Ancient Sites, Greece:
Athens, Brauron, Delphi, Delos, Dion, Knossos, and the Dictaean Cave
Click a photo to see further description.
All photos by Jason Mills or Jordanna Max Brodsky.
Please do not reproduce wtihout permission.
One of the best preserved temples in Athens, dedicated to one of the less famous Olympians.
On the slopes of the Acropolis, this massive ancient Roman amphitheater still hosts productions.
The great hill of Athens, dominated by the Parthenon, Athena's temple, built by Pericles in the 5th century BC. The grand entrance, or Propylaea, can be seen to the left, and at the base lie the remains of a Roman theater.
A view of the temple to Athena (in her incarnation as the goddess of victory) as you walk through the Propylaea, the monumental entrance of the Acropolis.
In honor of Athena, an olive tree always grows atop the Acropolis.
The Erechtheion is a temple to Athena and Poseidon on the Acropolis. (For the myth explaining their relationship with Athens, click on the link at the bottom.) The Porch of the Maidens is supported by Caryatids, columns in female form.
A reconstruction from both original and plaster pieces of the floral 'Akroterion' which crowned the top of the Parthenon's east pediment, measuring 4 metres high. Now housed in the Acropolis Museum.
The Sacred Way, traveled by initiates into the Eleusinian Mysteries as they processed out of Athens through the Dipylon Gate and through the Kerameikos Cemetery on the way to Eleusis. For a few photos of the remarkable sculptures found along the Sacred Way, click the link at the bottom.
6th century BC Temple to Artemis in her sanctuary at Brauron. One of the goddess's most sacred sites, where girls from Athens would come to prepare for womanhood, participating in ecstatic dances and other rites. Though little of the temple is left, the site includes a phenomenal and well-curated museum that's well worth a day trip from Athens. (See photos of Greece: Artifacts for statues from the site.)
This is the foundation of Apollo's most sacred shrine at Delphi. Within this temple sat the famous oracle.
The sacred precinct at Delphi is full of treasury buildings, each built by a different city to house their offerings to Apollo. This is the best surviving example, the Athenian Treasury.
A small, round temple situated in the sanctuary of Athena just beyond Apollo's sacred precinct in Delphi.
Delphi sits on the slopes of Mount Parnassos, offering a phenomenal view of the surrounding countryside.
JORDANNA MAX BRODSKY