Exploring Greece, Israel, and Jordan— Part Ten

Exploring Greece, Israel, and Jordan— Part Ten June 29, 2018

After a days worth of looking at artifacts in the Athens museum (some would say I was going to pot….) , evenings in Athens these days are spectacular…..

But what really is the Parthenon, and what did it originally look like? We have a rather clear idea in regard to the latter. And now with the acropolis museum it is easier than ever to imagine it. But here in this post, I would just point out the following. The Greek word for virgin is parthenos, hence the Parthenon is the temple of the virgin protector of Athens, Athena herself. Indeed, when you get on top of the acropolis you find a tiny temple to Nike, the god of victory, and then a giant temple to Athena, not to mention the Porch of the maidens in the Erectheon…. that temple was also dedicated to Athena, and as an afterthought Poseidon. The temples on the acropolis are all about the woman associated with the wise old owl— Athena.


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