Virtual Tour - Athens - Pnyx | YouGoCulture

Where Pericles and Demosthenes used to address their fellow citizens for matters of the Athenian Democracy.

At the west side of the Acropolis' Hill, we find another small hill with a large area on the top of it. It is the hill of the Pnyx or simply Pnyx. In its large and comfortable terrace, the Assembly of the citizens of the Athenian democracy was holding its regular meetings.

At the same time, Pnyx was a sacred place, devoted to the God of the Gods, Zeus. Athenians had devoted the place, in which they were practicing their right and their duty as citizens of Athens' democracy, to two different aspects of Zeus: firstly, as Zeus Agoraios, as Zeus the protector of Agora and consequently of the whole city of Athens and, secondly, as Zeus Hypsistos, as Zeus the God of Gods, who could function as the absolute healer too.

In the hill of the Pnyx we can detect three different main architectural periods. During the first, the natural terrace of the hill just became smoother in order to host the Assembling of the Athenians. During the second period, a large landing was constructed. During the last period, the general structure was the same but larger.

At the end of the fourth century B.C., Pnyx stopped being the official place for the meetings of the Athenian Assembly. The hill however continued to function as a sacred place devoted to Zeus.

We can still detect fragments of the main monuments that used to assert themselves in the whole area. We have the cutting of the Altar of Zeus Agoraios, remains of the Sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos and two unfinished large stoas at the south side of the terrace, which probably they were aiming to give shelter to the Athenian citizens during a rainy day.Even nowadays, 2.500 years after Pericles' time, whenever we take a walk on this hill, we can still feel the excitement of the people of Athens deciding on their own for their own fates!

We can still detect fragments of the main monuments that used to assert themselves in the whole area. We have the cutting of the Altar of Zeus Agoraios, remains of the Sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos and two unfinished large stoas at the south side of the terrace, which probably they were aiming to give shelter to the Athenian citizens during a rainy day.

Even nowadays, 2.500 years after Pericles’ time, whenever we take a walk on this hill, we can still feel the excitement of the people of Athens deciding on their own for their own fates!

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