Built between 447 and 432 B.C., during the height of the ancient Greek Empire, the Parthenon is a magnificent marble temple. The Parthenon, a temple complex dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, is perched atop the Acropolis in Athens. The Greek mainland had never seen a temple as enormous and extravagant as this one. The Parthenon has endured earthquakes, fires, battles, explosions, and looting over the years, but despite its damage, it still serves as a potent reminder of ancient Greece and Athenian civilization. It is one of the most well-known structures in the world today and an enduring representation of ancient Greece.
Everyone is familiar with the Acropolis and the Parthenon, but the ancient temple also has some fascinating facts that can surprise you. The legendary Pericles gives instructions for the building of the new Parthenon temple during the “Golden Age” (5th BC). Over ten kilometers away, at the top of the Acropolis, fine white marble is being dug up from the mountain Penteli. It is impossible to distill the appeal of the Parthenon into a single idea or piece of information. Athens’ magnificent temple is a must-see since it represents the aspirations of the ancient Greeks. Let’s learn some interesting and surprising facts about it!
✤ History of the temple devoted to the Greek goddess Athena: The Parthenon, as it is now superseded, was an earlier temple created in honor of the goddess Athena in the sixth century BC.
✤ The Parthenon existed as a temple for many different religions: Its name, “Parthenon,” comes from one of Goddess Athena’s numerous attributes: being a virgin goddess (in Greek, “parthenos”). She and the ancient Greek Pantheon religion were served at the temple. Until the fifth century AD, when it was converted into a Christian temple first devoted to Hagia Sophia and then to the Virgin Mary, devotees of the Olympian Gods continued to adore the Virgin Athena.
✤ Before this temple, another Parthenon existed: A former Athena temple that had been destroyed by the Persians during the Persian Wars served as the foundation for the Parthenon. A new temple was constructed in the sixth century BC, and it was embellished with statues that are now on display in the Acropolis Museum. A marble temple was being erected around the ancient one after the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, but the Persians destroyed it in 480 BC. This earlier temple was demolished to make way for the Parthenon that stands there today. Construction started in 447 BC, and it was finished in just nine years, which was a record for the time. The decoration projects began in 438 BC and were completed in 432 BC.
✤ The Parthenon was turned into a Christian church: At the end of the sixth century AD, the Parthenon underwent conversion into a Christian church and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, becoming the Church of the Theotokos. At that moment, the building’s orientation was adjusted to face the east pediment in accordance with Eastern Church tradition, and the main entrance was shifted to face the west pediment.
✤ There was a massive statue of Athena inside the Parthenon: The Parthenon was created to accommodate the enormous ivory figure of goddess Athena, the city’s patroness, inside. The statue of Athena, which had a wooden core, was positioned on a pedestal in the temple’s nave.
✤ The Parthenon’s marbles portray stories from Athens’ past: The Parthenon’s sculptured decoration is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in the history of art and is divided into three distinct sections: the metopes, which are rectangular slabs with relief scenes on the exterior of the colonnade; the frieze, which rises from the entablatures of the inner columns and adorns the walls of the nave; and the pediments, which feature compositions of entirely sculpted statues.
✤ The Parthenon had its worst disaster ever in 1687: When a besieging Venetian army fired a mortar into the temple, which the Ottomans were now using as a gunpowder magazine, the entire structure was destroyed by smoke and fire. An extensive amount of the structure was demolished. More than 50% of the sculptures on the Parthenon’s frieze that were affixed to the roof also fell to the ground, along with the roof’s demise and the collapse of the Ionian and Doric columns. A smaller mosque was erected inside the severely damaged Parthenon shell after the Ottoman Turks retook the Athenian Acropolis from the Venetians a year later.
✤ The Parthenon is the most copied architecture: Throughout history, many other buildings, such as the British Museum in London and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, have been modeled after the Parthenon’s traditional Greek style. Modern architects are drawn to it because of its eternal elegance and simplicity, which compels them to repeatedly reproduce it. The architect William Crawford Smith created a full-scale copy of the original Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee. It was built in 1897 as a component of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.
The Parthenon is the top attraction for your vacation to Athens, regardless of whether you visit Greece in the winter or the summer, as you have probably already realized because it conceals more than what is immediately apparent. Perhaps there is still more to learn about the Parthenon in the entrails of history. Let’s keep an eye on historians who are still trying to figure out everything about the Parthenon.
