Sculpture of the Parthenon: metopes, pediments, friezes. The most famous temple in Greece is the Parthenon, dedicated to the goddess Athena the Virgin The architectural appearance of the Parthenon

Name: Παρθενών (el), Parthenon (en)

Location: Athens, Greece)

Creation: 447–438 BC.

Architect(s): Kallikrat, Iktin

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

Architecture of the Parthenon

Entablature. Orders of stone temples were borrowed by the Greeks from ancient wooden buildings. They are based on a simple connection of the load-bearing parts (column with a capital) and the load-bearing floor beams - the entablature. In the era of the classics (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, right under the beams of the peristyle, there was a carved marble frieze. The marble reliefs of the Parthenon depict Athenian horsemen, mythological characters, the competition of the gods, the heroic battles of the Greeks with the Amazons, episodes of the siege of Troy. The main theme of the frieze is a solemn procession in honor of the celebration of the Day of the great Panathenas, 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 decrease in figures that occurs when viewed from below.
Doric order. The Parthenon is surrounded by monumental Doric columns. The trunk of the column along the entire height is cut through by vertical grooves - flutes. They create a special play of chiaroscuro and emphasize the volume of the column.
corner column. Corner columns are thicker than others. They are closer to the neighboring ones and slightly inclined towards the center of the building - otherwise the building would seem to be falling apart. The remaining columns are also tilted 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 stairs 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 “correction” for an optical illusion was called entasis by the Greeks.
Statue of Athena. The statue of Athena, the patroness of the city, was made of gold and ivory by Phidias. 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 structure of the Parthenon

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 a year.
Each triglyph consists of three protruding parts, which corresponds to the division of the month into three decades of ten days, adopted in ancient Greece. The total number of triglyphs-months around the entire perimeter of the temple is 96, which corresponds to the eight-year calendar cycle that was widespread in antiquity. It was as if time, real time, was placed in triglyphs: an eight-year cycle typed from decades and months.
Between triglyphs, in metopes, mythological time was placed - the history of the struggle of the Greek tribe of Lapiths with the centaurs. Behind the Doric frieze, containing an eight-year cycle, in the depths of the peripter on the wall of the cella, closer to Athena, to 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, a private four-year cycle of time is hidden, which is most important for the temple of Athena.
Under each triglyph is a board with 6 drops: 6 drops above the column and 6 drops above the intercolumnium. It can be assumed that a year consisting of 12 drops-months was placed in each step of the columns. The total number of drops around the perimeter of the temple: 96 boards of 6 drops was 48 years - a period multiple of an eight-year cycle, and possibly correlated with the average duration of human life at that time.
Under the cornice shelf, stone drops also hung 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 for these drops is "regula" (from "regulo" - to direct, streamline) indicates the continuity of tradition in the understanding of time as the 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 spatio-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 very 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 the repository of the treasury, the state bank.
Various receipts flowed into the treasury of the goddess Athena on the acropolis: precious metal vessels, income from lands belonging to the goddess, parts of military booty, a tenth of the silver mines. Together, this amounted to a very large amount, which was the state fund. The treasury of Athens was actually at the disposal of the state. The Goddess was a banker...

The main building material of the Parthenon is Pentelian marble, the quarries of which are located near Athens in the Pentelikon mountain range. The changes that this marble undergoes under the action of sunlight are very significant. In the quarry it is white, similar in color to sugar. The surface of the stone is crystalline, small-grained, transparent, so that the eye penetrates a little deeper, which gives the stone a kind of transparent texture. Due to the fact that inside the marble there are microscopic pieces of metal, and under the action of sunlight microscopic mosses develop in it, the stone is painted in the air in a golden yellowish color, very beautiful and giving it a warm tint ...
Architectural and artistic composition of the Parthenon
- The dissection of the architectural massif of the Parthenon is the fruit of analytical architectural thinking. Most significantly for the architecture of the Parthenon, this analysis is combined with a holistic emotional perception of the architectural composition. This is the similarity of the architecture of the Parthenon with the architecture of the oriental despots, 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 persuasiveness. In this respect, the Greek column continues a tradition dating back to the distant past. ultimately to a primeval vertically placed stone as a funerary monument or a monument erected in memory of an event ...
- Pentelian 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 considered the natural properties of Pentelian marble and those changes. Which further causes the action of sunlight in it. However, depending on the inclusion of Pentelian marble in the architectural and artistic composition, its figurative quality has undergone significant changes. In accordance with the three-part dialectical structure of the Parthenon, it is necessary to consider separately the interpretation of the building material in the crepe, columns and entablature…
- A characteristic feature of archaic and classical peripteres, especially clearly expressed in the Parthenon due to its system of eight columns on the front sides, is the compactness of the outer volume, to the main part of which no additional volumes adjoin. In ancient times, this feature should have been especially evident, since a complex asymmetric composition dominated in urban residential buildings ...
- New in the Parthenon in comparison with geometrism in the architecture of Egypt is a synthetic combination of geometricity and organicity. In classical Greek architecture, a living sense of matter is very strongly expressed ...
- The peripteral shape of the building creates an interpenetration of the mass and the surrounding space. The latter is introduced into the architectural volume, forming external porticos. It is impossible to tear them away from the surrounding space and from the landscape, which from the porticos offer beautiful views in all directions. True, both when contemplating the Parthenon from the outside, and when looking at nature from the porticos, the massive shafts of the columns prevail over the spaces between them, the columns come to the fore and squeeze the intercolumns with their volume. However, the columns are arranged in relation to the space surrounding the temple, and with the opening landscapes, which serve as a 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 peripter, which began in the archaic era, was completed ... The unity of the volume of the Parthenon is greatly enhanced due to the inclination of the columns towards the naos, giving the entire volume a slightly tapering upward shape. This narrowing grows in a more sheer form from the ground to the three steps of the crepe, continues and ends with more gentle slopes of the roof. As a result, a curving curve of the outline of the silhouette of the building is formed ...

Parthenon

(Greek Παρθενών; English Parthenon)

Opening hours: from 8.30 to 19.00 daily, except Monday.

Parthenon - a temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos - the patroness of Athens, is rightfully considered one of the greatest examples of ancient architecture, a masterpiece of world art and plastics. The temple was founded on the initiative of Pericles, the famous Athenian commander and reformer. Its construction proceeded quite quickly - the temple was built from 447 to 438 BC (under the leadership of the architects Iktin and Kallikrates), and its sculptural decoration and decoration (under the direction of Phidias) were completed in 432 BC.

The first temple of Athena known in modern times, the existence of which is recognized by most scientists of the world, was built on the Acropolis, probably under Peisistratus. It was called the same as later the naos of the modern Parthenon - Hekatompedon, however, during the campaign of Xerxes, it, like other buildings on the Acropolis, was destroyed. There is a version about the connection of the ancient meaning of the word "hekatompedon" with the custom of child sacrifices (Greek "hekaton" - "one hundred", tome - "dissection", "raidos" - "child"). Later, with the abolition of this cruel custom (infants were laid in the foundation of the building for the sake of its strength), the concept of “one hundred child victims” was transferred to the original measure of the length of the naos (sanctuary) of the temple.

During the reign of Pericles, Athens reached its highest glory. After the end of the Greco-Persian wars, already on the prepared site, it was decided to build a new, more majestic and luxurious temple. The victorious attitude was also reflected in the wasteful urban plans, which were financed mainly from the tribute that Athens levied from its allies. The best artists at that time were involved in the construction and huge sums were spent. The builders of the Parthenon were the ancient Greek architects Iktin and Kallikrates. Then there was a 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 Parthenon is located at the highest point of the Athenian Acropolis. Therefore, the beautiful temple of the goddess Athena is visible not only from all corners of the city, but also from the sea, from the islands of Salamis and Aegina. The main facade of the temple is located at an angle to the Propylaea (entrance gate), which are located in the western part of the temple mount. All permeated with light, the temple seems airy and light. There are no bright patterns on the white columns, as is found in Egyptian temples.

The Parthenon is a Doric peripter with elements of the Ionic order. It is located on a stylobate (69.5 m long and 30.9 m wide) - three marble steps, the total height of which is about 1.5 meters, the roof was covered with a tiled roof. From the side of the main (western) facade, more frequent steps were cut, intended for people.

The building itself (cella) has a length of 29.9 m (width 19.2 m), which was 100 Greek feet, and is bordered around the perimeter by an external colonnade (peristele). There are 46 of these columns, 8 from the end, and 17 from the side facades. All columns are fluted, that is, they are decorated with longitudinal grooves. The height of the corner columns together with the capitals is 10.43 m (the same as in the temple of Zeus at Olympia).

The lower diameter of the corner columns - embat, when proportioning the temple, was taken as the first module (1.975 m). For vertical dimensions, the builders used the second module - the height of the abacus of the capital (0.3468 m). The amazing harmony of the building, which has been preserved to this day, despite the fact that only ruins remained of the great building, is based, first of all, on the polyphony of the ratios of magnitudes; the dimensions of the same type of parts vary, depending on their place in the overall composition.

The columns of the Parthenon do not look like a continuous undivided mass, but are perceived as a row in which individual trunks are not lost. Hence the correlation of the colonnade with the rhythm of the triglyphs and metope frieze, as well as with the rhythm of the figures of the Ionic frieze, which was located in the upper part of the walls of the naos, and on the inner colonnade of the porticos.

The Parthenon was not only a temple, but also something like an art gallery or a museum, it created an excellent backdrop for many works of plastic art. The sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was carried out under the guidance of the great master Phidias, and with his direct participation. This work is divided into four parts: the metopes of the outer (Doric) frieze, the solid Ionic (inner) frieze, the sculptures in the tympanums of the pediments, and the most famous statue of Athena Parthenos.

The pediment and cornices of the building were decorated with sculptures. The pediments were decorated with the gods of Greece: the Thunderer Zeus, the mighty ruler of the seas Poseidon, the wise warrior Athena, the winged Nike. For example, the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica is presented on the western pediment. The judges decided to give the victory to that of the gods, whose gift would be more valuable to the city. Poseidon struck with a trident - and a salt spring gushed out of the rock of the Acropolis. Athena struck with a spear - and an olive tree grew on the Acropolis. This gift seemed more useful to the Athenians. Thus, Athena emerged victorious in the dispute, and the olive tree became the symbol of the city.

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. This frieze is considered one of the pinnacles of classical art. Of the more than 500 figures of young men, women, elders, on foot and on horseback, not one repeated the other, the movements of people and animals were conveyed with amazing dynamism. The figures are not flat, they have the volume and shape of the human body.

The metopes were part of the traditional, for the Doric order, triglyph-metope frieze, which encircled the outer colonnade of the temple. In total, there were 92 metopes on the Parthenon, containing various high reliefs. They were connected thematically, on the sides of the building. In the east, the battle of the centaurs with the Lapiths was depicted, in the south - the battles of the Greeks with the Amazons (Amazonomachy), in the west - probably scenes from the Trojan War, in the north - the battles of the gods and giants (Gigantomachy). To this day, only 64 metopes have survived: 42 in Athens and 15 in the British Museum.

In general, the architectural appearance of the Parthenon takes its origins in wooden architecture: built of stone, the temple retained, in its outlines, the lightness and elegance of a wooden building. However, the outward simplicity of these outlines is deceptive: the architect Iktin was a great master of perspective. He calculated very precisely how to create the proportions of the building in order to make them pleasing to the eye of a person looking up at the temple.

The Greeks built temples from limestone, the surface of which was covered with plaster and then painted with paints. But the Parthenon is built of marble. During construction on the Acropolis, near Athens, on Mount Pentelikon, deposits of snow-white Pentelian marble sparkling in the sun were discovered. During production, it has a white color, but under the influence of the sun's rays it turns yellow. The northern side of the building is exposed to less radiation - and therefore, there the stone has received a grayish-ash tint, while the southern blocks give off a golden yellowish color. With the help of ropes and wooden skids, marble blocks were delivered to the construction site.

The masonry was carried out without any mortar or cement, that is, it was dry. The blocks were regular squares, they were carefully turned along the edges, adjusted in size to each other, and fastened with iron staples - pyrons. The trunks of the columns were made up of separate drums, and connected with wooden pins. Only the outer edges of the stones were carefully trimmed, the inner surfaces were left unprocessed, “for stealing”. The final processing, including the flutes on the columns, was carried out after the stones were set in place.

The roof was made of stone, truss construction, reproducing earlier wooden floors, and covered with double-shaped marble tiles. Chiaroscuro on the deeply embedded flutes of the columns and in the intercolumns (between the columns) emphasized the spatial composition of the building, its connection with the surrounding landscape.

The central hall of the temple was illuminated only by the light falling through the doorway and numerous lamps. In this twilight, in the center of the temple, stood the statue of Athena Parthenos, which was made by Phidias himself. It was upright and about 11 m high, made in the chryso-elephant technique (from gold and ivory, on a wooden base), and the eyes were inlaid with precious stones. According to ancient custom, the statue of a deity placed inside the temple should face east, towards the rising sun, so the entrance to the Parthenon was on the east side.

The ancient Greeks considered the Parthenon to be the home of a deity and believed that the goddess Athena sometimes descends from Olympus to incarnate in her statue. Every year, on the feast of Athena, a peplos (veil), woven by the Athenians, was placed on the statue of the goddess. On it were woven pictures of the exploits of the goddess, especially her victory over the giants.

Phidias portrayed Athena in long heavy robes, with her left hand leaning on a shield, under which Erichthonius curled up into rings of snakes. On the shield that Athena held, scenes of the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons, and the battle of the gods with the giants were depicted. Among the characters in the first scene, Phidias portrayed himself as a bald old man brandishing a stone. Such boldness was considered sacrilege. To this were added accusations of abuses that Phidias allegedly committed with the gold and other valuables he received to create a statue of Athena. As a result, in 431 BC, the great sculptor was imprisoned. According to some reports, Phidias died in captivity, according to others, he was sent into exile.

Plates of pure gold (1.5 mm thick), depicting the attire of the statue of the goddess Athena, were periodically removed and weighed - they were part of the state treasury. According to the plan of Pericles, gold could be borrowed from the goddess if necessary, for example, for waging war, and then returned. Any citizen could donate their products or weapons to the temple of Athena. Alexander the Great, after defeating the Persians on the Granicus River, in 334 BC, sent 300 shields captured from the enemy to Athens. The temple was also used to store gifts to the goddess. Gold and silver caskets, figurines, weapons, vessels were found in all rooms of the Parthenon - there were inventories for each room.

The statue of Athena, a great work of ancient sculpture, having existed for more than 900 years, died in the storms of time, and it can only be judged by a few unsuccessful copies. Today, the place where the statue of Athena stood is marked by several rectangular stones.

The Parthenon was thought out in the smallest detail, completely invisible to an outside observer, and with the aim of visually lightening the load on the load-bearing elements, as well as correcting some errors of human vision. Architectural historians single out the concept of curvature of the Parthenon - a special curvature that introduced optical adjustments. Although the temple seems to be perfectly straight, in fact, there are almost no strictly straight lines in its contours: the columns are not set vertically, but slightly tilted into the building; the width of the metopes increases towards the center, and decreases towards the corners of the building; the corner columns are somewhat thicker in diameter than the others, as otherwise they would appear thinner, and in cross section they are not round; the entablature is tilted outward, and the pediments are inward. To compensate for future reductions, the Greeks increased in size the upper parts of the building and reduced those that are closer. It is also known that a horizontal line of considerable length appears concave in the middle. In the Parthenon, the lines of the stylobate and steps are made not straight, but slightly convex, which compensates for visual distortion.

Emphasized contours and ornamentation were also intended to enhance the readability of relief images at high altitude. Lightness and flexibility distinguish the architecture of the Parthenon from its predecessors: the temples at Paestum, Selinunte, or the temple of Zeus at Olympia. The dimensions of the individual parts were determined "by eye", varying them in such a way that when viewed from below they create a sense of dimension, the same relationship. This principle is called the "law of angles" (meaning the angle of view of the observer). Our eye mentally continues the axes of the columns up and connects them at one point, located somewhere high in the sky, above the temple. Under the shadow of the colonnade, in the openings of neighboring columns, as in a picture frame, landscapes arranged by architecture open up to a person. From the side, from all points of view, the Parthenon looks like a statue on a pedestal. When evaluating the Parthenon, from an average distance (about 35 m), the temple looks harmonious and whole; up close - it impresses with its monumentality and seems even larger than it actually is. The setting of the temple building relative to the Acropolis hill is also important: it is moved to the southeastern edge of the cliff, and therefore visitors see it as distant, in fact, the large Parthenon does not suppress its size and “grows” as a person approaches it.

The popular notion that Greek temples were always white is actually wrong. In ancient times, the Parthenon was very colorful, and according to current tastes, even, almost, luridly painted. The tenia and the underside of the echinus were red. The lower surface of the cornice is red and blue. The red background emphasized the whiteness, the narrow vertical ledges that separated one frieze slab from another clearly stood out in blue, the gilding shone brightly. The coloring was made with wax paints, which, under the action of hot sunlight, impregnated the marble. This technique provided an organic combination of the natural texture of marble and color, the stone was painted, but remained slightly translucent and “breathed”.

The greatest temple of Ancient Greece, the Parthenon, went through all the stages of its history with it. For a while, the Parthenon stood untouched, in all its splendor. With the sunset of Greece, the sunset of the temple began.

In 267 BC, Athens was invaded by the barbarian Heruli tribe, who sacked Athens and set fire to the Parthenon. As a result of the fire, the roof of the temple was destroyed, as well as almost all the internal fittings and ceilings. In the Hellenistic era (about 298 BC), the Athenian tyrant Lacharus removed the golden plates from the statue of Athena. After 429, the statue of Athena Parthenos disappeared from the temple. According to one version, the statue was taken to Constantinople and installed in front of the Senate building, and later it died from a fire.

In connection with the strengthening of the cult of the Mother of God, under Emperor Justinian I (527-565), the Parthenon was turned into the Church of the Holy Virgin Mary (“Parthenis Mary”). In general, ancient temples easily turned into Christian ones. The transition from a pagan temple to a church affected the architecture of the Parthenon. In ancient times, the entrance to the Parthenon was located in the eastern part under the pediment, the sculptures of which depicted the birth of Athena. However, it is in the eastern part of the Christian temple that the altar should be located. As a result, the temple was replanned and the internal columns and some walls of the cella were removed, which led to the dismantling of the central slab of the frieze. The sacred eastern part of the Christian temple could not be decorated with the scene of the birth of the goddess Athena. These bas-reliefs were removed from the pediment. The colonnades were laid with stone. Most of the sculptures of the ancient Parthenon were lost: those that could be adapted for Christian worship were left, but most of them were destroyed.

In 662, the miraculous icon of Our Lady Afiniotissa (Our Lady of the Most Holy Athens) was solemnly transferred to the church. In 1458, after a two-year siege, the last Duke of Athens surrendered the Acropolis to the Turkish conquerors. In 1460, by decree of Sultan Mohammed II, the Parthenon was turned into a mosque, the altar and iconostasis were destroyed, the paintings were whitewashed, and a high minaret was erected over the southwestern corner of the temple, the remains of which were demolished only after the Greek Revolution. In the Erechtheion, the new ruler of Athens placed his harem. At the beginning of Turkish rule, Athens and the Acropolis disappeared from the routes of Western European travelers: hostilities between the Venetians and the Ottomans, periodically renewed in the 16th and 17th centuries, became a serious obstacle. The Turks had no desire to protect the Parthenon from destruction, but neither did they have the goal of completely distorting or destroying the temple. Since it is not possible to accurately determine the time of mashing the metopes of the Parthenon, the Turks may have continued this process. However, in general, they committed less destruction of the building than the Christians a thousand years before the Ottoman rule, who turned the majestic ancient temple into a Christian cathedral.

Beginning in 1660, there was a period of peace between the Venetians and the Ottomans, and travelers began to visit Athens again. Not only travel notes, but also studies of the Greek ancient heritage became widespread. But this peace did not last long. A new Turkish-Venetian war began. Finally, in 1687, during the siege of Athens by the Venetians, led by Francesco Morosini, a gunpowder warehouse was set up in the temple. On September 26, the core, which flew through the roof, produced a huge explosion, and the Parthenon forever became ruins. After the explosion of the Parthenon, its further destruction no longer seemed reprehensible. Shooting the surviving fragments of sculptures and reliefs was considered not a robbery, but a salvation, because earlier the Turks simply broke the sculptures and burned them into lime for construction. When, a few days later, the Turks surrendered and the Venetians entered the territory of the Acropolis, they decided to take to Venice, as trophies, the figure of Poseidon and the horses of his quadriga - the remains of the composition "Athena's Dispute with Poseidon" on the western pediment. When they began to be removed, the sculptures, barely holding on after the explosion, fell and broke.

A few months after the victory, the Venetians gave up power over Athens: they did not have enough strength to further protect the city, and the plague epidemic made Athens a completely unattractive target for the invaders. The Turks again set up a garrison on the Acropolis, albeit on a smaller scale, among the ruins of the Parthenon, and erected a new small mosque. During the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the Parthenon, having lost its protection, was destroyed more and more.

The misfortunes of the Parthenon ended only at the beginning of the 19th century, when the famous robber of ancient monuments, Lord Elgin, took to England 12 figures from the pediments, 56 plates with reliefs from the Parthenon frieze, and a number of other fragments of the monument, and sold them to the British Museum, where they are, until now, are the most valuable exhibits. Today, sculptures from the Parthenon are in many museums around the world. In particular, in the British Museum there are sculptures of Helios and Selena - corner fragments of the pediment "The Birth of Athena". In recent decades, there has been a trend towards the return of lost relics to the Parthenon. An important issue for the Greek government, at the present stage, is also the return of the Elgin marbles.

The idea of recreating the Parthenon was brought to life in the United States. In the city of Nashville (Tennessee), architects W. Dinsmoor and R. Garth, in 1897, built a full-scale replica of the Parthenon, restored according to the latest scientific data of that era. The restoration of the temple began in the 19th century. In 1926-1929 the northern colonnade was restored. Following this, an attempt was made to restore the pediment sculptures, the originals of which were partly lost, partly ended up in foreign museums.

But despite the constant restoration work, even today, the Parthenon continues to slowly but surely collapse. In recent years, the poisonous smog and suffocating stench of modern Athens, just like the marks left here by hordes of tourists, have caused sensitive damage to the Parthenon marble.

In the eyes of contemporaries, the Parthenon was the embodiment of the glory and power of Athens. Today, the Parthenon is rightfully considered one of the greatest examples of ancient architecture, a masterpiece of world art and plastics. This is the most perfect creation of ancient architecture, and even in ruins - a striking, exciting monument ...

Etymology

Originally, the name "Parthenon" comes from the Greek word παρθενών (parthenon), and was referred to in the sense of "rooms of unmarried women" in the house, and in the case of the Parthenon, perhaps only a separate room of the temple was first used. There is debate about what kind of room it was, and how it got its name. According to the work of Lidl, Scott, Jones "Greek-English Lexicon" it was the western cella of the Parthenon. Jamari Green believes that the Parthenon was the room in which the peplum was presented to Athena at the Panathenaic Games. It was woven by the harrephores, four girls who were chosen each year to serve Athena. Christopher Pelling argues that the Athena Parthenos may represent a separate cult of Athena, closely related, but not identical, to that of Athena Polias. According to this theory, the name Parthenon means "temple of the virgin goddess" and refers to the cult of Athena Parthenos, which was associated with this temple. The epithet "parthenos" (παρθένος), whose origin is unknown, means "virgin, maiden", but also "virgin, unmarried woman", and was mainly used in relation to Artemis, goddess of wild animals, hunting and vegetation, and Athena, goddess of strategy and tactics, craft and practical reason. There is also an assumption that the name of the temple refers to the virgins (partheno), whose highest sacrifice guarantees the safety of the city.

© website, photo: Parthenon today, July 2014

The first instance in which the name Parthenon certainly refers to the entire building was found in the writings of the orator Demosthenes dated to the 4th century BC. In the 5th century, the building was considered as a structure, which was simply called ho naos ("temple"). It is believed that the architects Mnesicles and Kallikrates called it Hekatompodos ("one hundred feet") in their lost treatise on Athenian architecture, and in the 4th century and later, it was known as Hekatompedos or Hekatompedon, like the Parthenon; in the 1st century AD e. The writer Plutarch called the building Hecatompedon the Parthenon.

Because the Parthenon was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, it was sometimes called the Temple of Minerva, the Roman name for Athena, especially in the 19th century.

Purpose

Although architecturally the Parthenon is a temple and is usually called that, however, in the generally accepted sense of the word, this is not entirely true. A small temple was found inside the building, on the site of an old one, probably dedicated to Athena, as a way to get closer to the goddess, but the Parthenon itself never accepted the cult of Athena Polis, the patroness of Athens; the cult image, which was washed in the sea and presented with peplos, was an olive xoan, located on an old altar in the northern part of the Acropolis.

The magnificent statue of Athena, by Phidias, was not associated with any cult and is not known to have ignited any religious fervor. She probably did not have a priestess, an altar, or a cult name. According to Thucydides, Pericles once referred to the statue as a gold reserve, emphasizing that it "consisted of forty talents of pure gold, and they could be taken out." The Athenian statesman thus assumed that the metal obtained from modern coinage could be used again without any disrespect. The Parthenon was then seen more as a large setting for a votive statue of Phidias than as a place of worship. Many Greek authors are said to have described in their writings the myriad treasures kept inside the temple, such as Persian swords and small statues made of precious metals.

Archaeologist Joan Breton Connelly has recently argued for the connection of the Parthenon's sculptural plan in presenting a series of genealogical accounts that trace Athenian features back through the ages: from the birth of Athena, through cosmic and epic battles, to the great final event of the Athenian Bronze Age, the war between Erechtheus and Eumolpus. She argues that the pedagogical function of the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon establishes and reinforces the Athenian foundations of myth, memory, values and identity. Connelly's thesis is debatable, and some notable classics such as Mary Beard, Peter Green, and Harry Wheels have either questioned it or simply rejected it.

Early history

Old Parthenon

The initial desire to build a sanctuary of Athena Parthenos on the site of the current Parthenon was realized shortly after the Battle of Marathon (c. 490-488 BC) on a foundation of hard limestone, which was located on the southern part of the top of the Acropolis. This building replaced the Hekatompedon (i.e. "one hundred feet") and stood next to the archaic temple dedicated to Athena Polias. The Old Parthenon, or Pre-Parthenon as it is often called, was still under construction when, in 480 B.C. e. The Persians sacked the city and destroyed the Acropolis.

The existence of the proto-Parthenon and its destruction is known from Herodotus. The drums of its columns were visible at a glance and were built after the load-bearing wall north of the Erechtheion. Further physical evidence of this structure was revealed during the excavations of Panagis Kavadias in 1885-1890. Their results led Wilhelm Dörpfeld, then director of the German Archaeological Institute, to claim that the original Parthenon contained an underground structure called Parthenon I, which was not exactly below the current building, as previously thought. Dörpfeld's observation was that the three steps of the first Parthenon consisted of limestone, two of porous, like the base, and the upper step of Karha limestone, which was covered by the lowest step of the Pericles Parthenon. This platform was smaller and was located just north of the final Parthenon, indicating that it was built for a completely different building, currently completely closed. The picture was somewhat complicated by the publication of the final excavation report in 1885-1890, which indicated that this underground structure was of the same age as the walls built by Kimon, and implied a later date for the first temple.

Floor plan of the Parthenon, photo: public domain

If the original Parthenon was indeed destroyed in 480, this raises the question of why the site remained in ruins for thirty-three years. One argument suggests an oath taken by the Greek allies before the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC. e., according to which the sanctuaries destroyed by the Persians will not be restored. Only in 450, at the conclusion of the Peace of Callia, did the Athenians free themselves from this oath. The mundane fact about the cost of rebuilding Athens after the Persian sack is not as plausible as its reason. However, Bert Hodge Hill's excavations led him to propose the existence of a second Parthenon built during the reign of Cimon after 468 BC. e. Hill claimed that the Karha limestone step that Dörpfeld thought was the highest in Parthenon I was in fact the lowest of the three steps of Parthenon II, whose stylobate dimensions, according to Hill's calculations, were 23.51 by 66,888 meters (77.13 × 219.45 feet).

One of the difficulties in dating the proto-Parthenon is that at the time of the excavations in 1885, the archaeological method of seriation had not been fully developed; careless digging and backfilling of the site resulted in the loss of a large amount of valuable information. Attempts to discuss and comprehend the clay shards found in the Acropolis were realized in a two-volume work by Graf and Langlotz, published in 1925-1933. This inspired the American archaeologist William Bell Dinsmoor to attempt to set deadlines for the temple platform and five of its walls hidden under the re-terracing of the Acropolis. Dinsmoor concluded that the last possible date for Parthenon I was no earlier than 495 BC. e., which contradicts the earlier date established by Dörpfeld. In addition, Dinsmoor denied the existence of two proto-Parthenons and established that the only temple prior to the temple of Pericles was that which Dörpfeld called Parthenon II. In 1935, Dinsmoor and Dörpfeld exchanged views in the American Journal of Archeology.

modern construction

In the middle of the 5th century BC. BC, when the Athenian Acropolis became the seat of the Delian League, and Athens was the greatest cultural center of its time, Pericles initiated an ambitious building project that continued throughout the second half of the century. During this period, the most important buildings that can be seen in the Acropolis today were built: the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike. The Parthenon was built under the overall supervision of Phidias, who was also responsible for the sculptural decoration. The architects Iktin and Kallikrat began their work in 447 BC. BC, and by 432 the building was completed, but decoration work continued until at least 431. Some financial accounts of the Parthenon have survived which show that the biggest expense was to transport the stones from Mount Pentelikon, about 16 km (9.9 miles) from Athens, to the Acropolis. These funds were partly taken from the treasury of the Delian League, transferred from the pan-Hellenic sanctuary at Delos to the Acropolis in 454 BC. e.

Architecture

The Parthenon is an octastyle Doric temple surrounded by columns with Ionic architectural features. It stands on a platform or on a stylobate of three steps. Like other Greek temples, it has a lintel and is surrounded by columns bearing an entablature. At each end are eight columns ("octastyle"), and seventeen on the sides. Also at each end of the column are installed in two rows. The colonnade surrounds an internal stone structure - a cella, divided into two rooms. At either end of the building, the roof ends in a triangular pediment, originally filled with sculptures. The columns represent the Doric order with a simple capital, fluted shaft and no base. Above the architrave is a frieze of illustrated carved panels (metope) separated by a triglyph, which is typical of the Doric order. Around the cella and along the lintels of the internal columns there is a continuous sculptural frieze in the form of a bas-relief. This element of architecture is Ionic rather than Doric.

Measured on the stylobate, the base of the Parthenon measures 69.5 by 30.9 meters (228 by 101 feet). The cella was 29.8 meters long and 19.2 meters wide (97.8 x 63.0 ft) with an internal colonnade in two rows structurally necessary to support the roof. On the outside, Doric columns measured 1.9 meters (6.2 ft) in diameter and 10.4 meters (34 ft) high. The diameter of the corner columns was slightly larger. In total, the Parthenon had 23 internal and 46 external columns, each containing 20 flutes. (A flute is a concave groove carved in the shape of a column.) The stylobate had a curvature that increased towards the center by 60 mm (2.4 in) at the east and west ends and by 110 mm (4.3 in) at the sides. The roof was covered with large overlapping marble tiles known as fluted tiles and tegula.

© website, photo: Parthenon today, July 2014

The Parthenon is considered the finest example of Greek architecture. John Julius Cooper wrote that the temple "has the reputation of being the most perfect Doric temple ever built. Even in antiquity, his architectural refinements were legendary, especially the delicate balance between the curvature of the stylobate, the slope of the cella walls and the entasis of the columns." Entasis refers to a slight decrease in the diameter of the columns as they rise, although the observed effect in the Parthenon is much more subtle than in early temples. The stylobate is the platform on which the columns stand. Like many other classical Greek temples, it has a slight parabolic increase in curvature to drain rainwater and strengthen the building against earthquakes. This may be why the columns were supposed to lean outward, but in fact they leaned slightly inward so that if they continued they would meet almost exactly a mile above the center of the Parthenon; since they are all the same height, the curvature of the outer edge of the stylobate is transferred to the architrave and roof: "The whole subsequent principle of creation is based on slight curvature," Gorham Stevens noticed this when he pointed out that the west facade was built somewhat higher than the south. It is not universally established what the entasis effect was supposed to be; it is possible that it served as a kind of "reverse optical illusion". Because the Greeks may have known that two parallel lines slope or curve outward when crossing converging lines. In this case, it seems that the ceiling and floor of the temple lean towards the corners of the building. In their pursuit of perfection, the designers may have added these curves, making up for the illusion by creating their own curves, thus negating this effect and allowing the temple to be as it was intended. It has also been suggested that it was used for "revitalization", in case a building without curves would perhaps have the appearance of an inert mass, but it should be compared with the more obvious curved predecessors of the Parthenon, and not with a conventionally rectilinear temple.

Some studies of the Acropolis, including the Parthenon, have concluded that many of its proportions are close to the golden ratio. The facade of the Parthenon, as well as the elements, can be described by a golden rectangle. This view was refuted in later studies.

Sculpture

The cella of the Parthenon housed the chrysoelephantine statue of Athena Parthenos by Phidias, created in 439 or 438 BC. e.

Initially, the decorative stonework was very colorful. At that time, the temple was dedicated to Athena, although construction continued almost until the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War in 432. By 438, the sculptural decoration of the Doric metopes on the frieze above the outer colonnade and the decoration of the Ionic frieze around the top of the cella wall were completed.

The richness of the frieze and metope is consistent with the purpose of the temple as a treasury. The opisthodome (back room of the cella) kept the monetary contributions of the Delian League, of which Athens was a leading member. Today, the surviving sculptures are kept in the Athens Acropolis Museum and the British Museum in London, and a few pieces in Paris, Rome, Vienna and Palermo.

Metopes

The western metopes illustrate the current state of the temple after 2,500 years of war, pollution, destruction, looting and vandalism, photo: Thermos,

The frieze of the entablature contains ninety-two metopes, fourteen each on the east and west sides, and thirty-two each on the north and south. They are carved in bas-relief, this practice was used only for treasuries (the building was used to store gifts that were presented to the gods by vow). According to construction documentation, metope sculptures date back to 446-440 BC. e. The metopes of the Parthenon, above the main entrance, on the east side depict the Gigantomachy (a mythical battle between the Olympian gods and giants). The metopes on the west side show the Amazonomachy (the mythical battle of the Athenians against the Amazons), and on the south side the Thessalian centauromachy (the battle of the Lapiths, with the help of Theseus, against half-human, half-horse centaurs). Metopes 13 to 21 are missing, but the drawings attributed to Jacques Carrey indicate groups of people; they have been variously interpreted as scenes from the wedding of the Lapith, scenes from the early history of Athens, and various myths. On the north side of the Parthenon, the metopes are poorly preserved, but the plot is reminiscent of the destruction of Troy.

The metopes are presented as an example of the strict style in the anatomy of the heads of the figures, in the limitation of physical movements to the contours but not to the muscles, and in the pronounced veins in the figures of centauromachy. Some of them still remain on the building, with the exception of those on the north side, as they are heavily damaged. Several metopes are in the Acropolis Museum, others are in the British Museum, and one is in the Louvre.

In March 2011, archaeologists announced that they had discovered five Parthenon metopes on the south wall of the Acropolis, which had been extended when the Acropolis was being used as a fortress. According to the daily newspaper Eleftherotype, archaeologists claimed that the metopes were placed there in the 18th century, when the wall was being restored. Experts discovered metopes while processing 2,250 photographs using modern photographic techniques. They were made of white Pentelic marble, which is different from the other stone of the wall. It was previously thought that the missing metopes were destroyed during the explosion of the Parthenon in 1687.

© website, photo: Parthenon today, July 2014

Frieze

The most distinctive feature in the architecture and decoration of the temple is the Ionic frieze around the outer walls of the cella (the interior of the Parthenon). The bas-relief frieze was carved at the construction site; it dates from 442-438 BC. e. One interpretation is that it depicts an idealized version of the procession of the Panathenaic Games from the Dipylon gate at Kerameikos to the Acropolis. This procession, which takes place every year, was attended by Athenians and foreigners to honor the goddess Athena, bringing sacrifices and new peplos (cloth woven by specially selected noble Athenian girls).

Joan Breton Connelly offers a mythological interpretation of the frieze that is in harmony with the rest of the sculptural plan of the temple, and shows the Athenian genealogy through a series of myths from the distant past. She identifies the central panel above the door of the Parthenon as a sacrifice made before the battle by the daughter of King Erechtheus, and ensured victory over Eumolpus and his Thracian army. A large procession moved towards the eastern part of the Parthenon, showing the post-battle thanksgiving sacrifice of cattle and sheep, honey and water, following the triumphal army of Erechtheus, which returned with victory. In mythical times, these were the very first Panathenaic, the model upon which the historical processions of the Panathenaic Games were based.

Gables

When the traveler Pausanias visited the Acropolis at the end of the 2nd century AD, he only briefly mentioned the sculptures of the pediments of the temple (the ends of the gabel), leaving the main place to describe the statue of the goddess made of gold and ivory, which was located inside the temple.

East pediment

The eastern pediment tells of the birth of Athena from the head of her father Zeus. According to Greek mythology, Zeus gave birth to Athena after a terrible headache prompted him to summon Hephaestus (the god of fire and blacksmithing) for help. To relieve the pain, he ordered Hephaestus to hit him with a hammer, and when he did, Zeus's head split open and the goddess Athena came out of it, all dressed in armor. The sculptural composition depicts the moment of Athena's birth.

Unfortunately, the central part of the pediment was destroyed even before Jacques Carrey, who in 1674 created useful documentary drawings, therefore, all restoration work is the subject of assumptions and hypotheses. The main Olympian gods should stand around Zeus and Athena, watching the miraculous event, probably with Hephaestus and Hera near them. Kerry's drawings played an important role in the restoration of the sculptural composition on the north and south sides.

West gable

The western pediment overlooked the Propylaea and depicted the struggle between Athena and Poseidon during their competition for the honor of becoming the patron of the city. They appear in the center of the composition, and diverge from each other in strict diagonal forms, the goddess holds an olive tree, and the god of the sea raises his trident to hit the ground. On the sides, they are framed by two groups of horses pulling chariots, while the space in the sharp corners of the pediment is filled with legendary characters from Athenian mythology.

Work on the pediments continued from 438 to 432 BC. e., and the sculptures on them are considered one of the best examples of classical Greek art. The figures are created in natural movements, and the bodies are full of vital energy that breaks through their flesh, and the latter, in turn, breaks out through their thin clothes. Thin chitons show the lower body as the center of the composition. By placing the sculptures in stone, the sculptors erased the distinction between gods and humans, the conceptual relationship between idealism and naturalism. The fronts no longer exist.

Drawing of the statue of "Athena Parthenos", installed inside the Parthenon

Athena Parthenos

Only one sculpture from the Parthenon is known to belong to the hand of Phidias, the statue of Athena, which was located in the naos. This massive gold and ivory sculpture is now lost. It is known only from copies, vase paintings, jewelry, literary descriptions and coins.

Late period of history

late antiquity

In the middle of the third century AD, a major fire broke out in the Parthenon, which destroyed the roof and most of the interior of the temple. Restoration work was carried out in the fourth century AD, probably during the reign of Flavius Claudius Julian. To cover the sanctuary, a new wooden roof was laid, covering it with clay tiles. It had a steeper slope than the original roof, and the building's wings were left open.

For almost a thousand years, the Parthenon continued to exist as a temple dedicated to Athena, until in 435 AD. e. Theodosius II did not decide to close all pagan temples in Byzantium. In the fifth century, one of the emperors stole the great cult image of Athena and took it to Constantinople, where it was later destroyed, possibly during the siege of Constantinople in 1204 CE. e.

Christian church

In the last decades of the sixth century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church, which was called the Church of Mary Parthenos (Virgin Mary), or the Church of Theotokos (Mother of God). The orientation of the building was changed, turning the facade to the east; the main entrance was moved to the western end of the building, and the Christian altar and iconostasis were located on the eastern side of the building next to the apse built on the site where the pronaos of the temple had previously been located.

A large central entrance with adjacent side doors was made in the wall separating the cella, which became the church nave, from the back room, the porch of the church. The gaps between the columns of the opisthodom and the peristyle were walled up, however, the number of entrances to the room was sufficient. Icons were painted on the walls, and Christian inscriptions were carved into the columns. These renovations inevitably led to the removal of some of the sculptures. The images of the gods were either interpreted in accordance with the Christian theme, or seized and destroyed.

The Parthenon became the fourth most important Christian pilgrimage site in the eastern part of the Roman Empire after Constantinople, Ephesus and Thessalonica. In 1018, Emperor Basil II made a pilgrimage to Athens, immediately after his final victory over the Bulgarians, for the sole purpose of visiting the church in the Parthenon. In medieval Greek records, it was called the temple of the Athenian Mother of God (Theotokos Atheniotissa) and was often indirectly mentioned as famous, without an exact explanation of which temple was meant, thus confirming that it was really famous.

During the Latin occupation, for about 250 years, it became the Roman Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary. During this period, a tower was built on the southwest corner of the cella, which was used as a watchtower or as a bell tower with a spiral staircase, as well as vaulted tombs under the floor of the Parthenon.

islamic mosque

In 1456, Ottoman forces invaded Athens and laid siege to the Florentine army, which defended the Acropolis until June 1458, when the city surrendered to the Turkish. The Turks quickly restored the Parthenon for later use as a church by Greek Christians. For a while, before closing in the fifteenth century, the Parthenon became a mosque.

The exact circumstances under which the Turks took possession of it for use as a mosque are unclear; one source states that Mehmed II had it reconstructed as punishment for the Athenian conspiracy against the Ottoman Empire.

The apse, which became a mihrab (a tower built earlier during the Roman Catholic occupation of the Parthenon), was extended upwards to make a minaret, a minbar was installed, and the Christian altar and iconostasis were removed, and the walls were whitewashed to cover the icons of Christian saints and other Christian images.

Despite the changes accompanying the Parthenon, the transformation into a church and then into a mosque, its structure remains largely unchanged. In 1667, the Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi expressed admiration for the sculptures of the Parthenon and figuratively described the building as "some kind of impregnable fortress not created by man." He composed poetic prayers: "the work of less significant human hands than Heaven itself must stand for a long time."

The French artist Jacques Carrey visited the Acropolis in 1674 and made sketches of the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon. Early in 1687, an engineer named Plantier painted the Parthenon for the Frenchman Gravier Dortier. These images, especially those made by Carrey, provided important evidence of the condition of the Parthenon and its sculptures before the destruction at the end of 1687 and in the subsequent looting of its works.

The destruction of the Parthenon as a result of the explosion of a gunpowder warehouse during the Venetian-Turkish war. 1687. Drawing by an unknown artist.

Destruction

In 1687, the Parthenon was badly damaged in the greatest catastrophe that has ever befallen it in its long history. To attack and capture the Acropolis, the Venetians sent an expedition led by Francesco Morosini. The Ottoman Turks fortified the Acropolis and used the Parthenon as an ammunition cellar—despite the danger of such use after the 1656 explosion that severely damaged the Propylaea—and shelter for members of the local Turkish community. On September 26, a Venetian mortar shot fired from Philopappus Hill blew up the cellar and partially destroyed the building. The explosion shattered the central part of the building and caused the cella to collapse. The Greek architect and archaeologist Cornelia Hatziaslani writes that “... three of the four walls of the sanctuary almost collapsed and three-fifths of the sculptures from the frieze fell. Obviously, none of the parts of the roof remained in place. Six columns fell from the south side and eight from the north, and nothing remained of the eastern portico, except for one column. Together with the columns, a huge marble architrave, triglyphs and menotopes collapsed. The explosion killed approximately three hundred people, who were covered with marble debris near the Turkish defenders. It also caused several large fires that burned until the next day and destroyed many houses.

Records were made during the conflict as to whether this destruction was intentional or accidental; one such entry is by a German officer, Zobifolsky, which states that a Turkish deserter gave Morosini information about what the Turks were using the Parthenon for, expecting the Venetians to not target a building of such historic importance. In response, Morosini sent artillery to the Parthenon. Subsequently, he tried to loot sculptures from the ruins and cause further damage to the building. When the soldiers tried to remove the sculptures of Poseidon and Athena's horses from the western pediment of the building, they fell to the ground and broke.

The following year, the Venetians abandoned Athens in order to avoid a confrontation with the large Turkish army assembled at Chalcis; at that time, the Venetians took into account the explosion, after which almost nothing remained of the Parthenon and the rest of the Acropolis, and rejected the possibility of its further use by the Turks as a fortress, but such an idea was not pursued.

After the Turks recaptured the Acropolis, they built a small mosque within the walls of the destroyed Parthenon, using the ruins from the explosion. Over the next century and a half, the remaining parts of the structure were looted for building materials and other valuables.

The 18th century was the period of the "sick man of Europe"; as a result, many Europeans were able to visit Athens, and the picturesque ruins of the Parthenon became the subject of many paintings and drawings, spurring the rise of the Philhellenes and helping to arouse the sympathy of Britain and France for the sake of Greek independence. Among these early travelers and archaeologists were James Stewart and Nicholas Revett, who were commissioned by the Society of Dilettantes to investigate the ruins of classical Athens.

They created drawings of the Parthenon, while making measurements, which in 1787 published in two volumes Antiquities of Athens Measured and Delineated (Antiquities of Athens: measured and depicted). In 1801, the British ambassador in Constantinople, Count Elgin, received a dubious firman (decree) from the Sultan, whose existence or legitimacy has not been proven to this day, to make casts and drawings of the antiquities of the Acropolis, and to demolish the last buildings, examine the antiquities if necessary, and remove the sculptures .

Independent Greece

When independent Greece gained control of Athens in 1832, the visible part of the minaret was destroyed; only its base and the spiral staircase to the level of the architrave remained intact. Soon all the medieval and Ottoman buildings built on top of the Acropolis were destroyed. However, there is a photograph by Joly de Lotbinier of a small mosque in the cella of the Parthenon, published in Lerbaud's Excursions Daguerriennes in 1842: the first photograph of the Acropolis. This area became a historical site that was controlled by the Greek government. Today it attracts millions of tourists every year. They follow the road at the western end of the Acropolis, through the restored Propylaea up the Panathenaic Way to the Parthenon, which is surrounded by a low rail to prevent damage.

Marble Sculpture Controversy

The center of the dispute was the marble sculptures taken out by Earl Elgin from the Parthenon, which are in the British Museum. Also, a few sculptures from the Parthenon are displayed in the Louvre in Paris, in Copenhagen, and elsewhere, but more than fifty percent is in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Some can still be seen on the building itself. Since 1983, the Greek government has been campaigning to bring sculptures back to Greece from the British Museum.

The British Museum has steadfastly refused to return the sculptures, and successive British governments have been unwilling to force the museum to do so (which would require a statutory basis). However, negotiations between senior representatives of the Greek and British ministries of culture and their legal advisers took place in London on 4 May 2007. These were the first serious negotiations in several years, in which hopes were pinned that both sides could take a step towards a resolution.

Recovery

In 1975, the Greek government began coordinated work to restore the Parthenon and other structures of the Acropolis. After some delay, in 1983 the Committee for the Preservation of the Monuments of the Acropolis was established. The project later attracted funding and technical assistance from the European Union. The archaeological committee carefully documented each artifact left there, and using computer models, the architects determined their original location. Particularly important and fragile sculptures were transferred to the Acropolis Museum. A crane was installed to move the marble blocks. In some cases, previous reconstructions turned out to be wrong. Dismantling was carried out, and the restoration process began anew. Initially, the various blocks were held together by oblong iron H-shaped connectors, which were completely covered with lead to protect the iron from corrosion. The stabilizing connectors added in the 19th century were less lead-plated and corroded. Since the product of corrosion (rust) tends to expand, it has caused further damage to the already cracked marble. All of the new metalwork consisted of titanium, a strong, lightweight and corrosion-resistant material.

The Parthenon will not be restored to the state it was in before 1687, however, as far as possible, damage from the explosion will be repaired. In the interest of restoring the building's structural integrity (important in this seismically prone area) and aesthetic integrity, chipped portions of the column drums and lintels will be filled in using finely hewn marble, reinforced in place. New Pentelian marble from the original quarry is used. As a result, almost all large pieces of marble will be placed where they originally were, supported, if necessary, by modern materials. Over time, the white repaired parts will become less visible compared to the original weathered surfaces.

On the Athenian Acropolis rises the temple of the Virgin Athena Parthenos, dedicated to the patroness of the city of Athens (daughter of the supreme god Zeus) during the reign of Pericles.

Work on its construction began in 447 BC, ended mainly in 438 BC. e., and finishing and sculptural work was carried out even before 434 BC. e.

The architect of the Parthenon Iktin, his assistant is Kallikrates. The creator of the Parthenon is the famous ancient Greek sculptor Phidias, according to the sketches and under the general guidance of which the sculptures were created: the Virgin of Athena Parthenos, a marble frieze, a metope, the dandies of the Parthenon by the best masters of the 5th century BC.

The Parthenon in Athens was built in honor of the victory of the Greeks over the Persians, which was expressed in the solemnity of the forms of the Doric columns of the temple, in harmony and harmony, in its proportions.

The interior of the temple was given a majestic appearance by a two-story colonnade. At the same time, the Parthenon inside was divided into the eastern part (larger room), where there was a statue of Athena Parthenos, made in the chrysoelephantine technique, and the western part, called, in fact, the Parthenon, in which the Athenian treasury was kept.

Architectural and constructive solution of the Parthenon

The Parthenon in ancient Greece is a temple of the Doric order, the architecture of the Parthenon is such that in plan it has the shape of a rectangle, its height is 24 m.

The optimal dimensions of the Parthenon, which was supposed to stand on a rock, were determined according to the principle of the "golden section", namely: the ratio of the massif of the temple and the rock should correspond to the proportions of the temple - this ratio, by the way, was considered harmonious in ancient Greece.

The Parthenon in Athens is surrounded on all sides by columns: the architecture of the Parthenon assumed 8 columns on the short sides and 14 on the long ones. The columns of the Parthenon were placed more often than in the earliest Doric temples.

The entablature is not so massive, so it seems that the columns easily hold the ceiling. The columns of the Parthenon are not strictly vertical, but slightly inclined towards the inside of the building. And not all of them are the same thickness. The corner ones are thicker than the rest, but look thinner against a light background.

Slightly tilting the columns, making them of different thicknesses, the creators of the temple thus corrected optical distortions that violated the harmony and plasticity of the building, giving it harmony.

The column of the Parthenon is divided by vertical grooves - flutes, which make the horizontal seams between the parts of the column almost invisible and, as it were, exclude its isolation.

Artistic and decorative design of the Parthenon

The structures that adorned the Parthenon are of considerable value to us: a marble frieze, 92 metopes located on the four sides of the temple, and two pediments.

Frieze of the Parthenon. On the upper part of the wall of the temple, behind the outer colonnade, a frieze - a zophorus - is visible. It is a continuous multi-figure 160-meter bas-relief marble ribbon, which depicts 350 people and 250 animals from various angles.

The frieze of the Parthenon was dedicated to the Great Panathenaic festival, which was held in Athens every 4 years in honor of the patroness of the city, the goddess Athena.

At the beginning of the frieze, a competition of riders is shown, then slaughtered animals go, they are replaced by a procession of festively dressed people of Athens, carrying to the Parthenon a festive attire of Athena (peplos), woven by Athenian girls.

At the end of the procession, the feast of the 12 gods of Olympus is shown in the end part of the frieze. The frieze groups are small in size, but expressive, never repeating many hundreds of figures of people and animals.

The architecture of the Parthenon assumed the placement of metopes above the colonnade, on the outside of the temple, the plots of which were built on the mythological stories of Attica, reflecting the minor exploits of Athena.

There were 92 metopes in total - 14 each on the front sides and 32 each on the side walls. They were carved in high relief - high relief. The metaphors of the eastern pediment depict a scene of the battle of the gods with the giants. On the western side is the scene of the fight between the Greeks and the Amazons.

On the metopes of the north side of the temple - the fall of Troy, on the south - the struggle of the Lapiths with the centaurs. But the main and most important events in the life of the goddess are dedicated to the pediment groups.

- East and West. The east pediment, which is better preserved, depicts the scene of the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus, according to ancient Greek myth.

In the right corner of the eastern pediment there are three female figures, possibly the three Moiras (goddesses of fate). The smooth softness and warmth of chiaroscuro in the fold of the clothing of female figures is interestingly conveyed.

The western pediment depicts a dispute between Athena and Poseidon for dominance over Attica.

Painting of the Parthenon, cladding. The Parthenon was built entirely of squares of white Pentelian marble laid dry. The properties of this marble are such that due to the presence of iron in it, over time it acquired a golden patina, which gave the slabs a warm, yellowish hue.

However, some Parthenon slabs were painted when it was necessary to highlight some individual elements. So, the triglyphs, which were shaded by the cornice, were covered with blue paint. Blue paint was also used for the background of the metopes and pediments.

Gilding was used to paint the vertical slabs of the gables. The upper parts of the temple were painted dark red, sometimes tinted with narrow strips of gilding.

The Parthenon in Athens in its original form existed for about two millennia. To this day have survived: on the territory of the acropolis - the destroyed columns of the temple, not numerous fragments of metopes, frieze, pediments - are stored in various museums around the world.