ACROPOLIS NOW

By Tony Leighton

In the early 1820s, at the beginning of their War of Independence, the Greeks rose against the Turks
who had ruled their homeland for nearly four centuries. After fierce fighting, the Turks took refuge
on top of the Acropolis, the massive outcrop of rock that juts high above the Attic plain.

There they fortified themselves in the shadow of the Parthenon, a temple built in the fifth century
BC to honour the city’s patron goddess, Athena. The Parthenon is recognized as classical Greece’s
greatest architectural achievement and the very symbol of civilization and democracy to the
Western World.

The Turks were desperate. Their bullets gone, they began to dismantle the marble walls of the great
temple to peel the lead coating from their ancient metal dowels. It was an unwittingly brilliant
strategy. The horrified Greeks sued for an immediate ceasefire and, to the astonishment of the
Turks, dispatched a generous supply of ammunition to the Acropolis. Only then, with posterity
ensured, was battle rejoined.

Today, once again, the Greeks are fighting to save the Acropolis and its four great classical
masterpieces: the Parthenon; a smaller temple known as the Erechtheum; the spectacular entrance
called the Propylaea; and the diminutive, delicate temple of Athena Nike.

In an ambitious, multi-million rand effort that will span more than a decade, the Greek government
has undertaken a complete restoration of the Parthenon which, after 25 centuries of life, is critically
ill. Its massive marble blocks and columns have been damaged by wars, cracked by fires, shifted by
earthquakes and corroded disastrously by the effects of air pollution.

1. What is the Parthenon?

2. Who was the Parthenon for?
3. In which city of Greece would you find the Parthenon?
4. What was the Acropolis?
5. True or false: The Greeks and Turks started fighting in the 1920s
6. How many ‘masterpieces’ does the Acropolis have?
7. True or false: The Turks were desperate because they really wanted to see the
beauty of Greece
8. Why were the Greeks horrified that the Turks hid in their temple, the
Parthenon?
9. True or false: The Parthenon is a symbol of civilization and democracy in the
Western World.
10. There are 9 words in the first paragraph that were capitalized. Why did they get
capital letters?
11. People from Greece are called…
12. Which of the following has NOT affected the Parthenon over the years?
13. True or false, this sentence is written correctly: The turks and greeks fought for a
long time
14. The smallest temple on the hills of the Acropolis is the…
Task

1. Ask someone to help you with this task, or watch the recorded meeting from Monday 25
May where I read the comprehension and questions for you.
2. Listen to the comprehension text once
3. Listen to the questions once
4. Listen to the text again
5. Answer the questions