DESCRIPTION
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
INFORMATION
 
 
East of the Brauronion and along the south wall of the Acropolis was the Chalkotheke, an elongated building whose name and function are known from ancient inscriptions. The building housed mainly the metal votive offerings - weapons, statuettes and hydriae, dedicated on the Acropolis and considered to belong to the goddess Athena. According to an edict of the fourth century BC, all of the objects contained in the Chalkotheke had to be listed on a stone stele to be erected in front of the building. The Chalkotheke was erected in the fifth century BC, but was enlarged and repaired in later years, as architectural elements found in this area show. Interestingly, Pausanias does not mention the building, possibly because it had no artistic or historical merit in his time.

The Chalkotheke was a rectangular building, accessed from the north. Its back wall ran parallel to the southern fortification wall. Inside, along the building's longitudinal axis, six columns supported the roof. A portico was added along the fa?ade in the fourth century BC, its northeast corner resting on the steps carved in front of the Parthenon. Cuttings in the bedrock and fragments of the tufa foundations are the only traces left of the Chalkotheke today.
Author
Ioanna Venieri, archaeologist