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acropolis
acropolis [Gr.,=high point of the city], elevated, fortified section of various ancient Greek cities.
The Acropolis of Athens, a hill c.260 ft (80 m) high, with a flat oval top c.500 ft (150 m) wide and 1,150 ft (350 m) long, was a ceremonial site beginning in the Neolithic Period and was wa...
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Mnesicles
Mnesicles , Greek architect, 5th cent. BC He designed the propylaea , and the Erechtheum is also sometimes ascribed to him. Both are on the acropolis at Athens.
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Epimenides
Epimenides , fl. 6th cent.? BC, Cretan prophet and miracle worker. According to one story, he was called to Athens to purify the city after the murder of Cylon on the Acropolis. Many poems, oracles, and sayings were attributed to him (Titus 1.12 is supposed to contain one of these).
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Alcamenes
Alcamenes , fl. 5th cent. BC, Athenian sculptor, said to have been a pupil and rival of Phidias. He worked in gold, ivory, and bronze. His Aphrodite of the Gardens at Athens was one of the first sculptures to display the body in detail beneath drapery. Pausanias erroneously attributed to him the s...
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Antenor
Antenor , fl. last half of 6th cent. BC, Greek sculptor who executed the bronze statues of the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogiton. In 480 BC, Xerxes carried these statues away from Athens, but they were discovered later at Susa by Alexander and sent back. A marble figure of a woman, signed on th...
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Ictinus
Ictinus , fl. 2d half of 5th cent. BC, one of the greatest architects of Greece. His celebrated work is the Parthenon (447-432 BC) upon the acropolis at Athens, which he built with the architect Callicrates as associate. Ictinus also built the temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae, near Phigali...
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propylaeum
propylaeum , in Greek architecture, a monumental entrance to a sacred enclosure, group of buildings, or citadel. A roofed passage terminated by a row of columns at each end formed the usual type. Known examples include those at Athens, Olympia, Eleusis, and Priene. The most splendid example are the ...
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Selinus
Selinus , ancient city of Sicily. It was founded (628? BC) by Dorian Greeks. The constant rival of neighboring Segesta, Selinus got Syracuse to interfere in a quarrel, which led to the unsuccessful Athenian expedition in Sicily (415-413 BC). Segesta invoked the aid of the Carthaginians, who sacked S...
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Athena
Athena , or Pallas Athena , in Greek religion and mythology, one of the most important Olympian deities. According to myth, after Zeus seduced Metis he learned that any son she bore would overthrow him, so he swallowed her alive. Later Hephaestus split Zeus' skull with an ax, and out sprang Athen...
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Phidias
Phidias or Pheidias , c.500-c.432 BC, Greek sculptor, one of the greatest sculptors of ancient Greece. No original in existence can be attributed to him with certainty, although numerous Roman copies in varying degrees of supposed fidelity exist. However, the estimates of ancient writers, their ...
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