Parthenon in Athens (Greece) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and videos.
- Tours for May to Greece
- Hot tours to Greece
Previous photo Next photo
The Parthenon has always been considered one of the most significant and monumental buildings of the Acropolis in Athens. The temple was built in honor of the goddess Athena, the patroness of the capital of Greece.
According to an ancient myth, the supreme god decided to get rid of his wayward daughter even when she was in the womb, swallowing them whole. But she did not give him rest, and then the Thunderer ordered to remove Athena from his head, already at that moment she was in armor, with a sword and shield in her hands. For such a militant goddess, of course, it was necessary to erect a sufficiently majestic temple.
Construction of the Parthenon began around 447 BC and continued for more than fifteen years. From all over Hellas, excellent marble, the best examples of ebony, ivory and precious metals were brought to the Acropolis.
The main architects of the temple were Kallikrat and Iktin. They were able to realize an extraordinary architectural solution by applying the rule of the golden ratio, where each subsequent part of the whole relates to the previous part in the same way as it relates to the whole. The marble columns of the temple are placed to each other not strictly parallel, but at a certain angle. As a result, the Parthenon acquired a number of architectural features - the main one is that it appears before those looking at its facade from three sides at once.
Parthenon
The sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was carried out by Phidias; under his strict guidance, numerous friezes and sculptural compositions were made. Directly his authorship belongs to the main attraction of the temple - a thirteen-meter statue of Athena, the manufacture of which took more than a ton of pure gold from the city treasury and the most expensive solid marble. Phidias also distinguished himself by depicting on the shield of the goddess the initiator of the construction - Pericles.
In the Parthenon, everything is thought out to the smallest detail, each detail has its own unique size, shape and purpose. This is one of the main attractions of Greece, which is deservedly considered a masterpiece of world architecture. Unfortunately, now little is left of its former greatness, but even the ruins preserved in its place cause delight among millions of tourists.
The Parthenon is a world-famous ancient temple, which is a monument of ancient architecture. It is located on the territory of the architectural complex of the Acropolis in Athens. The Parthenon Temple was built in honor of the goddess Athena, the patron goddess of the city. To date, the temple is half destroyed, and restoration work is underway.
The construction of the temple was carried out in the period from 447 to 438 BC. The main architect was Kallikrates, but Iktin's design was used in the construction. The decoration and decoration of the Parthenon was carried out in 438 - 431 BC by one of the greatest sculptors ancient period- Phidias.
Features of the architecture of the Parthenon.
Ancient Greece did not seek to overwhelm the viewer on a gigantic, superhuman scale. On the contrary, they relied on the features of the visual perception of shapes and sizes by human vision, and therefore tried to bring each part of their structure to a single, harmonious ensemble.
The Parthenon was built in the oldest of the architectural orders. At first glance, the columns of the building are located at an equal distance from each other. In fact, at the ends of the temple, the spans between the columns gradually and imperceptibly increased towards the center, which helped to give harmony to the structure.
The peculiarity of the perception of objects by the human eye is that against the background of a light sky, objects appear somewhat smaller or thinner. Ancient Greek architects were well aware of this, and used the technique of distorting lines to give the building a more perfect form.
So, the columns are not strictly vertical, but slightly inclined inward towards the walls of the building, and this makes them look much taller and slimmer. In the arrangement of cornices, steps, ceilings, the imperfection of human vision is everywhere taken into account.
The exterior of the Parthenon is slightly curved, everything is done in such a way that all parts of the building look perfectly correct and harmonious. For the Greeks, the columns personified the feathers of a bird, so the temple buildings were called "peripter" - which means "feathered" in translation.
The colonnade surrounded the temple with an air layer, which made it possible to make a soft, gradual and quite natural transition from an architectural object enclosed by walls to the space of nature. For the construction of the Parthenon, completed in the 5th century BC, the Greeks spared no effort and money.
Relief images.
The main holiday of the Athenians, Panathenaia, was celebrated annually for 5 days (from the 24th to the 29th day) of the month of Hecatombion, which fell on the period of July - August according to the modern calendar. The Panathenaic Games were cult solemn festivities in Ancient Hellas in honor of the goddess Athena.
At first, poetry was read, theatrical performances and sports competitions were held. Then people lined up in a procession, and went on in order to bring peplos to Athena - a solemn gift, in the role of which clothes made of wool acted. The architectural ensemble of the Acropolis was located on a hill, and according to the peculiarities of its construction, it was designed for the leisurely and solemn movement of religious processions.
On marble relief. encircling the Pathenon building, naked youths are depicted preparing and caring for horses, and their comrades, who have already stepped on unsaddled animals. Girls in long robes drive the bulls with strong horns chosen for sacrifice.
The elders march importantly, calm and noble. The figures then come closer, that they move away from each other, or merge into picturesque groups. All movement is directed towards the eastern facade, where a relief is located above the entrance to the temple, completing the entire ensemble. The relief image shows the feast of the twelve most important gods revered in ancient Greece.
The gods in the relief image are presented in their usual, completely human form - that is, they do not exceed the participants in the procession neither in height nor appearance nor the beauty, nor the splendor of the robes. The procession on the relief is perceived by the Greeks as an eternal procession, in which each participant of the festival was included.
Having circled the Parthenon, the procession approached the eastern facade, where in the center of the pediment the main ancient Greek god Zeus sat solemnly on the throne. Near Zeus is depicted a naked male figure with an ax in his hands, slightly leaning back. This figure depicted the god - the blacksmith Hephaestus, who had just cut the skull of the Lord of the Gods, and from it appeared the goddess Athena in armor and in a helmet, with the invariable attribute of wisdom - a snake.
To the right and left of Zeus were other gods. And in the corners of the pediment are depicted the heads of snoring horses. Noble animals entail the chariots of Helios - the god of the Sun and Selene - the god of the Moon. The faces of the gods are calm, but by no means indifferent, they are restrained, but composure stands for restraint. readiness for immediate action.
Statue of Athena.
In the Parthenon, meeting the procession, there was a 12-meter statue of the goddess Athena. The beautiful head of the goddess, with a low, smooth forehead and a rounded chin, was slightly tilted under the weight of a helmet and wavy hair. Her eyes were made of precious stones, and the masters managed to give them an attentive and testing expression.
The goddess in the form of a beautiful woman is the proud personification of Athens. The sculptor Phidias embodied in her image the desire for the common good, by which the Greeks meant justice. According to ancient mythology, Athena was once the chairman of the highest court of Greece - the Areopagus, and therefore the judicial system was under the auspices of Athena.
Thousands of plates of expensive material - ivory - were so skillfully fitted to the wooden base of Athena that it seemed as if the head and hands of the statue were carved from one piece of noble material. The slightly yellowish ivory hue looked delicate, and the statue's skin looked translucent, in contrast to the goddess's glittering gold robe.
The helmet, hair, and round shield were also made of embossed gold plates, all of which totaled more than one ton. On a golden shield, the battle of the Greeks with the warlike Amazons was engraved in low relief, and in the center of the battle, Phidias depicted himself in the form of an old man who raises a stone.
Peloponnesian War.
In the 5th century BC, the Greeks were a very proud people, and arrogantly considered other peoples to be people of a lower order. Gradually, the inhabitants of Athens began to oppose themselves not only to other peoples, but also to the rest of the Greeks living in other city-states throughout the country.
During the Persian wars, the Greeks endured all the hardships of the common struggle, but half a century later, the Athenians began to attribute the laurels of victory only to themselves. Allied policies responded to Athens with ever-increasing suspicion and barely restrained their indignation.
In 431 BC, the Peloponnesian War began between Athens and Sparta for supremacy over the other cities - the states of Ancient Hellas. At that time, Sparta was ruled by kings. The war was fierce, devastating and bloody, but for a long time the forces were approximately the same, so after 10 years peace was concluded.
Enormous sums were allocated for the construction of a temple in Athens. The expenses were not in vain. The Parthenon still remains the pearl of world architecture. Its greatness has been inspiring and alluring for 2,500 years.
City of the Warrior Goddess
The amazing city of Athens is located in Greece. He set the direction for democracy, developed philosophy, formed the foundations of the theater. Another of his merit is the ancient Parthenon: an outstanding monument of ancient architecture that has survived to this day.
The city was named after the goddess of war and wisdom - Athena.
According to legend, she and the ruler of the seas, Poseidon, started a dispute about which of them the inhabitants would worship. The god of the oceans, to show his strength, hit a rock with a trident. There was a waterfall there. So he wanted to save the townspeople from droughts. But the water was salty and became poisonous to the plants. Athena also grew which gave oil, fruits and firewood. The goddess was chosen as the winner. The city was named after her.
Subsequently, the Parthenon was built in honor of the protector of the city. The Temple of Athena is located on the Acropolis, that is, in the upper city.
Goddess house customer
Ancient Athens is one of the twelve independent cities of Attica (middle part of Greece). Its golden age came in the 5th century BC. e. His ruler Pericles did a lot for the policy. The man was born into a family of Athenian aristocrats, although later he vehemently supported democracy. With the people, he expelled the current leader from the city and took his throne. The new policy and the mass of reforms that Pericles introduced made Athens a hotbed of culture. It was on his initiative that the Parthenon temple was laid.
One of the traditions of the Greeks was that shrines were reduced to specially designated places and had the common name Acropolis. This was the upper part of the city. It was fortified in case of attack by enemies.
Forerunner of the Parthenon
The first temple of Athena was built in the middle of the VI century BC. e. and was called Hekatompedon. It was defeated by the Persians in 480 BC. e. Since then, several more attempts have been made to build the shrine, but constant wars have ravaged the budget.
The next person to thank the goddess was Pericles. In 447 BC. e. Construction of the Parthenon began. In Greece at that time it was relatively calm, the Persians finally retreated, and the monument on the Acropolis became a symbol of success and peace. It is worth noting that the construction was part of the plans of the ruler to restore Athens. It is interesting that the funds that were spent on the construction, the lord borrowed from the money that was collected by the allies for the war with the Persians.
Start of construction
At that time, the Acropolis was actually a dumping ground for what was left of the walls of previous temples. Therefore, to begin with, it was necessary to clear the territory of the hill. The main shrine was in gratitude to Athena for her help in defeating her enemies. Often, the goddess of military affairs was called Athena the Virgin. This is another answer to the question of what the Parthenon is. Indeed, from the ancient Greek word "parthenos" is translated as "virgin" or "virginity".
The foundation was the remains of the building, everything that collapsed. The best artists, engineers and sculptors of that time were invited to work. Architectural geniuses Iktin and Kallikrat were called in for the design. According to the documents that have remained, it is known that the first one developed the plan, and the second architect followed the work. Their team worked on the temple for sixteen years. In 438 B.C. e. they gave up work. In the same year, the consecration of the building took place. In fact, sculptors worked until 432 BC. e. The finishing process was led by a close friend of Pericles and the artistic genius Phidias.
temple phenomenon
Often Pericles was accused of extravagance. The Parthenon demanded colossal costs. cost 450 silver talents. For comparison, for one such coin it was possible to make a warship.
When the disaffected people rebelled, the ruler cheated. He stated that he would return the expenses, but then he would become the sole sponsor of the temple, and through the centuries, descendants would only thank him. The common people also wished for glory, agreed that the costs be charged to the townspeople, and no longer protested. By the way, it was on financial checks (at that time they were marble tablets) that the researchers established all the dates.
I had to visit the Parthenon and the Christian shrine. During the Byzantine period (V century), the place of worship of Athena was transformed into the temple of St. Mary.
What is the Parthenon and what is its main purpose, the Turks did not know either. In 1460, Athens passed into their hands, and the Church of Our Lady (that is, the temple of the goddess of warriors) was converted into a mosque.
1687 became fatal for Athena-Virgo. The Venetian ship hit the building with a cannonball and almost completely smashed its central part. Architecture also suffered from the inept hands of art guards. So, dozens of statues were broken when vandals and cultural defenders tried to remove them from the walls.
Features, attractions
At the beginning of the 19th century, Lord Elgin took permission from the Ottoman Sultan to transport to England the statues and carved walls that have survived. Thus, dozens of meters of valuable stone canvas were saved. The architectural structure of the Parthenon, or rather parts of it, is still preserved in the British Museum in London. The Louvre and the Acropolis Museum can also boast of such exhibits.
Partial restoration began after the restoration of the country's independence. This happened at the end of the 19th century. Then for the first time they tried to restore the original face of the Acropolis.
Today this unique place is being restored.
Upper City Ensemble
The temple became the crown and glorified the Athenian Acropolis. Parthenon - classic The room is spacious, surrounded by columns on all sides. No cement was used for the construction, the masonry was dry. Each block is a regular square. Blocks were fastened, which clearly corresponded to each other, on iron pins. All marble slabs were perfectly polished.
The territory was divided. A place was provided for the storage of the treasury. A separate room was for the statue of Athena.
The main material is marble. It tends to turn golden under the light, so its sunny side is yellower and the other side has a grayish tint.
The heyday of the temple fell on the heyday of Greece. After the fall of the country, the house of Athena also collapsed.
The main guest of the temple
All sculptural work was carried out under the guidance of the Greek sculptor and architect Phidias. But he decorated the most important part of the temple himself. The center of the shrine and the crown of his work was the statue of the goddess. The Parthenon in Greece was famous for her. The height was 11 meters.
They took a tree as a basis, but the framed figure was gold and ivory. The precious metal was used for 40 talents (this was equal to the weight of about a ton of gold). The miracle that Phidias created has not survived to this day, but it has been recreated in detail. The image of the sculpture was engraved on coins, hundreds of small statues of Athena (copies from the Parthenon) ordered temples from neighboring cities. All this became the material for the restoration of the most accurate reproduction.
Her head was in a helmet that did not hide her beauty. In his hand is a shield depicting a battle with the Amazons. According to one of the legends, the author knocked out his portrait and the portrait of the customer there. In the palm of her hand she holds a statue of the goddess of victory in Ancient Greece - Nike. Against the big Athena, she seems tiny, although in fact her height is more than two meters.
In order to better understand what the Parthenon is and how much it corresponded to the then idea of reality, you can read the myths of Greece. Athena was the only deity who stood in armor. Often she was represented with a spear in her hand.
In 438-437 BC. e. Phidias completed work on the statue of Athena. Further, her fate was not easy. The author was accused of stealing gold. Subsequently, some of the expensive plates were removed and replaced with bronze. And in the V century, according to some evidence, she finally died during a fire.
Birth of a goddess
What is the Parthenon and in honor of whom it was built, every Greek knows. The main temple of the ancient city was built to glorify the wisdom and justice of its patroness - the beautiful Athena.
The appearance of the goddess on Olympus is unusual. She was not born, but came out of the head of her father Zeus. This scene is depicted in the east wing of the temple.
Zeus, the main god, was for some time married to the lord of the ocean, a woman named Metis. When his wife became pregnant, God was told that he would have two children. A daughter who will not yield to him in courage and strength, and a son who will be able to throw his father off the throne. By cunning, Zeus made his beloved decrease. When Metis became tiny, her husband swallowed her. With this act, God decided to outwit fate.
The Parthenon Temple would not exist if Athena had not been born. After a while, Zeus became ill. The pain in his head was so severe that he asked his son Hephaestus to split his skull. He hit his father with a hammer, and an adult came out of his head beautiful woman in armor - Athena.
Subsequently, she became the patroness of warrior heroes and home crafts.
Temple - book of myths
The main wealth of the building is its for future generations. So, each particle tells its own unique story: the birth of a goddess, love for the city and its attitude towards the heroes.
Unlike war, Athena strove for fair battles. She was the protector of warriors, helped the cities where there were places of worship, often accompanied the heroes on their adventures. So, Perseus, with her help, defeated Jason and Athena built a ship for the Argonauts, on which they sailed for the Golden Fleece. Also often this character is found on the pages about the goddess did a lot for Odysseus to return home. Her favorite in the Trojan War was Achilles, so the scenes of these battles are depicted in the western part of the temple.
The Parthenon statues have been role models for many generations of artists.
The magnificent temple in Athens on the Acropolis, known as the Parthenon, was built between 447 and 432 BC. BC, in the era of Pericles, and was dedicated to the deity and patron of the city - Athena. The temple was built to house a new cult statue and proclaim the success of Athens to the world.
The temple has remained in use for over a thousand years and despite the ravages of time, explosions, looting and pollution damage, it still dominates the modern city of Athens, a magnificent testament to the glory the city enjoyed throughout antiquity.
The project to build a new temple, to replace the damaged buildings of the acropolis, after the Persian attack on the city in 480 BC, and the resumption of the destroyed temple project, begun in 490 BC, was drawn up by Pericles. And it was financed from the surplus of the Delian League military treasury, which rallied together to.
In time, the confederation developed into the Athenian Empire, and Pericles therefore had no qualms about using the League's funds to begin a massive building project to glorify Athens.
The Acropolis itself covers an area of about 300 by 150 meters and reaches a maximum height of 70 meters. The temple, which stands on the highest part of the acropolis, was designed by the architects Kallikrates and Iktinos.
Pantelian marble from the nearby Mount Pentelikon was used for the construction, and never before had so much marble been found in a Greek temple.
Pantelian marble was known for its pure white appearance and fine grain. It also contains traces of iron, which oxidizes over time, giving the marble a soft honey color that shines especially at dawn and dusk.
The name Parthenon comes from one of the many epithets of Athena (Athena Parthenos), that is, the Virgin. The Parthenon means "house of the Parthenos", which was named in the 5th century BC, being a chamber that housed a cult statue. The temple itself was known as mega neos or "big temple" which referred to the length of the inner cage: 100 ancient feet.
From the 4th century BC, the entire building acquired the name Parthenon.
Design and dimensions of the Parthenon
No previous Greek temples were so lavishly decorated with sculptures. The Parthenon would become the largest Doric Greek temple, although it was innovative in that it blended the two architectural styles of Doric and the newer Ion.
The temple measured 30.88 m by 69.5 m and was built using a 4:9 ratio in several aspects. The diameter of the columns in relation to the space between the columns, the height of the building in relation to its width, and the width of the inner cell in relation to its length are all 4:9.
To give the illusion of true straight lines, the columns are slightly pressed inward, which also gives the building the effect of lifting, making it illusory lighter than itself. construction material from which the temple was built.
In addition, the stylobate or floor of the temple is not entirely flat, rising slightly in the center. The posts also have a slight deviation in the middle, and the four corner posts are noticeably thicker than the other posts.
The combination of these improvements allows the temple to appear perfectly straight, symmetrical in harmony, and gives the whole appearance of the building a certain dynamism.
Architectural elements of the Parthenon
The outer columns of the temple were Doric, eight of which were visible from the front and back and 17 were visible from the sides. This was not typical of the usual 6x13 Doric style, and they were also slimmer and more closely spaced than usual.
The interior was separated by six columns at the back and front. She was visible through the big wooden doors, adorned with bronze, ivory and gold ornaments.
Kleda consisted of two separated rooms. The smaller room contained four Ionic columns to support the roof section and was used as the city's treasury.
The larger room housed the cult statue, which was surrounded by a Doric colonnade on three sides. The roof was built using cedar beams and marble tiles and would have been embellished with acrotherapy (from palms or figures) at the corners and central peaks. Lion's mouths were also lined at the corners of the roof to drain water.
Parthenon decorative sculpture
The temple was unprecedented in both the quantity and quality of the architectural sculpture that adorned it. No other Greek temple was so richly decorated.
The subjects of the sculpture reflected the turbulent times in which Athens was still involved in clashes. After victories over the Persians in a marathon in 490 BC, at Salamis in 480 BC, and at Plataea in 479 BC, the Parthenon became a symbol of the superiority of Greek culture against the "barbarian » foreign forces.
This conflict between order and chaos was symbolized, in particular, by the sculptures on the metas walking along outside temple, 32 on the long sides and 14 on each of the short ones.
They show the Olympian gods fighting giants (the eastern metropolises are the most important, as this was the side where the main entrance to the temple was), the Greeks, probably including Theseus, fighting the Amazons (western meteors), the Fall of Troy (Northern meteors), and Greeks fighting centaurs.
The cutters ran along all four sides of the building (ion). Starting at the southwest corner, the cutter narrative follows either side, meeting at the far end. The temple presents a total of 160 m of sculpture with 380 figures and 220 animals, mainly horses.
This was more common for a treasury building, and perhaps reflected the dual function of the Parthenon - as a religious temple and as, at the same time, a treasury.
The frieze differed from all previous temples in that one object is depicted on all sides, in this case, the Panathenaic procession that took place in Athens, and which delivered a new, specially woven robe to the ancient wooden cult statue from Athena, located in the Erechtheion.
The item itself was a unique choice as usually scenes from Greek mythology were chosen to decorate the buildings. The procession depicts dignitaries, musicians, horsemen, chariots and the Olympian gods in the center of Athens.
To alleviate the difficulty in viewing the frieze, from such a steep angle, from the narrow space between Kleda and the outer columns, the background was painted Blue colour, and the relief varied so that the carving was always deeper at the top.
In addition, all of the sculptures were brightly colored, mostly using blue, red and gold. Details such as weapons and horses were added in the bronze, and colored glass was used for the eyes.
The most important sculpture in the temple
The temple passages were 28.55 m long with a maximum height of 3.45 m in the center. They were filled with approximately 50 figures, an unprecedented number of sculptures in any temple at all.
Only eleven of these have survived, and their condition is so poor that many are difficult to identify with certainty. With the help of Pausanias' descriptions of the 2nd century CE, however, it is possible to identify common subjects. The eastern pediment as a whole depicts the birth of Athena, and on the western side - the competition between and, for the patronage of the great city.
One of the problems of the pediments for the sculptor is the reduction of space in the corners of the triangle. The Parthenon presented a unique solution, dissolving the figures in an imaginary sea or sculpture covering the lower edge of the pediment.
Statue of Athena
The most important sculpture of the Parthenon, not outside, but inside is the Chryselephantine statue of Athena by Feidias.
It is a gigantic statue over 12 feet tall and made of carved ivory for body parts and gold (1140 kilograms or 44 talents) for everything else, wrapped around a wooden core.
Therefore, gold details can be removed, if necessary, during periods of financial need. The statue stood on a pedestal measuring 4.09 by 8.04 meters.
Athena standing majestic, fully armed, in the aisle with the head of the famous Medusa, holding Nike.
The statue has been lost (and may have been taken to Constantinople in the 5th century CE), but smaller Roman copies survive. In her right hand she holds a shield depicting scenes from the battles of the Amazons and the giants. Behind the shield was a large coiled snake. On her helmet were a sphinx and two griffins. In front of the statue is a large pool of water, which not only adds the necessary moisture to preserve the ivory, but also acts as a reflector for light passing through the doorway.
The admiration and richness of this temple, artistically and literally, should be a message and create a clear idea of the strength of the city, which could pay tribute to their patron.
The Parthenon, unconditionally, served as the religious center of Athens for over a thousand years. However, in the 5th century AD. the pagan temple was turned into a church by the early Christians.
An apse was added to the east end, which required the removal of part of the east frieze. Many of the meteopes on the other sides of the building were intentionally damaged, and the figures in the central part of the east pediment were removed.
Windows were installed into the walls, more parts of the frieze were destroyed, and a bell tower was added to the west.
In 1816 the British government bought the collection now known as the Elgin Marbles, now in the British Museum of London.
Elgin took away 14 metopes (mainly from the south side), a large number of the best preserved frieze slabs and some figures from the pediments (in particular, the torso of Athena, Poseidon and, quite well preserved, a horse).
The rest of the pieces of sculpture left at this site suffered from severe weather, especially at the end of the 20th century AD, devastating consequences chronic air pollution.
The most important pieces are now in the Acropolis Museum, a purpose-built modern exhibition space that opened in 2011.
Later history
The building survived in its new form for another thousand years. Then, in 1458, the occupying Turks turned the building into a mosque and added a minaret in the southwest corner.
In 1674 AD a visit by a Flemish artist (perhaps one Jacques Carey) was busy drawing most of the sculpture, an extremely random act given the catastrophe that was about to strike.
In 1687, the Venetian army under General Francesco Morosini laid siege to the acropolis, which was occupied by the Turks, who used the Parthenon as a powder keg.
On September 26, a direct hit from a Venetian cannon set it on fire, and a massive explosion tore the Parthenon apart. All the inner walls, with the exception of the eastern side, were swollen, the columns collapsed to the north and south, and with them half of the meteopes.
This was not enough, Morosini further damaged the central figures of the west gable in an unsuccessful attempt to plunder them, and smashed the horses from the west gable when he realized that they were not liftable for him.
From the ruins of the temple, the Turks cleared the space and built a smaller mosque, but no attempt was made to collect artifacts from the ruins, or to protect from a random robber. Often, in the XVIII century, foreign tourists took away a souvenir from the famous ruins of the Parthenon.
An icon of Western civilization, it is one of the most famous buildings in the world. The temple was built in the 5th century BC overlooking the city of Athens from its majestic position atop the sacred Mount Acropolis.The Parthenon was created in honor of the goddess Athena Parthenos (maiden Athena), the patroness of the city of Athens. The temple was originally known as the Great Temple (Megas Naosa), but later became known as the Parthenon.
Today's Parthenon was not the first temple built here in antiquity. There are traces of two earlier and slightly smaller temples: the first in stone and the second in marble.
Shortly after the Persians destroyed all the buildings on the Acropolis in 480 BC, Pericles commissioned the construction of a new large temple and the architect and sculptor Phidias supervised the project. The design of the Parthenon is attributed to Kallikrates and Iktinos. Construction began in 447 BC and the temple was completed just nine years later. Phidias continued to work on the magnificent sculptures that adorned the temple until 432 BC.
After antiquity the Parthenon was turned into a church and during the Turkish occupation of Athens it was used as an arsenal. It became a ruin only in 1687, during the siege of the Turks, the Venetians shelled the Acropolis from the hill of Philopappos. The ammunition that was stored in the Parthenon exploded, destroying the roof, the interior and fourteen columns.
The Parthenon was built as a peripter - the temple is surrounded by columns - in the Doric order. The temple measures 30.86 by 69.51 meters and contained two cellas (the inner main parts of the ancient temple). A large statue of the goddess Athena was kept in the eastern cella. Western - was exclusively for priests and contained the treasury of the union of Greek city-states.
The Parthenon was decorated with numerous sculptures and reliefs. There were fifty sculptures on the pediments alone. Most of the surviving sculptures are on display at the British Museum in London, while some are in the nearby Acropolis Museum. There were two friezes: the inner one in the cella and the outer one, which consisted of triglyphs ( vertical stripes) and metopes (rectangular slabs) with relief sculptures. The inner frieze was designed by Phidias and depicted Panathenaia, a festival in honor of Athena. Many of the metopes and interior parts of the frieze can also be seen in the British Museum.
To achieve visual perfection, the creators of the Parthenon used optical techniques, seemingly defying the laws of perspective. The columns are slightly tilted inward and have a curved shape. As a result, the horizontal and vertical lines of the building look perfectly straight to the naked eye.
Most people think that ancient temples always had plain marble colors. But buildings and statues in antiquity were often very colorful. The Parthenon in Athens was no exception: the sculptures on the friezes and pediment, as well as the roof, were brightly painted in blue, red and gold.
The main pride of the temple is an approximately twelve-meter statue of Athena Parthenos, created by Phidias. The statue was made of gold and ivory on a wooden frame. Like all other sculptures of the Parthenon, the statue was painted in bright colors, mostly blues and reds.
