THE PARTHENON
The Parthenon was built from 447 to 438 BC. After the city was destroyed in 480 BC, Athens began to rebuild under the direction of Pericles. The first temple of Athena was lost in the destruction, so a new one took its place. This temple, the Parthenon, was the crown jewel of Pericles' renovation. Standing forty-five feet tall, and sitting upon the towering Acropolis, this site is hard to miss.
ENTASIS
To me, one of the most interesting features of the Parthenon is how it was constructed. Though the columns of the temple appear to be straight, they are actually curved! The Parthenon was constructed using a process called "entasis," which means, while the columns were built with curves, they look straight from our perspective. The Parthenon would have appeared to bulge were it built with straight columns, but because the columns are concave curves, they look straight!
FEELING SMALL
The Parthenon makes me feel small. Physically, it is massive. To put it into perspective, it would take about eight people my height, stacked one on top of the other, to be as tall as the Parthenon. That's huge! But it doesn't just make me feel small physically. It humbles me philosophically as well. The designers of the Parthenon were so gifted that they knew to bend the columns inward so that they would appear straight. And the people of the Acropolis were so dedicated to their gods that, though it would have been easy to walk in the Parthenon, they stayed outside in reverence. I believe people today could learn from the reverence and dedication of the ancient Athenians.
Full name: The Temple of Athena Parthenos
Meaning: The Temple of Athena the Virgin
THE FRIEZE
The Parthenon Frieze is a continuous strip of sculpture that wraps around the entire Parthenon. This relief was originally on the second set of columnae on the Parthenon, but now much of it has been removed and is on display in museums, such as the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum. There are many interpretations of the meaning of the Frieze, but I think that all of them are plausible.
First, some think the Frieze is a depiction of the Panathenaic Procession, where the people of Athens would march to the Acropolis to place a new cloth, or "Peplos," on the statue of Athena. Since the Panathenaic procession was such an important festival to the ancient Athenians, it makes since why they would chose to depict it. I am unsure whether or not the cloth is actually the Peplos, but it does look to me like a young girl is handing it off to a relatively young man, if that symbolizes anything.
The second theory is that it represents the men who died at the Battle of Marathon. I think, like my professor said, it is no accident that there are 192 men (minus chariot riders) on the Frieze. Like the number 1776 in America, there is no way that including that number in a work of architecture is a mistake or a coincidence. I believe the architects of the Parthenon are honoring those 192 men who died in the battle of Marathon, showing them respect by placing them among the gods and other important figures.
Finally, the Frieze may portray King Erechtheus and his daughters. According to the myth, an oracle told King Erectheus that, if he sacrificed his daughter, Athens would win the war against Elusis. He did so, but his other two daughters sacrificed themselves in grief after losing their sister. Since I believe the figure handing off the cloth is a young girl, and the figure receiving it is a man, these could represent King Erechtheus and his daughter. There are also three more figures in the center, so maybe two of them are King Erectheus' other daughters.