Athens & Around - Greece - page 130

the inhabitants to believe that the statue had beckoned the Crusaders to the city, so they
smashed it to pieces.
» Parthenon
The Parthenon is the monument that more than any other epitomises the glory of Ancient
Greece. Parthenon means 'virgin's apartment' and it is dedicated to Athena Parthenos,
the goddess embodying the power and prestige of the city. The largest Doric temple ever
completed in Greece, and the only one built completely of Pentelic marble (apart from
the wood in its roof), it took 15 years to complete.
Built on the highest part of the Acropolis, the Parthenon had a dual purpose - to house
the great statue of Athena commissioned by Pericles, and to serve as the new treasury. It
was built on the site of at least four earlier temples dedicated to Athena. It was designed
by Iktinos and Kallicrates to be the pre-eminent monument of the Acropolis and was
completed in time for the Great Panathenaic Festival of 438 BC.
The temple consisted of eight fluted Doric columns at either end and 17 on each side.
To achieve perfect form, its lines were ingeniously curved to create an optical illusion -
the foundations are slightly concave and the columns are slightly convex to make both
look straight. Supervised by Pheidias, the sculptors Agoracritos and Alcamenes worked
on the architectural sculptures of the Parthenon, including the pediments, frieze and met-
opes, which were brightly coloured and gilded.
The metopes on the eastern side depicted the Olympian gods fighting the giants, and
on the western side they showed Theseus leading the Athenian youths into battle against
the Amazons. The southern metopes illustrated the contest of the Lapiths and Centaurs at
a marriage feast, while the northern ones depicted the sacking of Troy.
Much of the frieze depicting the Panathenaic Procession (see boxed text, Click here )
was damaged in the explosion of 1687 or later defaced by the Christians, but the greatest
existing part (over 75m long) consists of the controversial Parthenon Marbles, taken by
Lord Elgin and now in the British Museum in London. The British government continues
to ignore campaigns for their return.
The ceiling of the Parthenon, like that of the Propylaia, was painted blue and gilded
with stars. At the eastern end was the holy cella (inner room of a temple), into which
only a few privileged initiates could enter. Here stood the statue for which the temple
was built - the Athena Polias (Athena of the City), considered one of the wonders of the
ancient world. Designed by Pheidias and completed in 432 BC, it was gold-plated over
an inner wooden frame and stood almost 12m high on its pedestal. The face, hands and
feet were made of ivory, and the eyes were fashioned from jewels. Clad in a long gold
dress with the head of Medusa carved in ivory on her breast, the goddess held a statuette