Ancient Athens

This project will attempt to recreate Athens as it appears during the Roman Era, prior to the invasion of 267 AD which destroyed much of the Acropolis, most of the Agora and a major portion of the city. The build contains buildings from 3 different eras in Greek History.

The Classical Era: 480 BC - 326 BC
The Hellenistic Era: 326 BC - 30 BC
The Roman Era: 30 BC - 267 AD


Once finished the project will contain 5 major sites in Athens, all of which are archaeological sites that can be visited by the public to this day

The Acropolis:
The Acropolis of Athens is probably the most recognizable structure in Athens today, and is a world renowned tourist site. In antiquity the site housed temples to the gods, the temple in front of the main gate is dedicated to Nike the goddess of victory. The Parthenon, the largest of the temples is dedicated to Athena, whom the city is named after. The third of the temples is the Erechtheion was dedicated to the rest of the Greek pantheon of gods. There is one further temple that was built later behind the Parthenon which is the Temple of Rome, which was obviously erected by the Romans when they conquered Greece. It should also be noted that the term Acropolis is not unique to this particular site despite what some people may think, nor is it even unique to Greece. The term Acropolis is any kind of fortified citadel or part of a city upon a hill, and was even used by the Romans.

The Agora:
The Agora was a plaza just down the slope from the Acropolis, it housed most of Athens' markets and is generally known as the market center of the city. There are two major Stoas or markets the Stoa of Atalos which was built during the Hellenistic period, and the Southern Stoa which was built during the Classical period. The Agora also contains two temples during this period, the Temple of Hephaestus which was built during the Classical period, and the Temple of Mars which was moved from an unknown location by the Romans. The Temple of Hephaestus still stands today and is in remarkable condition. The Agora contained two Roman built buildings including the Odeon of Agripa, named for a Roman general and the Roman Citadel.

The Library of Hadrian and Roman Stoa:
The Library of Hadrian was built in honor of Roman Emperor Hadrian who visited the city during it's occupation by the Romans. Today all that remains of the original library is a small section of the front wall. The Roman Stoa much like the other Stoas in the Agora was a giant open market square built by the Romans.

The Olympieon:
The Olympieon or Temple of Olympian Zeus was a large temple that originally was started as early as the Classical Period, however work on it was slow and in many times was stopped. Ultimately it was finished by the Romans after a nearly 800 year construction period. Today all that remains of the temple are a few pillars, one of which was knocked over a few decades ago by a storm. Near the temple are two other notable structures, one of which is the Temple of Apollo, and the other is Hadrian's Arch. Hadrian's Arch much like the Library of Hadrian was also built in honor of Emperor Hadrian's visit and still stands to this day.

The Pnyx:
The Pnyx is considered by many to be the birthplace of Athenian Democracy, it was where the Athenian people went to vote. However it must be noted that Athenian Democracy was probably the least democratic form of democracy ever. Only male, property owning, native born Athenians could vote, which in antiquity was a tiny minority of the population of the city.

The last few images feature a mini build that is not featured on the main download of the "Modern Acropolis" where I took the original build and carefully "aged it" so it matches the appearance of the Acropolis today. The only thing I could not recreate was the yellowing of the marble on the buildings, so cut me some slack there. I just thought it was a neat thing to add to this page.



Artist Impression of the Agora as it appeared during this period



Artist Impression of the Acropolis as it appeared during this period.



The Acropolis of Athens as it appears today

Download Link Available:

Note: You are welcome to use this world in videos, however you must credit me and put a link to this PlanetMinecraft page. Any videos that try to claim this as their own will be copyright struck. I have already taken down two videos that have claimed my Alamo build as their own, and I will not hesitate to do it again. If you would like to use the build for anything other than a video, please let me know ahead of time. Thank you for your cooperation guys <3