What is the Parthenon? The Parthenon in Greece

A huge amount was allocated for the construction of the temple in Athens. The costs were not in vain. The Parthenon and still remains the pearl of world architecture. His greatness is inspiring and beckoning for 2500 years.

City of the warrior goddess

The amazing city of Athens is located in Greece. He set the direction for democracy, developed a philosophy, formed the foundations of the theater. Another of his merits - the ancient Parthenon: an outstanding monument of ancient architecture, preserved to this day.

The city was named after the goddess of war and wisdom - Athens.

According to legend, she and the ruler of the seas Poseidon started a dispute about which of them will be worshiped by the inhabitants. The god of the oceans, to show his strength, struck a trident on the rock. There was a waterfall playing. So he wanted to save the townspeople from droughts. But the water was salty and became a poison for plants. Athena, however, grew an olive tree, which gave oil, fruits and firewood. The winner was chosen goddess. Her name was the city.

Subsequently, in honor of the defender of the city was built Parthenon. The Temple of Athena is located on the Acropolis, that is, in the upper city.

The customer of the house of the goddess

Ancient Athens is one of the twelve independent cities of Attica (the middle part of Greece). His golden age came in the V century BC. E. Many did for the policy of his ruler Pericles. The man was born into a family of Athenian aristocrats, although later he vigorously supported democracy. With the people he drove out of the city the incumbent leader and took his throne. The new policy and the mass of reforms introduced by Pericles made Athens the center of culture. It was on his initiative that the Parthenon temple was laid.

One of the traditions of the Greeks was that the shrines were reduced to specially designated places and had the common name of the Acropolis. It was the upper part of the city. It was fortified in case of an attack by enemies.

The predecessor of the Parthenon

The first temple of Athena was built in the middle of the VI century BC. E. And was called Hecatompedon. It was defeated by the Persians in 480 BC. E. Since then, several attempts have been made to build a shrine, but constant wars ravaged the budget.

The next, who managed to thank the goddess, was Pericles. In 447 BC. E. The construction of the temple Parthenon began. In Greece at that time it was relatively quiet, the Persians finally retreated, and the monument on the Acropolis became a symbol of success and peace. It is worth noting that the construction was part of the ruler's plans for the restoration of Athens. It is interesting that the money that was spent on construction was borrowed from the money that the Allies had collected for the war with the Persians.

Start of construction

At that time, the Acropolis was actually a dump of what was left of the walls of the previous temples. Therefore, to begin with, I had to clear the hill. The main shrine was in gratitude to Athena for her help in defeating the enemies in the Battle of Marathon. Often, the goddess of military affairs was called Athena Deva. This is another answer to the question of what the Parthenon is. After all, from the Greek word "parfenos" is translated as "virgin" or "virginity."

The foundation was the remains of the building, everything that collapsed. For the work were invited to the best artists, engineers and sculptors of the time. The geniuses of the architecture Iktin and Callikrat were called for design. According to the documents that remained, it is known that the first developed the plan, and the second architect monitored the work. Their team worked on the temple for sixteen years. In 438 BC. E. They surrendered their work. In the same year, the building was consecrated. In fact, the sculptors worked until 432 BC. E. The course of decoration was led by a close friend of Pericles and the artistic genius of Phidias.

The phenomenon of the temple

Often Pericles was accused of wasting. The Parthenon demanded colossal costs. The Temple of Athena cost 450 silver talents. For comparison - for one such coin it was possible to craft a warship.

When the discontented people rose, the ruler cheated. He stated that he would return the expenses, but then he would become the only sponsor of the church, and in the course of time the descendants would only thank him. The common people also wished fame, agreed that the expenses were recorded on the citizens, and no longer protested. By the way, it was on financial checks (at that time it was marble plaques) that researchers set all the dates.

I had to visit the Parthenon and the Christian shrine. During the Byzantine period (V century), the place of Athena worship was transformed into the church of St. Mary.

What the Parthenon is and what its main purpose is, the Turks did not know. In 1460, Athens passed into their hands, and the church of the Mother of God (ie, the temple of the goddess of soldiers) was converted into a mosque.

1687 became fatal for Athena-Virgo. The Venetian ship hit the building in the building and broke almost completely its central part. The architecture also suffered from the inept hands of art guards. Thus, dozens of statues were destroyed when they were attempted to remove from the walls vandals and defenders of culture.

Features, attractions

At the beginning of the XIX century, Lord Elgin took permission from the Ottoman Sultan to transport to England statues and carved walls that survived. Thus, tens of meters of a valuable stone canvas were saved. The Parthenon architecture, or rather its parts, is still preserved in the British Museum in London. Also, such exhibits boasts the Louvre and the Acropolis Museum.

Partial restoration began after the restoration of the country's independence. This happened at the end of the XIX century. Then for the first time they tried to restore the original face of the Acropolis.

Today this unique place is being restored.

Ensemble of the upper city

The temple became a crown and glorified the Acropolis of Athens. The Parthenon is a classic of ancient Greece. The room is spacious, surrounded on all sides by columns. For construction, cement was not used, the masonry was dry. Each block is the right square. Mounted blocks, which clearly correspond to each other, on iron pins. All marble slabs were perfectly polished.

The territory was divided. The place for treasury storage was allocated. A separate room was for the statue of Athena.

The main material is marble. It has the property of golding under the light, so its sunny side is yellower, and the other part has a grayish shade.

The heyday of the temple fell on the heyday of Greece. After the fall of the country, the house of Athena also collapsed.

The main guest of the temple

All the sculptural work was conducted under the guidance of the Greek sculptor and architect Phidias. But he decorated the most important part of the temple himself. The center of the shrine and crown of his work was the statue of the goddess. The Parthenon in Greece was known for her. The height was 11 meters.

The tree was taken as a basis, but the figure was framed with gold and ivory. Precious metal was used for 40 talents (this was equal to a weight of about a ton of gold). The miracle that created Phidias, has not survived until our days, but it was reconstructed in detail. The image of the sculpture was engraved on coins, hundreds of small statues of Athena (copies from the Parthenon) ordered temples from neighboring cities. All this became the material for the restoration of the most accurate reproduction.

Her head was in a helmet that did not cover her beauty. In his hand the shield on which the battle with the Amazons is depicted. According to one of the legends, the author knocked out his portrait and the customer's portrait there. In the palm of her hand, she holds the statue of the goddess of victory in ancient Greece - Nicky. Against the big Athena it seems tiny, although in fact its height is more than two meters.

In order to better understand what the Parthenon is and how it corresponded to the then representation of reality, you can read the myths of Greece. Athena was the only deity that stood in the armor. Often she was represented with a spear in her hand.

In 438-437 years BC. E. Phidias completed work on the statue of Athena. Then her fate was not easy. The author was accused of stealing gold. Subsequently, part of the expensive plates were removed and replaced with bronze. And in the fifth century, according to some testimonies, she finally died in a fire.

Birth of the goddess

What is the Parthenon and in honor of whom it is built, every Greek knows. The main temple of the ancient city was erected in order to glorify the wisdom and justice of its patroness - the beautiful Athena.

The appearance of the goddess on Olympus is unusual. She was not born, but she left her father Zeus. This scene is depicted in the east wing of the temple.

Zeus, the chief god, was married for some time to the lord of the ocean, a woman named Metida. When the wife became pregnant, God was predicted that he would have two children. A daughter who will not yield to him in courage and strength, and a son who will be able to throw off his father's throne. Cunning Zeus made his beloved diminish. When Metida became tiny, her husband swallowed. By such an act, God decided to outwit fate.

The Temple of the Parthenon would not have existed if Athena had not been born. After a while, Zeus became ill. The pain in his head was so strong that he asked his son Hephaestus to split his skull. He hit his father with a hammer, and from his head came an adult beautiful woman in armor - Athena.

Subsequently, she became the patroness of warrior-heroes and domestic craft.

Temple - the book of myths

The main wealth of the structure is its cultural value for future generations. So, each particle tells its own unique story: the birth of a goddess, the love of the city and its relation to the heroes.

Unlike Ares, the god of war, Athena strove for just battles. She was a defender of warriors, helped cities where there were places for worship, often accompanied the heroes in their adventures. So, Perseus with her help defeated Medusa Gorgon. Jason and the Argonauts Athena built a ship on which they sailed for the Golden Fleece. Also often this character meets in the pages about the exploits of Hercules. A lot of goddess did to make Odysseus come home. Her favorite on the Trojan War was Achilles, so the scenes of these battles are depicted in the western part of the temple.

The statues of the Parthenon were role models for many generations of artists.