The main element of the Parthenon. Parthenon sculpture: metopes, pediments, friezes

Name: Παρθενών (el), Parthenon (en)

Location: Athens (Greece)

Creation: 447–438 BC

Architect(s): Callicrates, Iktin

Customer / Founder: Polis of Athens during the reign of Pericles

Parthenon architecture

Entablature. The orders of stone temples were borrowed by the Greeks from ancient wooden buildings. They are based on a simple connection of load-bearing parts (column with capital) and supporting floor beams - an entablature. In the classical era (V-IV centuries BC), the order system reached perfection.
Architrave. Each stone beam of the architrave (the lower part of the entablature) is 6 centimeters narrower in the center than at the edges. Hewn along a curved line, from a distance they look absolutely flat.
Frieze. Inside the temple, directly under the beams of the peristyle, there was a carved marble frieze. The marble reliefs of the Parthenon depict Athenian horsemen, mythological characters, competitions of the gods, heroic battles of the Greeks with the Amazons, and episodes of the siege of Troy. The main theme of the frieze is the solemn procession in honor of the celebration of the Day of the Great Panathenaia, dedicated to the goddess Athena. In 1801-1803, the frieze panels were dismantled. In the upper part of the frieze, the sculptural images are made in more relief. This technique softens the impression of a sharp reduction in figures that appears when viewed from below.
Doric order. The Parthenon is surrounded by monumental columns of the Doric order. The column trunk is cut along its entire height by vertical grooves - flutes. They create a special play of light and shadow and emphasize the volume of the column.
Corner column. Corner columns are thicker than others. They are moved closer to the neighbors and slightly inclined towards the center of the building - otherwise the structure would seem to be falling apart. The remaining columns are also inclined inward by 6 cm relative to the vertical axis.
steps. The Parthenon stands on a podium, the curved surface of which rises towards the center. The steps are also curved. The harmony of the Parthenon is based on complex geometric calculations.
Entasis. The columns of the Parthenon are slightly convex in the middle. If they were straight, they would appear concave from a distance. The Greeks called the “correction” for optical illusion entasis.
Athena statue. The statue of Athena, the patroness of the city, was made by Phidias from gold and ivory. She stood opposite the eastern entrance and was illuminated by the rays of the rising sun. The height of the statue is 12.8 m.

Symbolic interpretation of the Parthenon structure

In the Parthenon, the maximum number of columns perceived from one point, for example from the Propylaea, is 24 (8 +17-1 angular, common for two facades), which directly correlates with the number of hours that make up a day.
The number of drums in the column is 12, which directly correlates with the number of months in the year.
Each triglyph consists of three protruding parts, which corresponds to the division of the month into three decades of ten days, customary in Ancient Greece. The total number of triglyphs-months along the entire perimeter of the temple is 96, which corresponds to the eight-year calendar cycle widespread in antiquity. The triglyphs seemed to contain time, real time: an eight-year cycle composed of decades and months.
In between the triglyphs and metopes, mythological time was placed - the history of the struggle of the Greek tribe of Lapiths with the centaurs. Behind the Doric frieze containing the eight-year cycle, in the depths of the peripter on the wall of the cella, closer to Athena, the main deity of the temple, there is a relief frieze depicting the Panathenaic procession, which took place every four years. Behind the external general calendar eight-year cycle is hidden a private four-year cycle of time, the most important specifically for the temple of Athena.
Under each triglyph there is a board with 6 droplets: 6 droplets above the column and 6 droplets above the intercolumnium. It can be assumed that each step of the columns contained a year consisting of 12 drop-months. The total number of drops around the perimeter of the temple: 96 boards of 6 drops each equaled 48 years - a period that was a multiple of the eight-year cycle, and possibly correlated with the average human lifespan of that time.
Under the cornice shelf there were also stone drops hanging from the mutul boards: 6 rows of three in each row. If we assume that each of them corresponded to a decade, then we get six months of three decades. In this case, for each step of the columns (two boards - 3 × 12 drops) there is again a year, consisting of 12 months of three decades each. The Latin name of these drops is “regula” (from “regulo” - to direct, to order) indicates the continuity of tradition in the understanding of time as a universal regulator of life.

This is far from a complete analysis of the development of the Doric tradition in the Parthenon, but it already reveals this temple as a complex, harmoniously balanced spatial-temporal system containing both archaic and later, modern for its builders, ideas about the world order.

In the Parthenon, a person, having ascended the steps of the stylobate, found himself not only in sacred space, but also in sacred time, approved by the rhythm of the columns and the flow of flutes flowing to the floor.

About the Parthenon as a monument of its era and the features of its composition

N.I. Brunov

Moscow, “Art”, 1973

The Parthenon was a treasury depository, a state bank.
Various proceeds flowed into the treasury of the goddess Athena on the acropolis: precious metal vessels, income from the lands that belonged to the goddess, parts of military booty, a tenth of the production of silver mines. In total, this amounted to a very large sum, which constituted the state fund. The treasury of Athena was actually at the disposal of the state. The goddess was a banker...

The main building material of the Parthenon is Pentelic marble, the quarries of which are located near Athens in the Pentelikon mountain range. The changes that this marble undergoes under the influence of sunlight are very significant. In the quarry it is white, similar in color to sugar. The surface of the stone is crystalline, fine-grained, transparent, so that the eye penetrates a little deeper, which gives the stone a peculiar transparent texture. Due to the fact that there are microscopic pieces of metal inside marble, and microscopic mosses develop in it under the influence of sunlight, the stone turns golden-yellowish in air when exposed to air, which is very beautiful and gives it a warm tint...
Architectural and artistic composition of the Parthenon
- The dismemberment of the architectural mass of the Parthenon is the fruit of analytical architectural thinking. What is most significant for the architecture of the Parthenon is that this analysis is combined with a holistic emotional perception of the architectural composition. This is the similarity of the Parthenon architecture with the architecture of eastern despotism, and this is its difference from many works of architecture of subsequent eras...
- In the Parthenon, the relationship between the column and the human figure, observed in other classical temples, is expressed with particular conviction. In this respect, the Greek column continues a tradition dating back to the distant past. ultimately to a primitive vertical stone placed as a funerary monument or a monument erected in memory of some event...
- Pentelic marble in a quarry, in nature, or even a piece of it exposed to sunlight, is significantly different from what the architects did with it in the building itself. They, of course, deeply took into account the natural properties of Pentelic marble and those changes. Which subsequently causes the action of sunlight in it. However, depending on the inclusion of Pentelic marble in the architectural and artistic composition, its figurative quality has undergone significant changes. In accordance with the tripartite dialectical structure of the Parthenon, it is necessary to separately consider the interpretation of the building material in the crepid, columns and entablature...
- A characteristic feature of archaic and classical peripters, especially clearly expressed in the Parthenon thanks to its system of eight columns on the end sides, is the compactness of the outer volume, the main part of which is not adjacent to any additional volumes. In ancient times, this feature should have been especially evident, since a complex asymmetrical composition dominated in urban residential buildings...
- What is new in the Parthenon, compared to geometricism in Egyptian architecture, is the synthetic combination of geometricity and organicity. In classical Greek architecture a living sense of matter is very strongly expressed...
- The peripteral form of the building creates an interpenetration of mass and surrounding space. The latter is integrated into the architectural volume, forming external porticoes. It is impossible to tear them away from the surrounding space and from the landscape, to which beautiful views open in all directions from the porticoes. True, both when contemplating the Parthenon from the outside, and when looking at nature from the porticoes, the massive column trunks dominate the spaces between them, the columns come to the fore and squeeze the intercolumnia with their volume. However, the columns are arranged in relationship with the space surrounding the temple, and with the opening landscapes, which serve as the necessary background for the perception of the columns themselves...
- In the Parthenon, the process of crystallization of the unity of the outer volume of the peripterus, which began in the archaic era, was completed... The unity of the volume of the Parthenon is greatly enhanced by the inclination of the columns towards the naos, giving the entire volume a slightly tapering upward shape. This narrowing increases in a more vertical form from the ground to the three steps of the crepida, continues and ends with flatter slopes of the roof. The result is a curving curve of the silhouette of the building...

The main feature in the design of the Parthenon is the combination of features of the Dorian and Ionian orders in a single design. As is known, these orders had significant differences in general proportions, types of capitals, appearance of columns, and the nature of the entablature. Dorian in its main features, the Parthenon, as we remember, also had some features taken from the Ionian order. It is typical for Dorian temples to have not eight (as in the Parthenon), but six columns on the facade. Lighter proportions of the order and a continuous frieze are also features that came from Ionic. Let's not forget about the four Ionian columns in the treasury. Such a combination of two orders in the architecture of one building is a fundamentally new phenomenon, practically never seen before in Greek architecture. The reasons for the appearance of this feature, as many scientists quite rightly believe, are not only artistic, but also ideological.

The Greek people of the ancient era were divided into several groups (they are usually called tribes), the most important among which were the Dorians (Dorians) and the Ionians (Ionians). According to the ideas that existed at that time, the difference between them was revealed not only in the fact that each of these tribes had its own dialect, but also in the presence of certain character traits supposedly characteristic of these tribes. The Dorians were considered more simple, straightforward, and stern, while the Ionians were considered more refined, prone to elegance and luxury in everyday life, more committed to various innovations than the traditional Dorians. Although, from the point of view of modern science, these differences within the ancient Greek ethnos have no more than a ten-degree significance, the Greeks themselves considered them very important.

The Athenian Maritime League was originally a union of only Ionian poleis. In addition to the real power of Athens, their leading role in the war with the Persians, the circumstance that helped create this association was the old tradition, according to which Athens was considered the metropolis (homeland) of all the Ionians, the center from where they spread to the islands of the Aegean Sea and Asia Minor. Subsequently, many Dorian policies also joined the union. The desire to present Athens as a natural center for the unification of all Greeks, regardless of their tribal affiliation, became one of the leading lines in the politics of the Athenian polis. Thus, the Parthenon, which was intended to be the main temple of the union, turned out to be a building in which the features of the two orders organically merged. The Athenians wanted the Parthenon to be considered their temple by all Greeks.

Let us now turn to the Parthenon sculpture. Let us remember that the main purpose of the temple was to store the chrysoelephantine statue of Athena. Despite the importance of this statue, the “sculptural component” of the temple was not limited to it. It included two large pediment compositions from a number of sculptures, separate sculptural groups executed in high relief on the metopes (on all four sides) and an Ionian frieze in low relief. The entire sculpture located on the temple is made of Pentelicon marble, but some details (weapons and images of horse harness) are made of metal. A number of details and the background were painted.

Plutarch, talking about the construction of the temple, was amazed at the speed with which it was built (Plut., Pericl., XIII, 2)212. But no less surprising is the speed with which the sculpture was created. Since both the metopes and the frieze were integral parts of the structures, they had to be completed before the construction was completed. Since the cornice and roof, judging by the reports we mentioned above, were completed in 438 BC, one can think that the creation of sculptural groups on the metopes and frieze covered the time from 447 to 438. BC. At the time of the consecration of the temple in 438, the compositions on the pediments were not yet completed, and the work on their manufacture and installation was completed only in 432.213

Previously, it was a very popular opinion that Phidias personally supervised and supervised all sculptural work, but today this opinion is abandoned. The work of producing such a significant number of sculptures (2 pediment compositions, 92 metopes and the entire frieze) in such a short time (until 438) required, of course, the participation of a large group of craftsmen. In addition, it was at this time that Phidias was busy making a chrysoelephantine statue of Athena. Most likely, Phidias participated in the discussion of the subjects of the metopes, frieze and pediments, but he is unlikely to have created sketches for many of them, although it cannot be considered that he completely withdrew from this work.

The Parthenon is richly decorated with sculpture. Olympian gods and heroes, battles of the Greeks with Amazons and centaurs, battles of gods with giants, episodes of the Trojan War and solemn processions are depicted on its pediments, metopes, and friezes. The feelings and mood of the Greeks during the heyday of Athens were embodied in plastic images. That is why fiction here is perceived as reality, and plots inspired by life acquire the character of a special sublime ideality. The Parthenon sculpture contains deep meaning. The greatness of man is revealed in clearly visible images - an idea that is also expressed in the architecture of the temple 37.

Metopes of the Parthenon. Metopes were placed above the outer colonnade of the temple. Previously, relief metopes were usually located only on the eastern and western sides. They also decorated the Parthenon from the north and south (ill. 39). On the western side, the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons was depicted in the metopes; in the south - Greeks with centaurs; on the north - scenes from the Trojan War; in the east - the battle of gods and giants 38.

The metopes on the western side of the Parthenon are badly damaged. The northern metopes are also poorly preserved (out of thirty-two, only twelve): this part of the colonnade was badly damaged by a gunpowder explosion. This is all the more unfortunate because here, apparently, the reliefs were especially well executed, since they were most often in plain sight. Along this side of the Parthenon there was a solemn procession along the Acropolis.

The sculptor who decorated the metopes on the northern side with reliefs took this into account, and he coordinated the direction of the general movement and the development of action on the northern metopes with the movement of people along the temple. Indeed, on the first metope on the northern side (if you walk along the Parthenon from the Propylaea) the sun god Helios was depicted, as if opening events, and on one of the last, the final ones, the goddess of the night Nyux. These images corresponded to the beginning and end of the action. The middle metopes showed preparations for the campaign, farewell of the soldiers, departure, and scenes of the Trojan War. The entrance to the temple was from the east, and in the decorations of this side the sculptors represented the most significant events. The eastern metopes showed the struggle and victory of the Olympian gods over the giants.

Southern metopes. Battles of the Greeks with the centaurs. 18 (out of 32) metopes on the south side of the Parthenon facing the cliff are the best preserved. The proximity of the cliff obviously made it difficult for a person standing on the Acropolis near the temple to perceive them. They were clearly visible from a distance, from the city below. Therefore, the masters made the figures especially voluminous.

The reliefs differ in the nature of their execution; there is no doubt that different masters worked on them. Many have not reached us, but those that have survived amaze with their masterful depiction of the battle. These metopes represent the battle between the Greeks and the centaurs 39 . The square frames show scenes of fierce life-and-death fights, various struggle situations, and complex body positions.

There are many tragic themes here. Often centaurs triumph over defeated people. In one of the metopes, the Greek tries in vain to defend himself from the advancing enemy; in the other, a Hellene is shown prostrate on the ground and a centaur triumphant over him. In such slabs, the deep drama of the event can be heard loudly - the death of a hero in a fight with a terrible evil force (ill. 40, 41). The victorious Greeks are also depicted: one has grabbed the weakening enemy by the throat, the other has swung at the centaur and is about to deal him a decisive blow (ill. 42, 43). Sometimes it is impossible to predict who the winner will be. In one metope, a Greek and a centaur are likened to two high waves colliding with each other.

Classical masters bring countervailing forces in metopes into balance and achieve a generally harmonious impression from each monument. Classical sculptors always show the inner boiling of passions, complex, sometimes tragic conflicts in an outwardly calm, restrained form. Each individual image is excited and dynamic, but as a whole the whole scene is usually brought into a state of compositional harmony.

Each metope has its own, unique theme - sometimes tragic, sometimes victorious and bravura, sometimes filled with the tension of inhuman struggle, sometimes calm. The nature of feelings is expressed with crystal clarity and purity. These images are infinitely far from the theatrical pathos, insincerity, and meaningful reticence that will appear in the art of later centuries. Classics are extremely truthful when they depict something terrible and tragic; it remains whole and harmonious even in the expression of great suffering. Masters of high classics are able to show with restraint, with deep calm, what artists of later eras will narrate with trembling voices.

Frieze of the Parthenon. The frieze (zophorus) of the Parthenon (ill. 44), with a total length of 160 meters and a width of about a meter, is a particularly solid work, harmonious with the deep interconnectedness of all its images.

In the third year of each Olympiad (quadrennial), around the end of July according to our calendar, after gymnastic and musical competitions, a solemn procession to the Acropolis began. For this day, the girls were preparing fabric for the ancient wooden statue of Athena. The fabric was secured to the mast of the ship, which was carried by hand. The ship was followed by priests, city rulers, noble Athenians, and ambassadors. Chariots moved through the streets and riders galloped on horses.

The frieze shows the procession of the Athenians on the day of the Great Panathenaia. Movement on the reliefs starts from the southwestern corner of the temple and goes in two streams. One part of the people depicted on the frieze goes east on the southern side of the Parthenon, the other goes first along the western side, then turns and walks along the northern side of the temple to the eastern frieze, where the gods are shown. Participants in the actual procession, passing near the Parthenon, saw these reliefs - a generalized, ideal image, an echo of real life.

The procession goes from right to left. It is noteworthy that the remains of figures on the western metopes can speak of a general movement on them, on the contrary, from left to right. Thus, the actions on the frieze and metopes seemed to cancel each other out. This balance corresponded to the end side of the temple, along which the path of the solemn procession did not go. To avoid monotony in the depiction of galloping horsemen, the master interrupts the movement in two places. Thus, he shows on one of the slabs a dismounted young man, facing the opposite direction of the movement, placing his foot on a stone (ill. 47). The sculptor seems to give the viewer’s eye a chance to rest, and after a pause the movement begins again. The distribution of actions on the metopes and frieze of the western facade, as well as the features of the composition, convince us of the consistency of the work of the sculptors and architects of the Parthenon, of the deep unity of architecture and plasticity of this beautiful classical structure.

North side frieze. The frieze on the northern side of the temple is longer. It shows not only horsemen, but also chariots, priests with sacrificial animals, musicians, and young men with sacred gifts. The movement at the beginning is faster than on the western part and uneven. The horses gallop, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Riders sometimes get close to each other, and it seems that they are crowded (ill. 48). Sometimes they are placed more freely. One gets the impression of a pulsating, intense rhythm, as if one could hear the fractional clatter of horse hooves. Sometimes the procession is stopped by a figure appearing against the flow. And again the horses are galloping after her. The beauty of the composition of the northern frieze is enhanced by smooth, flexible contour lines and low, seemingly breathing relief forms.

In front of the horsemen, the flower of Athenian youth, representatives of the best families of the city 40, chariots are shown, steadily drawn by powerful, beautiful horses. Sometimes the harness is not visible because it was painted with paint that has not survived. In this part of the frieze there are many smooth rounded contours - wheels, the croup of horses, the curves of their bodies, the hands of charioteers. The mood is calm, movements are measured.

The movement of the chariots gradually slows down. An oncoming figure seems to stop them. From quickly galloping horsemen and the slow movement of chariots, the master moves on to the calm procession of elderly Athenians who carry olive branches in their hands. Their gestures are restrained. Some talk to each other, others turn back, as if looking at the procession following them.

In front of the elders, four young men carry hydrias - water vessels - on their shoulders (ill. 49). On the right, one bends down and picks up a jug from the ground. The figures are placed freely, dispersed. The sacrificial rams are led by priests talking to each other (ill. 50). One of them affectionately strokes the ram on the back. In front of them are shown musicians in long robes, with flutes and lyres, then strangers with gifts - baskets filled with fruits and bread. At the end of the northern frieze you can see priests with sacrificial bulls. One of the bulls lifted his muzzle and seemed to roar pitifully. The beautiful figures of the drivers express sadness - their heads are drooping, one is tightly wrapped in a cloak (ill. 51). The last, corner figure completes the frieze, as if closing the composition and stopping the movement.

Everything is brought into harmonious harmony in the picture of the festive Panathenaic procession. At first the figures were filled with tension. Closer to the eastern part of the frieze, the procession participants walk solemnly. The masters of the classics did not like the raggedness of action, lack of agreement, they preferred clarity and logical completeness. The procession on the frieze of the longitudinal side of the temple also corresponded to the direction of action on the northern metopes.

Southern frieze. The southern frieze suffered more severely, but even there you can see participants in a calm and majestic procession. Riders ride three deep, but there is no crowding or commotion. The master shows young men in smart leather boots with cuffs, short armor, and sometimes in cloaks. They seem amazed at the solemn celebration; obviously, this is the first time they are participating in it. As on the northern side, chariots and drivers with sacrificial animals move here. Some bulls walk obediently, others, moaning pitifully, are restrained by the servants (ill. 52, 53). The group, which shows two priests walking behind a bull, is impeccable in the beauty of its composition and rhythm. One of the priests turned around as he walked and, bending slightly, looked back.

East frieze. Traffic on the northern and southern friezes is directed towards the eastern part of the temple. The eastern frieze depicts seated gods. Noble Athenians are coming towards them from right and left. The Olympians meet the procession in two groups. The left faces the characters of the southern frieze. Right - to those approaching from the north. The closer to the center, the less often the figures are shown.

The Athenians talk decorously with each other, as if all the time remembering the proximity of their patrons. Here are girls with bowls and jugs in their hands, stately women. Their figures are slender. The flowing folds of the cloaks are like the grooves of the Parthenon columns. Sublime and significant ideas embodied in the architectural forms of the temple are, as it were, repeated in its details, in the decor, in the simple and ordinary - in the beautiful folds of people’s clothes (ill. 54).

The gods seated on their thrones are significantly larger than the mortal Athenians. If the gods wanted to stand up, they would not fit on the frieze. In this they differ from ordinary people, who are otherwise similar to the wonderful Olympians. On the left sit Zeus on a throne with a backrest, Hera, who turned her face to him, Iris and Eros, Ares, Demeter, Dionysus and Hermes. On the right side are Athena, Hephaestus, then Poseidon, Apollo, Peytho 41 and then Aphrodite. In the center of the frieze above the entrance to the temple are depicted the priest and priestess of the goddess Athena (ill. 55,56).

It is noteworthy that the placement of the gods on the eastern frieze is consistent, with some exceptions, with the placement of the gods on the eastern metopes, where they fought the giants. It is also no coincidence that the movement in the eastern metopes and in the eastern part of the frieze is directed towards the center from the corners. This gives the sculptural decoration of the temple unity and a deep connection with the architecture. The Parthenon frieze is the creation of a genius. There is reason to believe that Phidias took a direct part in its execution.

Pediments. The pediment compositions of the Parthenon are the pinnacle in the development of this type of Greek sculpture after the sculptures of the temples of Artemis on Corfu, Athena on the island of Aegina and Zeus in Olympia. The statues, attached with lead for strength, were at a great height and therefore had a slight tilt of the upper part forward, so that when viewed from below they were better visible (ill. 57). Over two and a half millennia they have suffered greatly, and what is now kept in museums is only the remains of beautiful sculptures. Most of them remained in ruins.

On many statues one can see traces of rain streams that poured through the cornice openings for centuries 42. But even in this state, these ancient sculptures make an indelible impression.

West pediment of the Parthenon. Athena and Poseidon argued, according to myth, for primacy in Attica. They were supposed to bring gifts to the city. Poseidon, striking the ground with his trident, carved out a source. Athena, thrusting a spear into the ground, created the olive, a tree that bears fruit - olives. The Greeks gave preference to the goddess, and she became the patroness of their city. This dispute was depicted in the center of the west pediment of the Parthenon (ill. 71).

To imagine how the figures on the pediment were located in ancient times, researchers had to do a lot of work. Surviving descriptions of ancient authors, random sketches of travelers - everything was taken into account. Before the explosion of the Parthenon, the western side (ill. 58) was in better preservation than the eastern, judging by the famous drawings of the artist Carrey, who accompanied it in the 17th century. French ambassador on a trip to Greece 43 (ill. 59, 60). Ancient authors also left descriptions of the Parthenon statues.

On the western pediment were located from left to right the following statues: Cephisus, Nymph, Kekrop, his three daughters and son, Nike, Hermes, Athena, Poseidon (part of this statue is in Athens, part of it in London), Iris, Amphitrite, three daughters and grandson Erechthea, Ilis (in Athens), Callirhoe. Apparently, the babies of Boread were also presented, as well as sculptures of the olive tree planted by Athena, the source of Poseidon, the horses and chariots on which the gods arrived 44 .

The deities of the rivers flowing in Athens - Ilis and Kephis, shown in the corners in the form of young men, indicate the scene of action. On the left is the god of the river Cephisus. The outline of his figure resembles the elastic bend of a wave. This impression is helped by the smoothly flowing folds of clothes flowing from his hands, like streams of water (ill. 61, 62).

The statue of the Ilisa River in the right corner is much worse preserved. The river god is also full of life and tension. However, if Kephis showed open and brightly impetuous movement, then Ilis is restrained and reserved. The different interpretations of the images are not accidental and are caused by the location of the figures on the pediment. Kefis, with his dynamic impulse, seemed to point to the unfolding composition. Ilis, which completed it and was located near the cliff of the Akronol rock, stopped a person’s attention and returned him to the center of the pediment.

In front of Cephisus was Kekrop, the ancient Attic deity of the earth, the mythical founder of cities in Attica, which is why Attica is sometimes called Kekropia, and the Athenians - Kekrop. According to legend, he was the first king and under him there was a dispute between Athena and Poseidon. Usually depicted as a man with a snake's tail instead of legs, he sits on its rings, leaning on them with his hand. His daughter gently pressed herself against his shoulder (ill. 63, 64). His daughters were the goddesses of dew and saviors from drought 45, the closest companions of Athena - Aglaurus, Pandros, Herse 46. The most ancient Attic hero Erechtheus, son of the earth, pupil of Athena, the ancient deity of earthly fertility, whose cult later merged with the cult of Poseidon, is shown on the right side of the pediment, not far from Ilis. Here are the daughter of Erechtheus Creusa with her son Ion, as well as Leucothea with the baby Polemon.

The statues of deities are full of life. Even the poorly preserved marble torso of Poseidon’s wife Amphitrite convinces of the former perfection of her sculptural image. The plasticity of the forms testifies to the hand of a great master. The movements of the goddess of the seas are confident, noble and leisurely (ill. 65). The goddess of the rainbow Iris, connecting heaven and earth, mediator between the Olympians and people, quickly rushes forward towards a strong, gusty wind 47. She is wearing a short and light, as if wet, chiton, tightly adhered to the body and forming many small beautiful folds (ill. 66-68). The peculiarity of the classical composition, in which individual figures are dynamic and the overall action is balanced, is also manifested in the pediments of the Parthenon. Despite the strong contrast between the actions of various characters, the overall impression of the entire ensemble of the statue remains harmonious. Each figure seems to exist in space, lives independently, without touching the others, but still has a very strong effect on them.

Athena and Poseidon. The middle of the Parthenon pediments is not marked, as in earlier temples, by a single figure. The central statue in such compositions appeared in archaic buildings, with an odd number of columns at the ends. The tallest figure on the pediment then corresponded to the middle column. Gradually, the architects moved from an odd number of columns at the ends to an even number. But the sculptural compositions of the pediments of the temple of Athena on the island of Aegina, as well as Zeus in Olympia, still retained, according to ancient traditions, the main figure of the deity in the center. Only in the Parthenon the sculptural composition of the pediments fully corresponds to the architecture of the temple. Only fragments of the statues of the arguing gods Athena and Poseidon located in the center have survived, but they are also very expressive. Greek masters knew how to permeate all the elements of a work with a single and integral feeling. Even part of a broken statue therefore preserves its mood and idea. Thus, in a small fragment of the statue of Athena, the majesty of the goddess appears in a proud turn of her head, in a strong turn of her shoulders (ill. 69).

Poseidon's hand, striking with the trident, was raised. This can be understood even from that insignificant fragment of the statue, which time has not spared (ill. 70). The formidable strength of the Olympian, his power is embodied in the generalized and integral forms of the torso. Every muscle of Poseidon seems to be saturated with life. General ideal ideas about the power of the deity are conveyed here in the forms of the human figure. The Greek sculptor, who sought to show the perfection of God, thereby simultaneously affirmed the limitless possibilities of man with the harmony of his spiritual and physical development. In a visually clear, tangible image taken from life, not private and small, but integral and deep feelings and thoughts were expressed. The idea that excited humanity happily found a concrete form of expression in art at this time.

East pediment of the Parthenon. On the eastern pediment, mainly since the entrance to the Parthenon was from the east (ill. 72), a great event for the Hellenes is represented - the birth of Athena (ill. 73). This is a pan-Hellenic plot, more significant than the dispute between Athena and Poseidon 48 . In the center are depicted the gods on Olympus, in the corners there are no longer the Athenian rivers Cephisus and Ilis, but the sun god Helios and the goddess of the night Nyux in the waters of the Ocean. On the left, Helios rode out in a chariot; on the right, it was night—Nyux was hiding in the Ocean with her horse. With the birth of Athena, the sunny day began for the Hellenes and the night ended.

The central figures - Zeus on the throne, Athena flying out of his head, Hephaestus, the goddess Ilithyia helping at birth, Nike laying a wreath on the head of the born Athena - were not preserved due to later alterations of this part of the temple. The pediment sculptures showed how the world reacts to a great event. Iris 49 stormily rushes forward, reporting the news of the birth of wise Athena (ill. 74). She is greeted by the Mountains sitting in front of her - the daughters of Zeus, opening and closing the gates of heaven (ill. 75). Their heads have not been preserved, and it is impossible to judge from their faces how they perceive Iris’s message, but the plasticity of movement reveals their feelings and attitude to what they heard. The one located closer to Iris clasped her hands in joy and stepped back slightly, as if in amazement at this news. The other, sitting further, moved towards the messenger of the gods. It’s as if she hasn’t heard everything yet and wants to find out what Iris is saying.

By varying the degree of reaction of these characters sitting nearby, the master wants to emphasize that from the center of the pediment to its corners it is as far as from Olympus to the waters of the Ocean. Therefore, the young man sitting further from the Mountains, Cephalus 50, does not seem to hear the message of Iris (ill. 76). He turns his back to Olympus and looks at Helios leaving the Ocean. The harmony of forms in this statue is impeccable. In the interpretation of a strong, strong neck and compact volume of the head, in the modeling of muscles that well convey the movement of the body, there is no rigidity characteristic of early classical statues; The calm state of an active, strong person is expressed. The usual image of a youthful figure takes on a special sublimity. The ancient Greek master knows how to see and show a simple phenomenon of life as beautiful and significant, without resorting to spectacular poses and gestures in his compositions.

The statue of Cephalus captures attention with the complexity and at the same time clarity of the movement presented. Although the young man sits with his back to Olympus, the master managed to convey the desire to turn around in his seemingly calm body. The beginning of the slow movement is noticeable in the position of his left leg. The figure is plastic and three-dimensional; it rather lives independently in space rather than being connected to the flat background of the pediment. The statue of Cephalus, like other images of the Parthenon, is not as strongly subordinated to the plane of the pediment as the statues on earlier temples.

To the left is Helios riding out on a chariot. The quadriga would have cluttered the corner, and the sculptor limited himself to depicting two horse faces protruding from the waters of the Ocean. The plasticity of the marble sculptures, the beautiful lines of the proud bend of the horses’ necks, the majestic tilt of the horses’ heads, as in a poetic metaphor, embodies the feelings of contemplating the solemnly and smoothly ascending luminary 51 (ill. 77). The head of Helios and his horses are matched on the right by the half-figure of the goddess of the night Nyux and the head of her horse, plunging into the waters of the Ocean. The horse's muzzle is shown with its lip hanging over the lower border of the pediment. She seemed to be snoring from fatigue and hurried to the cool water. Goethe admired her, saying that the horse is depicted as it came from the hands of nature itself (ill. 78).

Moira statues. The statues of the goddesses of fate - Moira are located on the right side of the pediment near the torso of Nux 52. Despite the damage, they captivate a person with their beauty. Parts of the statues preserve the feeling that once lived in the whole work, and are as expressive as excerpts from the majestic Greek epic or the tender lines of an ancient lyric poet (ill. 79, 80, 81). Moirai live in the complex organism of the pediment and are subordinate to its composition. Their connection with the triangular shape of the frame appears, in particular, in the fact that the figures are placed on benches that gradually rise towards the central part. The closer to the birthplace of Athena, the more mobile the sculptural masses of the statues, the more dynamic, restless the poses, and the more intense the forms. The excitement of the images increases from the calm figures in the extreme corners to the pathos of the central scene.

The consistent increase in emotionality is noticeable not in facial expressions, since Moira’s heads have not been preserved, but in the plasticity of their expressive movements. Right Moira lay down on a low bed, covered with folds of her wide clothes. The embodiment of peace and relaxation, she rested her elbow on her friend’s knees and pressed her shoulder to her chest. The middle one, sitting higher, is restrained in its movements.

She crossed her legs and leaned forward slightly towards the girl reclining at her knees. The left Moira, towering above them, seemed to have heard about the birth of Athena a moment ago and responded to it, rushing with her upper torso towards Olympus. Her whole being is permeated with trembling excitement. From the deep serene peace of the right Moira to the restrained and measured movements of the middle one, then to the agitation and impetuosity of the left one, a dynamic composition of the group, saturated with a rich inner life, develops.

The artistic power of most classical monuments of Greece is not lost, even if the subject or the names of those depicted are unknown. It is no coincidence that other goddesses are sometimes seen in Moira statues. The theme of such works is the consciousness felt and conveyed by the ancient master of the significance of man, the limitlessness of his capabilities, and deep admiration for his beauty. The statues of Moira are not an illustration of how the ancient Greek imagined the goddesses of fate. The sculptor embodied in them his idea of various human states - serene rest, calm activity, intense emotional impulse.

The statues of Moira are large and seem larger than human ones. They are majestic not in size, but in the solemnity of their poses and strict harmony. Everything small and ordinary is alien to their images. At the same time, their greatness is not abstractly ideal. It is deeply vital. Moiras are beautiful with purely human, feminine beauty. The smooth contours of their figures are perceived as extremely earthly. Clothes in other similar statues of classical times become, as it were, an echo of the human body. Delicate shapes are emphasized by folds of light chitons. These folds run like streams after a violent rain from picturesque beautiful hills, flowing around the heights of the chest, gathering near the waist, framing the roundness of the legs, and flowing out in light streams from under the knees. Everything is covered with a living network of folds, only tight knees, rounded shoulders and chest protrude above the moving flows, sometimes fractional, sometimes heavy and viscous.

The plastic reality of marble forms gives vitality to Moira’s images. In the statues of maidens clinging to each other, the cold stone acquires the tenderness and warmth of the human body. The beauty of a perfect man, which illuminated the Greek master, found its expression in the statues of ancient goddesses. Moira miraculously combines complexity and simplicity. The universal and the personal, the sublime and the intimate, the general and the particular form an inextricable unity here. It is difficult to name another work in the history of world art in which these eternally conflicting qualities would be more holistically united.

The sculptural decoration of the eastern side of the Parthenon was carefully thought out. Above the metopes, depicting the battle of the Olympians with the giants, rose a pediment with the birth of Athena. Located deeper behind the outer colonnade, the frieze put a person in a solemn mood, as if preparing him to contemplate the statue of Athena Parthenos. The marble sculptures of the Parthenon are sublime and optimistic. They instill deep faith in human capabilities, in the beauty and harmony of the world 53 . The unity of architectural forms and sculptural decorations of the Parthenon embodies the great ideas of a great era so completely and brightly that even after millennia, with traces of barbaric destruction, this work is able to radiate impulses of noble feelings experienced by its creators. Contemplation of the Parthenon gives a person great joy, elevates him and ennobles him.

Literature

Sokolov G.I. Acropolis in Athens. M., 1968Brunov N.I. Monuments of the Athens Acropolis. Parthenon and Erechtheion. M., 1973 Acropolis. Warsaw, 1983
History of foreign art.– M., “Fine Arts”, 1984
Georgios Dontas. Acropolis and its museum.– Athens, “Clio”, 1996
Bodo Harenberg. Chronicle of humanity.– M., “Big Encyclopedia”, 1996
History of world art.– BMM JSC, M., 1998
Art of the Ancient World. Encyclopedia.– M., “OLMA-PRESS”, 2001
Pausanias . Description of Hellas, I-II, M., 1938-1940.
"Pliny on Art", trans. B.V. Warneke, Odessa, 1900.
Plutarch . Comparative biographies, vol. I-III, M., 1961 -1964.
Blavatsky V.D. Greek sculpture, M.-L., 1939.
Brunov N. I. Essays on the history of architecture, vol. II, Greece, M., 1935.
Waldgauer O. F. Antique sculpture, Ig., 1923.
Kobylina M. M. Attic sculpture, M., 1953.
Kolobova K. M. The ancient city of Athens and its monuments, Leningrad, 1961.
Kolpinsky Yu. D. Sculpture of ancient Hellas (album), M., 1963.
Sokolov G.I. Antique sculpture, part I, Greece (album), M., 1961.
Farmakovsky B.V. The artistic ideal of democratic Athens, Pg., 1918.

Parfenov's descriptions were always replete with only superlatives. This Athenian temple, dedicated to the patroness of the city, the goddess Athena Parthenos, is rightfully considered one of the greatest examples of ancient architecture, a masterpiece of world art and sculpture. It was built in the middle of the 5th century BC. e. By this time, the Persians, who conquered Athens in 480 BC. e., were again completely defeated. During the reign of Pericles, the city achieved its greatest glory and prosperity. The victorious attitude was also reflected in wasteful urban planning plans, which were financed mainly by the tribute levied by Athens from its allies. That was the period of the highest rise of ancient culture, and the temple of the goddess Athena on the Acropolis hill to this day proudly reminds the whole world of this.

The history of the ancient temple dates back more than 2 thousand years ago. In 447 BC. Pericles gave the order to build a large-scale temple and entrusted this to the architects Callicrates and Iktin. Work on the Parthenon took 15 years, and exclusively white marble was used for the construction of the temple.

The Parthenon was built in the Doric style. The building itself (cella) is bordered along the entire perimeter by an external colonnade (peristyle). There are only 46 of these columns, 8 from the end facades and 17 from the side facades. All columns are fluted, that is, decorated with longitudinal grooves. The pediment, cornice and columns were made of marble, and only the roof of the temple was made of wood. In general, the architectural appearance of the Parthenon takes its origins from wooden architecture: built of stone, the temple retained the lightness and grace of a wooden structure in its outline. However, the external simplicity of these outlines is deceptive: the architect Iktin was a great master of perspective. He very accurately calculated how to balance the proportions of the structure in order to make them pleasing to the eye of a person looking at the temple from bottom to top.

The entire structure was built on the foundations of an earlier temple of Athena. In the cella stood a statue of the goddess, made of marble and ivory by the sculptor Phidias. Athena Parthenos was a warrior goddess, but she was also believed to be the patron of arts and crafts.

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However, the Parthenon was not only a temple, but also something of an art gallery or museum, it created an excellent backdrop for many works of plastic art. The pediment and cornices of the building were decorated with sculptures. Along the perimeter of the outer walls of the cella, at a height of 12 meters, the famous Parthenon frieze stretched like a ribbon, the details of which, however, were almost indistinguishable from below. (At the beginning of the 19th century, Lord Elgin took most of the frieze to London, and in 1816 it was acquired by the British Museum.)

The popular belief that Greek temples were always white is actually wrong. In ancient times, the Parthenon was very colorful, and according to modern tastes, it was even almost clumsily painted. In recent years, the toxic smog and suffocating stench of modern Athens, as well as the marks left here by hordes of tourists, have caused significant damage to the Parthenon marble.

Most of the images of the temple narrated the various battles and battles of the Greeks. So on the western plates there were drawings dedicated to the war between the Greeks and the Amazons, and on the southern ones there was a battle between centaurs and lapiths. It is worth noting that the Greeks loved to depict themselves in mythical pictures of the battles of the gods, thereby noting their involvement in the birth of a new era.

Clickable 1700 px Acropolis. View of the 4th century theater Parthenon

One of the main attractions of the temple was the statue of the goddess Athena made of pure gold and ivory inserts. Unfortunately, the statue also has not survived to this day and an idea of it can only be obtained by seeing its smaller copies.

Drawings by Manolis Korres

The Parthenon was not destined to survive in its original form to this day. The temple was first seriously damaged in 295 BC. during the siege of the Acropolis by Demetrius Poliocrete. Several centuries later (in the 4th century AD), the temple was converted into a Christian church. Some parts of the structure were either destroyed or rebuilt. The misfortunes did not end there...

In 1460, the Parthenon fell into the hands of the Turks, and the Christian church overnight turned into a mosque, and the bell tower attached to the temple was converted into a minaret.

In the 17th century, due to the war of independence with the Turks, a gunpowder warehouse was established on the territory of the Parthenon. Placing ammunition on the territory of a historical site was a very bad idea, since in 1687, as a result of the shelling of the temple by Venetian mortars, not only more than 10 giant columns were destroyed, but also the entire central part of the Partheon. Let's find out in more detail what happened there...

In 1683, the Turkish army besieging Vienna was defeated by a united European force under the command of the Polish king, John Sobieski.

The victory of European forces near Vienna led to the transition of the European allied states to a counteroffensive, at the forefront of which stood Venice, which had its own economic and political interests in the eastern Mediterranean. The Venetian troops were commanded by Francesco Morosini.

By 1687, the Venetians occupied the Peloponnese, captured Mystras and reached Negropontos on the island of Euboea. However, the Venetians were unable to storm Negropont, which had a fairly strong garrison, and it was not possible for the Venetians to conduct a long siege.

At the military council, Morosini made a proposal to go to Athens, and on September 21, 1687, the Venetian fleet appeared off the coast of Attica near the Bay of Piraeus.

The Turks had little force in Athens, so they abandoned the city and locked themselves in the fortress of the Acropolis. The Venetian army camped west of the city, and offered the Turkish garrison an honorable surrender to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. The Turks refused, and the assault on the Acropolis began.

On September 22, the Venetians installed artillery batteries on the hills opposite the Acropolis and tried to place mines under the fortress walls, which they were unable to do due to the hardness of the rocks. At the same time, a Turkish deserter who ran across told the Venetians that the Turks had stored the entire supply of gunpowder in the Parthenon, because... were sure that the Europeans would not destroy the temple.

However, when storming the fortress, the Venetians were least likely to take into account the historical and cultural significance of the Acropolis buildings. They needed to take the fortress as quickly as possible before reinforcements arrived at the besieged garrison, and therefore any building on the Acropolis became a combat unit that had to be destroyed if necessary. Therefore, the Venetians, without any twinge of conscience, proceeded to bombard the buildings of the Acropolis, which have worldwide cultural value. The bombardment of the Acropolis was made difficult by the terrain, but on the evening of September 26, a successful hit by a shell thrown inside the temple ignited and then blew up the powder magazine. Morosini himself later reported that the bomb that hit the Parthenon destroyed the temple itself and killed more than three hundred Turkish soldiers.

After the loss of gunpowder magazines, the Turks accepted the surrender offered to them. The Venetians allowed the Turks to leave for the Turkish ships, which were waiting for them six miles from Piraeus, and take with them as much property as they could carry.

The capture of Athens by the Venetians led to the usual at that time reconstruction of temples to suit the needs of the religion of the victors. For example, the Swedes turned one of the elegant mosques into a Lutheran church, and several more mosques were converted by the Venetians into Catholic churches. However, no one needed the destroyed Parthenon.

Six months after the capture of Athens, the Venetians decided to abandon the city for strategic reasons. The Turks returned to the city for several more centuries, but they also did not restore the Parthenon.

Between 1802 and 1804, several dozen surviving marble sculptures were brought to London and placed in the British Museum. All this led to the fact that the Parthenon, which was once a luxurious temple, turned into ruins of no value...

Clickable 1800 px Parthenon after the Greek Revolution (1820s). Engraving by W. Miller (1829) from the work of H. W. Williams (1822)

Fortunately, already in 1834 the Parthenon was cleared of foreign objects, and in 1930 the restoration of the ancient Greek temple began. To date, almost all damaged columns have been restored. In addition, some sculptures that had been in museums or private collections for a long time were returned to the temple grounds or taken to the Athens National Museum.

The Parthenon marble sculptures are not independent works of art. They were created as an architectural and symbolic part of the temple of the goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC. during the heyday of ancient Greek culture. The main concept of the structure was balance, achieved through the ideal symmetry of the triglyphs, metopes, frieze and pediments of the temple. It is possible to understand and appreciate the monument as a whole only together with its sculptures, while the sculptures themselves can only be significant when located next to the temple, in their natural historical surroundings. The Parthenon, with its 2,500-year history, remains a great monument and is considered a significant symbol of freedom of thought. democracy, philosophy, harmony and law. It is the most outstanding monument of Western civilization. UNESCO chose the Parthenon as its emblem and included the Acropolis on the World Heritage List.

Of the 97 surviving parts of the Parthenon frieze, 56 were taken to London, and 40 remained in Athens. Of the 64 surviving metopes, 48 are in Athens and 15 were taken to London. Of the 28 sculptures from the pediments of the temple, 19 were taken to London and 9 remained in Athens. It is believed that the frieze of the Parthenon depicts a procession in honor of the holiday - Panathenaia. The metopes represent scenes of Gigantomachy on the eastern side, Amazonomachy on the western side, the Trojan War on the northern side and the battle of the centaurs with the Lapiths on the southern side. The eastern pediment illustrates the birth of Athena, and the western pediment illustrates the battle between the goddess Athena and the god Poseidon for the right of patronage over Athens.

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Greece asks for UK assistance, both for the sake of the monument itself and for the sake of world cultural heritage. Achieving mutual understanding is possible through bilateral cooperation in the field of culture and education. More specifically, the Greek proposal is to stage an exhibition of the reunited Parthenon marbles in the great hall of the new Acropolis Museum, while the UK could take part in the restoration and renovation of the Parthenon itself. Exhibiting the sculptures collected together can allow us to take a fresh look at this unique monument, contribute to the development of science and demonstrate to future generations the achievements of human civilization. The images and their descriptions are taken from the book “The Reunion of the Parthenon Sculptures” by Elena Corki, Head of the Department of Greece and the Institute of Archeology, published in Athens by the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism in two editions - in 2002 and 2003, KAPON Publishing House

The following parts of the sculptural decoration of the temple have survived to this day:

East side (Gigantomachy)

All 14 slabs are in the Acropolis Museum

West side (Amazonomachy)

all 14 slabs are located on the temple itself. North side (Trojan War)

13 intact and partially destroyed slabs are located in the Acropolis Museum and on the temple itself

South Side (Battle between Lapiths and Centaurs)

1 slab is located on the temple itself

11 intact and partially destroyed slabs are in the Acropolis Museum

16 intact and partially destroyed slabs are in the British Museum (fragments of 6 of them are also in the Acropolis Museum)

Pediments

East pediment (Birth of Athena)

4 sculptures are in the Acropolis Museum (C, H, N, P)

10 sculptures are in the British Museum (A, B, D, E, F, G, K, L, M, O)

West pediment (Battle between Athena and Poseidon)

8 sculptures are in the Acropolis Museum (B, E, J, K, S, U, V, W)

4 sculptures are in the British Museum (A, P, Q, T)

fragments of 6 sculptures are kept in both museums (C, H, L, M, N, O)

The frieze depicted a procession in honor of the Great Panathenaia and originally included 115 slabs (119 relief images, since the corner stones have two images on each side). Of these, 112 slabs have survived completely or partially:

West side (all 16 slabs preserved)

Of these, 13 slabs are in the Acropolis Museum

There are 2 slabs in the British Museum

And fragments of one of the slabs are kept in both museums

South side (41 slabs survived)

2 slabs are located on the temple itself

12 slabs are in the Acropolis Museum

24 slabs are in the British Museum

Fragments of 3 slabs are kept in both museums

North side (46 slabs preserved)

24 slabs are in the Acropolis Museum

15 slabs are in the British Museum

Fragments of 7 slabs are kept in both museums

East side (9 slabs preserved)

sources
http://www.km.ru
http://ilovegreece.ru

In general, we are already very

Just as the spaces between the columns of a temple allow the external space to flow towards the temple, so the recesses of the flutes introduce space into the volume of the column, merging the building with nature.

Features of the Ionic order in the Doric Parthenon. The Doric order in the Parthenon is not as severe as in archaic temples. It is softened by the introduction of some elements of the graceful Ionic order into the architecture. Behind the outer colonnade, on the top of the temple wall, you can see a continuous relief strip depicting the solemn procession of the Athenians. Continuous figured frieze - zophorus- belongs to the Ionic order, and, nevertheless, it was introduced into the architecture of the Doric Parthenon, where there should have been a frieze with triglyphs and metopes. It is noteworthy that under the band of this relief one can see small shelves with projections, such as are usually placed under the triglyphs of the Doric order. The builders of the Parthenon, obviously, had not yet decided to completely abandon the interpretation of the frieze as a Doric element and left shelves with projections.

Some researchers also consider the eight-column end porticos of the temple to be an Ionic feature, indicating that six-column ones were more often used for Doric buildings. The introduction of an eight-column portico is explained by the desire to achieve greater harmony of the temple with the vast space surrounding the Parthenon, elevated on a high hill, on all sides. The six-column porticoes would have been too narrow, and the building might have seemed small, lost, and cramped. Eight-column wide porticoes better and more organically connected it with the space in which it was supposed to exist. The introduction of Ionisms can be explained by the desire to soften the severity of the Doric. The Parthenon no longer expressed the tense concentration of forces of the Persian wars, but a jubilant feeling of victory.

The meaning of the Parthenon. Seven centuries will pass after the construction of the Parthenon, and the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the Villa Tivoli near Rome will create buildings that are deliberately small in order to appear tall and strong to himself. And yet, he will not feel greatness, disappointment and skepticism will not leave him.

A person intending to climb the steps of the Parthenon, visible from afar, approaches them and discovers that they are enormous in size and that there are smaller steps opposite the entrance. The temple grows in all its height, but its proportions are so harmonious and, as it were, similar to the proportions of a person, that it does not belittle a person, does not make him smaller, but, on the contrary, elevates him and awakens a sense of high dignity. The Athenian near the Parthenon felt the unity of the community, of which he was a full citizen. The joyful awareness of the Greeks of the 5th century was clearly and completely embodied in the architectural forms of the temple. BC e. high value and limitless human capabilities.

PARTHENON SCULPTURE

The Parthenon is richly decorated with sculpture. Olympian gods and heroes, battles of the Greeks with Amazons and centaurs, battles of gods with giants, episodes of the Trojan War and solemn processions are depicted on its pediments, metopes, and friezes. The feelings and moods of the Greeks during the heyday of Athens were embodied in plastic images. That is why fiction here is perceived as reality, and plots inspired by life acquire the character of a special sublime ideality. The Parthenon sculpture contains deep meaning. The greatness of man is revealed in clearly visible images - an idea that is also expressed in the architecture of the temple.

Metopes of the Parthenon. Metopes were placed above the outer colonnade of the temple. Previously, relief metopes were usually located only on the eastern and western sides. They also decorated the Parthenon from the north and south. On the western side, the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons was depicted in the metopes; in the south - Greeks with centaurs; on the north - scenes from the Trojan War; in the east - the battle of gods and giants.

Southern metopes. Battles of the Greeks with the centaurs. The 18 metopes facing the cliff on the southern side of the Parthenon are the best preserved of all. The proximity of the cliff obviously made it difficult for a person standing on the Acropolis near the temple to perceive them. They were clearly visible from a distance, from the city below. Therefore, the masters made the figures especially voluminous. The reliefs differ in the nature of their execution; there is no doubt that different masters worked on them. Many have not reached us, but those that have survived amaze with their masterful depiction of the battle. These metopes depict the battle of the Greeks with the centaurs. The square frames show scenes of fierce life-and-death fights, various struggle situations, and complex body positions. There are many tragic themes here. Often centaurs triumph over defeated people. In one of the metopes, the Greek tries in vain to defend himself from the advancing enemy; in the other, a Hellene is shown prostrate on the ground and a centaur triumphant over him. In such slabs, the deep drama of the event is heard loudly - the death of a hero in a fight with a terrible evil force. The victorious Greeks are also depicted: one has grabbed the weakening enemy by the throat, the other has swung at the centaur and is about to deal him a decisive blow. Sometimes it is impossible to predict who the winner will be. In one metope, a Greek and a centaur are likened to two high waves colliding with each other. Classical masters bring countervailing forces in metopes into balance and achieve, in general, a harmonious impression from each monument. Classical sculptors always show the inner boiling of passions, complex, sometimes tragic conflicts in an outwardly calm, restrained form. Each individual image is excited and dynamic, but as a whole the whole scene is usually brought into a state of compositional harmony. Each metope has its own, unique theme - sometimes tragic, sometimes victorious and bravura, sometimes filled with the tension of inhuman struggle, sometimes calm. The nature of feelings is expressed with crystal clarity and purity. These images are infinitely far from the theatrical pathos, insincerity, and meaningful reticence that will appear in the art of later centuries. Classics are extremely truthful when they depict something terrible and tragic; it remains whole and harmonious even in the expression of great suffering. Masters of high classics are able to show with restraint, with deep calm, what artists of later eras will narrate with trembling voices.

Frieze of the Parthenon. The frieze (zophorus) of the Parthenon, with a total length of 160 meters and a width of about a meter, is a particularly solid work, harmonious with the deep interconnectedness of all its images.

The frieze shows the procession of the Athenians on the day of the Great Panathenaia. Movement on the reliefs starts from the southwestern corner of the temple and goes in two streams. One part of the people depicted on the frieze heads along the southern side of the Parthenon to the east, the other - first along the western side, then turns and walks along the northern side of the temple to the eastern frieze, where the gods are shown. Participants in the actual procession, passing near the Parthenon, saw these reliefs - a generalized, ideal image, an echo of real life.

West side of the frieze. On the relief slabs you can see how the horsemen prepare for the procession: they talk to each other, tie their sandals, saddle and slowly lead their horses, and tame too hot horses. The images are full of vitality, especially the scene where, near two young men talking, a horse drives away a horsefly or fly from its leg. Next, the riders begin their movement, following each other. The composition of the western part is the beginning of the entire frieze: the movement of the procession will move to the northern side of the temple. At the same time, it is perceived as a completely finished relief, since along the edges, as if framing it, stand the figures of calm young men. Depicted near the northwestern corner, it seemed to stop the riders for a moment, who the next moment would continue their journey on the reliefs of the northern side. The procession goes from right to left. It is noteworthy that from the remains of figures on the western metopes one can speak of a general movement on them, on the contrary, from left to right. Thus, the actions on the frieze and metopes seemed to cancel each other out. This balance corresponded to the end side of the temple, along which the path of the solemn procession did not go. To avoid monotony in the depiction of galloping horsemen, the master interrupts the movement in two places. So, he shows on one of the slabs a dismounted young man, facing the opposite direction of the movement, placing his foot on a stone. The sculptor seems to give the viewer’s eye a chance to rest, and after a pause the movement begins again.

In front of the elders, four young men carry hydrias - water vessels - on their shoulders (ill. 49). On the right, one bends down and picks up a jug from the ground. The figures are placed freely, dispersed. The sacrificial rams are led by priests talking to each other (ill. 50). One of them affectionately strokes the ram on the back. In front of them are shown musicians in long robes, with flutes and lyres, then strangers with gifts - baskets filled with fruits and bread. At the end of the northern frieze you can see priests with sacrificial bulls. One of the bulls lifted his muzzle and seemed to roar pitifully. The beautiful figures of the drivers express sadness - their heads drooped, one was tightly wrapped in a cloak (ill. 51). The last, corner figure completes the frieze, as if closing the composition and stopping the movement.

On many statues one can see traces of rain streams that poured through the cornice openings for centuries 42. But even in this state, these ancient sculptures make an indelible impression.

West pediment of the Parthenon. Athena and Poseidon argued, according to myth, for primacy in Attica. They were supposed to bring gifts to the city. Poseidon, striking the ground with his trident, carved out a source. Athena, thrusting a spear into the ground, created an olive tree, a tree that bears fruit - olives. The Greeks gave preference to the goddess, and she became the patroness of their city. This dispute was depicted in the center of the west pediment of the Parthenon (ill. 71).

On the western pediment were located from left to right the following statues: Cephisus, Nymph, Kekrop, his three daughters and son, Nike, Hermes, Athena, Poseidon (part of this statue is in Athens, part of it in London), Iris, Amphitrite, three daughters and grandson Erechthea, Ilis (in Athens), Callirhoe. Apparently, the babies of Boread were also presented, as well as sculptural images of the olive tree planted by Athena, the source of Poseidon, the horses and chariots on which the gods arrived 44 .

In front of Kephis was Kekrop - the ancient Attic deity of the earth, the mythical founder of cities in Attica, which is why Attica is sometimes called Kekropia, and the Athenians - Kekrops. According to legend, he was the first king and under him there was a dispute between Athena and Poseidon. Usually depicted as a man with a snake's tail instead of legs, he sits on its rings, leaning on them with his hand. His daughter gently pressed herself against his shoulder (ill. 63, 64). His daughters were the goddesses of dew and saviors from drought 45, the closest companions of Athena - Aglaurus, Pandros, Herse 46. The most ancient Attic hero Erechtheus, son of the earth, pupil of Athena, the ancient deity of earthly fertility, whose cult later merged with the cult of Poseidon, is shown on the right side of the pediment, not far from Ilis. Here are the daughter of Erechtheus Creusa with her son Ion, as well as Leucothea with the baby Polemon.

East pediment of the Parthenon. On the eastern pediment, mainly since the entrance to the Parthenon was from the east (ill. 72), a great event for the Hellenes is represented - the birth of Athena (ill. 73). This is a pan-Hellenic plot, more significant than the dispute between Athena and Poseidon 48 . In the center are depicted the gods on Olympus, in the corners there are no longer the Athenian rivers Cephisus and Ilis, but the sun god Helios and the goddess of the night Nyux in the waters of the Ocean. On the left Helios rode out in a chariot, on the right it was night - Nyux was hiding in the Ocean with her horse. With the birth of Athena, the sunny day began for the Hellenes and the night ended.