You're going to be. So, The Hello and welcome back to the history of ancient Greece.

Episode 65, the Athenian Acropolis.

The Athenian Acropolis dominates the countryside of Attica for miles around.

In early times it functioned as a palace, a sanctuary, and a fortress.

It continued to be used for defensive purposes until it was sacked by the Persians in 479 BC.

All of the temples that had been erected previously were destroyed and little trace of them

survives today apart from a few fragments of architectural sculpture.

For 40 years, the Acropolis remained in its ruined condition as a testimony to Persian barbarism.

But by the middle of the 5th century BC, when the Athenians were at the peak of their political power, thanks to the tribute paid by their subject allies, Athens was also becoming a very wealthy city. And so Pericles decided to funnel some of the excess money in the deli and leaked Treasury,

that being around 5,000 talents at that point.

To initiate a building program to replace the many temples in the Acropolis and throughout Attica

that had been wrecked by the Persians.

Other funds came from the financial reserves of the goddess Athena, whose sanctuaries, like those of the

other gods throughout Greece, received both private donations and public support.

The Greeks had all sworn the oath of Platea,

saying that they wouldn't rebuild those temples, burnt by the Persians,

until the threat was removed.

Well, as we mentioned in episode 43,

with a de facto peace with Persia now in place, Pericles had

called together a meeting in the spring of 449 BC, with the outcome that they decreed

to rebuild the temples to the gods that had been destroyed so that they could give

adequate thanks to the gods for saving Greece at such a perilous time and for their recent

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