The Parthenon was recognized as the center of religious life in the ground-breaking Greek City-State of Athens. With a height of 45 feet and a base of 228 feet by 101 feet, this was built way back in the fifth century B.C.
As written in the history books, it states that it began being worked during 447 BC which implies it presently existed more than 2,460 years of age. For Athens, it symbolizes their power and strength, wealth as well as elevated culture. It was also renowned as the most luxurious and largest temple the Greek terrain had ever seen.
For those confused about the difference between Parthenon and Acropolis, the Acropolis is a high hill on which the Parthenon, the old temple, sits on. To put it simply, the Acropolis was the hill, whereas the Parthenon is a popular ancient structure.
This structure has two or three conversions beginning from being a temple that was built dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena. At that point, it was changed over by the Christians into a church and was taken over by the Turks to make it a mosque with a minaret built above it. Tragically, during the last part of the 1600s, the Acropolis was utilized as a military point that the Venetians and Turks were battling about Athens, because of its high position.
The explosives stored in the Parthenon went off and exploded its interior. As indicated by traveler experiences, the stones on Acropolis are very elusive, so wearing shoes with good traction is suggested when you visit.
The Parthenon exemplifies a phenomenal number of architectural refinements, which are combined in order to give a plastic, sculptural appearance to the structure. The upward shape of the base along the ends and rehashed in the entablature is among them; an indistinct, delicate convexity (entasis) of the columns as they decrease in diameter toward the top; and a thickening of the four corner sections to check the diminishing effect of being seen at specific angles against the sky.
The sculpture decorating the Parthenon equaled its architecture in cautious harmony. The metopes over the external collonade were cut in high alleviation and being represented, on the east, a battle among divine beings and giants; on the south, Greeks and centaurs; and on the west, presumably Greeks and Amazons.
Those on the north are practically totally lost. The continuous, low-relief frieze around the highest point of the cell wall, representing the yearly Panathenaic parade of the country’s citizens that honors Athena, finished on the east end with a priest and priestess of Athena flanked by two groups of situated divine beings.
On the east, the introduction or birth of Athena and, on the west, her contest with the ocean god Poseidon for control of the locale around Athens. The whole work is a wonder of synthesis and lucidity, which was additionally enhanced through the usage of color and bronze accessories.
Until the fifth century CE, the Parthenon remained basically intact, when Phidias’ huge sculpture was removed and the temple was changed into a Christian church. By the seventh century, a particular sculptural modification in the inner part had likewise been made.
The Turks held onto the Acropolis in 1458, and after two years they embraced the Parthenon as a mosque, without material change aside from the raising of a minaret at the southwest corner. During the siege of the Acropolis in 1687 by Venetians battling the Turks, a powder magazine situated in the temple exploded, which destroyed the center part of the building.
In 1801–03 an enormous piece of the model that remained was being removed, with Turkish authorization, by the British nobleman Thomas Bruce, Lord Elgin, and sold in 1816 to the British Museum in London. Being said, other sculptures from the Parthenon are currently in the Louver Museum in Paris, in Copenhagen, and somewhere else, yet many are still placed in Athens.
Significance of the Parthenon
The Parthenon was considered as the center of religious life in the ground-breaking Greek City-State of Athens, the top of the Delian League. As being said above, it was built in the 5 century B.C., as a symbol of the power and strength, wealth as well as an elevated culture of Athens. Considered the most lavish and largest temple that can be seen in the entire Greek mainland.
Today, it is one of the most recognized structures around the world. It is even known as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece.
Who Built the Parthenon?
The celebrated Greek statesman Pericles is credited with requesting the design as well as the development of the Parthenon as a temple dedicated for Athena—the goddess of wisdom, arts and literature, and war—however, it might not have been the main endeavor to house the divinity.
The Older Parthenon or Pre-Parthenon was an earlier structure that once existed on the site of the current Parthenon. Numerous historians have believed that it was under development in 480 B.C. at the point when the Persian Empire attacked Athens and decimated the Acropolis, albeit a few experts had disputed this so-called theory.
When Was the Parthenon Built?
In 477 B.C., about 33 years after the Persian intrusion, Pericles started constructing the Parthenon to replace the previous temple. Development of the enormous structure proceeded for just about forty years until it was devoted to 438 B.C.
Decorative work and sculpting at the Parthenon proceeded until 432 B.C. It’s assessed that 13,400 stones were utilized to build the temple, at an all-out expense of around 470 silver talents (generally $7 million U.S. dollars today).
A Brief History of the Parthenon
The Parthenon was generally unchanged until the 6th century A.D. when it was changed over into a Christian church; later, in 1400, it was changed over into a mosque; at that point, it was utilized as a weapons munitions depot whereas yet many of its sculptures have been preserved. In 1687, the Parthenon was essentially damaged, when the Venetians, driven by Francesco Morosini, attacked Athens.
Numerous sculptures were later recuperated and brought to London by Lord Elgin in 1803. Today they are placed and can be seen in the British Museum, where they are known as the “Parthenon Marbles” or “Elgin Marbles.” Other sculptures from the Parthenon are also placed and can be seen in the Louver Museum in Paris and in Copenhagen.
The vast majority of the remaining sculptures are preserved and placed in Athens, at the Acropolis Museum, situated at the foot of the hill, not a long way from the Parthenon.
The ancient structures of the Parthenon were liberated from the middle age and Turkish superstructures, after Greece gained independence, just as the rest of the Acropolis. In 1930 it was raised around the northern corridor, yet the restoration work proceeds right up ’till today.
The Parthenon today
The Parthenon, alongside different structures on the Acropolis, is presently one of the most visited archeological sites in Greece. The Greek Ministry of Culture, with providing funds for the Olympic Games in 2004 and financing from UNESCO, has initiated a massive restoration venture, still in progress.
The new Acropolis Museum, which was opened in June 2009, and situated at the foot of the Acropolis, gathered all the pieces of the frieze of the Parthenon in the possession of the Greek government (alongside others actually being recuperated) in an architectural space reconstructed with the specific dimensions and direction of the monument.
