acropolitan

adj — 2 senses

acropolitan

adjalso spelled Acropolitan

UK /ˌækɹəˈpɒlɪtən/

Etymology acropolis + -an

1

Of or befitting an acropolis, especially in lofty glory and in the capacity to inspire awe; compare Acropolitan.

  • And then, this enduring ocean of houses, of palaces, temples, porticoes, colonnades, which floated before her eyes from the Western Necropolis to the Gardens of the Goddess: Bruchion, the Hellenic town, dazzling and regular; Rhacotis, the Egyptian town, before which the light-flooded Paneion rose like an acropolitan mountain; the Great Temple of Serapis whose façade was horned by two long rosy obelisks; the Great Temple of Aphrodite, surrounded by the murmurs of three hundred thousand palm trees and of numberless waters; the Temple of Persephone and the Temple of Arsinoe, the two sanctuaries of Poseidon, the three towers of Isis Pharis, the seven columns of Isis Lochias, and the Theater and the Hippodrome and the Stadion where Psittacos had run against Nicosthene and the tomb of Stratonice and the tomb of the god Alexander — Alexandria! Alexandria — the sea, the men, the colossal marble Pharos whose mirrors saved men from the sea! Alexandria — the city of Berenice and of the eleven Ptolemaic kings, Physcos, Philometor, Epiphanios, Philadelphos! Alexandria — fulfillment of all dreams, the crown of all glories conquered during three thousand years in Memphis, Thebes, Athens, Corinth, by the chisel, by the reed, by the compass and by the sword!1913, Pierre Louÿs, Mitchell Starrett Buck, Aphrodite, page 130:
  • At Hastings and other towns, where archæological ruins monopolise the central height, you see an unwitting abandonment of the acropolitan ideal.1924: Victor Branford, Living Religions, a Plea for the Larger Modernism, page 162 (Leplay House Press)
2 more examples
  • Like the ancient citadel, the capitol zone is a place of power and privilege; unlike the earlier acropolitan destination, however, current public access to the capitol complex is thoroughly discouraged.1992, Lawrence J. Vale, Architecture, Power, and National Identity, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 102, →ISBN:
  • 2007: Roman Payne, Cities & Countries, chapter XIII: The Conscription of the Troops, page 187 (ModeRoom Press; →ISBN The rising sun peered between the cypress trees flooding the Grand Plaza with yellow matinal light. The backside of the palace overlooked the plaza with balconies supported by two tiers of colonnades and was framed on each of the three other sides by columned façades of buildings constructed from marble and stone. This plaza was the pride of the acropolitan village that served the palace. It was separated from the foyer where Alexis’ window overlooked simply by a tiny lane of one-storey village houses.

Acropolitan

adj

Etymology Alternative letter-case form of acropolitan.

1

Of, pertaining to, or in the style of the Athenian Acropolis; compare acropolitan.

  • Who first surrounded the Acropolitan platform with a wall, is unknown, but it is probable that the work of Pelasgi may be traced in part of the boundary wall, from a division of it having received that name by tradition. The walls of Tiryns and Mycenæ, are the finest remains of Acropolitan building in Greece, but they are inferior in magnitude to erections, (called Cyclopean), of Norba, in Latium; and several other Pelasgic fortresses of Cora, Signia, and Alatrium, in Italy, (the walls of which resemble those of Tiryns, Argos, and Mycenæ,) whose wonderful ruins exhibit walls of equal strength and solidity with those of Argolis.1854: Robert Stuart, Cyclopedia of Architecture: Historical, Descriptive, Topographical, Decorative, Theoretical and Mechanical, pages 60 and 63–64 (A. S. Barnes & Co., 51 John-Street)
  • […] a ferocious gang of Athenian officers, skyward, headed perhaps, by the triumphant Demosthenes, to the Acropolitan cliff, and to see her palsying form slugged down the abyss. The mangled head and trunk, and limbs, dumb in life’s last quivering gasp are the horrid subject of the epitaph.1900: Cyrenus Osborne Ward, The Ancient Lowly: A History of the Ancient Working People from the Earliest Known Period to the Adoption of Christianity by Constantine, volume 2, page 336 (C. H. Kerr & company co-operative)
2 more examples
  • 1931: International museums office, Proceedings of the Athens committe on the anastylosis of the Acropolitan monuments, main title, →OCLC Proceedings of the Athens committe on the anastylosis of the Acropolitan monuments
  • The younger and wealthier members of the White Acropolis felt the need for some new Acropolitan associations to be created to deal with explicitly political issues concerning the Acropolis region.2006: Ethnologia Balkanica, volume 10, page 199 (Prof. M. Drinov Academic Pub. House)

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for acropolitan and Acropolitan.