The Architecture And Comparison Of The Parthenon

The Parthenon

Introduction

One of the most famous structures from Ancient Greece is the Parthenon. A temple built for the guardian goddess of the city, Athena. Figure 1 is a picture of the Parthenon. I have Chosen the Parthenon because I think it is one of the best examples of a classical building. In my work I will review the architecture. To do this I will use different works from different authors and sources. After which I will present my ideas and thoughts.

The Parthenon, a temple for Athena, was built on top of the acropolis in Athens. It was built there because the older buildings and temples of Athena on it were destroyed after a Persian attack on the city in 480BC. The Parthenon was rebuilt because two earlier versions of a temple

Figure 1 shows a bust of Pericles. He was “a nobleman with inherited wealth”. He is considered to be mainly responsible for the growth of Athenian democracy and the Athenian empire. “He had the vision and power to create a new Athens which would be the envy of the ancient world.” The Parthenon was built after a battle that took place in Marathon, which was 42km away from Athens. The Athenians successfully defeated the Persians in the battle. This had established the power and strength of Athens. The reason for Pericles to build the Parthenon was to “underline the political dominance of Athens”. He wanted to rebuild the whole acropolis after the Persians had attacked and burned down most of the buildings and temples on it. He was so determined that he had taken the money that was raised by the city to help with any Persian attacks in the future and used it in building the Parthenon and rebuilding the whole acropolis. The construction of the Parthenon started in the year 447BC and was completed in 438BC. The people building the temple were both Athenians and foreigners. For their work they received a salary of one drachma a day. The architects for the temple were Ictinus and Callicrates, while it was built under the supervision of sculptor Phidias. Although the Parthenon was completed, the statues were not. It took another six years for them to be

Although it was built as a temple, it was used as a treasury were money raised by the city was stored. The name for the temple “refers to the cult of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin) that was associated with it”. It is “universally acknowledged as the masterpiece of the Doric order.” Although the Parthenon is considered a Doric temple it used some ionic attributes. Such as thinner columns and a continuous frieze around all four sides. Also, four ionic columns were used to support the roof. The Parthenon is a Doric peripteral temple. “It consists of a rectangular floor plan with a series of low steps on every side, and a colonnade (8 x 17) of Doric columns extending around the periphery of the entire structure”. In front of each entrance there are additional 6 columns. It is the largest Doric Greek temple. The temple was built using Pentelic marble from a nearby mountain, Mount Pentelicus. To complete the Parthenon, 22000 tonnes of marble was used from the mountain. Inside the Parthenon there were 2 rooms. The bigger room (naos) had the large statue of Athena. The smaller room (opisthodomos) was used as a treasury. The temple measures at 30.88m by 69.5m and is 14m