Build in Greece: The Parthenon - Term Paper Example

The Parthenon Thesis- The Parthenon was an important ical building in ancient Greece The people of Greece are known for a long time for their ancient spectacular traditions, culture, philosophical contributions, and architectural works. The country is among areas of ancient civilizations in the whole world with conspicuous buildings, cultures, beliefs, and inventions. One of the spectacular areas of utmost importance to the Greeks and to the world is the Parthenon building. It was a temple that was established on the Acropolis, a hill that overlooks the city of Athens, within Greece (Ancient- Greece.org, 2002). It was devoted to the maiden goddess known as Athena for their success. The inhabitants of Athens considered the goddess their patron. The construction of the temple commenced in 447 B.C during the reign of Athenian Empire and was completed in 438 B.C at a cost of 469 silver talents (Beard, 2010). The magnificent temple was constructed of gold and ivory. Because of its significance, the decoration of the building extended until 432 B.C. The Parthenon remains the most important building of traditional Greece surviving in the contemporary world (Hadingham, 2008). This is because of its perception as the finale of the progress of the Doric order. The decorative sculptures of the Parthenon are perceived to be components of the towering points of Greek art. Moreover, the building is considered as a durable figure of ancient Greece, western civilizations, as well as Athenian democracy. Currently, the Ministry of Culture of Greece is conducting a program of restoring and reconstruction of the ancient building with the aim of maintaining the stability of the partially destroyed building (Hadingham, 2008). The temple also served as a treasury mainly for the Delian League which later transformed to Athenian Empire. The Parthenon also served as a Christian church in the 5th century A.D and devoted to the Virgin Mary. In the early 1660s and after the Ottoman conquered Greece, the building was turned into a mosque. However, in the 1806, the Venetians bombed the Parthenon in a mission to destroy the Ottoman ammunition dumped in the building. The subsequent explosion greatly damaged the building together with the sculptures (Jenkins, 2007). Architecture of Parthenon Parthenon, being a building dedicated to the goddess Athena was of utmost importance to the inhabitants of Athens. Their perception of goddess Athena as the patron facilitated the construction of a magnificent temple with beautiful decorations. Because of its role and importance, the temple had Ionic architectural characteristics. The temple rests on a platform of three steps with lintel and post construction while surrounded by columns carrying an entablature (Jenkins, 2007). The temple has eight columns at both ends as well as seventeen on its sides. There is also a double of columns at both ends of the temple. Moreover, the colonnade encloses an internal masonry structure known as cella and which is separated into two segments. On both ends of the building, the gable is finished with a triangle shaped pediment initially filled with sculpture. Further, the columns of the temple are of the Doric Order, being of fluted shafts, simple capitals, and lack bases. At the top of the architrave of the entablature, there exists a frieze of crafted pictorials panels otherwise known as metopes that are divided by formal architectural triglyphs a characteristic of the Doric Order Ancient (Greece.com, 2003). Around the cella as well as across the lintels of the internal columns runs an incessant sculptured frieze in a low relief. Thus, the element of the architecture is of Ionic and not Doric. The dimensions of the Parthenon, when measured within the stylobate, consisted of 69 meters by 30.9 meters. Consequently, the measurement of cella comprised 29.8 meters in length and19.2 meters in width. The cella also had inner colonnades within two tiers with the function of supporting the roof. On the outer side, the Doric columns measured 1.9 meters in diameter and 10.4 meters in height (Greece.com, 2003). Consequently, the corner columns are fairly larger in diameter. Further, the temple had a total of 46 outer pillars as well as 23 inner pillars. The stylobate had a rising curvature directed at its center measuring 60 millimeters on both east and west ends and of 110 millimeters within the sides. The roof of the temple was covered with overlapping tiles acknowledged as teguale and imbrices (Greece.com, 2003). Parthenon is considered the perfect model of Greek architecture and thus enjoys the status of being ideal Doric temple ever built. Even in the olden times, the architectural refinements of the temple more so the slight correspondence linking the curve of the stylobate, the entasis of the columns as well as the taper of the naos ramparts. Entasis entails the dwindling in diameter of the temple columns as they move upwards. The stylobate refers to the platform whereby the columns stand. This has a trivial parabolic upward curve aimed at shedding the rainwater as well as reinforcing the temple against earthquakes (Neils, 2005). The columns lean inwards instead of outwards and thus when moved on, they roughly meet within a mile at the middle of the Parthenon. This is because they all adhere to the rule of being built to delicate curves. Moreover, the west front of the temple was built at a little higher position compared to the east front. The floor and the ceiling of the Parthenon seem to bend over in the presence of the adjacent angles of the building (Neils, 2005). This assisted the temple possess the appearance initially intended. The temple had a chryselephantine statue of the goddess Athena Parthenos housed in the cella. Phidias sculptured the statue and bestowed it in 438 B.C. Moreover, the decorative stonework was highly colored in the original structure. In 438 B.C, the sculptural decoration of the temple had been completed. The high decoration of the metope, as well as a frieze, proves the use of the temple as a treasury in the earlier period. The frieze of the temple’s entablature had ninety-two metopes (Silverman, 2014). The metopes on the east part of the temple placed at the top of the entrance represent the Gigantology, a mythical battle involving the Giants and the Olympian gods. However, the metopes on the west part of the temple depict Amazonomachy, mythical battle between the Athenians and the Amazons. Further, the metopes placed on the south part of the temple indicate the Thessalian Centauromachy. This was a war of the Lapiths where Theseus offered help against Centaurs who was half man half horse. Consequently, the metopes on the northern side of the temple were poorly preserved although it is associated with sack of Troy (Silverman, 2014). Presently, there are still many metopes existing in the temple except those located on the northern side. Even though they exist, the metopes are badly damaged with some being found within the Acropolis and British Museums. The Ionic frieze running within walls of the cella forms the most characteristic feature within the decoration and architecture of Parthenon. The frieze was crafted in situ and dated in 442 BC to 438 BC. The Parthenon was used as a temple bestowed to Athena for nearly a thousand years. However, Theodosius II issues a decree calling for the closure of all pagan temples within the Byzantine Empire in 435 BC (Hadingham, 2008). The temple was later converted into a church within the last decade in the 6th century and became referred to as the Church of the Parthenons Mary, also known as the church of the Theokotos or Mother of God (Neils, 2005). This led to changing in the orientation of the building, modification of some components, as well as construction of the Christian altar. This made Parthenon become one of the four most significant Christian pilgrimage points within the Roman Empire. Later, the Parthenon served as a mosque after the invasion and conquest of Athens by Ottoman Turkish army (Neils, 2005). This also led to slight modification of its architectural work to suit the Muslim faithful. However, the alterations following the conversion of the temple into a church and then later into a mosque were minimal and never destroyed the initial design of the building. Its original form and structure remained intact until late 1687 when the building suffered the bombing as well as the successive stealing of the art objects (Hadingham, 2008). This led to crumbling of the some parts of the building such as the cella as well as destruction of the central portion part. In the contemporary world, the Parthenon remains a historic building managed by the Greek government. Currently, it serves a museum and attracts millions of tourists annually who visit the area in order to have a lifetime experience of the ancient historic building. The reconstruction effort of the Parthenon, as well as other Acropolis structures, began in 1975 and was controlled and supported by the government of Greece. This exercise attracted technical assistance and funding from the European Union. (Ancient- Greece.org, 2002). The initiative is good and should be supported by ever person since Parthenon remains a significant place for the current and future historians as well as to individuals who want to tour and learn or see for themselves the ancient history of the building. From ancient distinguished features, colorful decorations and paintings to the modern reconstruction of the building, it is certain that Parthenon is an important building to the Greeks and to the entire world. This confirms the thesis that states that Parthenon is an important classical building in Greece. Fig 1. A picture of the Parthenon building. Retrieved March 20, 2014 from http://www.ancient-greece.org/architecture/parthenon.html References Ancient Greece.com. (2003) The Parthenon. Retrieved March 20, 2014 from http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Parthenon/ Ancient- Greece.org. (2002). Parthenon. Retrieved March 20, 2014 from http://www.ancient- greece.org/architecture/parthenon.html Beard, M. (2010). The Parthenon. London: Profile Books. Hadingham, E. (February 2008). Unlocking Mysteries of the Parthenon: Restoration of the 2,500-year-old temple is yielding new insights into the engineering feats of the golden ages master builders. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved March 20, 2014 from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unlocking-mysteries-of-the-parthenon- 16621015/?no-ist Jenkins, I. (2007). The Parthenon sculptures. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Neils, J. (2005). The Parthenon: From antiquity to the present. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Silverman, D. (2014). The Parthenon. Retrieved March 20, 2014 from http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/parthenon.html Read More