Perserschutt

The Perserschutt, a German term, meaning the Persian debris, or Persian refuse, refers to the bulk of architectural and votive sculptures that were damaged by the invading Persian army on the Acropolis of Athens in 480 BC.

The Athenians had fled the city, returning only upon the departure of the Persians. The city had been sacked and burned and most of the sacred temples had been looted, vandalized, or razed. The desecrated sacred items were buried ceremoniously by the Athenians.

Later, the citizens of Athens cleared the top of their acropolis, rebuilt their sacred temples, and created new works of sculpture to be dedicated for the new temples.

The remains were preserved by the respectful action and sculptures from the burial were excavated first, in 1863-1866, by the French archaeologist, Charles Ernest Beulé. The remainder was discovered in 1885-1890 by the archaeologist Panagiotis Kavvadias and the architects Wilhelm Dörpfeld and Georg Kawerau.

Details of the excavations were published in 1906 (Kavvadias, P., Kawerau, G.: Die Ausgrabung der Akropolis vom Jahre 1885 bis zum Jahre 1890).