Perserschutt

As Persian debris the rubble and called planarization layers, caused by cleaning up after looting and destruction of the sanctuaries on the Acropolis in Athens during the Persian occupation 480/479 BC.

Formation

In the second war of the Greeks against the Persians of the Persian king Xerxes I went with an army of over 100,000 men to Greece. When it came to the first Battle of Thermopylae, and simultaneously with the naval battle of Cape Artemision, fell on the side of the Greeks of the Spartan King Leonidas and his 300 -strong bodyguard together with auxiliary troops in securing the Thermopylenpasses that the withdrawal of the Greek Alliance army and the solution of the Greek fleet should ensure the enemy. This was also, until the Spartans were destroyed by betrayal, because the Persians another way it was shown on the streamed the entire Persian army. As a result, it came to the preliminary conquest and looting of Attica and Athens by the Persians.

Athens was evacuated after the Battle of Thermopylae, most Athenians fled to Salamis. Athens itself went up in flames with his buildings and works of art. The temples were not spared, but devastated or destroyed. After the withdrawal of the Persians, the Athenians did not try the little of architectural remains and votive offerings on the Acropolis, which was left over each other to repair or repair. As held by the deity the desecrated sacred objects and works of art were rather solemnly laid down in the mighty Auffüllschichten by which the previously irregular surface structure of the Acropolis was raised to a much higher and uniform level of the new building. This filling layers provide the so-called Persian debris dar. Many of the later built temples and monuments were built on this replenishment, unless one of them - as probably the Parthenon - again related the very foundations of previous buildings.

Although the devastation focused on the Acropolis, so yet another important city districts were affected. These include the destruction of the Telesterion and most of the buildings in the Agora, including the Temple of Apollo Patroos, the Stoa Basil and the old bouleuterion, just to name a few.

Excavations

The first archaeological evidence photographs of the ' Persian debris "of the Acropolis were made 1863-1866 by the French archaeologist Charles Ernest Beulé. Real deep excavations were carried out under the 1885-1890 archaeologist Panagiotis Kavvadias, supported by the architects and architectural historians Wilhelm Dörpfeld and Georg Kawerau. There were many works in the investigations and fragments of plastic art. Many were among the finds the girl statues, Koren, who were once set up as votive offerings to the Acropolis. The pediment sculptures of several archaic temple that must have stood on the Acropolis, were also among the finds from the exposed layers of debris. Also, the torso of Kritios - boys, the famous calf support and the so-called Angelitos Athena, an archaic statue of Athena in the peplos with Aegis, are among the major findings of the corresponding excavations.

The excavators and subsequently archaeologists have long believed to have with the finds from the Persian debris firmly dated monuments in front of him. Finally, they had to yes before 480/479 BC, have been the time of the destruction of the Acropolis completed, so the argument goes. Follow-up and critical review of the archaeological documentation revealed, however, that the excavations were firstly carried out quite quickly, and secondly poorly documented. In particular, for the Kritios - boys belonging was provided to the destruction layer in question in the sequence; a question that could not previously be answered, especially since the actual destruction layer is to be taken only in places in the archaeological record due to the subsequent cleanup. Then there is the fact that can not be valued, where all the material originated, which was used for landfill and terracing. Because the destruction had indeed captured all parts of the city, and alone in the Agora of the temple of Apollo Patroos, the Stoa Basil and the old bouleuterion were replaced with other, their debris discarded consequently.

The terracing has been undertaken on the Acropolis, which ended with an extension of the castle complex under Kimon accompanied, probably not before 468 BC, after the late period of the Persian wars was ended in the Battle of the Eurymedon. Now the funds could not be exempted in order to implement such an ambitious project. The work of the archaeological record until after the fifties of the 5th century seem to have attracted BC. When the construction began on the Parthenon in 447 BC, the leveling work must have been completed at the latest. So until this date represents the actual date fixed point on which all the works of art found in the so-called Persian debris must be generated. How many decades ago, but can not be determined on the basis of the Persian debris.