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See also:PARTHENON (HapOevwv) , the name generally given, since the 4th See also:century B.C., to the See also:chief See also:temple of See also:Athena on the See also:Acropolis at See also:Athens (e.g. See also:Demosthenes, c. Androt. 13, 76). The name is applied in the See also:official inventories of the 5th and See also:early 4th centuries to one compartment of the temple, and this was probably its See also:original meaning. It is certainly to be associated with the cult of Athena Parthenos, " the Virgin," though it is not clear why the name was given to this particular chamber. The most convenient position for a temple upon the natural See also:rock-See also:platform of the Acropolis was occupied by the early temple of Athena. When it was decided to supersede this by a larger and more magnificent temple, it was necessary to provide a site for this new temple by means of a See also:great substructure, which is on its See also:south See also:side about 40 ft. high. This substructure was not ikfnDlbphdd.y,fnmka1on from W tIh.ilongen M. be. Mkee A,ekielodieel.n lunaob to A:kn.1®JI t....t...'P a Yard., built for the See also:present temple, but for an earlier one, which was longer and narrower in shape; there has been much discussion as to the date of this earlier temple; F. C. Penrose maintained that it was the See also:work of See also:Peisistratus. Some have thought that it dated from the See also:time immediately after the See also:Persian See also:wars; but the fact that portions of its columns and See also:entablature, damaged by See also:fire, were built into the See also:north See also:wall of the Acropolis by See also:Themistocles seems to prove that it See also:dates from the 6th century, whether it be the work of the tyrants or of the renewed See also:democracy under See also:Cleisthenes. The extant temple was the chief among the buildings with which See also:Pericles adorned the Acropolis. The supervision of the whole work was in the hands of See also:Pheidias, and the architects of the temple were See also:Ictinus and Caliicrates. The actual See also:building was not begun until 447 B.C., though the decision to build was made ten years earlier (Keil, Anonynus argentorensis). The temple must have been structurally See also:complete by the See also:year 438 BC., in which the See also:gold and See also:ivory statue of Athena Parthenos was dedicated; but the work of decoration and finish was still going on in 433 B.C. The temple as designed by Ictinus was about 15 ft. shorter and about 6 ft. wider than the building for which the See also:foundations were intended; it thus obtained a proportion of length to breadth of exactly 9: 4. It is the most perfect example of the Doric See also:order (see See also:ARCHITECTURE: See also:Greek). The See also:plan of the temple was See also:peculiar. The See also:cella, which was exactly Too ft. See also:long, kept the name and traditional measurement of the old Hecatompedon. It was surrounded on three sides by a Doric See also:colonnade, and in the See also:middle of it was the great basis on which the statue was erected. This cella was probably lighted only by the great See also:doorway and by the See also:light that filtered through the See also:marble tiles. The See also:common notion that there was a hypaethral opening is alrelre?rz"i=fl%Zy/z =Z = = =e]MItta 1 / ateer~ixiii ao,Brier.Wey,e aa~iv.Heizee*e i zee,odu~voi - See also:ivy 111 H ^. ~! O Pa b 'a I ~' , ee as etee aaaaaut ,.ar al a ago, _ c?vara , II ZdZMZZzZieZ% Em.a W+lk.r,4. erroneous. At the back of the cella was a square chamber, not communicating with it, but entered from the See also:west end of the temple; this was the Parthenon in the narrower sense. It seems to have been used only as a See also:store-See also:house, though it may have been originally intended for a more important purpose. The Prodomus and the Opisthodomus were enclosed by See also:bronze gratings fixed between the columns, and were thus adapted to contain valuable offerings and other treasures. We have inventories on marble of the contents of these four compartments of the temple. The opisthodomus, in particular, probably served as a See also:treasury for sacred and other See also:money, though it has been disputed whether the opisthodomus mentioned in the See also:inscriptions is See also:part of the Parthenon or another building. For the sculptures decorating the Parthenon and the statue by Pheidias in the cella, see See also:article GREEK See also:ART. The metopes over the See also:outer colonnade were all sculptured, and represented on the See also:east the See also:battle of gods and giants, on the west, probably, the battle of Greeks and See also:Amazons, on the south Greeks and See also:Centaurs; those on the north are almost lost. The east See also:pediment represented the See also:birth of Athena, the west pediment her contest with See also:Poseidon for the See also:land of See also:Attica. The See also:frieze, which was placed above the cella wall at the sides, represented the Panathenaic procession, approaching on three sides the See also:group of gods seated in the middle of the east side. These sculptures are all of them admirably adapted to their position on the building, and are, in themselves, the most perfect See also:works that See also:sculpture has ever produced.
The Parthenon probably remained intact until the 5th century of our era, when the See also:colossal statue was removed, and the temple is said to have been transformed into a See also: Some See also:fault has been found with his methods or those of his workmen; but there is no doubt that the result was the preservation of much that would otherwise have been lost. The Elgin See also:marbles were bought by the See also:British See also:government in 1816, and are now in the British Museum. Certain other sculptures from the Parthenon are in the Louvre, See also:Copenhagen or elsewhere, and much is still in Athens, either still on the temple or in the Acropolis museum. The most accurate measurements of the temple, showing the exactness of its construction and the subtlety of the curvature of all its lines, was made by F. C. Penrose. Atyruoi1TIEs.—A. See also:Michaelis, der Parthenon (See also:Leipzig, 1871); J. Stuart and N. Revett, Antiquities of Athens (See also:London, 1762-1815) F. C. Penrose, Principles of Athenian Architecture (London. 1851 and1888); A. S. See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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