Plate 8. The Parthenon at Athens

The Parthenon, dedicated to Athena Parthenos, and representing the height of art of the age of Pericles, was built between 447 and 434 B. C. on the site of an older Temple begun by Cimon, but remaining unfinished. Ictinus and Callicrates were the architects, and the incomparable decorations were under the direction of Phidias.

The Parthenon is 101.33 x 228.141 English ft., built of Pentelic marble, and belongs to the style of the Peripteral Hypæthral Temple, with 8 columns on the front and 17 on the side. These columns (34 feet 2.8 inches high) arise from a base of three plinths, and on the latter are two plinths again, from which arises the cella. The cella itself has the form of an Amphiprostyle, forehalls (pronaos and epinaos) of six columns each, being placed at the entrance at the east and west ends. The entrance on the east leads to the long naos, which has a row of superimposed columns on each side, thereby forming narrow side aisles, with galleries over. These side aisles were carried across the rear, and thus encircled the gold and ivory statue of Athena Parthenos, the masterpiece of Phidias. Behind the cella we find an almost square room which has its entrance from the west.

The frieze 525 feet long and 3 feet 4 inches high (English), encircling the wall of the cella, was decorated with reliefs by Phidias. The 92 metopes of the triglyphic frieze were also decorated with sculpture, and in contrast to the flat cella frieze were in strong relief.

The principal decorations were in the two tympani, consisting of collosal sculptures, that at the east representing, according to Pausanias, the birth of Athena, and that at the west the contest of this goddess with Poseidon.

Our plate shows a corner of the long side.

The columns are of similar proportion as those of the Theseus Temple, only the capitals have a still less projection. Five cinctures or rings shown at A connect the echinus with the hypotrachelium or necking. The column capitals of the Amphiprostyle show only three rings as shown at B. The outer columns lean inward so that if their axes were prolonged they would meet over a mile above. The corner columns, which are about 1-36 of a diameter thicker than the middle ones, lean toward the diagonal of the building, and more than the others, and through this inward inclination was gained stability. Still more striking is the fact that the long horizontal lines form curves crowning upward, these refinements being for none other than æsthetic reasons.

The entablature of the Parthenon, in relation to the column height, seems a little lighter than on the Theseus Temple. The tænia was painted with a meander, the scheme of which is still apparent in the less exposed places, the color itself not being any more recognizable. Noteworthy is the string of pearl beading above the capitals of the triglyphs. We can recognize in this the Ionic influence on the Doric forms. The cyma was decorated with a flower wreath, traces of which are still discernible, but not the color. On the corner of the long side the cyma ends with a lion's head, which is turned a little towards the corner. The profile of the pediment cornice is shown at D.

The antæ capital at C can be called Doric, with an Ionic feeling.

In Byzantine times the Parthenon was changed into a Christian church to the Virgin Mary. In the Turkish times it answered as a mosque. At the siege of Athens by the Venetians in 1687 the Turks placed a powder magazine in the building, assuming that from the sacred character of the place the powder would be safe. It was exploded by a bomb of the besiegers. This was mainly the cause for the ruined condition of the building, although in later times the despoliation was still further accomplished by the Englishman, Lord Elgin, who removed the sculptures and transferred them to London, where at the present time they are the most highly prized treasures of the British Museum. Even earlier than this a small portion of the sculptures, today preserved in the Louvre, was removed by the Count Choisuel Gouffier.