Acropolis

Acropolis (ἀκρόπολις). In almost all Greek cities, which were usually built upon a hill, rock, or some natural elevation, there was a kind of tower, a castle, or a citadel, built upon the highest part of the rock or hill, to which the name of acropolis was given. Thus we read of an acropolis at Athens, Corinth, Argos, Messene, and many other places. The Capitolium at Rome answered the same purpose as the Acropolis in the Greek cities; and of the same kind were the tower of Agathocles at Utica (App. Pun. 14), and that of Antonia at Jerusalem (Joseph. B. J. 5.8; Act. Apostol. 21.34). At Athens, the Acropolis served as the treasury; and as the names of all public debtors were registered there, the expression registered in the Acropolis (ἐγγεγραμμένος ἐν Ἀκορπόλει) always means a public debtor (ἐνἀκρολόλει γεγραμμένοι, Dem. c. Theocr. p. 1337.48; Böckh, Publ. Econ. of Athens, p. 388). For an account of the Acropolis at Athens, see Dict. of Geogr. i. p. 265 foll.

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