The Parthenon Is The Image Of Greek Culture
The Parthenon temple was built between 447 and 438 B. C. on the Acropolis of Athens. It was part of a huge construction scheme conducted by Perikles of Athenia. In the mighty Greek City State, head of the Delian League Athens, the Parthenon was the centre of religious life. It was an emblem of Athens' influence, richness, and high culture. It was one of Grecia's biggest and most sumptuous temples. He is now one of the world's most famous buildings and a lasting emblem of Ancient Greece.
Pericles began to build the Parthenon to replace the old temple in 477 B.C. some 33 years after the conquest of the Persia. The building lasted for nearly four decades, until 438 B.C. The huge construction was devoted. Sitting in front of an ensemble of temples known as the Acropolis of Athens, the Parthenon is devoted to the Greek Athena.
In the early 5th century, Athens, Sparta and other Greek city states united in a war that became the core of the political power of the Greek Confederation, to fight strong Persian invaders. Athens became wealthier in the intervening years and reaffirmed its control over its former allies. The 5th century BCE was a period of political supremacy in Athens, economic prosperity and cultural development, also called the Golden Age of Athens.
The people of Athens worshiped an earlier building called the Older Parthenon before the Parthenon was built. The Older Parthenon was another explanation why the Athenians built the Parthenon during the conquest of the Persian territories in Athens. The Parthenon was used by the Athenian Empire as a treasure aside from acting as a place of worship. Since the decline of Greek civilization, the Parthenon also was used as a place of adoration for other civilizations when the Ottomans made the Parthenon into a temple, while it became a church for the Christians and was consecrated for Mary.
It was designed by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates to house the statue of Athena made by the sculptor Phidias, The mathematical deciphering of the Parthenon shows that Ictinus and Callicrates were both philosophers. The region itself was named after the goddess Athena due to the legend of her gifting the city the olive tree that symbolized peace and prosperity to the region. The sacred tree is located near the Parthenon, by the temple of Ponderosas
the Parthenon was built as a temple and had religious purposes however as it was meant to honor the goddess Athena, people were not allowed inside but only to look at it from the outside. The public were allowed to visit and look at the temple from the outside as they were thought of as those who would help the aim of emphasizing the importance of Athens within and outside of the empire. With this in mind, the temple was decorated both inside and outside. The great sculpture of Athens and other precious sculptures were protected from harm inside of the temple.
Ancient Greece's religion was known as polytheistic, meaning they believed in several gods, Greeks worshiped the nature spirits of rivers, springs, trees and games. Most important, they worshiped Twelve Olympian Goddesses including the goddess Athena (Goddess of wisdom); Athena is the daughter of Zeus born without a mother, she is a deity with many significant things. She is the goddess of intelligence, bravery, motivation, philosophy, law and justice, military warfare, math, skill, tactics, arts, craft and skills.
Pericles is an Athens political leader who was mostly responsible, in the later 5th century BCE, for the establishment of both the democracy in Athens and the empire in Athens. The foundation of the Acropolis and the Parthenon begun in 447 contained his accomplishments.
The temple measured from the top is estimated to be 101.34 feet (30.89 metres) wide and 228.14 feet (69.54 metres) long. It has a rectangular floor plan on a 23,000 square foot base and estimated to have used 13,400 stones.
The structure is surrounded from every side with low steps and Doric columns that were on a platform to create a border to the temple. The Doric order is characterized with plain, unadorned column capital and a column that rests directly on the stylobate. There are 46 outer columns and 19 inner columns. The corner columns were larger in diameter than the other and had no straight angles or lines but gave the impression of the illusion of perfection while also supporting the structure. The structure has 92 carved Metopes (squared blocks between three channeled triglyph blocks) that decorated the exterior of the Parthenon.
On the other hand, the Ionic characteristics of the structure that show graceful slender proportions like the interior frieze which is the broad sculptural horizontal band that covers the walls on the inner chamber of the Parthenon.
On the inside of the temple resides the statue of Athena, sculpted by Phidias. The statue is estimated to be 39 feet (12 meters) high. It was carved of wood and covered with ivory and gold. It depicted the image of a fully-armed woman.
The main goal of the Parthenon was to be a temple to the goddess Athena. The Parthenon remained a temple until the Byzantines turned the temple into a church, the famous statue of Athena was removed, the Christians erected a pulpit and a marble throne, and the temple of Athena Parthenon became the church. Then the Turkish Ottoman Empire captured Athens, and the new Muslim rulers turned the Parthenon into a mosque.
In 1687, the Ottomans converted the Parthenon into an ammunition shop as well as a refuge for women and children when the Venetian forces attacked Athens. In the 1820s, the Acropolis once again became a battleground, and the Greek struggle for freedom from the Ottuman Empire took place during war of independence. In order to provide interim cover, archeologists removed 520 blocks of marble. Greek autonomy eventually arrived in 1829.
In the strong Greek city state of Athens the Parthenon was the center of religious life. It symbolized Athens' strength, richness and cultural history. It is now one of the world's most renowned buildings. The Parthenon used to be a treasury early on. Then it became a Byzantine church and a mosque afterwards. The temple was used to store munitions of the Ottomans after a battle.
The Parthenon invites its customers to cooperate with the laws of the museum. Food, alcohol, gum, animals, bags and oversize bags are not allowed in the house. A few lockers are free of charge open. Welcome scooters since we're totally wheel accessible. The Acropolis isn't run by people. You can walk around the Parthenon, but you cannot touch it. The building is surrounded by a cord that prevents pedestrians from coming too near.
Other historians ’interpretation of this source fits with our analysis. We are all talking about one source. In my opinion, this source supports the argument.
The Parthenon was built dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena. However, people are still admired by the beauty of the Parthenon; some of the architectural works are influenced by the Parthenon design. For instance, in Germany Leo von Klenze’s Walhalla is inspired by the Parthenon. It was completed in 1842, near the Danube River in Regensburg; it was built as a German hall of fame. Klenze believed that both Germans and Greeks shared the same ancestors.
In conclusion, the Parthenon stays as the image of Greek culture to this day. With its magnificent architecture, sculptures and historian sites.
The Parthenon was built for the people of Athens who worshiped the goddess Athena, they also believed that it was the source of power, wealth and raised culture of Athens, as it was the first and the largest luxurious temple in Greece.
The Parthenon contains no straight lines or right angles, a real feature of Greek architecture. Which made so many architects to get inspirations from it; it had impact on other regions such as Walhalla, the hall of fame in Germany.
Today, the Parthenon is one of the most famous and recognizable structure in antiquity, that utterly represents the Ancient Greece’s architectural masterpiece. It is also the most visited archaeological site in Greece. With the funding for the Olympic Games in 2004 and from UNESCO, the Greek ministry of culture has started off so many restoration projects, which are still in progress.
Sources:
- Jennifer Neils ed., Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens, Princeton, 1992.
- Jeffrey M. Hurwit, The Art and Culture of Early Greece, 1100-480 B.C., pp. 234-253.
- Simon Hornblower,
