HOUSES OF PRAYER:

GREEK AESTHETICS AND THE ACROPOLIS

by Dr. Deborah Vess

The Parthenon

The Parthenon has a long and troubled history. Its origins date back to the sixth century B.C.E, when a second temple was built on the Acropolis next to the Erechtheon. This was the first Parthenon, dedicated to Pallas Athena. Pallas Athena was the more militant persona of Athena; she was dressed in full armor and reflected the expansionist politics of the era. After the battle of Marathon, the Athenians built a second temple dedicated to Athena next to the Erechtheon, which is where the Parthenon which stands today. The Persians captured Athens in 480 B.C.E. and razed the Acropolis. The sacred nature of the site is indicated from the fact that they did not throw out the debris, but buried it as holy.

Under the leadership of Pericles, the Acropolis was rebuilt. The present Parthenon was begun in 447 B.C.E., and finished in 438 B.C.E.. It was a monumental building achievement. It does not contain a single straight line and makes graceful use of Doric columns. You can explore an interactive diagram of the facade of a Greek temple to learn the various architectural terms and parts of a Greek temple.

The Parthenon is an open air temple, whose only light source comes from the side, as can be seen in this view of the temple.

The temple originally contained a 40 foot tall statue of Athena sculpted by Phidias. Although we no longer have the original statue, its appearance can be reconstructed from ancient texts and also from a much smaller statue of Athena in the museum in Athens. The Parthenon was once again damaged when the Roman dictator Sulla invaded in 86 B.C.E.. During the Christian era, in the sixth century C.E. the Byzantine transformed the Parthenon into the Church of the Holy Wisdom. As a result of the Crusades, the Parthenon was later incorporated in 1204 into the Roman Catholic Church. The statues of Athena were taken to Constantinople, where one was destroyed by fire during the Crusader siege. In 1456 Athens was besieged by the Turks, and the Parthenon became a mosque. The Parthenon continued to suffer as a result of conflicts. In 1686, Athens was besieged by Venetians under Admiral Morosini; the Turks weree using the temple as a starage place for powder and, when a bomb exploded inside the temple, it caused tremendous damage. In 1801 Lord Elgin of Britain asked the Turkish rulers for permission to take the sculptures from the Parthenon which had inscriptions in order to save them from destruction. Lord Elgin took many more sculptures than the Greeks anticipated, and today the majority of the sculptures from the Parthenon are housed in the British museum. The frieze, in fact, was virtually stripped of all its sculptures.

One can see from this group of three gods that the scuptures were designed to fit into the space on the frieze. The frieze is divided into triglyphs and metopes. To explore an interactive diagram of a Greek temple facade to learn the architectural terms and parts of the frieze, click here. This exercise requires Authorware Web Player; if you are usinng the college lab in A&S 2-71, the Webplayer is already installed. Simpliy click on the link above to start the module and wait for it to load. Clicking will bring up the file and automatically minimize your browser, showing only the Authorware module which will run automatically. When you are finished, you should click in the "file" option on the top left of your screen, and then on "quit." This will take you back to the browseer, from which you can click on the back button to return to the discussion of the Parthenon. Alternatively, close the Authorware screen and reenter this discussion of the Parthenon.

If you are using your own computer, you you can download the Authorware Webplayer free from Macromedia by clicking on the button below:

The metopes depict centaurs, other mythological creatures, and scenes from the Trojan War. The frieze depicts the Procession of the Panathenaea. Click here to see one of the sculptures from the frieze. The east pediment above the main entrance depicts the birth of Athena, while the west pediment illustrates the struggle between Athena and Poseidon.

Athens was eventually liberated from the Turks, and workers began to restore the Acropolis in 1897. a committee for the restoration of monuments set up in 1977; restoration continues today, as the Acropolis has suffered greatly from the pollution.

copyright © Dr. Deborah Vess 1998-2001, Georgia College & State University and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. All rights reserved. Rights to chapters authored by contributing faculty members reserved to Georgia College & State University, to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at GC&SU, and to the individual faculty authors.