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As the highest part of the city, the rock is an ideal place for refuge, religion and royalty. The Acropolis Rock has been used continuously for these purposes since Neolithic times.

At the top of the rock, you are greeted by the Propylaia, the grand entrance through which all visitors passed to reach the summit temples.

There has been a temple to a goddess of victory at this location since prehistoric times, as it protects and stands over the part of the rock most vulnerable to enemy attack.

The route used in an ancient procession when a new tunic, or peplos , would have been offered to Athena, along with sacrifices.

This was the epitome of ancient Greek Classical art, a magnificent “Temple to the Virgin”, goddess Athena, who was represented inside by a giant gold and ivory sculpture.

According to myth, Athena and Poseidon battled for patronage of Athens on this spot. The Erechtheion’s design unites separate temples to each of the two gods.

The current museum is to be superseded by the glittering New Acropolis Museum, opening in 2007, but for a while they will both be in operation.

Originally dedicated to the god of wine and revelry, the cave was later turned into the church of the Virgin of the Golden Cave.

A much later addition, built in 161 by its namesake. In summer it hosts the Athens Festival (see Festivals and Events).

This mosaic-tiled theatre was the site of Classical Greece’s drama competitions, where the tragedies and comedies by the great playwrights (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides) were first performed. The theatre seated 15,000, and you can still see engraved front-row marble seats, reserved for priests of Dionysus.