Acropolis. Temples of the Acropolis: Parthenon, Erechtheion, Nike Apteros. The Parthenon Temple in Athens is the greatest religious building. In what century was the Parthenon built?

the main temple of the Athenian Acropolis, dedicated to Athena Parthenos (i.e. the Virgin), the patron goddess of the city. Construction began in 447 BC, the consecration of the temple took place at the Panathenaic festival in 438 BC, but decoration (mainly sculptural work) continued until 432 BC. The Parthenon is a masterpiece of ancient Greek architecture and a symbol of the Greek genius. Story. A new temple was erected in highest point Acropolis, a place dedicated to the gods. The ancient temples were probably small in size, and therefore significant leveling of the Acropolis was not required. However, in 488 BC. was laid here new temple to thank Athena for the victory over the Persians at Marathon. Its dimensions in plan are very close to the current Parthenon, and therefore it was necessary to erect a retaining wall in the middle of the southern slope and lay lime blocks at the base, so that the southern edge of the construction site rose above the rock of the Acropolis by more than 7 m. The planned temple was a peripterus with , apparently, there are 6 columns at the ends and 16 at the sides (counting the corner columns twice). Its stylobate (upper platform) and steps, like the columns themselves, as well as other structural elements, were made of marble (or at least intended to be marble). When in 480 BC The Acropolis was captured and plundered by the Persians, the temple under construction, which by that time had been brought only to the height of the second drum of columns, was destroyed by fire, and work was interrupted for more than 30 years. In 454 BC The treasury of the Delian Maritime League was transferred to Athens, where Pericles then ruled, and soon, in 447 BC, construction work on the almost finished site resumed. The Parthenon was erected by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates (also called Carpion), as well as Phidias, who was primarily responsible for the sculpture, but in addition exercised general supervision over the progress of work on the Acropolis. The creation of the Parthenon was part of Pericles' plan for Athens to gain primacy not only in the military and economic fields, but also in religion and art. Regarding the further fate of the temple, we know that approx. 298 BC the Athenian tyrant Lacharus removed the gold plates from the cult statue of Athena, and in the 2nd century. BC. The building, damaged by the fire, was thoroughly repaired. In 426 AD The Parthenon was converted into a Christian church, originally St. Sofia. Apparently, at the same time, in the 5th century, the statue of Athena was transported to Constantinople, where it subsequently died in a fire. The original main eastern entrance was closed by the altar apse, so now the main entrance became the western entrance through the room behind the cella, previously separated by a blank wall. Other layout changes were also made, and a bell tower was erected in the southwestern corner of the temple. In 662 the temple was re-dedicated in honor Holy Mother of God("Panagia Athiniotissa"). After the Turkish conquest, ca. 1460, the building was converted into a mosque. In 1687, when the Venetian military leader F. Morosini was besieging Athens, the Turks used the Parthenon as a gunpowder warehouse, which led to disastrous consequences for the building: a hot cannonball flying into it caused an explosion that destroyed its entire middle part. No repairs were carried out then; on the contrary, local residents They began to take away marble blocks to burn lime from them. Lord T. Elgin, appointed British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1799, received permission from the Sultan to export the sculptures. During 1802-1812, the lion's share of the surviving sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was transported to Great Britain and placed in the British Museum (some of the sculptures ended up in the Louvre and Copenhagen, although some remained in Athens). In 1928, a foundation was created with the goal of, as far as possible, replacing the fallen columns and entablature blocks, and on May 15, 1930, the northern colonnade of the temple was inaugurated.
Architecture. The Parthenon in its current form - standing on three marble steps ( overall height OK. 1.5 m) peripter of the Doric order, having 8 columns at the ends and 17 on the sides (if you count the corner columns twice). The height of the peristyle columns, made up of 10-12 drums, is 10.4 m, their diameter at the base is 1.9 m, the corner columns are slightly thicker (1.95 m). The columns have 20 flutes (vertical grooves) and taper towards the top. The dimensions of the temple in plan (according to the stylobate) are 30.9 * 69.5 m. The interior of the temple, or cella (external size 21.7 * 59 m), is raised above the stylobate by two more steps (total height 0.7 m) and It has six-column protile porticoes at the ends, the columns of which are slightly lower than in the outer colonnade. The cella is divided into two rooms. The eastern one, longer and called hecatompedon (internal size 29.9 * 19.2 m), was divided into three naves by two rows of 9 Doric columns, which were closed at the western end by a transverse row of three additional columns. It is assumed that there was a second tier of Doric columns, which was located above the first and provided the required height of the ceilings. In the space enclosed by the inner colonnade, there was a colossal (12 m in height) chrysoelephantine (made of gold and ivory) cult statue of Athena by Phidias. In the 2nd century. AD it was described by Pausanias, and its general appearance is known from several smaller copies and numerous images on coins. The ceilings of the western room of the cella (internal size 13.9 * 19.2 m), which was called the Parthenon (the treasury of the Delian League and the state archive were kept here; over time, the name was transferred to the entire temple), rested on four high columns, presumably Ionic. All elements of the Parthenon's structure, including the roof tiles and stylobate steps, were hewn from local Pentelic marble, almost white immediately after quarrying, but over time acquiring a warm yellowish tint. No mortar or cement was used and the masonry was done dry. The blocks were carefully adjusted to each other, the horizontal connection between them was carried out using I-beam iron fasteners placed in special grooves and filled with lead, the vertical connection was made using iron pins.
Sculpture. The decoration of the temple, which complemented its architecture, is divided into three main categories: metopes, or square panels, equipped with high reliefs, located between the triglyphs of the frieze above the outer colonnade; a bas-relief that encircled the cella from the outside in a continuous strip; two colossal groups of free-standing sculptures filled the deep (0.9 m) triangular pediments. On 92 metopes scenes of martial arts are presented: gods and giants on the eastern side, lapiths and centaurs (they are best preserved) on the southern side, Greeks and Amazons on the western side, participants Trojan War(presumably) - from the north. The sculptural group on the eastern pediment depicted the birth of Athena, who, fully armed, jumped out of the head of Zeus after the blacksmith god Hephaestus cut the head with an ax. The group from the western pediment represented the dispute over Attica between Athena and Poseidon, when the olive tree donated by the goddess was considered a more valuable gift than the source of salt water discovered in the rock by Poseidon. A few statues have survived from both groups, but it is clear from them that this was a great artistic creation of the mid-5th century. BC. The bas-relief strip on top of the cella (total length 160 m, height 1 m, height from the stylobate 11 m, in total there were about 350 foot and 150 horse figures) depicted the Panathenaic procession, which annually presented Athena with a new robe - peplos. Along the northern and southern sides are horsemen, chariots, and citizens of Athens moving from west to east, and closer to the head of the procession are musicians, people with gifts, sacrificial sheep and bulls. Along the western end wall, above the portico, there are groups of cavalrymen standing near their horses, mounted on them or already leaving (this part of the bas-relief remained in Athens). At the eastern end there is a central group of the procession, consisting of the priest and priestess of Athena with three young servants: the priest accepts a folded peplos. On the sides of this scene are figures of the most important gods of the Greek pantheon. They are divided into two groups and turned to face outward, towards the corners of the building, as if watching the approach of the procession. Next to them, on the right and left, are two groups of citizens or officials, and on the edges are slowly moving people leading the procession.
"Refinements" of the Parthenon. The meticulous thoughtfulness of the Parthenon's design, with the goal of depriving the building of mechanical straightforwardness and giving it life, is manifested in a number of "refinements" that are revealed only with special research. Let's mention just a few. The stylobate rises slightly towards the center, the rise along the northern and southern façade is approx. 12 cm, in the north and west - 6.5 mm; the corner columns of the end facades are slightly inclined towards the middle, and the two middle ones, on the contrary, are inclined towards the corners; the trunks of all columns have a slight swelling, entasis, in the middle; the front surface of the entablature is slightly inclined outward, and the pediment inward; The diameter of the corner columns, visible against the sky, is slightly larger than that of the others, and in addition, in cross section they represent a complex figure, different from a circle. Many details of the building were painted. The lower surface of the echinus (the extensions on the capitals of the columns) was red, as was the tenia (the belt between the architrave and the frieze). Red and blue colors were used on the bottom surface of the cornice. The marble caissons covering the colonnade were shaded in red, blue and gold or yellow. Color was also used to emphasize the elements of sculpture. Bronze wreaths were also used in the decoration of the building, as evidenced by holes drilled in the architrave for their fastening.

Collier's Encyclopedia. - Open Society. 2000 .

One of the most revered goddesses by the ancient Greeks, Pallas Athena, was born in a rather unusual way: Zeus, her father, swallowed her mother, Metis (Wisdom), when she was expecting a child. He did this for one simple reason: after the birth of his daughter, he was predicted to have a son who would overthrow the Thunderer from the throne.

But Athena did not want to sink into oblivion - so after a while the Supreme God began to suffer from an unbearable headache: her daughter asked to come out. His head hurt so badly that the Thunderer, unable to bear it, ordered Hephaestus to take an ax and hit him on the head with it. He obeyed and cut his head, releasing Athena. Her eyes were full of wisdom, and she was dressed in warrior clothes, holding a spear in her hand, and an iron helmet on her head.

The goddess of wisdom turned out to be an active resident of Olympus: she came down to the people and taught them a lot, giving them knowledge and crafts. She also paid attention to women: she taught them to do needlework and weave, and took an active part in government affairs - she was the patroness of a just struggle (she taught them how to solve problems peacefully), taught them to write laws, thus becoming the patroness of many Greek cities. For such a majestic goddess it was necessary to build a temple, which, according to descriptions, would not be equal in the whole world.

The Parthenon is located in the capital of Greece, Athens, in the southern part of the Acropolis, an ancient architectural complex located on a rocky hill at an altitude exceeding 150 meters above sea level. m. You can find the Athenian Acropolis Parthenon at the address: Dionysiou Areopagitou 15, Athens 117 42, and on a geographical map you can find out its exact location at the following coordinates: 37° 58′ 17″ N. latitude, 23° 43′ 36″ e. d.

The Parthenon Temple, dedicated to Athena, began to be built on the territory of the Acropolis around 447 BC. e. instead of the unfinished sanctuary destroyed by the Persians. The construction of this unique architectural monument was entrusted to the architect Kallikrates, who erected the building according to the design of Iktin.

It took the Hellenes about fifteen years to build the temple, which at that time was a fairly short term, considering that construction and finishing materials were brought from all over Greece. Fortunately, there was enough money: Athens, whose ruler was Pericles, was just experiencing a period of greatest prosperity and was not only the cultural capital, but also the political center of Attica.

Callicrates and Iktinus, having access to considerable funds and opportunities, during the construction of the temple were able to implement more than one innovative design solution, as a result of which the architecture of the Parthenon turned out to be unlike any other structure of this type.

The main feature of the sanctuary was that the facade of the building from one point was perfectly visible from three sides at once.

This was achieved by installing the columns in relation to each other not parallel, but at an angle. Also, the fact that all the pillars had a different shape played a role: so that from a distance the central columns seemed slimmer and not so thin, all the pillars were given a convex shape (the outermost columns turned out to be the thickest), slightly tilting the corner columns towards the center, the central ones away from it .

Penelian marble, mined near the Acropolis, was used as the main building material; according to the description, it is a rather interesting material, since initially it is white, but after some time, under the influence of sunlight, it begins to turn yellow. Therefore, the Parthenon in Athens, upon completion of construction work, turned out to be unevenly painted, which gave it an original and interesting look: on the north side the temple had a gray-ash tint, on the south it turned out to be golden-yellow in color.

Another feature ancient temple was that when laying marble blocks, Greek craftsmen did not use either cement or any other mortar: the builders carefully ground them along the edges and adjusted them to each other in size (at the same time, they did not trim the inside - this saved time and labor) . Larger blocks were located at the base of the building; smaller stones were laid on them, fastened horizontally with iron fasteners, which were inserted into special holes and filled with lead. The blocks were connected vertically with iron pins.

Description

Three steps lead up to the temple, which was dedicated to Athena and is a rectangular building. The Athenian Acropolis Parthenon, about seventy meters long and a little more than thirty wide, was surrounded along the perimeter by ten-meter Doric columns about ten meters high. There were seventeen pillars along the side facades, and eight at the ends where the entrances were located.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that most of the pediments were destroyed (only thirty statues survived in very poor condition), there are very few descriptions of exactly what the Parthenon's exterior looked like.

It is known that all sculptural compositions were created with the direct participation of Phidias, who was not only the main architect of the entire Acropolis and developed the plan for this architectural complex, but is also known as the author of one of the wonders of the world - the statue of Zeus at Olympia. There is an assumption that the eastern pediment of the Parthenon contained a bas-relief depicting the birth of Pallas Athena, and the western pediment depicted her dispute with the god of the seas, Poseidon, about who would be the patron of Athens and the whole of Attica.

But the friezes of the temple are well preserved: it is absolutely known that on the eastern side of the Parthenon the struggle of the Lapiths with the centaurs was depicted, on the western side - episodes from the Trojan War, on the southern side - the battle of the Amazons with the Greeks. A total of 92 metopes with various high reliefs were installed, most of which have been preserved. Forty-two slabs are kept in the Acropolis Museum of Athens, fifteen in the British Museum.

Parthenon from inside

To get inside the temple, in addition to the external steps, it was necessary to overcome two more internal ones. The area in the middle of the temple was 59 meters long and 21.7 meters wide and consisted of three rooms. The largest, central one, was surrounded on three sides by 21 columns, which separated it from two small rooms located on either side of it. The inner frieze of the sanctuary depicted a festive procession from Athens to the Acropolis, when the maidens carried a gift to Athena.

In the center of the main platform was the statue of Athena Parthenos, made by Phidias. The sculpture dedicated to the goddess was a real masterpiece. The statue of Athena was thirteen meters high and showed a proudly standing goddess, with a spear in one hand and a two-meter sculpture of Nike in the other. Pallas wore a three-crested helmet on his head, and near his feet there was a shield on which, in addition to scenes from various battles, the initiator of construction, Pericles, was depicted.

It took Phidias more than a ton of gold to make the sculpture (weapons and clothes were poured from it); ebony from which the frame of the statue is made; Athena's face and hands were carved from ivory of the highest quality; precious stones shining in the eyes of the goddess; the most expensive marble was also used. Unfortunately, the statue did not survive: when Christianity became the ruling religion in the country, it was taken to Constantinople, where it was in the 5th century. burned during a strong fire.

Near the western entrance to the shrine there was an opisthodome - a closed room in the back where the city archives and the treasury of the maritime union were kept. The length of the room was 19 m and the width was 14 m.

The room was called the Parthenon (it was thanks to this room that the temple got its name), which translated means “house for girls.” In this room, selected maidens, priestesses, made peplos (sleeveless women's outerwear sewn from light material, which Athenians wore over a tunic), which was presented to Athena during a solemn procession that took place every four years.

Dark days of the Parthenon

The last ruler who favored and cared for this architectural monument was Alexander the Great (he even installed fourteen shields on the eastern pediment and presented the goddess with the armor of three hundred defeated enemies). After his death, dark days came for the temple.

One of the Macedonian rulers, Demetrius I Poliorcetes, settled here with his mistresses, and the next ruler of Athens, Lacharus, tore off all the gold from the sculpture of the goddess, and the shields of Alexander from the pediments, in order to pay off the soldiers. In III Art. BC e a major fire occurred in the temple, during which the roof and fittings collapsed, the marble cracked, the colonnade partially collapsed, the doors of the temple, one of the friezes and ceilings burned down.

When the Greeks adopted Christianity, they made a church out of the Parthenon (this happened in the 6th century AD), making appropriate changes to its architecture and completing the premises necessary for Christian rituals. The most valuable thing that was in the pagan temple was taken to Constantinople, and the rest was either destroyed or severely damaged (primarily this applies to sculptures and bas-reliefs of the building).

In the XV century. Athens came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, as a result of which the temple was transformed into a mosque. The Turks did not make any special alterations and calmly held services among Christian paintings. It was the Turkish period that turned out to be one of the most tragic events in the history of the Parthenon: in 1686, the Venetians shelled the Acropolis and Parthenon, where the Turks stored gunpowder.

After about seven hundred cannonballs hit the building, the shrine exploded, as a result of which the central part of the Parthenon, all the internal columns and rooms were completely destroyed, and the roof on the north side collapsed.

After this, the ancient shrine began to be robbed and destroyed by everyone who could: the Athenians used its fragments for domestic needs, and the Europeans were able to take the surviving fragments and statues to their homeland (at present, most of the found remains are located either in the Louvre or in British Museum).

Restoration

The revival of the Parthenon began no earlier than Greece gained independence, in 1832, and two years later the government declared the Parthenon a monument of ancient heritage. As a result of the work carried out, already fifty years later on the territory of the Acropolis there was practically nothing left of the “barbarian presence”: absolutely all buildings that were not related to the ancient complex were demolished, and the Acropolis itself began to be restored according to the surviving descriptions of what the Parthenon looked like in ancient Greece(currently the temple, like the entire Acropolis, is under the protection of UNESCO).

In addition to the fact that the Parthenon was restored to the best of its ability, and the original statues were replaced with copies and sent to the museum for storage, the Greek government is actively working to return the exported fragments of the temple to the country. And here there is an interesting point: the British Museum agreed to do this, but on the condition that the Greek government recognizes the museum as their legal owner. But the Greeks do not agree with this formulation of the issue, since this would mean that they have forgiven the theft of the statues two hundred years ago and are actively fighting for the statues to be returned to them without any conditions.

Predecessors of the Parthenon

Main articles: Hecatompedon (temple), Opisthodomos (temple)

The interior (59 m long and 21.7 m wide) has two more steps (total height 0.7 m) and is amphiprostyle. The facades have porticoes with columns that are just below the columns of the peristyle. The eastern portico was a pronaos, the western one a posticum.

Plan of the Parthenon sculptural decoration (north right). Antiquity period.

Material and technology

The temple was built entirely from Pentelic marble, mined nearby. During production, it is white in color, but when exposed to the sun's rays it turns yellow. The northern side of the building is exposed to less radiation - and therefore the stone there has a grayish-ashy tint, while the southern blocks have a golden-yellowish color. The tiles and stylobate are also made of this marble. The columns are made of drums fastened together with wooden plugs and pins.

Metopes

Main article: Doric frieze of the Parthenon

The metopes were part of the triglyph-metope frieze, traditional for the Doric order, which encircled the outer colonnade of the temple. There were a total of 92 metopes on the Parthenon, containing various high reliefs. They were connected thematically along the sides of the building. In the east the battle of the centaurs with the Lapiths was depicted, in the south - the Amazonomachy, in the west - probably scenes from the Trojan War, in the north - the Gigantomachy.

64 metopes survive: 42 in Athens and 15 in the British Museum. Most of them are on the eastern side.

Bas-relief frieze

East side. Plates 36-37. Seated gods.

Main article: Ionic frieze of the Parthenon

The outer side of the cella and opisthodome was surrounded at the top (at a height of 11 m from the floor) by another frieze, Ionic. It was 160 m long and 1 m high and contained about 350 foot and 150 mounted figures. The bas-relief, which is one of the most famous works of this genre in ancient art that has come down to us, depicts a procession on the last day of the Panathenaia. On the north and south sides horsemen and chariots, just citizens, are depicted. On the south side there are also musicians, people with various gifts and sacrificial animals. The western part of the frieze contains many young men with horses, mounting or already mounted. In the east (above the entrance to the temple) the end of the procession is represented: the priest, surrounded by gods, accepts the peplos woven for the goddess by the Athenians. The most important people of the city are standing nearby.

96 frieze plates have survived. 56 of them are in the British Museum, 40 (mostly the western part of the frieze) are in Athens.

Pediments

Main article: Pediments of the Parthenon

Pediment fragment.

Giant sculptural groups were placed in the tympanums of the pediments (0.9 m deep) above the western and eastern entrances. They have survived very poorly to this day. The central figures almost didn't make it. In the center of the eastern pediment in the Middle Ages, a window was barbarically cut through, which completely destroyed the composition located there. Ancient authors usually avoid this part of the temple. Pausanias, the main source on such matters, mentions them only in passing, paying much more attention to the statue of Athena. Sketches by J. Kerry dating back to 1674 have been preserved, which provide quite a lot of information about the western pediment. The Eastern one was already in a deplorable state at that time. Therefore, the reconstruction of the gables is mostly just guesswork.

The eastern group depicted the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus. Only the side parts of the composition have been preserved. A chariot driven, presumably, by Helios, enters from the south side. Dionysus sits in front of him, then Demeter and Kore. Behind them stands another goddess, perhaps Artemis. From the north, three seated female figures have reached us - the so-called “three veils” - which are sometimes considered as Hestia, Dione and Aphrodite. In the very corner there is another figure, apparently driving a chariot, since in front of it is the head of a horse. This is probably Nyux or Selena. Regarding the center of the pediment (or rather, most of it), we can only say that there, definitely, due to the theme of the composition, there were the figures of Zeus, Hephaestus and Athena. Most likely, the rest of the Olympians and, perhaps, some other gods were there. A torso survives, attributed in most cases to Poseidon.

The western pediment represents the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica. They stood in the center and were located diagonally to each other. On both sides of them there were chariots, probably in the north - Nike with Hermes, in the south - Iris with Amphitryon. Around were figures of legendary characters of Athenian history, but their exact attribution is almost impossible.

28 statues have reached us: 19 in the British Museum and 11 in Athens.

Athena Parthenos statue

The statue of Athena Parthenos, standing in the center of the temple and being its sacred center, was made by Phidias himself. It was upright and about 11 m high, made in the chrysoelephantine technique (that is, from gold and ivory on a wooden base). The sculpture has not survived and is known from various copies and numerous images on coins. In one hand the goddess holds Nike, and with the other she leans on the shield. The shield depicts Amazonomachy. There is a legend that Phidias depicted himself (in the image of Daedalus) and Pericles (in the image of Theseus) on it, for which (as well as on charges of stealing gold for the statue) he went to prison. The peculiarity of the relief on the shield is that the second and third plans are shown not from behind, but one above the other. In addition, its subject matter allows us to say that this is already a historical relief. Another relief was on Athena's sandals. A centauromachy was depicted there.

The birth of Pandora, the first woman, was carved on the pedestal of the statue.

Other finishing details

None of the ancient sources recalls the fire in the Parthenon, but archaeological excavations have proven that it occurred in the middle of the 3rd century. BC BC, most likely during the invasion of the barbarian tribe of the Heruli, who sacked Athens in 267 BC. e. As a result of the fire, the roof of the Parthenon was destroyed, as well as almost all the internal fittings and ceilings. The marble is cracked. In the eastern extension, the colonnade, both main doors of the temple and the second frieze collapsed. If dedicatory inscriptions were kept in the temple, they are irretrievably lost. Reconstruction after the fire did not aim to completely restore the appearance of the temple. The terracotta roof was installed only over the internal premises, and the external colonnade was unprotected. Two rows of columns in the eastern hall were replaced with similar ones. Based architectural style restored elements, it was possible to establish that the blocks in an earlier period belonged to various buildings of the Acropolis of Athens. In particular, 6 blocks of the western doors formed the basis of a massive sculptural group depicting a chariot drawn by horses (scratches are still visible on these blocks in the places where the horses' hooves and chariot wheels were attached), as well as a group of bronze statues of warriors, which Pausanias described. The other three blocks of the western doors are marble tablets with financial statements, which establish the main stages of the construction of the Parthenon.

Christian temple

Story

The Parthenon remained a temple to the goddess Athena for a thousand years. It is not known exactly when it became a Christian church. In the 4th century, Athens fell into disrepair and became a provincial city of the Roman Empire. In the 5th century, the temple was robbed by one of the emperors, and all its treasures were transported to Constantinople. There is information that under Patriarch Paul III of Constantinople the Parthenon was rebuilt into the Church of St. Sophia.

In the early 13th century, the statue of Athena Promachos was damaged and destroyed during the Fourth Crusade. The Athena Parthenos statue probably disappeared as early as the 3rd century BC. e. during a fire or earlier. Roman and Byzantine emperors repeatedly issued decrees banning pagan cults, but the pagan tradition in Hellas was too strong. At the present stage, it is generally accepted that the Parthenon became a Christian temple around the 6th century AD.

Probably, under the predecessor of Choniates, the building of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Athens suffered more significant changes. The apse in the eastern part was destroyed and rebuilt. The new apse was closely adjacent to the ancient columns, so the central slab of the frieze was dismantled. This slab depicting the "peplos scene", later used to build fortifications on the Acropolis, was found by agents of Lord Elgin and is now on display in the British Museum. Under Michael Choniates himself interior decoration the temple was restored, including the painting Judgment Day on the wall of the portico where the entrance was located, there are paintings depicting the Passion of Christ in the narthex, a number of paintings that depict saints and previous Athenian metropolitans. All the Parthenon paintings from the Christian era were covered with a thick layer of whitewash in the 1880s, but in the early 19th century the Marquis of Bute commissioned watercolors from them. It was from these watercolors that researchers established the plot motifs of the paintings and the approximate time of creation - the end of the 12th century. Around the same time, the apse ceiling was decorated with mosaics, which collapsed within a few decades. Glass fragments of it are also on display in the British Museum.

On February 24 and 25, 1395, the Italian traveler Nicolo de Martoni visited Athens, who left in his Pilgrim's Book (now in the National Library of France, Paris) the first systematic description of the Parthenon since Pausanias. Martoni presents the Parthenon as a landmark of exclusively Christian history, but considers the main wealth not the numerous relics and the revered icon of the Virgin Mary, painted by the Evangelist Luke and decorated with pearls and precious stones, but a copy of the Gospel written in Greek on thin gilded parchment by Saint Helen Equal to the Apostles, mother of Constantine the Great, the first Byzantine emperor to officially convert to Christianity. Martoni also talks about the cross scratched on one of the columns of the Parthenon by Saint Dionysius the Areopagite.

Martoni's journey coincided with the beginning of the reign of the Acciaioli family, whose representatives proved themselves to be generous benefactors. Nerio I Acciaioli ordered the doors of the cathedral to be inlaid with silver; in addition, he bequeathed the entire city to the cathedral, giving Athens into the possession of the Parthenon. The most significant addition to the cathedral from the Latinocracy period is the tower near the right side of the portico, built after the city was captured by the Crusaders. For its construction, they used blocks taken from the back of the tomb of a Roman nobleman on the hill of Philopappou. The tower was supposed to serve as the bell tower of the cathedral, in addition, it was equipped with spiral staircases that rose to the roof. Since the tower blocked the small doors to the narthex, the central western entrance of the Parthenon of the ancient era began to be used again.

During the reign of Acciaioli in Athens, the first and earliest drawing of the Parthenon that has survived to this day was created. It was executed by Ciriaco di Pizzicoli, an Italian merchant, papal legate, traveler and lover of the classics, better known as Cyriacus of Ancona. He visited Athens in 1444 and stayed in luxurious palace, into which the Propylaea was transformed to show their respect for the Acciaioli. Chiriacus left detailed notes and a number of drawings, but they were destroyed by a fire in 1514 in the library of the city of Pesaro. One of the images of the Parthenon has survived. It depicts a temple with 8 Doric columns, the location of the metopes - epistilia - is accurately indicated, and the frieze with the missing central metope - listae parietum - is correctly depicted. The building is very elongated, and the sculptures on the pediment depict a scene that is not similar to the dispute between Athena and Poseidon. This is a 15th century lady with a pair of rearing horses, surrounded by Renaissance angels. The description of the Parthenon itself is quite accurate: the number of columns is 58, and on the metopes, which are better preserved, as Cyriacus correctly suggests, a scene of the struggle of the centaurs with the Lapita is depicted. Cyriacus of Ancona also owns the very first description of the sculptural frieze of the Parthenon, which, as he believed, depicts the Athenian victories of the era of Pericles.

Mosque

Story

Reconstructions and decoration

Most detailed description The Parthenon from the Ottoman period belongs to Evliya Çelebi, a Turkish diplomat and traveler. He visited Athens several times throughout the 1630s and 1640s. Evliya Celebi noted that the conversion of the Christian Parthenon into a mosque did not greatly affect its internal appearance. The main feature of the temple remained the canopy over the altar. He also described that the four columns of red marble that supported the canopy were polished to a shine. The floor of the Parthenon is made of polished marble slabs up to 3 m each. Each of the blocks that decorated the walls was masterfully combined with the other in such a way that the border between them is invisible to the eye. Celebi noted that the panels on the eastern wall of the temple are so thin that they are able to transmit sunlight. This feature was also mentioned by Spohn and J. Wehler, who suggested that in fact this stone is phengite, a transparent marble, which, according to Pliny, was the favorite stone of the Emperor Nero. Evliya recalls that the silver inlay of the main doors of the Christian temple was removed, and the ancient sculptures and paintings were covered with whitewash, although the layer of whitewash was thin and the subject of the painting could be seen. Next, Evliya Celebi gives a list of characters, listing the heroes of pagan, Christian and Muslim religions: demons, Satan, wild animals, devils, sorceresses, angels, dragons, antichrists, cyclops, monsters, crocodiles, elephants, rhinoceroses, as well as Cherub, archangels Gabriel, Seraphim, Azrael, Michael, the ninth heaven, on which the throne of the Lord is located, the scales weighing sins and virtues.

Evliya does not describe the mosaics made of gold pieces and shards of multi-colored glass, which would later be found during excavations on the Acropolis of Athens. However, the mosaic is mentioned in passing by J. Spon and J. Wehler, describing in more detail the images of the Virgin Mary in the apse behind the altar, which survived from the previous Christian era. They also talk about a legend according to which the Turk who shot at the fresco of Mary lost his hand, so the Ottomans decided not to harm the temple anymore.

Although the Turks had no desire to protect the Parthenon from destruction, they also had no intention of completely distorting or destroying the temple. Since it is impossible to accurately determine the time of overwriting the Parthenon metopes, the Turks could continue this process. However, overall they carried out less destruction of the building than the Christians did a thousand years before Ottoman rule, who turned the magnificent ancient temple into a Christian cathedral. As long as the Parthenon served as a mosque, Muslim worship took place surrounded by Christian paintings and images of Christian saints. The Parthenon was not subsequently rebuilt and its present appearance has remained unchanged since the 17th century.

Destruction

The peace between the Turks and the Venetians did not last long. A new Turkish-Venetian war began. In September 1687, the Parthenon suffered its most terrible blow: the Venetians, under the leadership of Doge Francesco Morosini, captured the Acropolis fortified by the Turks. On September 28, the Swedish general Koenigsmark, who was at the head of the Venetian army, gave the order to fire at the Acropolis from cannons on Philopappou Hill. When the cannons fired at the Parthenon, which served the Ottomans as a gunpowder storehouse, it exploded, and part of the temple instantly turned into ruins. In previous decades, Turkish gunpowder magazines were repeatedly blown up. In 1645, a warehouse built in the Propylaea of ​​the Acropolis was struck by lightning, killing Disdar and his family. In 1687, when Athens was attacked by the Venetians together with the army of the allied Holy League, the Turks decided to locate their ammunition, as well as hide children and women, in the Parthenon. They could rely on the thickness of the walls and ceilings or hope that the Christian enemy would not fire at the building, which had served as a Christian temple for several centuries.

Judging by the traces of shelling on the western pediment alone, about 700 cannonballs hit the Parthenon. At least 300 people died, their remains were found during excavations in the 19th century. The central part of the temple was destroyed, including 28 columns, a fragment of a sculptural frieze, and interior spaces that once served as a Christian church and mosque; the roof in the northern part has collapsed. The western pediment turned out to be almost undamaged, and Francesco Morosini wanted to take its central sculptures to Venice. However, the scaffolding used by the Venetians collapsed during the work, and the sculptures collapsed, falling to the ground. Several fragments of fragments were nevertheless taken to Italy, the rest remained on the Acropolis. From this time on, the history of the Parthenon becomes the history of ruins. The destruction of the Parthenon was witnessed by Anna Ocherjelm, lady-in-waiting of the Countess of Königsmarck. She described the temple and the moment of the explosion. Shortly after the final surrender of the Turks, while walking along the Acropolis, among the ruins of a mosque, she found an Arabic manuscript that was transferred by Anna Ocherjelm's brother to the library of the Swedish city of Uppsala. Therefore, after its two-thousand-year history, the Parthenon could no longer be used as a temple, since it was destroyed much more than one can imagine from its current appearance - the result of many years of reconstruction. John Pentland Magaffey, who visited the Parthenon several decades before restoration work began, noted:

From a political point of view, the destruction of the Parthenon had minimal consequences. A few months after the victory, the Venetians gave up power over Athens: they did not have enough forces to further defend the city, and the plague epidemic made Athens completely unattractive to invaders. The Turks again established a garrison on the Acropolis, albeit on a smaller scale, among the ruins of the Parthenon, and erected a new small mosque. It can be seen in the first known photograph of the temple, created in 1839.

From destruction to reconstruction

Early explorers of the Parthenon included the British archaeologist James Stewart and architect Nicholas Revett. Stuart first published drawings, descriptions and drawings with measurements of the Parthenon for the Society of Dilettantes in 1789. In addition, it is known that James Stewart collected a considerable collection of ancient antiquities from the Acropolis of Athens and the Parthenon. The cargo was sent by sea to Smyrna, after which the trace of the collection is lost. However, one of the fragments of the Parthenon frieze, removed by Stuart, was found in 1902 buried in the garden of the Colne Park estate in Essex, which was inherited by the son of Thomas Astle, an antiquarian and trustee of the British Museum.

The legal side of the matter still remains unclear. The actions of Lord Elgin and his agents were regulated by the Sultan's firman. Whether they contradicted him is impossible to establish, since the original document has not been found, only its translation into Italian, made for Elgin at the Ottoman court, is known. In the Italian version, it is allowed to measure and sketch sculptures using ladders and scaffolding; create plaster casts, dig up fragments buried under the soil during the explosion. The translation does not say anything about permission or prohibition to remove sculptures from the facade or pick up those that have fallen. It is known for certain that already among Elgin’s contemporaries, the majority criticized at least the use of chisels, saws, ropes and blocks for removing sculptures, since in this way the surviving parts of the building were destroyed. The Irish traveler, author of several works on ancient architecture, Edward Dodwell wrote:

Independent Greece

However, official archaeological policy remained unchanged until the 1950s, when a proposal to remove a staircase from a medieval tower at the western end of the Parthenon was abruptly rejected. At the same time, a restoration program was underway. appearance temple. Back in the 1840s, four columns of the northern facade and one column of the southern facade were partially restored. 150 blocks were returned to their place in the walls of the interior of the temple, the rest of the space was filled with modern red brick. The work was most intensified by the 1894 earthquake, which largely destroyed the temple. The first cycle of work was completed in 1902, its scale was quite modest, and it was carried out under the auspices of a committee of international consultants. Until the 1920s and for a long time after, chief engineer Nikolaos Balanos worked without external control. It was he who began the restoration program, designed for 10 years. It was planned to completely restore the internal walls, strengthen the gables and install plaster copies of the sculptures removed by Lord Elgin. In the end, the most significant change was the reproduction of the long sections of colonnades that connected the east and west facades.

Diagram showing blocks of individual columns from the ancient era, Manolis Korres

Thanks to the Balanos program, the destroyed Parthenon acquired its modern appearance. However, since the 1950s, after his death, his achievements have been repeatedly criticized. First, no attempt was made to return the blocks to their original location. Secondly, and most importantly, Balanos used iron rods and clamps to connect the antique marble blocks. Over time, they rusted and warped, causing the blocks to crack. In the late 1960s, in addition to the problem of the Balanos fastenings, the effects of environmental influences became clear: air pollution and acid rain damaged the sculptures and reliefs of the Parthenon. In 1970, a UNESCO report proposed a variety of ways to save the Parthenon, including enclosing the hill under a glass cover. Eventually, in 1975, a committee was established to oversee the preservation of the entire complex of the Acropolis of Athens, and in 1986 work began to dismantle the iron fastenings used by Balanos and replace them with titanium ones. In the period -2012, the Greek authorities plan to restore the western facade of the Parthenon. Some elements of the frieze will be replaced with copies, the originals will be transported to the exhibition of the New Acropolis Museum. The chief engineer of the work, Manolis Korres, considers the first priority to be to patch up the holes left by bullets fired at the Parthenon in 1821 during the Greek Revolution. Restorers must also assess the damage done to the Parthenon strong earthquakes and 1999. As a result of the consultations, it was decided that by the time the restoration work was completed, the remains of the apse from the Christian era could be seen inside the temple, as well as the pedestal of the statue of the goddess Athena Parthenos; Restorers will pay no less attention to the traces of Venetian cannonballs on the walls and medieval inscriptions on the columns.

In world culture

The Parthenon is one of the symbols not only of ancient culture, but also of beauty in general.

Modern copies

Nashville Parthenon

Parthenon in Athens (Greece) - description, history, location. The exact address, phone, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.

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The Parthenon has always been considered one of the most significant and monumental buildings of the Acropolis in Athens. The temple was built in honor of the goddess Athena, the patroness of the capital of Greece.

According to ancient myth, the supreme god decided to get rid of his wayward daughter while she was in her mother’s womb, swallowing them whole. But she did not give him peace, and then the Thunderer ordered Athena to be removed from his head; at that time she was already in armor, with a sword and shield in her hands. For such a warlike goddess, of course, it was necessary to build a fairly majestic temple.

Construction of the Parthenon began around 447 BC, and lasted more than fifteen years. From all over Hellas they brought excellent marble, the best examples of ebony, ivory and precious metals.

The main architects of the temple were Callicrates and Iktin. They were able to implement an extraordinary architectural solution by applying the rule of the golden proportion, where each subsequent part of the whole relates to the previous part in the same way as it relates to the whole. The marble columns of the temple are not placed strictly parallel to each other, but at a certain angle. As a result, the Parthenon acquired a number of architectural features- the main one is that it appears to those looking at its façade from three sides at once.

Parthenon

Phidias was in charge of the sculptural design of the Parthenon; numerous friezes and sculptural compositions were made under his strict guidance. He is directly responsible for the main attraction of the temple - the thirteen-meter statue of Athena, the production of which took more than a ton of pure gold from the city treasury and the most expensive solid marble. Phidias also distinguished himself by depicting the initiator of construction, Pericles, on the goddess’s shield.

In the Parthenon, everything is thought out to the smallest detail, each detail has its own unique size, shape and purpose. This is one of the main attractions of Greece, which is deservedly considered a masterpiece of world architecture. Unfortunately, now little remains of its former greatness, but even the ruins that remain in its place delight millions of tourists.

Address: Greece, Athens, Acropolis of Athens
Start of construction: 447 BC e.
Completion of construction: 438 BC e.
Architect: Ictinus and Callicrates
Coordinates: 37°58"17.4"N 23°43"36.0"E

Brief history and description

At the top of the rock of the Athens Acropolis stands the monumental marble temple of the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena Parthenos (i.e. the Virgin) - the patroness of the city. In this monument, the famous politician Pericles embodied the idea of ​​triumphant democracy and the unfading glory of Athens.

View of the Athens Acropolis and the Parthenon Temple

The Parthenon was built in 447 - 437 BC. e. on the site of an earlier temple, which was erected to commemorate the victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. For the construction of the Parthenon, Pericles spent 450 silver talents, “borrowed” from funds collected for military purposes.

To understand how huge the amount spent was, you can use the following comparison: the construction of one trireme (warship) cost 1 talent, that is, with 450 talents Athens could build a fleet of 450 ships. When the people accused Pericles of wastefulness, he replied: “Our descendants will be proud of this temple for centuries!

Temple illuminated at night

If money is more important to you, then I will write off the costs not to your account, but to mine, and I will perpetuate my name on all buildings.” After these words, the people, who did not want to cede all the glory to Pericles, shouted that he should attribute the construction costs to the public account. Phidias was appointed as the head of the work; He also carved most of the decorations of the Parthenon with his own hands. The consecration of the temple took place in 438 BC. e. during the festival of Panathenaia, organized in honor of the goddess Athena. During the Byzantine period, marked by the triumph of Christianity, the Parthenon was turned into the Temple of St. Mary, and the statue of Athena was taken to Constantinople.

View of the temple from the west

In the 1460s, when the Turks captured Athens, the Parthenon was converted into a mosque. But the temple suffered its greatest destruction in 1687, during the war between the Venetians and the Turks, when a red-hot cannonball flying through the roof caused a huge explosion.

In the 19th century, the English diplomat T. Elgin, having received permission from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, took an unsurpassed collection of sculptures from the Parthenon to England, which is still kept in the British Museum.

View of the temple from the southeast

The Parthenon is a magnificent example of the Doric style

The Parthenon is a classic ancient Greek temple - a rectangular building framed by a colonnade. According to the standards of ancient Greek architecture, the number of columns on the side facade is 1 unit greater than twice the number of columns on the front side of the building (in relation to the Parthenon - 8 and 17). Ancient architects gave the massive temple elegance by developing an optical correction system. From a distance, straight lines are perceived as slightly concave, and to eliminate this “defect,” the architects made the middle part of the columns slightly thicker, and the corner columns were slightly inclined towards the center, thereby achieving the appearance of straightness.

South facade of the temple

Parthenon sculptures - myths in stone

The Doric frieze of the facade was decorated with bas-reliefs depicting scenes of martial arts: the battle of the Lapiths and centaurs on the east side, the Greeks and Amazons on the south, gods and giants on the north, and participants in the Trojan War on the west. The sculptural composition on the eastern pediment is dedicated to the myth of the birth of Athena. As befits goddesses, Athena was born in an unusual way, namely from the head of Zeus. Legend has it that Zeus swallowed his pregnant wife to prevent the birth of a son who would overthrow him from his throne. Soon the thunder god felt severe pain, and then the blacksmith Hephaestus hit him on the head, and Athena jumped out.

Eastern facade of the temple

On the western pediment, the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica is immortalized in stone, when the olive tree donated by Athena was recognized as a more valuable gift than the source of sea water carved into the rock by Poseidon's trident. Along the perimeter of the outer wall of the temple, at a height of 11 meters from the floor, another frieze, Ionic, stretched like a continuous ribbon. Its reliefs illustrate scenes from the traditional ceremony celebrating the “Birthday of the Goddess Athena” - Panathenaia. Horsemen, chariots, musicians, people with sacrificial animals and gifts, etc. are depicted here. At the eastern end the end of the procession is represented: the priest receives peplos from the Athenian woman - a new robe woven for Athena. In ancient times, the Parthenon housed a treasury where the treasury of the Athenian Maritime League was kept..