Up until this point I had gone relatively unobserved in Greece. Taking my picture here and there. When I posed for this photo there must have been a hundred people watching me as I balanced on the cool marble underneath a noon sun. Awkward? It was like they had never seen a Rhino before!According to Wikipedia, The Erechtheon was the last of the major acropolis structures to have been built. It was begun during the Peace of Nikias in the Peloponnesian War but was not completed until 408 BCE--roughly five years before Athens's defeat. While the Parthenon played largely a civic role, in festivals and as a treasury for Athens' Delian League, the Erechtheon had greater religious significance. It had to be built on several levels to accommodate the sloping terrain and because it was designed to enclose a number of sacred sites. In addition to the contest between Athena and Poseidon, for example, the site is associated with the tomb of Erechtheus, the legendary first king of Athens. Erechtheus was associated with both Athena and Poseidon, and the Erechtheon seems to be a double temple, dedicated to both gods.
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