Hence I go at once to the famous Acropolis. The Acropolis is a hill, or a great rock three hundred feet high, jutting out of the valley in which Athens is situated. This rock is oblong in shape, measuring 1,100 feet north and south, and about 500 feet east and west. Its sides are everywhere steep, and on the north perpendicular. This Athenian rock, the Acropolis, was once crowned by five marble temples, the most splendid of which was the Parthenon. [Illustration: THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS AS IT WAS.] The Parthenon has justly been called “the finest edifice on the finest site in the world, hallowed by the noblest recollections that can stimulate the human heart.” This wonderful temple was 100 by 250 feet, built of the purest Pentelic marble, and surrounded by eighty huge columns. The Parthenon, like most of the other Grecian temples, is now partly in ruins. It has been standing twenty-five hundred years, and yet, despite the combined onslaught and united ravages of the Persian, the Turk, time, war, earthquake, flood and fire, these stately walls and lofty columns still stand to attest the energy, taste, skill and culture of the ancient Greeks. They were “First in the race that led to glory’s goal, The Parthenon, the Parthenon! Look on its broken Arch, its ruined wall, Its chambers desolate and portals foul. Yes; this was once ambition’s airy hall; The dome of thought, the palace of the soul.” Standing on the Acropolis and looking toward the north, I see modern Athens, with its seventy-five thousand inhabitants. To the east, are the remains of the “Temple of Jupiter.” This immense structure was once surrounded by one hundred and fifty Corinthian columns, seven feet in diameter and sixty feet high. Sixteen of these columns, and one triumphal arch, still stand in a perfect state of preservation. They are wonderful to behold. Looking in the same direction, but beyond the temple of Jupiter, I see the Stadium, which consists of a natural amphitheatre, formed by three hills, united and modified artificially. This is where the gymnastic contests and Olympic games took place.