Representations of Classical Greek Monuments : An Exploration of the Visual Culture

Parthenon

The crowning glory of the Acropolis is without a doubt, the Parthenon. Dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the Parthenon was built between 447 and 432 BC under Pericles to house a new cult statue and to showcase Athens’ leadership in defeating the Persian armies. After the Persian attack in 480 BC, restoration of the damaged buildings didn’t start again till 490 BC. The Acropolis itself is about 300 meters by 150 meters with a hight of 70 meters, and on the highest point sits the Parthenon. Fashioned from about 22,000 tons of Pentelic marble, the Parthenon weaves together both Doric and Ionic orders. The temple was 30.88 meters by 69.5 meters, with a common 4:9 ratio used in the diameter of the column to the space between the columns, and the height of the building to the width. Moreover, to make it seem like the columns were truly straight, architects would lean the columns slightly inwards and taper the column as it rises, a feature called entasis. The eight outer columns on the front and back and the 17 columns on each side are all of Doric order, although deviated from the normal 6 by 13 ratio and featured slimmer and closer than usual columns. The inner chamber had another six columns at the front and back, and led to two separate rooms. The smaller room was the city’s treasury and only comprised of four Ionic columns. The larger housed the statue and was surrounded by rows of Doric order columns on three sides decorated with palms and figures. 


Rich decorations adorned the whole temple, from its 92 metopes about 1.2 by 1.25 squared meters, monumental sculptures along the front, triangular portion of the roof, and an Ionic frieze surrounding the whole building. Featuring Greek superiority over barbarian forces, most of the sculptures depicted chaotic times. The eastern side metopes showed fights between the Olympian gods, the western depicted the Greeks against the Amazons, the north highlighted the fall of Troy, and the south portrayed the Greeks fighting the centaurs. The surrounding frieze totaled to about 160 meters of sculptures with depictions of about 380 figures and 220 animals, but all sides emphasized the Panathenaic procession every four years that dedicated a new woven robe to the cult statue in the Erectheion. Although the colors have faded, all of the sculptures used to be vibrantly painted and detailed with bronze and colored glass for ease of viewing the reliefs. Each pediment of the temple measured a maximum height of 3.45 meters and a length of 28.55 meters, filled with about 50 sculptures each. Even though only 11 extremely faded figures remain, the east pediment undoubtedly depicts the birth of Athena, while the west portrays the competition between Athena and Poseidon. The highlight of the temple however lied in the chryselephantine statue of Athena measured to be over 12 meters high. Although lost, Roman copies suggest the statue displayed Athena fully armed with Nike in her right hand and a shield in her left. 


Nevertheless, when the temple was converted into a church by the Christians in the 5th century CE, many religious and historic relics were damaged or removed. Then in 1458, the Turks reestablished the Parthenon as a mosque and added a minaret in the southwest corner of the building. In 1687, the Venetian army attacked and on the 26th of September, the powder magazine in the Parthenon exploded and destroyed a significant chunk of the temple. The temple was left in shambles and it was at that time that a large collection of architectural pieces were taken to London by Elgin. The British Museum of London features fourteen metopes, some of the best preserved pieces of the frieze, and figures from the pediment such as the torsos of Athena and Poseidon and Hermes. The fallen ruins on the Acropolis were left and exposed to extreme weather and air pollution up to 1896 when restoration and conservation efforts took place and the remaining frieze portions were finally taken for safe keeping and showcases at the Acropolis museum a few meters away. 

Photo Credits to Google Images and Original Photographs 

Sources:
http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=912
https://www.ancient.eu/parthenon/

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