acropolis

The Ancient Greeks gave us many things which western civilisation is built upon - democracy, cartography, astronomy, mathematics and the fundamentals of classical architecture. And the home of the finest example of classical Greek architecture is at the site of the Acropolis in Athens - the wonder that is the Parthenon.

Bergama, Turkey is a city in the west of the country, located near the Bakırçay river and is home to the ruins of the Roman city of Pergamon (or Pergamum), which lie to the north and west of the modern day site. The ancient city is believed to have had a population of around 150,000 people at its peak in the First Century AD. Thanks to GeoEye who have provided a high resolution satellite image of the region, we can see the relationship between the modern city and its ancient past.

When I was asked to compile a list my ten favourite photographs in the Heritage Key Flickr Pool, I thought to myself "Easy! This will be a doddle!" Wow.. How wrong I was. There are some truly amazing, stunning, incredible images in the Flickr pool which you should definately have a look through - I'm likely to run out of adjectives in this blogpost!

The 'birthplace of drama' - the Theatre of Dionysus, located on the south slope of the Acropolis - is to be partially restored in a €6 million project that is set for completion in 2015. The ancient open-air theatre in Athens saw the première of many of the great dramatic works written during the 'golden age' of Greek Tragedy.

Famous ancient playwrights - such as Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes - took part in competitions staged twice yearly at the Dionysus theatre; the City Dionysia festival during the spring and the Lenaia in wintertime.

The limestone and marble version of the theatre - built in the 4th century BC - seated an estimated 14,000 to 17,000 spectators.