigzag formation it has currently been restored as ("In 1956/7 Stikas replaced Pitakis' stairway with today's zig-zag ramp", The Acropolis Restoration News, 4, July 2004, p.15.) in the Mycenaean period. In the Classical period, it was probably a straight stairway, W.B. Dinsmoor Jr, 1982, p.18 n.3. See also Bundgaard, 1957, p.29. ^ Inferred from IG II2 3271, II. 4-5 ^ Geoffrey C. R. Schmalz, Public Building and Civic Identity in Augustan and Julio-Claudian Athens, Ph.D diss. University of Michigan, 1994, p.203 ^ C.E. Beulé, L'Acropole d'Athènes, 1853, I, pp.100-106. ^ A. Frantz, The Athenian Agora, vol. XXVI, Late Antiquity: AD 267-700, Princeton, 1988, Appendix. ^ Tanoulas, 1994, p.26 ^ A. Frantz, 'From Paganism to Christianity in the Temples of Athens', Dumbarton Oaks Papers 19, 1965, p.204 ^ Tanoulas, 1994, p.29. ^ Tanoulas, 1994, p.31. ^ Including a lightning strike in 1640 that destroyed part of the roof, Tanoulas, 1994, p.33 ^ Tanoulas, 1994, p.33-36.
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