The Acropolis of Athens

The Acropolis hill， so called the \"Sacred¹ Rock\" of Athens，is the most important site of the city.During Perikles'Golden Age，ancient Greek civilization was represented in an ideal way on the hill and some of the architectural masterpieces² of the period were erected³ on its ground. The first habitation⁴ remains on the Acropolis date from⁵ the Neolithic^{6 period. Over the centuries， the rocky hill was continuously used either as a cult7 place or as a residential area or both.}

During the Classical period(450-330 B.C.)three important temples were erected on the ruins⁸ of earlier ones: the Parthenon， the Erechtheion， and the Temple of Nike.The Propylaea，the monumental⁹ entrance to the sacred area was also constructed in the same period.

The monuments on the Acropolis reflect the successive phases of the city's history.Some of them were converted¹⁰ into Christian churches， houses of the Franks and later on， of the Turks. After the liberation of Athens from the Turks， the protection， restoration¹¹ and conservation¹² of the monuments was one of the first tasks of the newly-founded Greek state. This major effort is con- tinued until today，with the large-scale restoration and supporting of the monuments， which started in the 1970' s and is still in progress.

The most important monuments on the Acropolis are:

The Parthenon. It is the most important and characteristic¹³ monument of the ancient Greek civilization and still remains its international symbol.It was dedicated to A- thena Parthenos， the patron goddess of Athens. The sculptural¹⁴ decoration of the Parthenon is a unique combination of the Doric metopes¹⁵ and triglyphs¹⁶ on the entablature¹⁷， andtheIonic frieze¹⁸ on the walls of the cella¹⁹.The metopes depict²⁰ the Gigantomachy²¹ on the east side，the Amazonomachy²² on the west， the Centauromachy²³ on the south，and scenes from the Trojan War²⁴ on the north.

The two pediments²⁵ of the temple are decorated with mythological scenes:the east，above the building's main entrance， shows the birth of Athena，and the west， the fight between Athena and Poseidon for the name of the city of Athens. The Parthenon retained its religious character in the following cen- turies and was converted into a Byzantine²⁶ church， a Latin church and a Muslim mosque.

The Erechtheion has a prostasis²⁷ on the east side，a monumental propylon²⁸ on the north，and the famous porch of the Caryatids²⁹ on thesouth. The main temple was divided into two sections，dedicated to the worship of the two principal gods of Attica， Athena and Poseidon-Erechtheus.

The Temple of Athena Nike is built in the Ionic order，and it is amphiprostyle³⁰ with a row of four columns in front of each of its narrow sides.The relief frieze on the upper section of the walls depicts the conference of gods on the east side， and scenes from battles on the other three. A marble parapet³¹ decorated with the relief representation of Nikae (Victories)， protected the edge of the Bastion³² on which the temple was erected.

The Propylaea.The monumental gateway of the Acropoli comprises³³ a central building and two lateral wings. The colonnades³⁴ along the west and east sides had a row of Doric columns while two rows of Ionic columns divided the central corridor into three parts. The walls of the north wing were decorated with painted panels³⁵ orwall paintings and that is why it was called the\"Pinakotheke\".The ceiling of the Propylaea had coffers³⁶ with painted decoration and a perforated³⁷ sima³⁸ around the roof.

雅典衛(wèi)城山，即所謂的雅典“圣石山”，是該城市最重要的遺址。在伯利克里的黃金時代，古代希臘文明以一種完美的方式在這座山上體現(xiàn)了出來，一些代表著那個時代的建筑杰作也在這個地方建立起來。雅典衛(wèi)城最初有人類居住，可以追溯到新石器時代。在此后的數(shù)個世紀中，這處石頭山一直為人類所利用，要么被作為祭祀之地，要么成為生活居住區(qū)，要么二者兼用之。

到了古典時期(公元前450—330)，三座重要的神廟在此前文明的廢墟上建立起來。它們分別是：巴臺農(nóng)神廟、厄瑞克提翁神殿及雅典娜勝利神廟。衛(wèi)城山門是進入圣地的入口，它也是在同一時期建立起來的。

雅典衛(wèi)城上的建筑遺址折射了這座城市發(fā)展歷史中前后相承的各個階段。其中的一些建筑后來變成了基督教教堂、法蘭克人的居所，再后來又有土耳其人居住。當雅典從土耳其人手中解放出來后，恢復和保存這些建筑遺跡就成了新建的希臘國的頭等大事之一。這項重要的工作一直延續(xù)到了今天。20世紀70年代，該國制定了一項雅典衛(wèi)城大規(guī)?；謴秃捅４婀こ蹋@項工程至今仍在進行。

雅典衛(wèi)城中最重要的建筑遺跡包括：

巴臺農(nóng)神廟。它是最重要也是最能體現(xiàn)古希臘文明特征的建筑物，至今仍然是一個跨越國界的標志性建筑。它是為了供奉雅典城邦的保護神雅典娜而建。巴臺農(nóng)神廟的雕刻裝飾將多利斯柱間的墻面與古典柱式頂部的三聯(lián)花紋裝飾，以及內(nèi)殿墻壁上的愛奧尼亞柱的中楣做了完美的結合。它的東墻上描繪了巨人對天神搏斗的場面；西墻描繪了抵抗亞馬孫人的戰(zhàn)斗的場面；南墻描繪了與半人馬族群的戰(zhàn)斗的場面；北墻則描繪了特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭的場面。

在該神廟正上方的兩面山形墻上，還用神話故事圖案作為其裝飾：在該建筑物東面主要入口上方，描繪了雅典娜的誕生；在西邊則描繪了雅典娜與波塞冬為雅典城命名而戰(zhàn)的場面。在后來的若干世紀中，巴臺農(nóng)神廟一直保留了它作為宗教圣地的特征，它曾先后被改用作拜占庭教堂、拉丁教堂及穆斯林的清真寺。

厄瑞克提翁神殿的東側有一排廊柱，北邊有巨大的入口建筑，南邊是著名的女像柱。神殿的主體部分分為兩個區(qū)域，分別用來供奉兩名阿提卡的主要神祗，即雅典娜和波塞冬——厄瑞克提斯。尼亞柱式的建筑，是兩向拜式建筑，在其狹長的兩側的前部各有四根柱子。其東面墻壁上半部的浮雕描繪了眾神召開會議的情景，其他三面墻壁上則描繪了戰(zhàn)場的情景。在大理石的胸墻上裝飾著代表著奈基(勝利女神)的浮雕，它能對該堡壘提供保護作用，雅典娜勝利神廟就建立在該堡壘之上。

衛(wèi)城山門。衛(wèi)城的這個不朽的山門杰作由一個中心建筑和兩側的護墻組成。山門東西兩側的柱廊各由一排多利斯式的圓柱組成，同時在中心走廊還有兩排愛奧尼亞式圓柱，這些圓柱將中心走廊區(qū)分成了三個部分。北邊的墻面上用許多畫板或壁畫進行裝飾，這也就是該處為何被稱為美術館的原因所在。在山門的墻頂，還有著種種著色的裝飾板以及環(huán)繞屋頂?shù)拇┛坠桄V層。

注釋：

1．sacredadj. 奉獻給上帝(或神)的，神圣的

2．masterpiece n．杰作

3．erectvt．建造，建立

4．habitation n．居住

5．date from 追溯到…

6．Neolithic adj．新石器時代的

7．cult n．膜拜，膜拜儀式

8．ruin n．廢墟，遺跡

9．monumentaladj．紀念碑(或塔、門、像)的，紀念性的

10．convert vt．改建，使轉(zhuǎn)變

11．restoration n．恢復，修復，整修

12．conservationn．保存，保護

13．characteristicadj．特有的，典型的

14．sculpturaladj．雕刻的，雕塑的

15．metopen．[建]排檔間飾，兩飾柱間的壁

16．triglyphn．[建]用于裝飾平面的三聯(lián)淺槽飾

17．entablature n．[建]古典柱式的頂部，柱上楣構

18．friezen．[建](柱的)中楣，帶狀裝飾

19．cellan．(古希臘或羅馬廟宇的)內(nèi)殿

20．depict vt．描繪，雕出

21．Gigantomachy n．[希神]神祗與巨人間的戰(zhàn)爭

22．Amazonomachyn．[希神]神祗與亞馬孫族人的戰(zhàn)爭

23．Centauromachyn．[希神]神祗與半人半馬怪物的戰(zhàn)爭

24．Trojan War[希神]特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭(古希臘人與特洛伊人之間的10年戰(zhàn)爭)

25．pediment n．[建]三角墻(希臘式古典建筑正面入口門廊頂上的裝飾性三角形山頭)

26．Byzantine adj．拜占庭建筑風格的

27．prostasis n．列柱，柱廊

28．propylonn．(神殿等的)入口，山門

29．Caryatidn．[建]女像柱

30．a(chǎn)mphiprostylen．(建) (前后有排柱而兩旁無柱的)兩向拜式建筑

31．parapetn．胸墻，低矮檔墻

31．Bastion n. 堡壘

32．comprise vt．包含，由…組成

33．lateraladj．側面的

34．colonnade n．[建](列)柱廊

35．paneln．護墻板，鑲板

36. coffern．(天花板等)花格鑲板，花格平項

37．perforated adj．穿孔的，有孔的

38．sima n．[地]硅鎂層，硅鎂帶