Parthenon

"Temple of Athena" redirects here. For other uses, see Parthenon (disambiguation) and Temple of Athena (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Pantheon, Rome.

Parthenon
Παρθενώνας
The Parthenon in 1978
Map
General information
TypeTemple
Architectural styleClassical
LocationAthens, Greece
Coordinates37°58′17″N 23°43′36″E / 37.9715°N 23.7266°E / 37.9715; 23.7266
Construction started447 BC[1][2]
Completed432 BC;[1][2] 2456 years ago
DestroyedPartially in 1687
Height13.72 m (45.0 ft)[3]
Dimensions
Other dimensionsCella: 29.8 by 19.2 m (98 by 63 ft)
Technical details
MaterialPentelic Marble[4]
Size69.5 by 30.9 m (228 by 101 ft)
Floor area73 by 34 m (240 by 112 ft)[5]
Design and construction
Architect(s)Iktinos, Callicrates
Other designersPhidias (sculptor)

The Parthenon (/ˈpɑːrθəˌnɒn, -nən/; Ancient Greek: Παρθενών, romanized: Parthenōn [par.tʰe.nɔ̌ːn]; Greek: Παρθενώνας, romanized: Parthenónas [parθeˈnonas]) is a former temple[6][7] 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.[8][9]

The Parthenon was built in the 5th century BC in thanksgiving for the Hellenic victory over Persian Empire invaders during the Greco-Persian Wars.[10] Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon also served as the city treasury.[11][12] 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 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,[13] 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.[14] Since 1975, numerous large-scale restoration projects have been undertaken to preserve remaining artefacts and ensure its structural integrity.[15][16]

  1. ^ a b Parthenon Archived 5 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Academic.reed.edu. Retrieved on 4 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b The Parthenon Archived 2 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Ancientgreece.com. Retrieved on 4 September 2013.
  3. ^ Penprase, Bryan E. (2010). The Power of Stars: How Celestial Observations Have Shaped Civilization. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 221. ISBN 978-1-4419-6803-6. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  4. ^ Sakoulas, Thomas. "The Parthenon". Ancient-Greece.org. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  5. ^ Wilson, Benjamin Franklin (1920). The Parthenon at Athens, Greece and at Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville, Tennessee: Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2020.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ Barletta, Barbara A. (2005). "The Architecture and Architects of the Classical Parthenon". In Jenifer Neils (ed.). The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-521-82093-6. The Parthenon (Plate 1, Fig. 17) is probably the most celebrated of all Greek temples.
  7. ^ Sacks, David. "Parthenon". Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World, David Sacks, Facts On File, 3rd edition, 2015. Accessed 15 July 2022.
  8. ^ Beard, Mary (2010). The Parthenon. Profile Books. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-84765-063-4.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Robertson, Miriam (1981). A Shorter History of Greek Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-521-28084-6.
  12. ^ Davison, Claire Cullen; Lundgreen, Birte (2009). Pheidias:The Sculptures and Ancient Sources. Vol. 105. London: Institute of Classical Studies, University of London. p. 209. ISBN 978-1-905670-21-5. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  13. ^ "Lord Elgin and the Parthenon Sculptures". British Museum. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013.
  14. ^ "How the Parthenon Lost Its Marbles". History Magazine. 28 March 2017. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  15. ^ "Reasons of Interventions". ysma.gr. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  16. ^ Magazine, Smithsonian. "Unlocking Mysteries of the Parthenon". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.