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There is archaeological evidence of occupation and use in the Achaean period when a palace stood there. During that time, it was surrounded by a thick wall (between 4.50 and 6 meters) consisting of two parament s built with large blocks made of stones cemented with an earth mortar called emplekton . The main entrance was facing west. To the north-east there was a secondary entrance, reachable through a stair of about fifteen steps carved in stone. This secondary entrance was located close to the royal palace. To the north-west a small gate and a stair lead to the spring known as the " Clepsidra ."

After the Dark Age the Acropolis ceased to be a residence and became the cult-center of Athens, center of worship for the city. Following the Dorian invasion of the 10th century, a new building named Enneapylon ("nine gates") enclosed the spring. Traces of Mycenaean houses prove that the acropolis was permanently inhabited during that age and continued to be so during the dark periods that preceded the birth of the Athenian polis in the

to Athena and mentioned by Homer. The fortified acropolis served as a citadel for Pisistratus. In 510 BC, when he was defeated by a popular revolt supported by the Spartans, the walls were demolished. On the same spot, the old people of Athens took refuge during the Persian Wars around 480 BC. For that purpose, damaged portions of the wall were replaced by a wooden shelter, but this didn't stop the Persian king Xerxes' invading troops from conquering the Acropolis and sacking and burning the major temples.

Most of the major temples were rebuilt under the leadership of PericlesFor the Shakespeare play, see Pericles, Prince of Tyre''. Pericles (c. 495 BC 429 BC) was an influential and important leader of Athens during the Athenian Golden Age (specifically, between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars), from the Alcmaeonidae family during the Golden Age of Athens (460-430 BC). PhidiasPhidias (or Pheidias , son of Charmides, (circa 490 BC circa 430 BC) was an ancient Greek sculptor, universally regarded as the greatest of Greek sculptors. Phidias designed the towering statues of the goddess Athena in the Parthenon in Athens and the col, a great Athenian sculptor, and Ictinus and Callicrates, two famous architects, were responsible for the reconstruction.

During the 5th century BC6th century BC 5th century BC 4th century BC other centuries) ( 2nd millennium BC 1st millennium BC 1st millennium AD) Events Demotic becomes the dominant script of ancient Egypt Persians invade Greece twice ( Persian Wars) Battle of Marathon ( 490) Battl, the acropolis gained its final shape. After winning at EurymedonThe Battle of the Eurymedon took place between the Athenian-led Delian League and Persia on the Eurymedon River in Pamphylia in Asia Minor. The specific date is unknown, but it was between 470 BC and 466 BC. The Greeks, led by Cimon of Athens, actually de in 468 BC, Cimon and Themistocles ordered the reconstruction of southern and northern walls, and Pericles entrusted the building of the Parthenon to Ictinus and Phidias. In 437 BC Mnesicles started building the Propylaea, monumental gates with columns of Pentelic marble , partly built upon the old propylaea of Pisistratus. These colonnades were almost finished in the year 432 BC and had two wings, the northern one serving as picture gallery. At the same time, south of the propylaea, the building of the small Ionic temple of Athena Nike was started. After an interruption caused by the Peloponnesian War, the temple was finished in the time of Nicias' peace, between 421 BC and 415 BC.

At the same period they started the building of the Erechtheum, a temple of Athena Polias and of Poseidon Erechtheum, with its so-called Core's porch (or Caryatid's balcony). Between the temple of Athena Nike and the Parthenon there was the temenos of Artemida Brauronia , goddess represented as a bear and adorated in the Bruron dema. The archaic xoanon of the goddess and a statue made by Praxitele in the 4th century BC were both in the sanctuary. Behind the propylaea, Phidias' gigantic bronze statue of Athena Promachos ("that fights in the first line"), built between 450 BC and 448 BC, dominated the ensemble. The base was 1.50 meters high, while the total height of the statue was 9 meters. The goddess had a lance in her hand and a giant shield on the left side, decorated by Mys with images of the fight between the Centaurs and the Lapiths. Other monuments that have left almost nothing visible to the present day are the chalcotec , Pandroseion , Pandion's sanctuary , Athena's altar, Zeus Polieus's sanctuary and, from the Roman time, the circular temple of Augustus and Roma.