Photo of the Day 80

Herodes Atticus Theater, Athens, Greece, 2000

Photograph by Borchi Massimo

In a ritual that has taken place for centuries, an expectant assemblage awaits a dramatic entrance by performers under darkening skies in the Herodes Atticus Theater in Athens, Greece. This steep-sloped amphitheater was built around A.D. 160 by Greek philosopher and rhetorician Herodes Atticus as a tribute to his wife. The theater still hosts music, dance, and theatrical events today.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A Night in Athens," April 2000, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

Photo of the Day 70

Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 2000

Photograph by James Stanfield

Built as the hilltop home of Athens's patron goddess, Athena, the Acropolis—and its most famous structure, the Parthenon, at right—recall the classical area of the ancient city-state that witnessed a brilliant flowering of art, architecture, philosophy, and democracy in the fifth century B.C. Today, government, tourism, and shipping dominate the economy in Greece's modern-day capital.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Alexander the Conqueror," March 2000, National Geographic magazine)