Misplaced Pages

#215784

78-463: The cult and representation of Ares are very rare in the ancient Greek world, especially in sculpture. It has been thought that this statue may be derived from one by Alcamenes , an Athenian sculptor who, according to Pausanias (I, 8, 4), made a statue of Ares that was erected on the Athenian agora . However, the temple of Ares to which he refers had only been moved from Acharnes and re-sited in

156-418: A peplos that was presented to Athena during Panathenaic Festivals . Christopher Pelling asserts that the name "Parthenon" means the "temple of the virgin goddess", referring to the cult of Athena Parthenos that was associated with the temple. It has also been suggested that the name of the temple alludes to the maidens ( parthénoi ), whose supreme sacrifice guaranteed the safety of the city. In that case,

234-575: A Turkish house in 1801 and is currently held in the British Museum . The anterior portion was revealed by Ross in 1835 and is now held in the Acropolis Museum of Athens. Every statue on the west pediment has a fully completed back, which would have been impossible to see when the sculpture was on the temple; this indicates that the sculptors put great effort into accurately portraying the human body. The only piece of sculpture from

312-407: A flowing river. Next to the left river god, there are the sculptures of the mythical king of Athens ( Cecrops or Kekrops ) with his daughters ( Aglaurus , Pandrosos , Herse ). The statue of Poseidon was the largest sculpture in the pediment until it broke into pieces during Francesco Morosini 's effort to remove it in 1688. The posterior piece of the torso was found by Lusieri in the groundwork of

390-476: A loss of much valuable information. An attempt to make sense of the potsherds found on the Acropolis came with the two-volume study by Graef and Langlotz published in 1925–1933. This inspired American archaeologist William Bell Dinsmoor to give limiting dates for the temple platform and the five walls hidden under the re-terracing of the Acropolis. Dinsmoor concluded that the latest possible date for Parthenon I

468-518: A sanctuary for Athena Parthenos on the site of the present Parthenon was begun shortly after the Battle of Marathon ( c.  490 –488 BC) upon a solid limestone foundation that extended and levelled the southern part of the Acropolis summit. This building replaced a Hekatompedon temple ("hundred-footer") and would have stood beside the archaic temple dedicated to Athena Polias ("of

546-768: A small number of the original sculptures remain in situ . Most of the surviving sculptures are at the Acropolis Museum in Athens and (controversially) at the British Museum in London (see Elgin Marbles ). Additional pieces are at the Louvre , the National Museum of Denmark , and Vienna . In March 2022, the Acropolis Museum launched a new website with "photographs of all the frieze blocks preserved today in

624-618: Is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis , Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena . Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of classical Greek art , and the Parthenon is considered an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece , democracy, and Western civilization . The Parthenon was built in the 5th century BC in thanksgiving for the Hellenic victory over Persian Empire invaders during

702-579: Is known from other images. The decorative stonework was originally highly coloured. The temple was dedicated to Athena at that time, though construction continued until almost the beginning of the Peloponnesian War in 432. By the year 438, the Doric metopes on the frieze above the exterior colonnade and the Ionic frieze around the upper portion of the walls of the cella had been completed. Only

780-490: Is surrounded by columns ('peripteral') carrying an entablature . There are eight columns at either end ('octastyle') and seventeen on the sides. There is a double row of columns at either end. The colonnade surrounds an inner masonry structure, the cella , which is divided into two compartments. The opisthodomos (the back room of the cella) contained the monetary contributions of the Delian League. At either end of

858-405: Is the concave shaft carved into the column form.) The roof was covered with large overlapping marble tiles known as imbrices and tegulae . The Parthenon is regarded as the finest example of Greek architecture. John Julius Cooper wrote that "even in antiquity, its architectural refinements were legendary, especially the subtle correspondence between the curvature of the stylobate, the taper of

SECTION 10

#1732772893216

936-528: The Dipylon Gate in the Kerameikos to the Acropolis . In this procession held every year, with a special procession taking place every four years, Athenians and foreigners participated in honouring the goddess Athena by offering her sacrifices and a new peplos dress, woven by selected noble Athenian girls called ergastines . The procession is more crowded (appearing to slow in pace) as it nears

1014-666: The Eastern Roman Empire after Constantinople , Ephesos , and Thessaloniki . In 1018, the emperor Basil II went on a pilgrimage to Athens after his final victory over the First Bulgarian Empire for the sole purpose of worshipping at the Parthenon. In medieval Greek accounts it is called the Temple of Theotokos Atheniotissa and often indirectly referred to as famous without explaining exactly which temple they were referring to, thus establishing that it

1092-598: The Greco-Persian Wars . Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon also served as the city treasury . Construction started in 447 BC when the Delian League was at the peak of its power. It was completed in 438 BC; work on the artwork and decorations continued until 432 BC. For a time, it served as the treasury of the Delian League, which later became the Athenian Empire . In the final decade of

1170-687: The Parthenon , in which he must almost certainly have taken a share under the direction of Phidias. He is said to be the most eminent sculptor in Athens after the departure of Phidias for Olympia , but enigmatic in that none of the sculptures associated with his name in classical literature can be securely connected with existing copies. Parthenon The Parthenon ( / ˈ p ɑːr θ ə ˌ n ɒ n , - n ən / ; Ancient Greek : Παρθενών , romanized :  Parthenōn [par.tʰe.nɔ̌ːn] ; Greek : Παρθενώνας , romanized :  Parthenónas [parθeˈnonas] )

1248-471: The Peloponnesian War when Sparta's forces were first preparing to invade Attica, Pericles , in an address to the Athenian people, said that the statue could be used as a gold reserve if that was necessary to preserve Athens, stressing that it "contained forty talents of pure gold and it was all removable", but adding that the gold would afterward have to be restored. The Athenian statesman thus implies that

1326-564: The Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire , decreed in 435 that all pagan temples in the Eastern Roman Empire be closed. It is debated exactly when during the 5th century that the closure of the Parthenon as a temple was put into practice. It is suggested to have occurred in c.  481 –484, on the order of Emperor Zeno , because the temple had been the focus of Pagan Hellenic opposition against Zeno in Athens in support of Illus , who had promised to restore Hellenic rites to

1404-599: The Venus de Milo type for portraits of the imperial Roman couple, symbol of the union between military and peace, such as the Mars and Venus . Formerly part of the Borghese collection , it was purchased from there in 1807 by Napoleon . While commonly recognized as Ares, this identification has been challenged by some scholars, with an emphasis on the left leg's anklet. Historian Kim Hartswick mentions several possible origins for

1482-452: The naos walls, and the entasis of the columns". Entasis refers to the slight swelling, of 4 centimetres (1.6 in), in the center of the columns to counteract the appearance of columns having a waist, as the swelling makes them look straight from a distance. The stylobate is the platform on which the columns stand. As in many other classical Greek temples, it has a slight parabolic upward curvature intended to shed rainwater and reinforce

1560-444: The "unmarried women's apartments" in a house, but that in the Parthenon it seems to have been used for a particular room of the temple. There is some debate as to which room that was. The lexicon states that this room was the western cella of the Parthenon. This has also been suggested by J.B. Bury. One theory is that the Parthenon was the room where the arrephoroi , a group of four young girls chosen to serve Athena each year, wove

1638-556: The 19th century. Parthénos was also applied to the Virgin Mary ( Parthénos Maria ) when the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the final decade of the 6th century. Although the Parthenon is architecturally a temple and is usually called so, some scholars have argued that it is not really a temple in the conventional sense of the word. A small shrine has been excavated within

SECTION 20

#1732772893216

1716-476: The 5th century BC. He was a younger contemporary of Phidias and noted for the delicacy and finish of his works, among which a Hephaestus and an Aphrodite of the Gardens were conspicuous. Pausanias says that he was the author of one of the pediments of the temple of Zeus at Olympia , but this seems a chronological and stylistic impossibility. Pausanias also refers to a statue of Ares by Alcamenes that

1794-575: The 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary . After the Ottoman conquest in the mid-15th century, it became a mosque . In the Morean War , a Venetian bomb landed on the Parthenon, which the Ottomans had used as a munitions dump, during the 1687 siege of the Acropolis . The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon. From 1800 to 1803,

1872-692: The 7th Earl of Elgin controversially removed many of the surviving sculptures and subsequently shipped them to England where they are now known as the Elgin Marbles or Parthenon marbles. Since 1975, numerous large-scale restoration projects have been undertaken to preserve remaining artefacts and ensure its structural integrity. The origin of the word "Parthenon" comes from the Greek word parthénos ( παρθένος ), meaning "maiden, girl" as well as "virgin, unmarried woman". The Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon states that it may have referred to

1950-517: The Acropolis Museum, the British Museum and the Louvre". The frieze of the Parthenon's entablature contained 92 metopes , 14 each on the east and west sides, 32 each on the north and south sides. They were carved in high relief, a practice employed until then only in treasuries (buildings used to keep votive gifts to the gods). According to the building records, the metope sculptures date to

2028-421: The Acropolis was used as a fortress. According to Eleftherotypia daily, the archaeologists claimed the metopes had been placed there in the 18th century when the Acropolis wall was being repaired. The experts discovered the metopes while processing 2,250 photos with modern photographic methods, as the white Pentelic marble they are made of differed from the other stone of the wall. It was previously presumed that

2106-627: The Acropolis, more closely associated with the Great Altar of Athena. The High Priestess of Athena Polias supervised the city cult of Athena based in the Acropolis , and was the chief of the lesser officials, such as the plyntrides , arrephoroi and kanephoroi . The colossal statue of Athena by Phidias was not specifically related to any cult attested by ancient authors and is not known to have inspired any religious fervour. Preserved ancient sources do not associate it with any priestess, altar or cult name. According to Thucydides , during

2184-511: The Agora in Augustus 's time, making this a chronological impossibility. Also, statues known to derive from Alcamenes' statue show the god in a breastplate (one is depicted in this relief ). So, in all, this statue may not be a copy of Alcamenes's, but instead a Roman creation according to a classicising or Neo-Attic type. Later, widely dispersed, this type was paired with female statues of

2262-736: The Church of the Parthenos Maria (Virgin Mary) or the Church of the Theotokos ( Mother of God ). The orientation of the building was changed to face towards the east; the main entrance was placed at the building's western end, and the Christian altar and iconostasis were situated towards the building's eastern side adjacent to an apse built where the temple's pronaos was formerly located. A large central portal with surrounding side-doors

2340-402: The Doric order. The continuous frieze in low relief around the cella and across the lintels of the inner columns, in contrast, reflects the Ionic order. Architectural historian John R. Senseney suggests that this unexpected switch between orders was due to an aesthetic choice on the part of builders during construction, and was likely not part of the original plan of the Parthenon. Measured at

2418-455: The Parthenon known to be from the hand of Phidias was the statue of Athena housed in the naos . This massive chryselephantine sculpture is now lost and known only from copies, vase painting, gems, literary descriptions, and coins. A major fire broke out in the Parthenon shortly after the middle of the third century AD. which destroyed the roof and much of the sanctuary's interior. Heruli pirates sacked Athens in 276, and destroyed most of

Ares Borghese - Misplaced Pages Continue

2496-600: The Parthenon was originally called the Hekatompedon . Based on literary and historical research, he proposes that "the treasury called the Parthenon should be recognized as the west part of the building now conventionally known as the Erechtheion ". Because the Parthenon was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena it has sometimes been referred to as the Temple of Minerva , the Roman name for Athena, particularly during

2574-522: The Parthenon's more obviously curved predecessors than with a notional rectilinear temple. Some studies of the Acropolis, including of the Parthenon and its facade, have conjectured that many of its proportions approximate the golden ratio . More recent studies have shown that the proportions of the Parthenon do not match the golden proportion. The cella of the Parthenon housed the chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos sculpted by Phidias and dedicated in 439 or 438 BC. The appearance of this

2652-502: The Parthenon, one on the east front, one on the west. The triangular sections once contained massive sculptures that, according to the second-century geographer Pausanias , recounted the birth of Athena and the mythological battle between Athena and Poseidon for control of Athens. The east pediment originally contained 10 to 12 sculptures depicting the Birth of Athena. Most of those pieces were removed and lost during renovations in either

2730-414: The architects would reject them. The marble was worked with iron tools – picks, points, punches, chisels, and drills. The quarrymen would hold their tools against the marble block and firmly tap the surface of the rock. A big project like the Parthenon attracted stonemasons from far and wide who travelled to Athens to assist in the project. Slaves and foreigners worked together with the Athenian citizens in

2808-521: The back of the left chariot, while the defenders of Poseidon are shown trailing behind the right chariot. It is believed that the corners of the pediment are filled by Athenian water deities, such as the Kephisos river, the Ilissos river, and nymph Kallirhoe . This belief emerges from the fluid character of the sculptures' body position which represents the effort of the artist to give the impression of

2886-498: The building against earthquakes. The columns might therefore be supposed to lean outward, but they actually lean slightly inward so that if they carried on, they would meet almost exactly 2,400 metres (1.5 mi) above the centre of the Parthenon. Since they are all the same height, the curvature of the outer stylobate edge is transmitted to the architrave and roof above: "All follow the rule of being built to delicate curves", Gorham Stevens observed when pointing out that, in addition,

2964-459: The building of the Parthenon, doing the same jobs for the same pay. Temple building was a specialized craft, and there were not many men in Greece qualified to build temples like the Parthenon, so these men would travel and work where they were needed. Other craftsmen were necessary for the building of the Parthenon, specifically carpenters and metalworkers. Unskilled labourers also had key roles in

3042-438: The building of the Parthenon. They loaded and unloaded the marble blocks and moved the blocks from place to place. In order to complete a project like the Parthenon, many different labourers were needed. The Parthenon is a peripteral octastyle Doric temple with Ionic architectural features. It stands on a platform or stylobate of three steps. In common with other Greek temples, it is of post and lintel construction and

3120-496: The building project that lasted the entire second half of the century. The most important buildings visible on the Acropolis today – the Parthenon, the Propylaia , the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike – were erected during this period. The Parthenon was built under the general supervision of Phidias , who also had charge of the sculptural decoration. The architects Ictinos and Callicrates began their work in 447, and

3198-483: The building was substantially completed by 432. Work on the decorations continued until at least 431. The Parthenon was built primarily by men who knew how to work marble. These quarrymen had exceptional skills and were able to cut the blocks of marble to very specific measurements. The quarrymen also knew how to avoid the faults, which were numerous in the Pentelic marble . If the marble blocks were not up to standard,

Ares Borghese - Misplaced Pages Continue

3276-400: The building, on the site of an older sanctuary probably dedicated to Athena as a way to get closer to the goddess, but the Parthenon apparently never hosted the official cult of Athena Polias, patron of Athens. The cult image of Athena Polias, which was bathed in the sea and to which was presented the peplos , was an olive-wood xoanon , located in another temple on the northern side of

3354-443: The building, the gable is finished with a triangular pediment originally occupied by sculpted figures. The Parthenon has been described as "the culmination of the development of the Doric order". The Doric columns, for example, have simple capitals, fluted shafts, and no bases. Above the architrave of the entablature is a frieze of carved pictorial panels ( metopes ), separated by formal architectural triglyphs , also typical of

3432-469: The city"). The Older or Pre-Parthenon , as it is frequently referred to, was still under construction when the Persians sacked the city in 480 BC razing the Acropolis. The existence of both the proto-Parthenon and its destruction were known from Herodotus , and the drums of its columns were visibly built into the curtain wall north of the Erechtheion . Further physical evidence of this structure

3510-475: The eighth or the twelfth century. Only two corners remain today with figures depicting the passage of time over the course of a full day. Tethrippa of Helios is in the left corner and Selene is on the right. The horses of Helios's chariot are shown with livid expressions as they ascend into the sky at the start of the day. Selene's horses struggle to stay on the pediment scene as the day comes to an end. The supporters of Athena are extensively illustrated at

3588-596: The entire building comes from the fourth century BC orator Demosthenes. In the 4th century BC and later, the building was referred to as the Hekatompedos or the Hekatompedon as well as the Parthenon. Plutarch referred to the building during the first century AD as the Hekatompedos Parthenon . A 2020 study by Janric van Rookhuijzen supports the idea that the building known today as

3666-693: The final great event of the Athenian Bronze Age , the war of Erechtheus and Eumolpos . She argues a pedagogical function for the Parthenon's sculptured decoration, one that establishes and perpetuates Athenian foundation myth, memory, values and identity. While some classicists, including Mary Beard , Peter Green , and Garry Wills have doubted or rejected Connelly's thesis, an increasing number of historians, archaeologists, and classical scholars support her work. They include: J.J. Pollitt, Brunilde Ridgway, Nigel Spivey, Caroline Alexander, and A. E. Stallings . The first endeavour to build

3744-485: The final report on the 1885–1890 excavations, indicating that the substructure was contemporary with the Kimonian walls, and implying a later date for the first temple. If the original Parthenon was indeed destroyed in 480, it invites the question of why the site was left as a ruin for thirty-three years. One argument involves the oath sworn by the Greek allies before the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC declaring that

3822-481: The first Parthenon consisted of two steps of Poros limestone, the same as the foundations, and a top step of Karrha limestone that was covered by the lowest step of the Periclean Parthenon. This platform was smaller and slightly to the north of the final Parthenon, indicating that it was built for a different building, now completely covered over. This picture was somewhat complicated by the publication of

3900-404: The frieze shows the celebration of the birth of Ion, who was a descendant of Erechtheus . This interpretation has been rejected by Catharine Titi , who agrees with St Clair that the mood is one of celebration (rather than sacrifice) but argues that the celebration of the birth of Ion requires the presence of an infant but there is no infant on the frieze. Two pediments rise above the portals of

3978-400: The gods on the eastern side of the temple. Joan Breton Connelly offers a mythological interpretation for the frieze, one that is in harmony with the rest of the temple's sculptural programme which shows Athenian genealogy through a series of succession myths set in the remote past. She identifies the central panel above the door of the Parthenon as the pre-battle sacrifice of the daughter of

SECTION 50

#1732772893216

4056-481: The half-man, half-horse Centaurs ). Metopes 13–21 are missing, but drawings from 1674 attributed to Jaques Carrey indicate a series of humans; these have been variously interpreted as scenes from the Lapith wedding, scenes from the early history of Athens, and various myths. On the north side of the Parthenon, the metopes are poorly preserved, but the subject seems to be the sack of Troy . The mythological figures of

4134-536: The king Erechtheus , a sacrifice that ensured Athenian victory over Eumolpos and his Thracian army. The great procession marching toward the east end of the Parthenon shows the post-battle thanksgiving sacrifice of cattle and sheep, honey and water, followed by the triumphant army of Erechtheus returning from their victory. This represents the first Panathenaia set in mythical times, the model on which historic Panathenaic processions were based. This interpretation has been rejected by William St Clair , who considers that

4212-502: The metal, obtained from contemporary coinage, could be used again if absolutely necessary without any impiety. According to Aristotle, the building also contained golden figures that he described as "Victories". The classicist Harris Rackham noted that eight of those figures were melted down for coinage during the Peloponnesian War. Other Greek writers have claimed that treasures such as Persian swords were also stored inside

4290-580: The metopes of the East, North, and West sides of the Parthenon had been deliberately mutilated by Christian iconoclasts in late antiquity. The metopes present examples of the Severe Style in the anatomy of the figures' heads, in the limitation of the corporal movements to the contours and not to the muscles, and in the presence of pronounced veins in the figures of the Centauromachy . Several of

4368-411: The metopes still remain on the building, but, with the exception of those on the northern side, they are severely damaged. Some of them are located at the Acropolis Museum , others are in the British Museum , and one is at the Louvre museum. In March 2011, archaeologists announced that they had discovered five metopes of the Parthenon in the south wall of the Acropolis, which had been extended when

4446-526: The missing metopes were destroyed during the Morosini explosion of the Parthenon in 1687. The most characteristic feature in the architecture and decoration of the temple is the Ionic frieze running around the exterior of the cella walls. The bas-relief frieze was carved in situ and is dated to 442–438. One interpretation is that it depicts an idealized version of the Panathenaic procession from

4524-515: The period of Humanism ; Cyriacus of Ancona was the first after antiquity to describe the Parthenon, of which he had read many times in ancient texts. Thanks to him, Western Europe was able to have the first design of the monument, which Ciriaco called "temple of the goddess Athena", unlike previous travellers, who had called it "church of Virgin Mary": ...mirabile Palladis Divae marmoreum templum, divum quippe opus Phidiae ("...the wonderful temple of

4602-475: The presence of the surrounding angles of the building. Striving for perfection, the designers may have added these curves, compensating for the illusion by creating their own curves, thus negating this effect and allowing the temple to be seen as they intended. It is also suggested that it was to enliven what might have appeared an inert mass in the case of a building without curves. But the comparison ought to be, according to Smithsonian historian Evan Hadingham, with

4680-489: The public buildings there, including the Parthenon. Repairs were made in the fourth century AD, possibly during the reign of Julian the Apostate . A new wooden roof overlaid with clay tiles was installed to cover the sanctuary. It sloped at a greater angle than the original roof and left the building's wings exposed. The Parthenon survived as a temple dedicated to Athena for nearly 1,000 years until Theodosius II , during

4758-448: The removal and dispersal of some of the sculptures. Sometime after the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church, the metopes of the north, west and east facades of the Parthenon were defaced by Christians in order to remove images of pagan deities. The damage was so extensive that the images on the affected metopes often can't be confidently identified. The Parthenon became the fourth most important Christian pilgrimage destination in

SECTION 60

#1732772893216

4836-466: The ring identifies the statue with Theseus or with Achilles , where in the latter case it is perhaps meant to highlight the hero's vulnerable ankle. This article about a sculpture in France is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Alcamenes Alcamenes ( Ancient Greek : Ἀλκαμένης ) was an ancient Greek sculptor of Lemnos and Athens , who flourished in the 2nd half of

4914-427: The room originally known as the Parthenon could have been a part of the temple known today as the Erechtheion . In 5th-century BC accounts of the building, the structure is simply called ὁ νᾱός ( ho naos ; lit. "the temple"). Douglas Frame writes that the name "Parthenon" was a nickname related to the statue of Athena Parthenos, and only appeared a century after construction. He contends that "Athena's temple

4992-709: The sanctuaries destroyed by the Persians would not be rebuilt, an oath from which the Athenians were only absolved with the Peace of Callias in 450. The cost of reconstructing Athens after the Persian sack is at least as likely a cause. The excavations of Bert Hodge Hill led him to propose the existence of a second Parthenon, begun in the period of Kimon after 468. Hill claimed that the Karrha limestone step Dörpfeld thought

5070-558: The so-called anklet: as a setting for a decorative element such as a bronze greave , the top of a boot, or indeed as a ring. But it being an anklet would not necessarily clarify that it is actually Ares. Classicists such as Winckelmann and Furtwängler claimed the ring represented part of a chain, in reference to either the myth of Ares being chained in Sparta or the myth of Ares and Aphrodite being bound in bed together after being discovered by Hephaestus . Other scholars have argued that

5148-474: The stylobate, the dimensions of the base of the Parthenon are 69.5 by 30.9 metres (228 by 101 ft). The cella was 29.8 metres long by 19.2 metres wide (97.8 × 63.0 ft). On the exterior, the Doric columns measure 1.9 metres (6.2 ft) in diameter and are 10.4 metres (34 ft) high. The corner columns are slightly larger in diameter. The Parthenon had 46 outer columns and 23 inner columns in total, each column having 20 flutes. (A flute

5226-432: The temple. Some scholars, therefore, argue that the Parthenon should be viewed as a grand setting for a monumental votive statue rather than as a cult site. Archaeologist Joan Breton Connelly has argued for the coherency of the Parthenon's sculptural programme in presenting a succession of genealogical narratives that track Athenian identity through the ages: from the birth of Athena, through cosmic and epic battles, to

5304-465: The temples that were still standing. At some point in the fifth century, Athena's great cult image was looted by one of the emperors and taken to Constantinople , where it was later destroyed, possibly during the siege and sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD. The Parthenon was converted into a Christian church in the final decades of the fifth century to become

5382-479: The west front was built at a slightly higher level than that of the east front. It is not universally agreed what the intended effect of these "optical refinements" was. They may serve as a sort of "reverse optical illusion". As the Greeks may have been aware, two parallel lines appear to bow, or curve outward, when intersected by converging lines. In this case, the ceiling and floor of the temple may seem to bow in

5460-827: The years 446–440. The metopes of the east side of the Parthenon, above the main entrance, depict the Gigantomachy (the mythical battle between the Olympian gods and the Giants ). The metopes of the west end show the Amazonomachy (the mythical battle of the Athenians against the Amazons ). The metopes of the south side show the Thessalian Centauromachy (battle of the Lapiths aided by Theseus against

5538-459: Was discovered in 1903 a Hellenistic copy of the head of the Hermes "Propylaeus" of Alcamenes. As, however, the deity is represented in a Neo-Attic , archaistic and conventional character, this copy cannot be relied on as giving us much information as to the usual style of Alcamenes, who was almost certainly a progressive and original artist. It is safer to judge him by the sculptural decoration of

5616-527: Was erected on the Athenian agora , which some have related to the Ares Borghese . However, the temple of Ares to which he refers had only been moved from Acharnes and re-sited in the Agora in Augustus 's time, and statues known to derive from Alcamenes' statue show the god in a breastplate , so the identification of Alcamenes' Ares with the Ares Borghese is not secure. At Pergamum there

5694-485: Was indeed well known. At the time of the Latin occupation , it became for about 250 years a Roman Catholic church of Our Lady . During this period a tower, used either as a watchtower or bell tower and containing a spiral staircase, was constructed at the southwest corner of the cella, and vaulted tombs were built beneath the Parthenon's floor. The rediscovery of the Parthenon as an ancient monument dates back to

5772-417: Was made in the wall dividing the cella, which became the church's nave , and from the rear chamber, the church's narthex . The spaces between the columns of the opisthodomos and the peristyle were walled up, though a number of doorways still permitted access. Icons were painted on the walls, and many Christian inscriptions were carved into the Parthenon's columns. These renovations inevitably led to

5850-526: Was never officially called the Parthenon and she herself most likely never had the cult title parthénos ". The ancient architects Iktinos and Callicrates appear to have called the building Ἑκατόμπεδος ( Hekatómpedos ; lit. "the hundred footer") in their lost treatise on Athenian architecture. Harpocration wrote that some people used to call the Parthenon the " Hekatompedos ", not due to its size but because of its beauty and fine proportions. The first instance in which Parthenon definitely refers to

5928-562: Was no earlier than 495 BC, contradicting the early date given by Dörpfeld. He denied that there were two proto-Parthenons, and held that the only pre-Periclean temple was what Dörpfeld referred to as Parthenon II. Dinsmoor and Dörpfeld exchanged views in the American Journal of Archaeology in 1935. In the mid-5th century BC, when the Athenian Acropolis became the seat of the Delian League , Pericles initiated

6006-497: Was revealed with the excavations of Panagiotis Kavvadias of 1885–1890. The findings of this dig allowed Wilhelm Dörpfeld , then director of the German Archaeological Institute , to assert that there existed a distinct substructure to the original Parthenon, called Parthenon I by Dörpfeld, not immediately below the present edifice as previously assumed. Dörpfeld's observation was that the three steps of

6084-404: Was the highest of Parthenon I was the lowest of the three steps of Parthenon II, whose stylobate dimensions Hill calculated at 23.51 by 66.888 metres (77.13  ft × 219.45 ft). One difficulty in dating the proto-Parthenon is that at the time of the 1885 excavation, the archaeological method of seriation was not fully developed; the careless digging and refilling of the site led to

#215784