Precursors of the Parthenon

Main articles: Hekatompedon (temple), Opisthodom (temple)

The interior (59 m long and 21.7 m wide) has two more steps (total height 0.7 m) and is an amphiprostyle. The façades have porticos with columns that are just below the columns of the peristyle. The eastern portico was the pronaos, the western portico the posticum.

Plan of the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon (north right). period of antiquity.

Material and technology

The temple was built entirely of Pentelian marble, quarried nearby. During mining, he has White color, but under the influence of the rays of the sun turns yellow. The northern side of the building is exposed to less radiation - and therefore there the stone received a grayish-ashy tint, while the southern blocks give off a golden yellowish color. Tiles and stylobate are also made of this marble. The columns are made up of drums fastened together with wooden plugs and pivots.

Metopes

Main article: Doric frieze of the Parthenon

The metopes were part of the triglyph-metopic frieze, traditional for the Doric order, which encircled the outer colonnade of the temple. In total, there were 92 metopes on the Parthenon containing various high reliefs. They were connected thematically along the sides of the building. In the east, a battle of centaurs with lapiths was depicted, in the south - amazonomachy, in the west - probably scenes from the Trojan War, in the north - gigantomachy.

64 metopes survive: 42 in Athens and 15 in the British Museum. Most of them are on the east side.

Bas-relief frieze

East side. Plates 36-37. Seated gods.

Main article: Ionic frieze of the Parthenon

The outer side of the cella and the opisthodom was girdled on top (at a height of 11 m from the floor) by another frieze, Ionic. It was 160 m long and 1 m high and contained about 350 foot and 150 equestrian figures. On the bas-relief, which is one of the most famous works of this genre in ancient art that has come down to us, a procession on the last day of Panathenay is depicted. On the north and south sides, horsemen and chariots are depicted, just citizens. On the south side there are also musicians, people with various gifts and sacrificial animals. The western part of the frieze contains many young men with horses, who are mounted or have already mounted them. In the east (above the entrance to the temple) the end of the procession is presented: the priest, surrounded by the gods, accepts the peplos woven for the goddess by the Athenians. Nearby are the most important people of the city.

96 plates of the frieze have been preserved. 56 of them are in the British Museum, 40 (mainly the western part of the frieze) - in Athens.

Gables

Main article: The pediments of the Parthenon

Fragment of the pediment.

Giant sculptural groups were placed in the tympanums of the pediments (0.9 m deep) above the western and eastern entrances. To this day, they have survived very poorly. The central figures almost did not reach. In the center of the eastern pediment in the Middle Ages, a window was barbarously cut through, which completely destroyed the composition that was there. Ancient authors, however, usually bypass this part of the temple. Pausanias - the main source in such matters - mentions them only in passing, paying much more attention to the statue of Athena. Sketches by J. Kerry dating back to 1674 have been preserved, which give a lot of information about the western pediment. The eastern one was already in a deplorable state at that time. Therefore, the reconstruction of the gables is for the most part only guesswork.

The eastern group depicted the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus. Only the side parts of the composition have been preserved. A chariot drives in from the south, presumably driven by Helios. Before him sits Dionysus, then Demeter and Kore. Behind them is another goddess, possibly Artemis. Three seated female figures have come down to us from the north—the so-called "three veils"—who are sometimes regarded as Hestia, Dione, and Aphrodite. In the very corner there is another figure, apparently driving a chariot, since in front of it is the head of a horse. This is probably Nux or Selena. Regarding the center of the pediment (or rather, most of it), one can only say that there, definitely - due to the theme of the composition, were the figures of Zeus, Hephaestus and Athena. Most likely, there were the rest of the Olympians and, perhaps, some other gods. A torso survives, attributed in most cases to Poseidon.

On the western pediment is the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica. They stood in the center and were located diagonally to each other. On both sides of them were chariots, probably in the north - Nika with Hermes, in the south - Irida with Amphitrion. Around were the figures of the legendary characters of Athenian history, but their exact attribution is almost impossible.

28 statues have come down to us: 19 in the British Museum and 11 in Athens.

Statue of Athena Parthenos

The statue of Athena Parthenos, which stood in the center of the temple and was its sacred center, was made by Phidias himself. It was upright and about 11 m high, made in chrysoelephantine technique (that is, from gold and ivory on a wooden base). The sculpture has not survived and is known from various copies and numerous images on coins. In one hand the goddess holds Nike, and the other leans on a shield. The shield depicts Amazonomachy. There is a legend that Phidias depicted himself (in the form of Daedalus) and Pericles (in the form of Theseus) on it, for which (as well as on charges of stealing gold for the statue) he went to prison. The peculiarity of the relief on the shield is that the second and third plans are shown not from behind, but one above the other. In addition, its theme allows us to say that this is already a historical relief. Another relief was on Athena's sandals. It depicted a centauromachy.

The birth of Pandora, the first woman, was carved on the pedestal of the statue.

Other trim details

None of the ancient sources mentions the fire in the Parthenon, however, archaeological excavations have proven that it occurred in the middle of the 3rd century BC. BC e., most likely during the invasion of the barbarian tribe of the Heruli, who sacked Athens in 267 BC. e. As a result of the fire, the roof of the Parthenon was destroyed, as well as almost all the internal fittings and ceilings. The marble is cracked. In the eastern extension, the colonnade collapsed, both main doors of the temple and the second frieze. If dedicatory inscriptions were kept in the temple, they are irretrievably lost. Reconstruction after the fire did not aim to completely restore the appearance of the temple. The terracotta roof was carried out only over the interior, and the outer colonnade was unprotected. Two rows of columns in the eastern hall were replaced with similar ones. Based on the architectural style of the restored elements, it was possible to establish that the blocks in an earlier period belonged to various buildings of the Athenian Acropolis. In particular, 6 blocks of the western doors formed the basis of a massive sculptural group depicting a chariot drawn by horses (scratches are still visible on these blocks where the horses' hooves and wheels of the chariot were attached), as well as a group of bronze statues of warriors described by Pausanias. Three other blocks of western doors are marble tablets with financial records, which set the main stages of the construction of the Parthenon.

christian temple

History

The Parthenon remained the temple of the goddess Athena for a thousand years. It is not known exactly when he became christian church. In the 4th century, Athens fell into disrepair and became country town Roman Empire. In the 5th century, the temple was robbed by one of the emperors, and all its treasures were transported to Constantinople. There is evidence that under Patriarch Paul III of Constantinople, the Parthenon was rebuilt into the church of St. Sophia.

In the early 13th century, the statue of Athena Promachos was damaged and destroyed during the period of the Fourth Crusade. The statue of Athena Parthenos probably disappeared as early as the 3rd century BC. e. during a fire or earlier. Roman and Byzantine emperors repeatedly issued decrees banning the pagan cult, but the pagan tradition in Hellas was too strong. On present stage it is generally accepted that the Parthenon became a Christian temple around the 6th century AD.

Probably, under the predecessor of Choniates, the building of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Athens suffered more significant changes. The apse in the eastern part was destroyed and rebuilt. The new apse closely adjoined the ancient columns, so the central slab of the frieze was dismantled. This "peplos scene" slab, later used to build fortifications on the Acropolis, was found by Lord Elgin's agents and is now on display at the British Museum. Under Michael Choniates himself, the interior of the temple was restored, including the painting Judgment Day on the wall of the portico, where the entrance was located, murals depicting the Passion of Christ in the narthex, a number of murals that depicted saints and previous Athenian metropolitans. All the murals of the Parthenon of the Christian era were covered with a thick layer of whitewash in the 1880s, but in the early 19th century, the Marquis of Bute ordered watercolors from them. It is from these watercolors that the researchers established the plot motifs of the paintings and the approximate time of creation - the end of the 12th century. At about the same time, the ceiling of the apse was decorated with mosaics, which collapsed over several decades. Glass fragments of it are also exhibited in the British Museum.

On February 24 and 25, 1395, the Italian traveler Nicolo de Martoni visited Athens, who left in his Book of the Pilgrim (now in the National Library of France, Paris) the first systematic description of the Parthenon after Pausanias. Martoni presents the Parthenon as a landmark of exclusively Christian history, but considers the main wealth not the numerous relics and the revered icon of the Virgin, written by the Evangelist Luke and decorated with pearls and precious stones, but a copy of the Gospel written on Greek on thin gilded parchment, St. Helena Equal to the Apostles, mother of Constantine the Great, the first Byzantine emperor to officially accept Christianity. Martoni also tells of a cross carved on one of the columns of the Parthenon by Saint Dionysius the Areopagite.

Martoni's journey coincided with the beginning of the reign of the Acciaioli family, whose representatives proved to be generous benefactors. Nerio I Acciaioli ordered the doors of the cathedral to be inlaid with silver; in addition, he bequeathed the entire city to the cathedral, giving Athens into the possession of the Parthenon. The most significant addition to the cathedral of the Latinocracy period is the tower near the right side of the portico, built after the capture of the city by the crusaders. For its construction, blocks were used taken from the back of the tomb of a Roman nobleman on the hill of Philopappou. The tower was supposed to serve as the bell tower of the cathedral, in addition, it was equipped with spiral staircases that climbed to the very roof. Since the tower blocked the small doors to the vestibule, the central western entrance of the Parthenon of the ancient era began to be used again.

During the reign of Aksiaioli in Athens, the first drawing of the Parthenon was created, the earliest of those that have survived to this day. It was performed by Chiriaco di Pizzicoli, an Italian merchant, papal legate, traveler and lover of the classics, better known as Cyriacos of Ancona. He visited Athens in 1444 and stayed in the splendid palace that the Propylaea had been turned into to pay his respects to Acciaioli. Cyriacus left detailed notes and a number of drawings, but they were destroyed by fire in 1514 in the library of the city of Pesaro. One of the images of the Parthenon survived. It depicts a temple with 8 Doric columns, the location of the metope - epistilia is accurately indicated, the frieze with the missing central metope - listae parietum is correctly depicted. The building is very elongated, and the sculptures on the pediment depict a scene that does not look like a dispute between Athena and Poseidon. This is a lady of the 15th century with a pair of rearing horses, surrounded by Renaissance angels. The description of the Parthenon itself is quite accurate: the number of columns is 58, and on the metopes that are better preserved, as Kyriak correctly suggests, a scene of a fight between centaurs and lapites is depicted. Cyriacus of Ancona also owns the very first description of the sculptural frieze of the Parthenon, which, as he believed, depicts the Athenian victories of the era of Pericles.

Mosque

History

Alterations and decoration

Most detailed description The Parthenon from the Ottoman period is by Evliya Çelebi, a Turkish diplomat and traveler. He visited Athens several times during the 1630s and 1640s. Evliya Celebi noted that the transformation of the Christian Parthenon into a mosque did not greatly affect his internal form. The main feature of the temple was the canopy over the altar. He also described that the four columns of red marble that supported the canopy were highly polished. The floor of the Parthenon is laid out with polished marble slabs up to 3 m each. Each of the blocks that decorated the walls is masterfully combined with the other in such a way that the border between them is invisible to the eye. Celebi noted that the panels on east wall temples are so thin that they are able to let in sunlight. Spon and J. Wehler also mentioned this feature, suggesting that in fact this stone is fengite, transparent marble, which, according to Pliny, was the favorite stone of the emperor Nero. Evliya recalls that the silver inlay of the main doors of the Christian church was removed, and ancient sculptures and murals were covered with whitewash, although the layer of whitewash is thin and one can see the painting's plot. Further, Evliya Celebi gives a list of characters, listing the heroes of the pagan, Christian and Muslim religions: demons, Satan, wild animals, devils, sorceresses, angels, dragons, antichrists, cyclops, monsters, crocodiles, elephants, rhinos, as well as Cherubim, archangels Gabriel, Seraphim, Azrael, Michael, the ninth heaven, on which the throne of the Lord is located, the scales weighing sins and virtues.

Evliya does not give a description of the mosaics made of gold pieces and fragments of multi-colored glass, which would later be found during excavations on the Acropolis of Athens. However, the mosaic is mentioned in passing by J. Spon and J. Wehler, describing in more detail the images of the Virgin Mary in the apse behind the altar, which have been preserved from the previous Christian era. They also tell about the legend, according to which the hand of the Turk who shot at the fresco of Mary withered away, so the Ottomans decided not to harm the temple anymore.

Although the Turks did not have the desire to protect the Parthenon from destruction, they did not have the goal of completely distorting or destroying the temple. Since it is impossible to accurately determine the time of mashing the metopes of the Parthenon, the Turks could continue this process. Overall, however, they did less damage to the building than did the Christians a thousand years before Ottoman rule, who turned the majestic ancient temple into a Christian cathedral. All the time the Parthenon served as a mosque, Muslim worship took place surrounded by Christian murals and images of Christian saints. In the future, the Parthenon was not rebuilt and its present appearance has been preserved unchanged since the 17th century.

Destruction

The peace between the Turks and the Venetians was short-lived. A new Turkish-Venetian war began In September 1687, the Parthenon suffered the most terrible blow: the Venetians, under the leadership of Doge Francesco Morosini, captured the Acropolis fortified by the Turks. On September 28, the Swedish general Koenigsmark, who was at the head of the Venetian army, gave the order to bombard the Acropolis with cannons on Philopappou Hill. When cannons fired at the Parthenon, which served as a powder magazine for the Ottomans, it exploded, and part of the temple instantly turned into ruins. In previous decades, Turkish gunpowder depots have been repeatedly blown up. In 1645, a lightning struck the warehouse, equipped in the Propylaea of ​​the acropolis, killing Disdar and his family. In 1687, when Athens was attacked by the Venetians, together with the army of the allied Holy League, the Turks decided to place their ammunition, as well as hide children and women, in the Parthenon. They could rely on the thickness of the walls and ceilings, or hope that the Christian enemy would not fire on the building, which served as a Christian church for several centuries.

Judging by the traces of shelling only on the western pediment, about 700 cannonballs hit the Parthenon. At least 300 people died, their remains were found during excavations in the 19th century. The central part of the temple was destroyed, including 28 columns, a fragment of a sculptural frieze, interiors that once served as a Christian church and a mosque; the roof on the north side collapsed. The western pediment turned out to be almost unscathed, and Francesco Morosini wished to take its central sculptures to Venice. However, the scaffolding used by the Venetians collapsed during the work, and the sculptures collapsed, falling to the ground. A few fragmentary fragments were nevertheless taken to Italy, the rest remained on the Acropolis. Since that time, the history of the Parthenon has become the history of ruins. The destruction of the Parthenon was witnessed by Anna Ocherjelm, maid of honor of Countess Königsmark. She described the temple and the moment of the explosion. Shortly after the final surrender of the Turks, while walking along the Acropolis, among the ruins of the mosque, she found an Arabic manuscript that was transferred by Anna's brother Ocherjelm to the library of the Swedish city of Uppsala. Therefore, after its two thousand years of history, the Parthenon could no longer be used as a temple, since it was destroyed much more than one might imagine, seeing its current appearance - the result of many years of reconstruction. John Pentland Magaffi, who visited the Parthenon several decades before the restoration work began, noted:

From a political point of view, the destruction of the Parthenon caused minimal consequences. A few months after the victory, the Venetians gave up power over Athens: they did not have enough strength to further protect the city, and the plague epidemic made Athens completely unattractive to the invaders. The Turks again set up a garrison on the Acropolis, albeit on a smaller scale, among the ruins of the Parthenon, and erected a new small mosque. You can see it on the first famous photos temple built in 1839.

From destruction to reconstruction

Early explorers of the Parthenon included British archaeologist James Stewart and architect Nicholas Revett. Stuart first published drawings, descriptions and drawings with measurements of the Parthenon for the Society of Amateurs in 1789. In addition, it is known that James Stewart collected a considerable collection of ancient antiquities of the Athenian Acropolis and the Parthenon. The cargo was sent by sea to Smyrna, then the trace of the collection is lost. However, one of the fragments of the Parthenon frieze, taken out by Stewart, was found in 1902 buried in the garden of the Colne Park estate in Essex, which was inherited by the son of Thomas Astle, an antiquary, trustee of the British Museum.

The legal side of the case is still unclear. The actions of Lord Elgin and his agents were regulated by the Sultan's firman. Whether they contradicted it is impossible to establish, since the original document has not been found, only its translation into Italian, made for Elgin at the Ottoman court, is known. In the Italian version, it is allowed to take measurements and sketch sculptures using ladders and scaffolding; create plaster casts, dig up fragments buried under the soil during the explosion. The translation does not say anything about the permission or prohibition to remove sculptures from the facade or pick up those that have fallen. It is known for certain that already among Elgin's contemporaries, the majority criticized at least the use of chisels, saws, ropes and blocks to remove sculptures, since the surviving parts of the building were destroyed in this way. Irish traveler, author of several works on ancient architecture, Edward Dodwell wrote:

I felt an unspeakable humiliation as I witnessed the Parthenon being stripped of its finest sculptures. I saw some metopes being filmed from the southeast side of the building. In order to raise the metopes, the remarkable cornice that protected them had to be thrown down to the ground. The same fate befell the southeast corner of the pediment. original text(English) I had the inexpressible mortification of being present, when the Parthenon was despoiled of its finest sculptures. I saw several metopes at the south east extremity of the temple taken down. They were fixed in between the triglyphs as in a groove; and in order to lift them up, it was necessary to throw to the ground the magnificent cornice by which they were covered. The south east angle of the pediment shared the same fate.

Independent Greece

Duvin Hall in the British Museum displaying the Elgin Marbles

It is extremely limited to see in the Athenian Acropolis only a place where, as in a museum, you can see only the great works of the era of Pericles ... At least, people who call themselves scientists should not be allowed to cause senseless destruction on their own initiative. original text(English) It is but a narrow view of the Akropolis of Athens to look on it simply as the place where the great works of the afe of Perikles may be seen as models in a museum… At all events, let not men callins themselves scholars lend themselves tj such deeds of wanton destruction.

However, official archaeological policy remained unchanged until the 1950s, when a proposal to remove the staircase in the medieval tower in the western part of the Parthenon was strongly rejected. At the same time, a restoration program was underway. appearance temple. Back in the 1840s, four columns of the northern facade and one column of the southern facade were partially restored. 150 blocks were returned to their place in the walls of the interior of the temple, the rest of the space was filled with modern red brick. Most of all, the earthquake of 1894 intensified the work, which largely destroyed the temple. The first cycle of work was completed in 1902, their scale was rather modest, and they were carried out under the auspices of a committee of international consultants. Until the 1920s and long time after the chief engineer Nikolaos Balanos worked without external control. It was he who began the program of restoration work, designed for 10 years. There were plans to completely restore the interior walls, reinforce the pediments and install plaster copies of the sculptures removed by Lord Elgin. In the end, the most significant change was the reproduction of the long sections of the colonnades that connected the east and west facades.

Scheme showing the blocks of individual columns of the ancient era, Manolis Korres

Thanks to the Balanos program, the destroyed Parthenon acquired its modern look. However, since the 1950s, after his death, the achievements have been repeatedly criticized. First, no attempt was made to return the blocks to their original location. Secondly, and most importantly, Balanos used iron rods and staples to connect antique marble blocks. Over time, they rusted and deformed, causing the blocks to crack. In the late 1960s, in addition to the problem of the Balanos anchorages, the effects of environment: Polluted air and acid rain have damaged the sculptures and reliefs of the Parthenon. In 1970, a UNESCO report suggested a variety of ways to save the Parthenon, including enclosing the hill under a glass jar. In the end, in 1975, a committee was established that oversees the preservation of the entire complex of the Acropolis of Athens, and in 1986 work began to dismantle the iron fasteners used by Balanos and replace them with titanium ones. In the period -2012, the Greek authorities plan to restore the western facade of the Parthenon. Part of the elements of the frieze will be replaced with copies, the originals will be transported to the exposition of the New Acropolis Museum. The chief engineer of the works, Manolis Korres, considers it a top priority to patch the bullet holes fired at the Parthenon in 1821 during the Greek Revolution. Also, restorers must assess the damage caused to the Parthenon by strong earthquakes and 1999. As a result of consultations, it was decided that by the time the restoration work was completed, the remains of a Christian-era apse could be seen inside the temple, as well as the plinth of a statue of the goddess Athena Parthenos; restorers will pay no less attention to traces of Venetian cannonballs on the walls and medieval inscriptions on the columns.

In world culture

The Parthenon is one of the symbols not only ancient culture but beauty in general.

Modern copies

Nashville Parthenon

25. Temple of the goddess Athena on the Acropolis

Parthenon - the temple of the goddess Athena - the largest building on the Acropolis and the most beautiful creation of Greek architecture. It does not stand in the center of the square, but somewhat to the side, so that you can immediately take in the front and side facades, understand the beauty of the temple as a whole. The ancient Greeks believed that the temple with the main cult statue in the center is, as it were, the house of a deity.

The Parthenon is the temple of Athena the Virgin (Parthenos), and therefore in the center of it was a chrysoelephantine (made of ivory and gold plates on a wooden base) statue of the goddess.

The Parthenon was erected in 447-432 BC. e. architects Iktin and Kallikrates from Pentelian marble. It was located on a four-stage terrace, the size of its base is 69.5x30.91 meters. On four sides, the Parthenon is surrounded by slender colonnades, gaps are visible between their white marble trunks. blue sky. All permeated with light, it seems airy and light. There are no bright patterns on the white columns, as is found in Egyptian temples. Only longitudinal grooves (flutes) cover them from top to bottom, which makes the temple seem taller and even more slender. The columns owe their harmony and lightness to the fact that they taper slightly upwards. In the middle part of the trunk, completely imperceptible to the eye, they thicken and seem to be elastic, more resistant to the weight of stone blocks.

Placed on the upper platform of the Acropolis, at an altitude of about 150 meters above sea level, the Parthenon was visible not only from anywhere in the city, but also from numerous ships sailing to Athens. The temple was a Doric perimeter surrounded by a colonnade of 46 columns.

The most famous masters participated in the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon.

The artistic director of the construction and decoration of the Parthenon was Phidias, one of the greatest sculptors of all time. He owns the overall composition and development of the entire sculptural decoration, part of which he completed himself.

The organizational side of the construction was handled by Pericles - the largest statesman Athens.

All the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was intended to glorify the goddess Athena and her city - Athens. The theme of the eastern pediment is the birth of the beloved daughter of Zeus. On the western pediment, the master depicted the scene of the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for dominance over Attica. According to the myth, Athena won the dispute, giving the inhabitants of this country an olive tree.

On the pediments of the Parthenon, the gods of Greece gathered, the thunderer Zeus, the mighty ruler of the seas Poseidon, the wise warrior Athena, the winged Nike. The sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was completed by a frieze, on which a solemn procession was presented during the Great Panathenaic feast. This frieze is considered one of the pinnacles of classical art. With all the compositional unity, it struck with its diversity. Of the more than 500 figures of young men, elders, girls, on foot and on horseback, not one repeated the other, the movements of people and animals were conveyed with amazing dynamism.

The figures of the sculptural Greek relief are not flat, they have the volume and shape of the human body. They differ from statues only in that they are not processed from all sides, but, as it were, merge with the background formed by the flat surface of the stone.

Light colors enlivened the marble of the Parthenon. The red background emphasized the whiteness of the figures, the narrow vertical ledges that separated one frieze slab from another clearly stood out in blue, and the gilding shone brightly. Behind the columns, on a marble ribbon encircling all four facades of the building, a festive procession was depicted.

There are almost no gods here, and people, forever imprinted in stone, moved along the two long sides of the building and joined on the eastern facade, where a solemn ceremony of handing over to the priest a garment woven by Athenian girls for the goddess took place. Each figure is characterized by its unique beauty, and all together they accurately reflect the true life and customs of the ancient city.

Indeed, once every five years, on one of the hot days of midsummer in Athens, a national festival took place in honor of the birth of the goddess Athena. It was called the Great Panathenaic. It was attended not only by citizens of the Athenian state, but also by many guests. The celebration consisted of a solemn procession (pomp), the bringing of a hecatomb (100 heads of cattle) and a common meal, sports, equestrian and musical competitions. The winner received a special, so-called Panathenaic amphora filled with oil, and a wreath of leaves from the sacred olive tree growing on the Acropolis.

The most solemn moment of the holiday was a nationwide procession to the Acropolis.

Riders on horseback moved, statesmen, warriors in armor and young athletes walked. Priests and nobles walked in long white robes, heralds loudly praised the goddess, musicians filled the still cool morning air with joyful sounds. Sacrificial animals climbed the high hill of the Acropolis along the zigzag Panathenaic road, trampled down by thousands of people. Boys and girls carried a model of the sacred Panathenaic ship with a peplos (veil) attached to its mast. A light breeze fluttered the bright fabric of the yellow-purple robe, which was carried as a gift to the goddess Athena by the noble girls of the city.

For a whole year they wove and embroidered it. Other girls raised sacred vessels for sacrifices high above their heads.

Gradually the procession approached the Parthenon. The entrance to the temple was made not from the side of the Propylaea, but from the other, as if for everyone to first go around, examine and appreciate the beauty of all parts of the beautiful building. Unlike Christian churches, the ancient Greek ones were not intended for worship inside them, the people remained outside the temple during cult activities.

In the depths of the temple, surrounded on three sides by two-tiered colonnades, proudly stood the famous statue of the virgin Athena, created by the famous Phidias. Her clothes, helmet and shield were made of pure, sparkling gold, and her face and hands shone with the whiteness of ivory.

Many book volumes have been written about the Parthenon, among them there are monographs about each of its sculptures and about each step of gradual decline since the time when, after the decree of Theodosius I, it became a Christian temple. In the 15th century, the Turks made a mosque out of it, and in the 17th century, a gunpowder warehouse. The Turkish-Venetian war of 1687 turned it into final ruins, when a Venetian artillery shell hit it and in an instant did what the all-devouring time could not do in 2000 years.

On the famous Athenian Acropolis is the famous ancient Greek temple Parthenon. This main temple in Ancient Athens is a magnificent monument of ancient architecture. It was built in honor of the patroness of Athens and all of Attica - the goddess Athena.

The start date for the construction of the Parthenon is 447 BC. It was installed thanks to the found fragments of marble tablets, on which the city authorities presented resolutions and financial reports. Construction lasted 10 years. The temple was consecrated in 438 BC. at the Panathenaic festival (which in Greek means “for all Athenians”), although the decoration and decoration of the temple was carried out until 431 BC.

The initiator of the construction was Pericles, an Athenian statesman, famous commander and reformer. The design and construction of the Parthenon was carried out by the famous ancient Greek architects Iktin and Kallikrates. The decoration of the temple was made by the greatest sculptor of those times - Phidias. High quality Pentelian marble was used for the construction.

The building was built in the form of a periptera (rectangular structure surrounded by columns). The total number of columns is 50 (8 columns on the facades and 17 columns on the sides). The ancient Greeks took into account that straight lines are distorted at a distance, so they resorted to some optical techniques. For example, the columns do not have the same diameter along the entire length, they taper somewhat towards the top, and the corner columns are also inclined towards the center. Thanks to this, the building seems to be perfect.

Earlier in the center of the temple stood a statue of Athena Parthenos. The monument was about 12 m high and made of gold and ivory on a wooden base. In one hand, the goddess held a statue of Nike, and with the other she leaned on a shield, near which the serpent Erichthonius curled up. On the head of Athena was a helmet with three large crests (the middle one with the image of a sphinx, the side ones with griffins). On the pedestal of the statue was carved the scene of the birth of Pandora. Unfortunately, the statue has not survived to this day and is known from descriptions, images on coins and a few copies.

For many centuries, the temple was attacked more than once, a significant part of the temple was destroyed, and historical relics were looted. Today, some parts of the masterpieces of ancient sculptural art can be seen in the famous museums of the world. The main part of the magnificent works of Phidias was destroyed by people and time.

Currently, restoration work is underway, the reconstruction plans include the maximum reconstruction of the temple in its original form in ancient times.

The Parthenon as part of the Acropolis of Athens is listed world heritage UNESCO.

The rocky rock of the Acropolis, which dominates the center of Athens, is the largest and most majestic ancient Greek shrine, dedicated mainly to the patroness of the city, Athena.

The most important events of the ancient Hellenes are connected with this sacred place: the myths of ancient Athens, the biggest religious holidays, the main religious events.
The temples of the Acropolis of Athens are in harmony with the natural environment and are unique masterpieces of ancient Greek architecture, expressing the innovative styles and correlations of classical art, they have had an indelible impact on the intellectual and artistic creativity people for many centuries.

The Acropolis of the 5th century BC is the most accurate reflection of the splendor, power and wealth of Athens at its highest peak - the "golden age". In the form in which the Acropolis now appears before us, it was erected after its destruction by the Persians in 480 BC. e. Then the Persians were finally defeated and the Athenians vowed to restore their shrines. The reconstruction of the Acropolis begins in 448 BC, after the Battle of Plataea, on the initiative of Pericles.

- Temple Erechtheion

Myth of Erechtheus: Erechtheus was a beloved and revered Athenian king. Athens was at enmity with the city of Eleusis, during the battle, Erechtheus killed Eumollus, the leader of the Eleusinian army, and also the son of the god of the sea, Poseidon. For this, the Thunderer Zeus killed him with his lightning. The Athenians buried their beloved king and named the constellation Charioteer after him. At the same place, the architect Mnesicles erected a temple, named after Erichtheus.

This temple was built between 421 and 407 BC and contained the golden lamp of Kallimachou. The construction of the Erechtheion did not stop even during the long Peloponnesian War.

The Erechtheion was the most sacred place of worship in Athens. The ancient inhabitants of Athens in this temple worshiped Athena, Hephaestus, Poseidon, Kekropos (the first Athenian king).

The whole history of the city was concentrated at this point and therefore the construction of the Erechtheon temple began in this place:

♦ in this place a dispute broke out between Athena and Poseidon over the property of the city

♦ in the northern porch of the Erechtheion temple there is a hole where, according to legend, the sacred serpent Erechthonius lived

♦ here was the grave of Kekrops

The east porch has six Ionic columns, to the north there is a monumental entrance with a decorated gate, on the south side a porch with six girls, known as caryatids, who support the vault of the Erechtheion, in this moment they were replaced by plaster copies. Five of the caryatids are in the new Acropolis Museum, one is in the British Museum.

countries and peoples. Questions and answers Yu. V. Kukanova

Where is the Parthenon located?

Where is the Parthenon located?

In the cities of Ancient Greece, on a hill, there were fortified fortresses in case of wars and sudden attacks of enemies. Temples were also built there in honor of the patron gods of the area. Such a hill was called the acropolis, literally "upper city".

One of the most famous monuments of ancient architecture, the ancient temple of the Parthenon, was built in the 5th century BC on top of the Acropolis in Athens. The huge marble building was decorated with a colonnade, numerous statues and bas-reliefs. In the center of the temple stood a sculpture of the goddess of wisdom and war, Athena, in whose honor the Parthenon was built.

Acropolis of Athens, reconstruction by Leo von Klenze

From the book Encyclopedic Dictionary (P) author Brockhaus F. A.

Parthenon The Parthenon is the main temple in ancient Athens, dedicated to the patroness of this city and all of Attica, the goddess Athena the Virgin (oparJneoV). He flaunted on the highest point of the Athenian acropolis, where before that stood the incomplete temple of the same goddess,

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Where is India located? This ancient country occupies the Hindustan Peninsula and the foothills of the Himalayas. In the Middle Ages, travelers from Europe sought to get to India, since there were many legends about the countless treasures of this country, some of which later

From the book Encyclopedia of Classical Greco-Roman Mythology author Obnorsky V.

Where is the snake's venom? Currently on everything the globe there are about 2400 various kinds snake. Of these, only 412 are poisonous. But not all of these snakes are dangerous to humans. In some poisonous snakes, the poison is so weak that it can only kill a lizard or a frog. But

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Where is the "navel of the Earth"? Ancient people always believed that somewhere there is the navel of the Earth, its center, in which all mysterious powers nature. The Greeks believed that the navel of the Earth was in Delphi, where Apollo struck the bloodthirsty monster - the evil dragon

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