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The parthenon structure
The Parthenon greece essay for school
The parthenon structure
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THESIS STATEMENT
Over the centuries the Parthenon’s unique design and construction has continued to influence art and artwork well into the present day.
PURPOSE STATEMENT
By using different sources, the Parthenon’s importance in the world will be discussed through its history, art and design.
INTRODUCTION
The Parthenon is like the crown jewel of Athens. It is named after the mighty goddess Athena Nike Parthenos, daughter of Zeus. She was born right from Zeus himself. She is the goddess of war, wisdom, and heroism. The entire city of Athens is also named after her.
An acropolis is the highest point of a city and Athens’ acropolis is where the Parthenon was located (see Figure 1). The Parthenon has an extremely unique design that has a lot of modern appeal. There were also many sculptures and pieces of art that were showcased there, but time took a toll on it. Over hundreds of years it suffered from conversions, renovations, explosions and thieves which ruined, harmed, destroyed or lost most of the pieces.
The Parthenon’s design has inspired many modern buildings like banks, museums, libraries and the buildings in Washington D.C. with its modern appeal. As quoted in Life in Ancient Greece, “All the world’s culture culminated in Greece, Greece in Athens, Athens in the Acropolis, the Acropolis in the Parthenon” (Nardo 32).
HISTORY
The Parthenon’s history started back in the late 400 B.C.E. Persia attacked, captured, and destroyed nearly the entire city of Athens, Greece. The Acropolis had not yet included the Parthenon because it had not been built. In 447 Pericles, the king of Athens began to restore Athens to its original state (Nardo). He also had a man by the name of Ictinus design the Parthenon, the T...
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...e Annunciation from the Christian faith (Hopper). Unfortunately, in the 1687 explosion of the Parthenon, they were mostly destroyed.
CONCLUSION
Through its art and unique design, the Parthenon has had an effect on the world over the past centuries. Many modern buildings are designed to look like it from the style of its columns to the materials used. Many sculptors are also inspired by Phidias’ Athena statue or his frieze.
From the demolishing past the Parthenon has endured expert engineers, architects, sculptors, historians are teaming up together. Their goal is within the next ten years to have the majestic monument restored back to its original grandeur. Barbara Barlette, a professor from the University of Florida who is helping with the restoration process stated “[The Parthenon is the] highest level of human creativity” (Gary Glassman).
After learning more about these two buildings, I discovered that the Romans were “inspired” by Greek architecture. The columns used in both are common to Greek architecture. Based on the photos that were viewed from online searches, it appears that the Romans were more ornate during the construction of their temple which can be seen by their choice of building materials, such as marble. The Parthenon seems to have had more simple lines. It was rectangular in shape as opposed to the Pantheon that was rounded in many areas, particularly where the sculptures of the gods were. This was to lend to the idea that they were on the same level and that no god was given more preferential treatment since the Pantheon was to honor all of them equally. The structures resemble one another in that they both have those ominous columns as a way to emphasize the dominion the gods had over the
...the Athenian Parthenon’s in some ways its powerful imagery has caused it to be acknowledged it as one of the most wonderful examples of Hellenistic art and architecture.
The Parthenon is an amazing Greek temple that was built 2,500 years ago. Even the architects of today have numerous questions about how it was constructed and how it has held up through its eventful past. The Parthenon's detailed appearance is not its only meaningful quality. The Parthenon was constructed as a temple to the goddess, Athena, and as an icon of the Greek people themselves. The Parthenon represents the Greek ideals of humanism, idealism, and rationalism.
... made such a great impression that it has carried through to our present day buildings such as the White House. The Athena Parthenos has been recreated by the Romans and then most recently by recreated by Alan LeQuire which is in Nashville. (See Fig 2.) We can get a glimpse with LeQuire’s recreation of how that statue may have been in ancient Greece standing in the Parthenon with such majestic greatness.
The Greek culture was obviously the most influential out of us three and it will always be.” He then addressed the crowd and started off by mentioning Greek architecture. The Parthenon is the most important symbol of Greece’s cultural image. The temple was created to worship the Greek goddess Athena, which establishes their religious beliefs at the time. Pericles looked at Augustus Caesar and said ,“It’s stylistic conventions have become the standard of Classical architecture, and its style has influenced architecture for many centuries after it was built, including the Pantheon.” Numerous modern day buildings have adapted a Classical style. Even today, the Greeks look back at the building as a unique symbol of Greek cultural power. When Pericles got onto the topic of art from his culture, he mentioned that “most Roman art wouldn’t even exist for the simple fact that most were copies of sculptures from my period.” Romans commissioned versions of famous Greek works from earlier centuries. For example, the famous Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) is actually a Roman copy of a lost Greek bronze. Polykleitos, the artist who created Doryphoros, was in search for an ideal system of proportions rooted in a philosophical quest for illumination and believed that harmony in the universe could be expressed in mathematical terms. In general, Greek art like this tended to focus on near perfect proportions and balanced
Brief History Though the Persian wars were possibly over before the Parthenon was being considered, the wars played a vital role for Athens and her temples. During the wars, the armies of Persia attacked Athens and sacked the city leaving much of it in ruins, including the new temple in honour of Athene atop the Acropolis that was under construction. During the struggle, many of the states in Greece joined together to fight against the Persians and decided that they should not rebuild any of the temples that had been destroyed by the Persians to have an eternal memory of the devastation they caused and the lack of respect they have for religion. The once impressive city of Athens was reduced to dust, with small basic houses and nothing really imposing.
The Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the Parthenon were very similar in most cases but at the same time, there were also very different. In this essay, I will compare and contrast these two renowned temples. I am going to focus on the context, subject and style of each Temple. Firstly, let us examine Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. According to Hill (2010) the Temple of Hatshepsut is one of the most beautiful temples in ancient Egypt and it is located at Deir el-Bahri. It was built by an architect named Senemut. Moreover, this temple was very significant in Egypt because that is where the body of Queen Hatshepsut was buried, and she was said to be the first woman ruler in history. On the other hand, according to Beard
The Parthenon was built to honor the goddess of wisdom, Athena. When structures are built using straight lines they tend to look slightly distorted due to the science of optics. The architects Iktos and Kallikretes were skilled architects of their time and they used illusory tactics to create an ideal aesthetic for The Parthenon. The architects compensated for these visual illusions by counteracting them in their design. The end result is a structure that is not composed of straight lines, but when viewed by the human eye, looks perfectly straight. Plato would have mentioned one of his famous dictums, ?That which changes least is most real.? He would have viewed Iktos and Kallikretes designs as less real than other designs that do not u...
...ns greatest treasures.? These architectural areas have provided insight into the culture, religion, and government of ancient Athens.? The Agora has become a symbol of civic space, and has influenced how modern architects plan public areas.? It has also provided scholars with understanding of religious and cultural aspects of Greek life.? The Acropolis has served as symbol of the power of both Athens of religion in Greek life.? This structure has unlocked questions about art and architecture, and it continues to symbolize perfection.? Together, these ancient sites unlock the mysterious of ancient Athens.?
The Parthenon was built during the Golden age in Athens, Greece. The Parthenon is made of mainly columns; there is a 9:4 ratio. It was almost destroyed in war; the ruins that remained were dedicated to Athena. The purpose of the Parthenon was to house the statue of Athena, made of ivory and gold, and also Athena’s treasure. The ratios and the equations used to make the Parthenon were used as a sign of the harmony in the natural world around us. The mathematical harmony in the world shows how we can work with the world rather than destroy to make it what we want. The Parthenon also has no straight lines. The columns of the Parthenon are angled going up getting smaller the higher they get. This was done so that you could get the best lighting
The Greeks finished building an exquisite temple to their beloved goddess, Athena in the year 432 BCE. (Sayre 60). The name of this enriched, unique temple was the Parthenon. The Parthenon took the Greeks approximately fifteen years to complete and as Pericles stated, it was built to give gratitude to their goddess Athena for the salvation of their city, Athens and all of Greece in the Persian Wars (Sayre 60). It was also a symbol of their power and superiority among other cultures. It was something the Greeks took great pride in and recognized it to a great extent. The Parthenon was built on the highest point of the city of Athens to look over the precious Greek city. On the exterior walls of the Parthenon there was beautiful artwork that adorned the walls, also known as the Parthenon Frieze (“The Parthenon Frieze”, par 1). According to the National Geographic video, “Parthenon Marbles Battle”, two thousand years after the Parthenon was built, in the late 1600's the Parthenon was blown up during a war between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, which left the Parthenon almost in complete ruins. Then, in the early 1800's, there came Lord Elgin, who was a huge fanatic of Greek history. Because Greece was currently under conquest by the Ottoman Empire, Lord Elgin made the Ottoman Empire a deal and bought the remains of the Parthenon Frieze artwork along with other sculptures as well. Elgin sent these unique sculptures of art work back to his country, England. Since then these sculptures became known as the "Elgin Marbles", and currently sit in the British Museum at London (“What are the 'Elgin Marbles”, par 1). However, do these fine pieces of artwork truly belong to Elgin? There has been a lot of controversy throughout the years of whet...
...though, today a current restoration project has been continuing in order to reconstruct the Parthenon and is almost finished.
Building the Parthenon was a greater feat than they ever would have known. Work on the Parthenon began in 477 BC. A much smaller shrine already stood on this site, one to which we can attribute various pieces of surviving decorative material--lions and snakes, a cornice incised with flying birds, and a blue-bearded trinity that may conceivably represent Cecrops, Erechtheus, and Poseidon. If such an edifice in fact existed, it was torn down to make way for a huge limestone platform, roughly 252 by 103 feet in size, that was built as a base for the new temple. The slope of the Acropolis was such that while on the north side the foundations rested directly on bedrocks, the southeast corner needed to be built up with no less than twenty-two courses, in order to correct a vertical drop of thirty-five feet. This was only the beginning of the temple. The actual base of the new temple was smaller than the platform, as can be still be clearly seen. The temple itself was Doric, with a peristyle of six columns at each end and sixteen along the sides. Except for the lowest course of the base, the structure was to be built entirely of Pentelic marble.
Dedicated to Athena Parthenos (Athena the virgin) goddess of war and wisdom. Every god and goddess had worship temples to assure everything went well and nothing bad happened. Greeks gave sacrifices too, such as food, messages, and sacred tiles were all sacrifices they gave. The Parthenon was built in 480 BC but got destroyed while under construction in a battle between the Romans and Greeks. The Parthenon was rebuilt in 447 BC, with the original statue that first stood in 480 BC. ("The Parthenon Frieze." The Parthenon Frieze. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.)
...ory of the contest between Athena and Poseidon to claim Athens, in which Athena won and thus being worshipped by people (Hyginus, pp. 264). Therefore, the Parthenon was built to dedicate to Athena, their virgin patron.