Question

short history on parthenon

Answer 1

The Parthenon: Facts and History

In this post you will find some interesting facts and history of the Parthenon in Athens.

The Parthenon is surely the most important monument of ancient Greece and is one of the most famous in the world. It was the most sacred of monuments, and was famous in antiquity as a Greek architectural masterpiece.

The Parthenon is located in the southern area of the Acropolis, in the heart of the city of Athens, on top of a hill 156 meters high and visible from several kilometers away.

The monument was a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. The name, “Parthenon”, refers to the epithet of the goddess, “Athena Parthenos” (indicating her status of unmarried and a virgin), and the myth of her creation, by parthenogenesis, from the head of Zeus.

In fact, the colossal statue of Athena Parthenos, about twelve meters high,  stood inside the Parthenon.  To build it, forty talents of gold were used (about 1,140 kilograms of gold) and it cost the city seven hundred talents, the equivalent price of a fleet of 230 ships.

However, it is believed that the Parthenon was used primarily as treasury.

Parthenon Architecture

The Parthenon was built between the middle of the fifth century and 432 BC by architects Callicrates and Ictinus, under the supervision of Phidias, who was also entrusted with the sculptural decoration.

The gables, as well as the statue of Athena, were the work of Phidias and described several important scenes.  For example, one of them depicts the quarrel that Athena had with Poseidon for possession of Athens and Attica.

Built entirely of Pentelic marble, the Parthenon rests on a base of three steps. It had eight Doric columns in the front area and 17 columns on the long sides, each 10.43 meters high, and with a base diameter of 1.905 meters. Overall, the Parthenon measured 69.54 x 30.87 meters.

Answer 2

The Parthenon (/ˈpɑːrθəˌnɒn, -nən/; Ancient Greek: Παρθενών; Greek: Παρθενώνας, Parthenónas) is a former temple,[4][5] on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athensconsidered their patron. Construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the peak 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,[6] and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments. To the Athenians who built it, the Parthenon and other Periclean monuments of the Acropolis, were seen fundamentally as a celebration of Hellenic victory over the Persian invaders and as a thanksgiving to the gods for that victory.[7] The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a programme of selective restoration and reconstruction to ensure the stability of the partially ruined structure.[8]