Many of the sculptures were made of the more expensive Parian marble, from the island of Paros, which most sculptors proclaimed the best kind of marble for their work. As a collection that shows Greek art at its zenith the Parthenon marbles sculptures are simply without peer. The building itself is a work of art incorporating a number of aesthetic refinements calculated to make it appear as visually perfect as possible.
This thickening in the middle made it look as though the columns were straining a bit under the weight of the roof, thus making the temple less static, more dynamic.
Although the lines and distances in the Parthenon appear to be straight and equal, the geometry has been altered to achieve that illusion. The Parthenon is a Doric temple, which artfully incorporated selected Ionic features to produce a building that many, including some of the world's top architects, have called perfect.
The Doric style uses thicker columns and has a more massive appearance sometimes called masculine than the Ionic feminine style. This may have been a politically inspired choice by Pericles, symbolically uniting Greeks of Dorian and Ionian backgrounds in one transcendent building. The Parthenon is classified as a peripteral temple, that is, the perimeter of the structure is defined by columns, in this case by eight on the narrow ends and seventeen on the long sides, for a total of 46 columns.
Sitting inside the exterior columns is a raised stone platform. This supports the floor-to-ceiling walls of a shoebox-like room called the Cella or Naos. In traditional temples this is a single room but in the case of the Parthenon, the Cella has been divided into two rooms. In the larger one, a huge standing statue of Athena was located, resting on a support slab.
In front of the statute…a reflecting pool. In the smaller room, with the four interior columns, was kept the state treasury, including cash gifts to the deity. The collection of interior columns was necessary to support the roof that, like the rest of the building, was made of marble.
The reflecting pool was filled with water to add humidity to the air and prevent splitting of the ivory elements of the huge chryselephantine composite gold and ivory statue. It is worth noting that the statue cost more than the building built to house it and the sculptor Phideas made it so that it's gold panels could be removed, weighed and sold should the need arise.
That proved to be a wise decision because when he was later accused of pilfering some of the gold, he was able to quickly establish his innocence. None deny that the Parthenon building is a work of art in its own right but it was also embellished with a dazzling array of quality sculptures. The frieze tells the story of the Great Panatheniac procession- a major parade, festival and games that took place in Athens every four years. Each year a smaller event called the Lesser Panathenaea also celebrated the birthday of the goddess.
On each occasion, a new peplos robe , woven by selected maidens would be presented to the goddess, who was also the patroness of weaving. The frieze tells the story of the marshalling of the parade, depicted on the western end, the parade participants musicians, horsemen, priests, maidens with offerings, sacrificial animals, etc.
On the eastern side, seated gods and goddesses and standing civic and religious leaders gather to receive the new garment and, naturally, to make speeches. The metopes on the Parthenon substantially exceed the usual temple standard for such embellishment. Each metope on the Parthenon is decorated, carved in high relief to the point that in some examples it is akin to sculpture in the round. Each side of the building had its own story to tell:.
The chryselephantine statue of Athena. This was a huge work of art by any standard, at least 40 feet 12 meters in height, a formidable figure in gold and ivory with gems for eyes and outfitted with her full panoply of weapons and symbols. Chryselephantine comes from the word chryso gold and elephantine ivory. It was a standard technique of the Greek Classical period whereby beaten gold for clothing and ivory for flesh was attached to a wooden armature or core.
It is estimated that the gold on the statue alone was worth many millions of dollars. According to early Greek writers, the tyrant Lachares later stripped the goddess of her gold and used it to pay his army. It was said that the statue was later supplied with a coat of gilt by way of replacement. In her left hand she supports both a spear and her shield. Entwined inside the shield is a serpent representing Erechtheus, an early king of Athens, son of the earth goddess Gaia but who was raised by Athena.
After the Parthenon project was completed Phideas went on to build an even larger and more renowned sculpture, that of the god Zeus, at Olympia. That became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and the model for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. What happened to the Athena sculpture? Then, no one is sure when, it disappeared.
The dream of Pericles, that the Parthenon would be an imperishable symbol of the greatness of Athens and of the inevitable triumph of civilization over the forces of barbarism, was short-lived. The last of the sculptural ornaments was completed in BC but only three years later Pericles and many of his fellow citizens succumbed to a horrific plague that devastated Athens.
The Parthenon served as a temple to Athena for almost a millennium. The zealous Christians smashed or defaced a number of the sculptures that they felt were pagan or secular and they made minor alterations to the architecture. It was now a Catholic church. The charge does not appear to have blighted his later career: he went on to build an even greater statue in the same style as his Athena.
Although it too has been lost to history, Phidias' Statue of Zeus at Olympia was even more glorious, becoming one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Inside the Parthenon. This obvious display of wealth and power sent a very clear message to the rest of the world.
And for those lucky enough to see the Parthenon from the inside in its heyday, the statue must have been nothing less than awe-inspiring. Previous Article Oinofilia festival of Greek wine and food returns to Australia this weekend.
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