Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
FORTY YEARS OF SCAFFOLDING
If you see a photo of a pristine Parthenon standing against a clear sky, it is almost certainly an
old one. For most of the twenty-first century the Acropolis buildings have been swathed in
scaffolding and surrounded by cranes - at times some structures have even been removed
altogether, to be cleaned and later replaced. Though originally intended to be complete in
time for the 2004 Olympics, the work is now set to continue for the foreseeable future - some
claim that it will be forty years before the job is complete.
In myth, it was from the platform beside the temple that King Aegeus maintained a
vigil for the safe return of his son Theseus from his mission to slay the Minotaur on
Crete. Theseus, flushed with success, forgot his promise to swap the boat's black sails
for white on his return. Seeing the black sails, Aegeus assumed his son had perished
and, racked with grief, threw himself to his death.
The Parthenon
he
Parthenon
temple was always intended to be a spectacular landmark and a symbol
of the city's imperial confidence, and it was famous throughout the ancient world. Yet
even in their wildest dreams its creators could hardly have imagined that the ruins
would come to symbolize the emergence of Western civilization - nor that, two-and-a-
half millennia on, it would attract some two million tourists a year.
The first great building in Pericles' scheme, it was intended as a new sanctuary for
Athena and a home for her cult image - a colossal wooden statue by Fidias overlaid
with ivory and gold plating, with precious gems as eyes and sporting an ivory
gorgon's head on her breast. Originally the columns were brightly painted and
surrounded by the finest sculpture of the Classical age, foremost among them the
beautiful
Parthenon frieze
and pediments. Also brightly coloured, these are generally
held to have depicted the Panathenaic procession, the birth of Athena and the
struggles of Greeks to overcome giants, Amazons and centaurs. The greater part of
the frieze, along with the central columns, were destroyed by the Venetian
bombardment in 1687. The best surviving examples are in the British Museum in
London (see box p.70); the Acropolis Museum also has a few original pieces, as well
as reconstructions of the whole thing.
To achieve the Parthenon's extraordinary and unequalled harmony of design, its
architect, Iktinos, used every trick known to the Doric order of architecture. The
building's proportions maintain a universal 9:4 ratio while all seemingly straight lines
are in fact slightly curved, an optical illusion known as
entasis
(intensification). The
columns (their profile bowed slightly to avoid seeming concave) are slanted inwards by
6cm, while each of the steps along the sides of the temple was made to incline just
12cm over a length of 70m.
The Erechtheion
To the north of the Parthenon stands the
Erechtheion
, the last of the great works of
Pericles to be completed. Both Athena and the city's old patron of Poseidon-Erechtheus
were worshipped here, in the most revered of the ancient temples. The site, according
to myth, was that on which Athena and Poseidon held a contest, judged by their fellow
Olympian gods; at the touch of Athena's spear, the first ever olive tree sprang from the
ground, while Poseidon summoned forth a fountain of sea water. Athena won, and
became patron of the city.
Today, the sacred objects within are long gone, but the elegant Ionic porticoes
survive. By far the most striking feature, however, is the
Porch of the Caryatids
, whose
columns form the tunics of six tall maidens. The ones
in situ
are replacements: five of
the originals are in the Acropolis Museum, while a sixth was looted by Elgin - they're
replaced here by casts in a different-colour marble.
