The Parthenon

📐 Dimensions & Proportions

• Overall: 69.5 x 30.9 meters (228 x 101 feet)
• Height to peak: approximately 18 meters (59 feet)
• 8 columns on short ends, 17 on long sides
• Column height: 10.43 meters (34.2 feet)
• Ratio approximates golden ratio (phi)
• Built entirely of Pentelic marble

👁️ Optical Refinements

• Entasis: Columns curve slightly outward to appear straight
• Stylobate curvature: Floor curves upward 4 inches at center
• Column tilts: All columns lean slightly inward
• Corner columns: Thicker and closer together
• No true verticals or horizontals in entire structure
• Compensates for human visual perception

🎨 Sculptural Program

• Pediments: Birth of Athena (east), Contest with Poseidon (west)
• Metopes: 92 panels depicting mythological battles
• Ionic Frieze: 160-meter Panathenaic procession
• Originally brightly painted in reds, blues, golds
• Phidias designed all sculpture
• Most advanced Greek sculpture of its era

🌟 Athena Parthenos Statue

• Height: 12 meters (40 feet) including base
• Chryselephantine: gold and ivory over wooden core
• Required 40-44 talents of gold (1,140-1,250 kg)
• Removable gold plates served as state treasury
• Shield depicted Amazonomachy and Gigantomachy
• Disappeared in late antiquity; known from copies

🔨 Construction Techniques

• Marble blocks fitted without mortar
• Iron clamps sealed with lead for stability
• Precision cutting allowed tight joins
• Blocks quarried 16 km away on Mount Pentelikon
• Advanced lifting and positioning technology
• Estimated 13,400 marble blocks used

🏺 Interior Spaces

• Naos (cella): Main chamber housing Athena statue
• Opisthodomos: Back room, state treasury
• Pronaos: Front porch with six columns
• Peristyle: Surrounding colonnade
• Two-story interior colonnade in naos
• Sacred pool reflected statue

🏺 Foundation Myths

The Parthenon's location and decoration commemorated Athens's founding myths:

• Contest of Athena & Poseidon: Depicted on west pediment
• Athena's gift of olive tree won patronage of city
• Poseidon's salt spring marked on nearby Erechtheion
• Site where Cecrops, first king, judged the contest
• Olive tree sacred to Athena grew nearby

👶 Birth of Athena

East pediment depicted Athena's miraculous birth:

• Athena emerged fully armed from Zeus's head
• Hephaestus split Zeus's skull with axe
• Showed Athena's divine wisdom and war prowess
• Gods assembled as witnesses to marvel
• Central divine moment for Athenian identity

⚔️ Mythological Battles

92 metope panels depicted four mythological conflicts:

• Gigantomachy: Gods vs. Giants (east)
• Amazonomachy: Greeks vs. Amazons (west)
• Centauromachy: Lapiths vs. Centaurs (south)
• Trojan War: Fall of Troy (north)
• All represented civilization vs. chaos
• Parallel to recent Persian Wars victory

🎭 Panathenaic Procession

The Ionic frieze depicted Athens's greatest festival:

• Annual Great Panathenaia honored Athena's birthday
• Procession brought new peplos (robe) to goddess
• All Athenian citizens, metics, and slaves participated
• Horsemen, musicians, sacrificial animals
• Culminated in presentation to Athena's statue
• United civic and religious identity

🛡️ Athena's Attributes

• Wisdom: Strategic warfare, crafts, reason
• Victory: Nike held in statue's hand
• Protection: Aegis breastplate with Medusa
• Civilization: Olive tree, weaving, pottery
• Justice: Patron of law courts
• Virginity: Parthenos (maiden) emphasized purity

🏛️ Political Symbolism

• Monument to Athenian democracy
• Funded by Delian League treasury
• Statement of imperial power
• Victory monument for Persian Wars
• Cultural superiority over other Greeks
• Pericles's vision of Athenian greatness

🎊 Great Panathenaia

• Held every four years in midsummer
• Week-long festival with athletic contests
• Musical and poetic competitions
• Torch race from Academy to Acropolis
• Grand procession depicted on frieze
• New peplos presented to Athena's statue
• Hecatomb: sacrifice of 100 oxen
• Meat distributed to all citizens

📅 Annual Panathenaia

• Celebrated every year on Athena's birthday
• Smaller scale than Great Panathenaia
• Procession and sacrifices maintained
• Reinforced civic identity annually
• Both citizens and metics participated
• Olive oil prizes from sacred groves

🕯️ Daily Observances

• Priestess of Athena Polias maintained sacred fire
• Daily libations and small offerings
• Perpetual lamp burned before statue
• Private devotions by citizens
• Votive offerings left at altar
• Prayer before important civic decisions

🏺 Peplos Weaving

• New robe woven by selected maidens (arrhephoroi)
• Nine months of sacred work
• Depicted myths and victories
• Displayed on ship-shaped cart in procession
• Dressed Athena's ancient wooden statue (xoanon)
• Old peplos cut up as sacred relics

⚔️ Military Dedications

• Generals dedicated spoils of war
• Shields hung on exterior walls
• Persian armor from Marathon displayed
• Prayers before military campaigns
• Victory celebrations at the temple
• Ephebic oath sworn by new soldiers

🎓 Civic Functions

• Important state meetings held on Acropolis
• Treaties signed in Athena's presence
• Decrees inscribed and displayed
• Ambassadors received
• Oaths of office administered
• Symbol of democratic values

🏛️ Pericles (c. 495-429 BCE)

Athenian statesman and general who dominated Athens during its Golden Age

• Led Athens for nearly 30 years (461-429 BCE)
• Initiated the Periclean building program
• Strengthened Athenian democracy
• Built Athenian empire through Delian League
• Commissioned the Parthenon and Acropolis monuments
• Defended expenditures against political opponents
• Died of plague during Peloponnesian War

🎨 Phidias (c. 480-430 BCE)

Greatest sculptor of antiquity, artistic director of the Parthenon

• Overall supervisor (epistates) of Parthenon project
• Created the Athena Parthenos chryselephantine statue
• Also sculpted Zeus at Olympia (Wonder of Ancient World)
• Designed all sculptural programs for the Parthenon
• Accused of embezzlement and impiety by rivals
• Proved gold theft charges false by weighing plates
• Died in prison/exile, victim of political intrigue

📐 Iktinos

Brilliant architect who designed the Parthenon's structure

• Master architect of the Parthenon
• Pioneered sophisticated optical refinements
• Also designed Temple of Apollo at Bassae
• Wrote treatise on Parthenon (now lost)
• Innovative use of Ionic elements in Doric temple
• Mathematical genius in proportions
• Influenced all subsequent Greek architecture

🏗️ Kallikrates

Co-architect of the Parthenon, specialist in detailed execution

• Worked alongside Iktinos on Parthenon design
• Handled construction oversight and implementation
• Previously built Long Walls connecting Athens to Piraeus
• Designed Temple of Athena Nike on Acropolis
• Expert in precision stonework
• Ensured accurate execution of optical refinements

💣 Francesco Morosini (1619-1694)

Venetian commander whose bombardment caused catastrophic damage

• Led Venetian siege of Ottoman Athens in 1687
• Ordered artillery bombardment of Acropolis
• Shell hit Ottoman ammunition stored in Parthenon
• Massive explosion destroyed temple's interior
• Attempted to loot surviving sculptures (many fell)
• Worst single disaster in Parthenon's history
• Later served as Doge of Venice despite the destruction

🏺 Lord Elgin (Thomas Bruce, 1766-1841)

British ambassador who removed major portions of Parthenon sculptures

• British Ambassador to Ottoman Empire 1799-1803
• Obtained controversial permission (firman) to remove sculptures
• Removed about half of surviving frieze, metopes, pediments
• Claimed to be saving them from destruction
• Sold marbles to British Museum in 1816
• Actions remain deeply controversial
• Greece demands repatriation to this day

🔬 Manolis Korres (b. 1949)

Leading architect of modern Parthenon restoration

• Director of Acropolis Restoration Service
• Led restoration efforts since 1975
• Pioneered use of titanium clamps
• Developed innovative anastylosis techniques
• Identified thousands of displaced blocks
• Major scholarly work on Parthenon construction
• Continuing multi-decade conservation project

📖 Other Key Figures

• Plutarch: Ancient biographer who preserved Pericles's history
• Pausanias: 2nd century CE traveler who described the Parthenon
• Cyriacus of Ancona: 15th c. antiquarian who drew intact sculptures
• Jacques Carrey: Artist who sketched pediments before 1687 explosion
• Stuart & Revett: 18th c. architects who measured and published drawings
• Adolf Furtwängler: 19th c. scholar who reconstructed pediment compositions

✝️ Christian Church (5th-15th c.)

• Converted to Church of the Parthenos Maria
• Later became Church of the Divine Wisdom
• Athena statue removed and destroyed
• Apse added to east end
• Metopes defaced or removed
• Christian mosaics and frescoes added
• Served as cathedral of Athens

☪️ Ottoman Mosque (1460s-1687)

• Converted after Ottoman conquest
• Minaret added to southwest corner
• Relatively well preserved during this period
• Travelers' accounts describe good condition
• Used as ammunition depot
• Tragic consequences in 1687

💣 1687 Explosion

• Venetian siege of Ottoman-held Athens
• Artillery shell hit ammunition storage
• Massive explosion destroyed roof and cella
• 14 of 46 columns collapsed
• Most sculpture on south side lost
• Building reduced to ruins
• Worst disaster in Parthenon's history

🏺 Elgin Marbles Controversy

• Lord Elgin removed sculptures 1801-1812
• Claimed Ottoman permission
• About half of surviving sculpture taken
• Now in British Museum, London
• Greece demands repatriation
• Ongoing international controversy
• Other sculptures in Louvre, other museums

🔨 Modern Restoration

• Major restoration began 1975
• Reversing damage from earlier repairs
• Replacing iron clamps with titanium
• Laser cleaning of marble
• Reassembling displaced blocks
• New Acropolis Museum (2009) for sculptures
• Ongoing work expected for decades

🌍 UNESCO World Heritage

• Acropolis designated 1987
• Universal symbol of classical spirit
• Represents birth of Western civilization
• Attracts millions of visitors annually
• Symbol of democratic values
• Ongoing conservation challenges

🏛️ Architectural Legacy

• Template for neoclassical architecture worldwide
• U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court, Lincoln Memorial
• British Museum, Brandenburg Gate
• Countless banks, libraries, government buildings
• Academic institutions globally
• Doric order remains standard architectural element

🗽 Democratic Symbol

• Embodies Athenian democracy
• Symbol of Western political values
• Freedom, reason, civic participation
• Used in political imagery worldwide
• Greek 1 euro coin depicts Parthenon
• National symbol of Greece

🎨 Artistic Influence

• Renaissance rediscovery shaped Western art
• Neoclassical movement in 18th-19th centuries
• Standard of beauty and proportion
• Inspiration for countless paintings, sculptures
• Photography and film icon
• Modern artists reinterpret and critique

📚 Educational Symbol

• Central to classical education
• Study of Greek civilization begins here
• Architecture and engineering marvel
• Archaeological training ground
• Philosophy and democracy connection
• Cultural heritage preservation case study

🌐 Tourism & Economy

• Greece's most visited monument
• 3+ million visitors annually
• Major economic driver for Athens
• New Acropolis Museum (2009)
• Night illumination spectacle
• Cultural events and celebrations

⚖️ Repatriation Debate

• Greece campaigns for Elgin Marbles return
• Questions of cultural property ownership
• Colonial legacy and restitution
• British Museum refuses return
• UNESCO involved in mediation
• Broader implications for museum collections

🎫 Access & Tickets

• Hours: 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM (summer); 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM (winter)
• Combined ticket: Includes all Acropolis sites
• Free entry: First Sunday of month (Nov-March)
• Special days: Free on March 25, October 28
• Advance booking: Highly recommended
• Early arrival: Best to beat crowds and heat

♿ Accessibility

• Wheelchair lift available at entrance
• Paved path to summit (steep in places)
• Limited wheelchair access around Parthenon
• Companion assistance recommended
• Accessible restrooms at entrance
• Contact site in advance for arrangements

🌡️ Best Times to Visit

• Season: Spring (April-May) or Fall (Sept-Oct)
• Time: Early morning (8 AM) or late afternoon
• Weather: Avoid midday summer heat (35°C+)
• Crowds: Lowest in winter, highest in summer
• Special: Full moon nights (limited access)
• Photography: Golden hour for best light

👟 Practical Tips

• Wear comfortable, non-slip walking shoes
• Marble becomes slippery when wet
• Bring water, sun protection, hat
• No large bags allowed (storage available)
• Stay on marked paths
• Photography allowed (no tripods)
• Allow 2-3 hours for full Acropolis visit

🏛️ Nearby Sites (Included in Ticket)

• Propylaea: Monumental gateway
• Erechtheion: Temple with Caryatid Porch
• Temple of Athena Nike: Small Ionic temple
• Theatre of Dionysus: Birthplace of drama
• Odeon of Herodes Atticus: Roman theater
• Ancient Agora: Marketplace and civic center

🏛️ Acropolis Museum

• Modern museum at base of Acropolis (2009)
• Houses original Parthenon sculptures
• Top floor recreates frieze in situ
• Caryatids from Erechtheion
• Glass floor shows excavations below
• Restaurant with Acropolis view
• Separate ticket required