THE ACROPOLIS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 118, 21 May 1941, Page 7

THE ACROPOLIS

INVADERS' BANNERS SWASTIKA XOT FIRST The hoisting of the swastika <>n the Acropolis at Athens is not the first indignity this noble hill has suffered at the hands of invader*. From the days of Persian invasion about 480 B.C. the Acropolis has boc-n continually changing hands, and banners of many conquerors have fluttered from its buildings. Roman. Byzantine, Turkish armies have raided the Acropolis, demolishing in turn its famous temples, statues and buildings, till when it was liberated from foreign rule by the Greek War of Independence in 1529 it was little more than a village of Turkish type, with poorly-built houses clustering on its northern and eastern slopes. The narrow, crooked lanes of this quarter remain in great contrast to the straight, regularly laid out street.-- of the modern city of Athens. Ijord Byron. British poet. revered thYouchout Crew a-- 'ne liberator of Gieek poopk oo taus-- of • l.i• « nthu-ia.«-m lie :in B< for cause. and his 'hi art iie.- bur;«*d in M:—olonghi. i v. here ?!<■• <iied in | 1 ry tell? us that the Acropolis ■ is the oldest part of the city. Little I was known oi the pre-Persian buildings of the Acropolis till Greek ex» Kavations were carried out in lSh.5, ] when remains of splendid statues, Uhiines. Attic vases by famous po> Ters bronzes. and terracottas were : in the days of Hippias ;,bo'.:t jim P.C. th" Acropolis a .A ong fortress, hu". it was de;end?d iaiainst the Tertians only by a : wooden barricade.