If you were to visit Greece, you could visit the Parthenon and learn a lot about what happened there and throughout history to bring it to its present condition. Instead of visiting it, let me tell you a little about it.
The Parthenon is a great building that was built in ancient Greece. It is still standing today, not in the same condition, but it stands as a monument. It was originally built as a temple for the Greek goddess Athena. Athena was the protector of Athens. The Parthenon also stood for democracy.
It was built around 480 B.C. on the Acropolis. It is one of the last monuments standing today from ancient Greece. When you hear the stories about the ancient Greeks, it is during that time period that this was built and working.
The Parthenon was started many times. There were wars that stopped it from being built and during that time, the enemies would ransack the area it was being built and destroy it. Another temple was actually being built right next to the Parthenon but it was destroyed during one of the wars.
Pericles actually started the main work on it. His efforts took a half a century to build part of the Parthenon and the buildings surrounding it. The sculptor Phidias was the main supervisor for the project. Iktinos and Kallikrates were the main architects for the project. They began in 447 B.C. and ended around 431 B.C. That included all the decorations too.
The stone to build the Parthenon came from Mount Pentelicus which is several miles away from the Acropolis. The stone was probably the most expensive part of the building because they had to transport it so far. The Delian League mostly paid for the building of the Parthenon.
The base of the Parthenon is 228 feet by 101.4 feet. The cella is 97.8 feet by 63 feet. There are forty six outer pillars in the Parthenon with nineteen inner pillars. The roof was made from overlapping marble tiles. The proportions for the Parthenon seem to be made just like the golden ratio, making it one of the first buildings to ever use the golden ratio.
Some people don’t think that the Parthenon was built as a temple to the goddess Athena. If you look at the Parthenon from an architects point of view, it definitely looks like a temple. However, Greek sacrifices were usually performed in the open, without a covering, like a building. There is no evidence of an altar and so some believe that it isn’t a temple. Some believe it was used as a bank or treasury and not as a temple.
The Parthenon is symbolic of a time long ago when things were completely different from the way they are now. They symbolize an ancient time in history that helped to shape how things are now. The Acropolis was the center of government for that area and that time. The Parthenon was in the midst of all that. It could be that the Parthenon was a part of the government and the politics and just another building in the center of all of that, or that it was a temple built for the Greek goddess Athena set in a place of honor in the middle of the city where all could see it.
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