The Parthenon
Greek culture blossomed after the Persian Wars. General Pericles around the 450's BC led the reconstruction of Athens; which became the most beautiful city in all of Greece. Pericle's greatest structure built under his command was the Parthenon.The Parthenon was a temple built for the patron goddess Athena (goddess of wisdom and art). Construction started 447 BC and continued until 432 BC. The structure is located in Athens Greece, on the acropolis. The architects Ictinus and Callicrates designed the building. The Athenians wanted to achieve the appearance of perfection on the Parthenon. They did this by widening the columns at the center, making them appear strait when viewed from a distance; the steps leading to the Parthenon were lowered in the center giving the impression that they were strait from either side(Farah,116). Phidias was the artist that sculpted the art for the Parthenon. He himself did
The Turks stored the gunpowder there, and in 1687 a Venetian cannon shattered the building. Most of the remaining art was removed and placed in the Acropolis Museum in Athens and the British Museum in London(Web). The metopes of the Parthenon all represent the struggle between order and chaos. The flesh was ivory and the drapery gold (the drapery was made removable incase of emergencies). In addition there was a decorated band called a frieze that went all the way around the cella (central enclosed space). It included two rooms, the "naos" the larger of the two is where a 42 foot tall sculpture of Athenia was located. In 1687 the pediment sculptures were smashed. Now, what is left of the Parthenon sits in ruins for the tourist and citizens to be admired; the great accomplishments and sorrows of man's past. This gave it a luminescent look when viewed on sunny a day. The pentelic marble had shots of iron. The temple was 102 by 226 feet, rising 60 feet of the ground. The battered structure and columns of the Parthenon are from the explosion of gunpowder. Sculptures once decorated the pediments of the building. The west metope reveals the mystical battle against the Amazons(Web).
Common topics in this essay:
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Ictinus Callicrates,
Mount Pentelicus,
Turkish Muslim,
Parthenon Parthenon,
Parthenon Doric,
Museum LondonWeb,
Wars Pericles,
Greece Pericle's,
Parthenon Greek,
pentelic marble,
floor plan,
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