The ‘Karten von Attika’ is a collection of Attica maps created by Ernst Curtius archaeologist and Johann August Kaupert archaeologist – cartographer few years later after the establishment of German Archaeological Institute in Athens in 1872. In the 19th century Germans wanted to dominate over French and British in the area of classical studies thus one of the German Archaeological Institute’s initial projects was to cartographic the cultural sites Attica land. Curtius and Kaupert worked together and they created a series of Attica land’s topographic maps presenting much information about the 19th century’s Attica landscape e.g. cultural sites, road network, ports, forests, ancient mines etc.
This digital work tries to establish an online environment for exploring the changes of Attica land from the 19th century until nowadays by using the ‘Karten von Attika’ maps from the website of the Heidelberg University’s library and a contemporary one from the Openstreet, the free wiki world map.
For the Acropolis site a separated map was used: the ‘Acropolis in Athens, 1908', drawn by Wagner & Debes
The cartographic publishing house Wagner & Debes was established in 1841,
Wagner was a lithographer who collaborated with the publisher Baedeker.
Baedeker was known for a series of travel guides and the Wagner’s firm produced maps for the Baedeker publications.
Debes became a partner of Wagner in 1872.
The ancient monuments in Greece build in honor of ancient Gods. In greek mythology there are many Gods, every feeling, external factor etc that it was difficult to be explained was perceived as God/ Godess. In addition, every occupation has its own patron God e.g. Hephaestus was the patron god of metalworking, craftsmanship.
The major ancient Greek Gods are the following
Zeus King of the gods. god of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order and justice.
Hera Queen of the gods (Zeus' wife) and the goddess of marriage, women, childbirth and family.
Poseidon God of the seas, water, storms, hurricanes, earthquakes and horses.
Athena Goddess, god of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare. Her symbols: the owl and the olive tree.
Aphrodite Goddess god of love, pleasure, passion, procreation, fertility, beauty and desire.
The goddess of beauty Afrodite is frequently depicted in the decoration of ancient toilet accessories. The 3D model of the lid of the hinged copper mirror is dated back to the 4th century B.C., it depicts the goddess Aphrodite and her son Eros.
Hephaestus Good, god of the forge, craftsmanship, invention, fire and volcanoes.
Artemis Goddess, goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, virginity, the Moon, archery, childbirth, protection and plague.
Apollon God, god of light, the Sun, prophecy, philosophy, archery, truth, inspiration, poetry, music, arts.
Aris God, god of war, violence, bloodshed and manly virtues.
Hermes Gods,god of travel, commerce, communication, borders, eloquence, diplomacy, thieves, and games.
Demeter Goddess, goddess of the harvest, fertility, agriculture, nature and the seasons. She presided over grains and the fertility of the earth.
Hestia Goddess, gosess of the hearth, fire and family.
Dionysus God of wine, the grape vine, fertility, festivity and ecstasy. Patron god of the art of theat
Asklepios God, god of Medicine.
Information about this project
The old map of Acropolis in Athens in Greece by Wagner & Debes, Leipzig is available at discusmedia website.
The report of this project is available here
This project created by Maria Dimitrakarakou
for the completion of the “Digital Tools for Cultural Heritage Management” course organized by Heritage Management Organization