Athens paper plane game
Fly over the white houses and red-tiled roofs of Plaka, all the way up to the Parthenon.
Plaka's red-tiled roofs, then the tall blocks on the avenues. Get past the bronze griffin, then the serpent on the Acropolis.
A city under the rock
People were living on the Acropolis rock more than 5,000 years ago. Around 508 BC the Athenians began to make their own laws by voting, one of the first democracies. In 1834 Athens became the capital of modern Greece.
“I'd vote for one more lap around the Acropolis.”
The landmarkThe Parthenon
The Parthenon was built on the Acropolis between 447 and 432 BC, from white marble cut on Mount Pentelicus. In 1687 a Venetian shell hit gunpowder stored inside, and the blast tore through its centre. Its long rows of columns still stand, and they turn gold in the evening sun.
Who keeps the wish in Athens.
An Elite wakes first; the Boss guards the wish itself. Hit their weak points for a BONK!, land the last blow for a KO!, and each one grins and takes a bow.
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The Elite
The Bronze Griffin
Guards gold it never spends · Keeper of the avenues
Greek storytellers said griffins, half eagle and half lion, guarded gold in the far north. Around 650 BC Greek bronze workers cast griffin heads with a knob on the brow and fixed them around the rims of great bronze cauldrons, beaks open, keeping watch on every side.
The griffin wakes with a snort, rears up on its hind legs, spreads its bronze wings and blinks one gold eye at the plane. The knob on the griffin's brow gives a bright, angry ring. It shakes its head and beats one wing. The griffin folds its wings, dips its beak low and steps aside for the plane.
“I'd ask it where the gold is hidden.”
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The Boss
The Serpent of Erechtheion
Ate a honey cake every month · Keeper of the Acropolis
The ancient Athenians said a great serpent lived on the Acropolis and guarded it, and every month they left it a honey cake. In 480 BC, with a Persian army marching on Athens, the cake was found uneaten. The Athenians took it as a sign to leave, and they sailed their families to safety.
The serpent uncoils from its olive tree, lifts its crowned head and watches the plane, tongue flickering. The serpent's gold crown slips over one eye, and it tightens its coil around the tree. The serpent lowers its crowned head to the olive roots in a slow bow, and the plane flies on past the Parthenon.
“I'd bring it a honey cake, just in case.”
Athens cleared. From up there, the Parthenon looked just like the picture in my book.
- The griffin's brow rang like a little bell every time my plane touched it.
- Even when it bowed, the serpent kept its tail wrapped round the olive tree.
The plane reaches Athens from Istanbul.