The Parthenon - General Information

Introduction
The Parthenon is a temple-like building on the Acropolis at Athens and dedicated to the virgin goddess Athena (Roman Minerva). It was built from 449 to 432 B.C. at the instigation of the chief military officer (polemarch), Pericles, to replace the building the Persians had burned in 480 B.C.; that building, the pre- Persian Parthenon, had not yet been finished, but it too had replaced an earlier, 100 foot long building on the site, the Hekatompedon. The Parthenon, built entirely of local Pentelic marble, is Doric in style, and was the largest building in mainland Greece (larger, Ionic, temples were dedicated in the Greek east). The Parthenon has 8 columns across the façade and 17 down the flank. Inside the colonnade is a large building (cella or naos) with 2 rooms, each fronted by a 6-column porch. The larger front room, with a colossal statue of Athena, was entered from the east and the back room (the Parthenos) was entered from the west.

The Purpose of the Building

The Parthenon and its predecessors were not sacred temples to Athena on the Acropolis. The holy area is north of the Parthenon, where, in the Bronze Age, the Mycenaean palace was, and in the 6th century B.C. the "Old Temple of Athena" (O.T.) which the Persians also ravaged. The Old Temple was replaced in the 420s by the Erechtheion. The Erechtheion and its predecessor held the small olivewood cult statue of Athena that had fallen from the sky, sent by the gods. This statue was the one the Athenians revered. The back room of the Parthenon held the Athenian treasury, 1/60th of the tribute that Athens' "allies" paid to the city annually. In that room and also in the east room were stored the many items that the Athenians dedicated to Athena of the Erechtheion.

The Sculpture of the Parthenon

The Parthenon was the most decorated building in Greece. Pheidias designed the sculpture. Above the columns were 92 sculpted metopes (square panels); above the east and west entrances, the pediments (or gables) held three-dimensional sculptures larger than life-size; within the colonnade at the top of the exterior wall of the cella ran a continuous sculpted frieze. The west metopes depicted Greeks fighting Amazons (Amazonomachy); the north had Greeks fighting Trojans (Ilioupersis); the south had Greeks fighting centaurs (Centauromachy); and the east had gods fighting giants (Gigantomachy). The pedimental sculptures illustrated critical events in the life of Athena: the west pediment celebrated the contest between Athena and Poseidon for control of Athens; the east pediment showed the birth of Athena.

Inside the temple's cella stood a colossal gold and ivory (chryselephantine) statue of Athena, over 35 feet tall, made by Pheidias. The statue stood until the 5th c. AD when it was carried off as plunder to decorate Constantinople where it probably eventually perished by fire. Today a replica of temple and statue stand in Nashville, Tennessee.

Later History of the Parthenon

The Parthenon was dedicated in 438, but the pedimental sculptures were installed in 432. The Roman emperor Nero rededicated the Parthenon to himself. In 429 A.D. Theodosius ordered all pagan temples be converted to churches or be destroyed: the Parthenon became the Christian Church of Holy Wisdom (Haghia Sophia). In 1204 the Franks captured Athens and the Parthenon was rededicated to the Virgin Mary. When the Turks captured Athens in 1456, they installed a mosque in the Parthenon; it also held gun powder and blew up during the Venetian assault on the city in 1687. In 1801 Lord Elgin received permission from the Turks to remove sculpture from the Parthenon; this is now in the British Museum. Recently, the Greek government finished a complete cleaning and study of the building.

Parthenon's Sculpture in the Wilcox

On display are 2 metopes from the south side of the Parthenon (nos. 12 and 14), over 25 slabs from the east and north sections of the frieze; and from the East pediment, a young male reclining on an animal skin, either the god Dionysus or the hero Herakles.