The Acropolis, Athens, Greece
An acropolis is a Greek word for 'high city'.
Choosing to build or locate a city on a high, lookout spot was a common philosophy throughout the Mediterrranean and even through history.
Think Jerusalem. Rome. Corinth. Or closer to home, Daulatabad.
By far the most famous and stunning-looking acropolis is the one in Athens. There has been habitation on the Acropolis in Athens from much before the 5th century which was when a classical white Doric temple to Athena, the Parthenon, was built. Apart from the Parthenon, the Acropolis is home to the gateway of Propylaea, the temple of Erechtheum, the Temple of Athena Nike and the remains of the Theatre of Dionysus.
Some facts you probably did not know:
Lord Elgin, Britain's ambassador to the Ottoman empire, took some sculptures from the Parthenon with permission from the Ottoman authorities -- Greece was then part of the Ottoman empire -- back with him in 1806. The Elgin Marbles were later sold to the British Museum. Greece has demanded that Britain return the Elgin Marbles, but to no avail.
For a time the Parthenon was converted to a church and then later to a mosque.
The Acropolis scheduled its own games every four years, the Panathenaic Games, that rivalled the the Olympic Games held in Olympia in western Greece.
Image: President A P J Abdul Kalam poses at the Parthenon during an April trip to Greece. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images
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