Download The Parthenon is dedicated to Athena Parthenos and

The Parthenon is dedicated to Athena Parthenos and depicts the glory
and power of the Greeks and Athena over their rivals.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES [ edit ]
Describe the defining aspects of the metopes, processional friezes, pediments and sculptoral work
of the Greek Parthenon.
Identify the changing purposes of the Parthenon over time.
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
The Parthenon was designed by the architects Iktinus and Kallikrates, and incorporates both
Doric and Ionic elements. It also was built with a slight entasis to compensate for flaws in the
human eye so that the entire building would appear perfect.
Phidias, the master sculptor in charge of the Acropolis artistic scheme, sculpted a
massive chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos.
The metopes of the Parthenon depict battles between the Greeks and the others, barbarians
depicted as giants, Amazons, centaurs, and Trojans. The message promotes the power and glory
of the Greeks and the Athenians above all the Greeks.
The Parthenon's Ionic frieze depicts a processional scene, probably an image of the Panatheniac
procession, where energy builds to calm as the scene approaches the solemn ritual act of the
annual replacement of the old olive-wood Athena statue'speplos.
TERMS [ edit ]
peplos
An Ancient Greek garment, worn by women, made of a tubular piece of cloth, which is folded
back upon itself halfway down, until the top of the tube is worn around the waist, and the bottom
covers the legs down to the ankles; the open top is then worn over the shoulders, and draped, in
folds, down to the waist.
chryselephantine
Made of gold and ivory.
entasis
A slight convex curvature introduced into the shaft of a columnfor aesthetic reasons, or to
compensate for the illusion of concavity.
Give us feedback on this content: FULL TEXT [edit ]
Today the Parthenon is considered the
crowning element on the Acropolis . It was
built underPericlesduring the Golden Age
of Athens as a temple dedicated to Athena
Parthenos. It later was converted into a
Christian church and then a mosque, when
Greece was conquered by the Ottomans in
the fifteenth century. It later became an
arsenal, which unfortunately was ignited
and destroyed parts of the temple. In the
Register for FREE to stop seeing ads
early 1800's Lord Elgin persuaded the Ottoman Turks to part with the
remaining pediment sculptures, which he removed and took to London and the sculptures
now reside in at the British Museum. The Greeks have requested the return of sculptures, but
with no success.
Parthenon
The Parthenon as it stands today. Acropolis, Athens, Greece. ca. 447­438 BCE.
Architecture
The Parthenon replaced the original temple, the Hekatompedon that was first erected for
Athena. In building the new temple, the Greeks moved the temple's footprint to south of the
Hekatompedon. This not only allowed access to the original site but it also placed the
Parthenon in a much more prominent position overlooking Athens.
While the artist Phidias was in charge of the overall plan of the Acropolis, the architects
Iktinos and Kallikrates designed and oversaw the construction of the Parthenon. The
Parthenon is built completely from Pentalic marble, although parts of its foundations
are limestone from a pre-480 BCE temple that was never completed. The design of the
Parthenon varies slightly from the basic temple ground plan . The temple is peripteral, and so
is surrounded by a row of columns. In front of both the pronaos and opisthodomos is a single
row of prostyle columns. The opisthodomos is large, accounting for the size of thetreasury of
the Delian League, which Pericles moved from Delos to the Parthenon. The pronaos or porch
is so small it is almost non-existent. Inside the naos is a two-story row of columns around the
interior and set in front of the columns is the cult statue of Athena.
0
5
10
15
20 m
Parthenon
Plan of the Parthenon.
The Parthenon's elevation has been streamlined and shows a mix of Doric and Ionic
elements. The exterior Doric columns are more slender and their capitals have become rigid
and cone like. The entablature has also shrunk and appears less weighty then earlier Doric
temples. The exterior of the temple has a Doric frieze consisting of metopes and triglyphs.
Inside the temple are Ionic columns and an Ionic frieze wraps around the exterior of the
interior building. Finally, instead of the columns the whole building an entasis, a slight curve
to compensate for the human eye. If the building was built perfectly at right angles and with
straight eyes, the human eye would see the lines as curved. In order for the Parthenon to
appear straight to the eye, Iktinos and Kallikrates added curvature to the building that the
eye would interpret as straight.
Cult Statue of Athena Parthenos
The cult statue of the Parthenon was a huge chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos
sculpted by Phidias . It was considered the greatest achievement of Phidias, who himself was
already considered the greatest sculptor in Greece. While the statue does not survive, written
accounts and reproductions (miniatures and representations on coins and gems) provide us
with an idea of what the sculpture looked like. The statue was made out of ivory, silver, and
gold and had a wooden core support. Athena stood crowned, wearing her helmet and aegis.
Her shield stood upright at her left side and her left hand rested on it while in her right hand
she held a statue of Nike.
Reconstruction of Athena Parthenos by Phidias
A reconstruction of Athena Parthenos by Phidias, from the replica of the Parthenon in Nashville,
Tennessee, USA.
Metopes
The sculpted reliefs on the Parthenon's metopes are both decorative and symbolic and relate
stories of the Greeks against the others. Each side depicts a different set of battles. Over the
entrance on the east side is a Gigantomachy, depicting the battle between the giants and the
Olympian gods. The west side depicts an Amazonomachy, showing a battle between the
Athenians and the Amazons. The north side depicts scenes of the Greek sack of Troy at the
end of the Trojan War and the south side depicts a centauromachy, or a battle with centaurs.
The centauromachy depicts the mythical battle between the Greek Lapiths and the Centaurs
which occurred during a Lapith wedding . These scenes are the most preserved of the
metopes and demonstrate how Phidias mastered fitting episodic narrative into square spaces.
Centauromachy Metope
Metope from the south side of the Parthenon, of a Lapis and a Centuar. Acropolis, Athens, Greece. ca.
447­438 BCE.
Processional Frieze
The interior Ionic processional frieze wraps around the exterior walls of the naos. While the
frieze may depict a mythical or historical procession, many scholars believe that it depicts a
Panatheniac procession. The Panathenaic procession occurred yearly through the city,
leading from the Dipylon Gate to the Acropolis and culminated in a ritual changing of the
peplos worn by the ancient olive-wood statue of Athena. The processional scene begins in the
southwest corner and wraps around the building in both directions before culminating in the
middle of the of the west wall. It begins with images of horsemen preparing their mounts,
followed by riders and chariots , Athenian youth with sacrificial animals, elders and maidens,
then the gods before culminating at the central event. The central image depicts Athenian
maidens with textiles, replacing the old peplos with a new one.
Horsemen in the processional scene
Horsemen in the processional scene on the Ionic frieze of the Parthenon. Acropolis, Athens, Greece. ca.
447­438 BCE.
Pediment
The east and west pediment were both described by ancient writers depict scenes from the
life of Athena and the east pediment is in better preserved than the west. The west pediment
depicted the contest between Athena and Poseidon for the patronage of Athens. At the center
of the pediment stood Athena and Poseidon, pulling away from each creating chiastic and
strongly charged, dynamic composition. The east pediment depicted the birth of Athena.
While the central image of Zeus, Athena, and Haphaestus has been lost, the surrounding
gods, in various states of reaction, have survived.