THE PARTHENON

A COLORFUL TEMPLE: THE PARTHENON IS THE MOST FAMOUS

TEMPLE OF GREEK ANTIQUITY

THE PARTHENON IS A FORMER TEMPLE ON THE ATHENIAN ACROPOLIS, GREECE, DEDICATED TO THE GODDESS ATHENA, WHOM THE PEOPLE OF ATHENS CONSIDERED THEIR

PATRON. CONSTRUCTION BEGAN IN 447 BC WHEN THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE WAS AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWER. IT WAS

COMPLETED IN 438 BC ALTHOUGH DECORATION OF THE BUILDING CONTINUED UNTIL 432 BC. IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SURVIVING

BUILDING OF CLASSICAL GREECE, GENERALLY CONSIDERED THE ZENITH OF THE DORIC ORDER. ITS DECORATIVE SCULPTURES ARE

CONSIDERED SOME OF THE HIGH POINTS OF GREEK ART. THE PARTHENON IS REGARDED AS AN ENDURING SYMBOL OF

ANCIENT GREECE, ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY AND WESTERN CIVILIZATION,[3] AND ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST CULTURAL MONUMENTS. THE GREEK MINISTRY OF CULTURE IS

CURRENTLY CARRYING OUT A PROGRAM OF SELECTIVE RESTORATION AND RECONSTRUCTION TO ENSURE THE STABILITY OF THE PARTIALLY

RUINED STRUCTURE.

SCULPTURES FROM THE PARTHENON

FRIEZE

PARTHENON FRIEZE

The Parthenon frieze is the low-relief pentelic marble sculpture created to adorn the upper part of the Parthenon’s naos. It was

sculpted between c. 443 and 438 BC, most likely under the direction of Pheidias. Of the 524 feet (160 m) of the original

frieze, 420 feet (130 m) survives—some 80 percent. The rest is known only from the drawings attributed to French artist

Jacques Carrey in 1674, thirteen years before the Venetian bombardment that ruined the temple.

At present, the majority of the frieze is at the British Museum in London (forming the major part of the Elgin Marbles); the largest

proportion of the rest is in Athens, and the remainder of fragments shared between six other institutions.[3] Casts of the frieze may be found in the Beazley archive at the Ashmolean

Museum at Oxford, at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana, in the Skulpturhalle at Basel and elsewhere.

1868 Lawrence Alma-Tadema - Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to his Friends

THREE TYPES OF COLUMNS

Doric Ionic Corinthian

The Greeks invented three types of columns; the Doric, the Ionic and the Corinthian, but the most common used one was the Doric.

Doric columns do not have a base. The top end, called the capital, is very plain.

The capital of an ionic column is in the shape of two thick scrolls.

Corinthian columns, on the other hand, are decorated with leaves.

Quiz

Examine the columns of the Parthenon; are the columns Doric, Ionic or Corinthian?