Start your tour by buying tickets at the entrance to the grounds at Dionysiou Areopagitou Street and working your way up the hill. Enter through the Beulé Gate, which was named for French archaeologist Ernest Beulé. Climb the stairs, taking note of the Monument of Agrippa to the left. Off to the right is the Temple of Athena Nike, which was constructed in 427 B.C. to honor Athena for leading the Athenians to victory over the Persians in the Battle of Plataea.
Proceed next through the Propylaea, which was built from 437 to 432 B.C. to serve as the main entrance to the Acropolis. The Doric and Ionic-columned structure was designed as the climax of ceremonial processions and to frame the view of the Parthenon beyond.
Go next to the Parthenon. Built between 447 and 438 B.C. and measuring 230 feet long and 100 feet wide, this Doric-style temple was dedicated to Athena Parthenos. Much of it was destroyed during the seventeenth century when the gunpowder that was being stored in there by the Turks blew up during a battle with the armies of Venice. In the early nineteenth century Thomas, Lord Elgin, removed carvings from the Parthenon and other buildings of the Acropolis and took them the the British Museum in London, where they have been preserved. In recent years, the government of Greece and the British Museum have tangled over the issue of the repatriation of the Elgin Mables to Athens.
Head over to the Erechtheum, which was constructed from 421 to 407 B.C. and dedicated to Poseidon and Athena Polias. It's best-known for the Porch of the Caryatids--caryatids being pillars carved to look like young women. But what you see are merely replicas. The original caryatids are preserved in the New Acropolis Museum.
Backtrack and stroll down part of the hill to the Theatre of Herodes Atticus, a Roman structure erected between A.D. 161 and 174. It's still a performing arts venue, but if you go to a show here, bring something soft to sit on--the stone seats will get to you after awhile.
Continue from here and go east along the Stoa of Eumenes to the Theatre of Dionysos. Constructed from 342 to 326 B.C., it was restored by the Romans in 86 B.C. and improved several times in the later Roman era. The works of all the great Greek playwrights were performed here. What remains of the theater is but a small fragment--it was originally much larger.
Finish your tour at the New Acropolis Museum located on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, parallel to the Theatre of Dionysos. Its galleries contain 4,000 artifacts from the site, including sculptures and architectural fragments. It is here that the Elgin Marbles will be displayed if they ever come back to Greece. It was designed to replace the Acropolis Museum located atop the Acropolis, behind the Parthenon.
