The hill's natural fortifications led to it being occupied since the Neolithic years. After the middle of the 13th Century BC during the Mycenaean period, the first wall was built, known as the Pelasgian Wall, named after Attica's first inhabitants. After the decline of the Mycenaean civilisation the Acropolis continued to be inhabited until around the 7th Century BC. Within the change of the governmental form to aristocratic, the city was moved to the area of the market or Agora, the name of Acropolis was established to discern it from the lower city, whereupon it successively started to change into a place of worship.

The first marble temples were built in the beginning of the 6th Century BC, replacing the old wooden ones. During the same period the so-called proParthenon was built, dedicated to the goddess Athena. The artistic works, the ornaments of the Acropolis were made during the time of Pericles (5th Century BC). Under the supervision of Phidias and many other specialized artists such as Iktinos and Kallikrates, the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Odium were created. The Erehtheion was built a little later during a period of armistice during the hostilities of the Peloponnesian War.

The Parthenon remained almost untouched by the years that passed and from the looting until the period of the Roman Empire's decline. In 334 BC the Great Alexander dedicated Persian shields and loots from his victory at the Granic River. In 304 BC Demetrius the Besieger used Parthenon as his base of operations. After the Heroulians destruction of Parthenon in 267 BC, the Athenians fortified its western entrance with walls and fortresses.

In the Byzantine years the Parthenon, Erehthaion and Propylaia were changed to Christian churches but in the period of the Turkish Domination the Acropolis became a Turkish neighborhood, suffering great damages. The Parthenon was changed to a mosque and later to a gunpowder magazine. The Propylaia had the same fate. The Erehthaion was transformed into a harem and Athena Nike's Temple was demolished. In the beginning of the 18th C. Lord Elgin transferred -with the permission of the Sultan- a large number of unique masterpieces which for centuries had decorated the holy rock. During the Greek revolution in 1827, a Turkish shell destroyed parts of the Caryatids in the Erehthaion.

The temple was of Ionian style and has three buildings on its eastern, northern and southern sides. The most famous is the "Arcade of Koron" (Kori means daughter, virgin, girl) or the "Arcade of the Caryatids" which was used as a platform from which honorary persons observed the procession and the rituals of the Panathenians. The Caryatids dominate this arcade which is one of the masterpieces of Greek art. They comprise six female figured statues used in place of columns. Even if their function is mainly supportive the Caryatids seem surprisingly light and graceful. One of them has been transferred to the British Museum and the others are preserved in the Museum of the Acropolis, while models have been placed on the monument.

On the southern side of the rock, among other monuments, is the Theatre of Dionyssos, where some of the classical works of Greek tragedy were performed. The theatre was built around the 5th C. on a site that was formed as Dionyssos' worship place. The original theatre was made of wood which was replaced with marble in the 4th C. A bit further down we meet the second theatre of the Acropolis, the Odium of Herodes Atticus, which is connected to the theatre of Dionyssos through Eumenes' Arcade. The Herodion has been preserved so that significant theatrical performances and concerts are held here during the summer. The existence of these two sites in the area of the Acropolis verifies the dedication of the ancient Greeks to the expression of art. The performances in the Herodion during the summer months on the same marbles where Aischylos, Sofocles, Euripides and many other immortal creators "taught" and presented their works, majestically bind the Greece of today with ancient Greece.