The siege of the Acropolis took place on 23–29 September 1687, as the Venetian army under Otto Wilhelm Königsmarck laid siege to the Acropolis of Athens, held by the Ottoman garrison of the city. The siege resulted in the destruction of a large part of the Parthenon, which the Ottomans used as a gunpowder store. Siege As part of the Morean War, the Venetians had landed on the Peloponnese peninsula (then known as "Morea") in southern Greece, and in a series of campaigns in 1685–1687 had managed to wrest it from the Ottoman forces holding it. The Venetian position in the Morea was unsafe, however, as the Ottoman strongholds of Thebes and Negroponte (Chalkis) provided the Ottoman Empire with excellent bases for an invasion and reconquest of the peninsula. As a result, the Venetian commanders, under Francesco Morosini, decided to expand their campaign into eastern Central Greece, with Athens as the first target. On 21 September 1687, Königsmarck's army, 10,750 men strong, landed at Eleusis, while the Venetian fleet entered Piraeus. The Turks quickly evacuated the town of Athens, but the garrison and much of the population withdrew to the ancient Acropolis of Athens, determined to hold out until reinforcements arrived from Thebes. The Venetian army set up cannon and mortar batteries on the Pnyx and other heights around the city and began a siege of the Acropolis. The Ottomans first demolished the Temple of Athena Nike to erect a cannon battery, and on 25 September, a Venetian cannonball exploded a powder magazine in the Propylaea. The most important damage caused was the destruction of the Parthenon. The Turks used the temple for ammunition storage, and when, on the evening of 26 September 1687, a mortar shell hit the building, the resulting explosion killed 300 people and led to the complete destruction of the temple's roof and most of the walls. Despite the enormous destruction caused by the "miraculous shot", as Morosini called it, the Turks continued to defend the fort until a relief attempt from the Ottoman army from Thebes was repulsed by Königsmarck on 28 September. The garrison then capitulated, on condition of being transported to Smyrna, on the next day. Aftermath Despite the fall of Athens, Morosini's position was not secure. The Ottomans were amassing an army at Thebes, and their 2,000-strong cavalry effectively controlled Attica, limiting the Venetians to the environs of Athens, so that the