A frieze composition depicting human processions. Artistic and decorative design of the Parthenon

Parthenon Parthenon

(Greek Parthenon, from parthinos - virgin) in Athens, the greatest monument of Greek art of the classical era; temple of the goddess Athena Parthenos. The main temple of the Athenian policy. Erected on the rock of the Acropolis in 447-438 BC. e. architects Iktin and Kallikrat to commemorate the victory over the Persians. It is a marble temple surrounded by a colonnade (peripter, area 30.89 m x 69.54 m, column height 10.43 m), distinguished by calm majesty and perfection of architectural forms, a clear harmony of parts, commensurate with the scale of a person, a skillful combination of Doric and Ionic orders ( cm. architectural orders). The rich, classically strict and slender sculptural decoration of the temple, organically connected with the forms of architecture, was made under the direction of Phidias (completed in 432 BC). The frieze of the façade was decorated with metopes depicting scenes of struggles between the Amazons, centaurs and giants, the pediments were decorated with sculptural groups reproducing the scenes of the birth of Athena (on the eastern pediment) and the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for dominance in Attica (in the west). Around the main building - the cella of the temple - there was a frieze with a relief image of the Panathenaic procession of Athenian citizens. Sculpture of the Parthenon, as if commenting on and revealing the ideological and artistic meaning architectural image, reflects the idea of ​​man's victory over the elemental, dark, "animal" beginning, embodies the idea of ​​​​the physical and spiritual perfection of a human being. She is characterized by calm majesty of rhythms, softness and ease of plastic modeling, free and natural movement of figures in space, skillfully subordinated to the plane of the wall, light, virtuoso processing of the marble surface. The Parthenon was destroyed in 1687 during the siege of the Acropolis by the Venetians. In 1801-03, most of the surviving sculptures were taken to Great Britain (since 1812 it has been in the collection of the British Museum in London).

Parthenon. 447 - 438 BC Architects Iktin and Kallikrat. General form.

(Source: Popular art encyclopedia." Ed. Field V.M.; M.: Publishing house " Soviet Encyclopedia", 1986.)

(Greek parthenó n, from parthé nos - virgin), temple of Athena Parthenos (Virgin) in Athenian acropolis(447-38 BC; architects Iktin and Kallikrat), outstanding monument ancient Greek architecture. Built under the direction Phidias from golden Pentelic marble on the site of the temple of Athena ("Hekatompedon"), destroyed during the Greco-Persian wars (500-449 BC). The Parthenon is one of the largest temples in Greece. Its stone base covers an area of ​​31 x 70 m, columns reach almost 10 meters in height. The temple is a Doric peripter, into which is inserted a rectangular cella (sanctuary) with six columns porticoes from the short sides. According to the rules, the peripter had to be surrounded by 6 columns on the end sides and 13 on the sides, and the Parthenon had a ratio of columns of 8 x 17. Deviations from the rules gave the architectural forms of the Parthenon solemn grandeur and at the same time lightness and harmony. The architects took into account the peculiarities of human vision, which perceives slightly curved lines in space as straight lines. The perfect beauty of the Parthenon is created by barely noticeable "irregularities". To create the optical effect of perfectly straight vertical columns and horizontal steps and entablature, the architects erected the columns slightly inclined towards the inside of the building; the front planes of the steps and the architrave are curved inwards; the extreme columns are somewhat more massive than the others, etc.

The building of the Parthenon consisted of a pronaos (the vestibule), a two-part cella and an opisthodom (treasury). The sanctuary was dominated by a colossal statue of the goddess Athena Parthenos, ca. 12 m, made by Phidias in chrysoelephantine technique(chryselephantine). main facade The Parthenon was turned to the east so that the figure of Athena was illuminated by the rays of the rising sun. In the Middle Ages, the sculpture was taken to Byzantium, where it died in a fire. According to ancient authors, more than 1500 kg of gold was spent on the construction of the statue. The main decoration of the Parthenon was its sculptural decor. Statue compositions on gables depicted episodes of myths that were especially significant for the Athenians: in the east - the birth of the goddess Athena, in the west - her dispute with Poseidon for power over Attica. On the metopes frieze battles with giants and centaurs and fights of the Greeks with the Trojans were depicted. The sculptural decor is completed by an Ionic frieze (zophoros) 160 m long, which shows a solemn procession on the day of the Great panathenaic. Frieze of the Parthenon - one of the peaks classical art. None of the 500 figures repeats the other. The Parthenon was also decorated with relief ornaments and weirs in the form of lion heads. All sculptures and some architectural details (gutters, cornices, door frames, column capitals) were painted and gilded. The interior of the temple was decorated with paintings by the best masters of that time.
In 435 the Parthenon became christian church St. Mary. From the east it was attached apse, for which the entire middle part of the eastern pediment was destroyed. In 1456, the Turks turned the temple into a mosque, adding a minaret to it, but without touching the architectural decoration. In 1687, during the siege of Athens by the Venetians, the Parthenon was severely damaged when a cannon shell hit a powder magazine located there.

(Source: "Art. Modern Illustrated Encyclopedia." Under the editorship of Prof. A.P. Gorkin; M.: Rosmen; 2007.)

See what "Parthenon" is in other dictionaries:

The main temple of the Athenian Acropolis, dedicated to Athena Parthenos (ie 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 the decoration (mainly ... ... Collier Encyclopedia

- (this see Parthenon). See PARTHENON and PARTHENON. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. PARTHENON The main temple in the ancient. Athens, dedicated to the patroness of the city, the goddess Athena. Dictionary of foreign words, ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Parthenon- Parthenon. General form. PARTHENON, temple of Athena Parthenos on the Acropolis in Athens, a monument of ancient Greek high classics. The marble Doric peripter with an Ionic sculptural frieze (447 438 BC, architects Iktin and Kallikrat) is remarkable ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Temple of Athena Parthenos on the Acropolis in Athens, a monument of ancient Greek high classics. The marble Doric peripter with an Ionic sculptural frieze (447 438 BC, architects Iktin and Kallikrates) is remarkable for the majestic beauty of forms and ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

The main temple on the Acropolis in Athens, dedicated to the patroness of the city, Athena. (Source: Myths Ancient Greece. Dictionary reference.» EdwART, 2009.) ... Encyclopedia of mythology

Exist., Number of synonyms: 1 city (2765) ASIS Synonym Dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

The main temple in ancient Athens, dedicated to the patroness of this city and all of Attica, the goddess Athena the Virgin (oparJneoV). It stood out on the highest point of the Athenian acropolis, where in front of it stood the incompletely completed temple of the same goddess ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Landmark Parthenon Παρθενών ... Wikipedia

- (Greek Parthenón, from parthénos virgin) temple of the goddess Athena Parthenos in Athens. The greatest monument ancient Greek art. Built on the Acropolis in 447 438 BC. e. Iktin and Kallikrat; sculptural decoration was carried out under the direction of Phidias, ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Parthenon- (from the Greek. parthenos virgin) temple of the goddess Athena Parthenos (Virgo) on the Acropolis; built in 447 438 years. BC. architects Iktin and Kallikrat. P. was a Dorian peripter (rectangle) with 8 columns wide and 17 long; was… … Antique world. Dictionary reference.

Books

• Monuments of the Athenian Acropolis. Parthenon and Erechtheion, N. I. Brunov. The book analyzes architectural compositions and features monumental works classical greek architecture of the Parthenon and Erechtheion. The publication is supplied with a large number of…

Precursors of the Parthenon

Main articles: Hekatompedon (temple), Opisthodom (temple)

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

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

Material and technology

The temple was built entirely of Pentelian marble, quarried nearby. During mining, he has White color, but under the influence of the rays of the sun turns yellow. The northern side of the building is exposed to less radiation - and therefore there the stone received a grayish-ashy tint, while the southern blocks give off a golden yellowish color. Tiles and stylobate are also made of this marble. The columns are made up of drums fastened together with wooden plugs and pivots.

Metopes

Main article: Doric frieze of the Parthenon

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

64 metopes survive: 42 in Athens and 15 in the British Museum. Most of them are on the east 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 the opisthodom was girdled on 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 equestrian figures. On the bas-relief, which is one of the most famous works of this genre in the extant antique art, the procession on the last day of Panathenay is depicted. On the north and south sides, horsemen and chariots are depicted, just citizens. 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, who are mounted or have already mounted them. In the east (above the entrance to the temple) the end of the procession is presented: the priest, surrounded by the gods, accepts the peplos woven for the goddess by the Athenians. Standing nearby important people cities.

96 plates of the frieze have been preserved. 56 of them are in the British Museum, 40 (mainly the western part of the frieze) - in Athens.

Gables

Main article: The pediments of the Parthenon

Fragment of the pediment.

Giant sculptural groups were placed in the tympanums of the pediments (0.9 m deep) above the western and eastern entrances. To this day, they have survived very poorly. Central figures almost didn't get there. In the center of the eastern pediment in the Middle Ages, a window was barbarously cut through, which completely destroyed the composition that was there. Ancient authors, however, usually bypass this part of the temple. Pausanias - the main source in 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 give 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 for the most part only 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 drives in from the south, presumably driven by Helios. Before him sits Dionysus, then Demeter and Kore. Behind them is another goddess, possibly Artemis. Three seated female figures have come down to us from the north—the so-called "three veils"—who are sometimes regarded 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 Nux or Selena. Regarding the center of the pediment (or rather, most of it), one can only say that there, definitely - due to the theme of the composition, were the figures of Zeus, Hephaestus and Athena. Most likely, there were the rest of the Olympians and, perhaps, some other gods. A torso survives, attributed in most cases to Poseidon.

On the western pediment is 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 were chariots, probably in the north - Nika with Hermes, in the south - Irida with Amphitrion. Around were the figures of the legendary characters of Athenian history, but their exact attribution is almost impossible.

28 statues have come down to us: 19 in the British Museum and 11 in Athens.

Statue of Athena Parthenos

The statue of Athena Parthenos, which stood in the center of the temple and was 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 the other leans on a shield. The shield depicts Amazonomachy. There is a legend that Phidias depicted himself (in the form of Daedalus) and Pericles (in the form of Theseus) on it, for which (and also 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 theme allows us to say that this is already a historical relief. Another relief was on Athena's sandals. It depicted a centauromachy.

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

Other trim details

None of the ancient sources mentions the fire in the Parthenon, however, archaeological excavations have proven that it occurred in the middle of the 3rd century BC. BC e., 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 collapsed, both main doors of the temple and the second frieze. 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 carried out only over the inner rooms, and the outer colonnade turned out to be unprotected. Two rows of columns in the eastern hall were replaced with similar ones. Based on the architectural style of the restored elements, it was possible to establish that the blocks in more early period belonged to various buildings of the Athenian Acropolis. In particular, 6 blocks of 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 hooves of horses and wheels of the chariot were attached), as well as groups of bronze statues of warriors that were described by Pausanias. Three other blocks of western doors are marble tablets with financial reporting, according to which the main stages of the construction of the Parthenon are established.

christian temple

Story

The Parthenon remained the temple of 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 country town 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 evidence 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 period of the Fourth Crusade. The statue of Athena Parthenos probably disappeared as early as the 3rd century BC. e. during a fire or earlier. Roman and Byzantine emperors repeatedly issued decrees banning the pagan cult, but the pagan tradition in Hellas was too strong. On 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 Our Lady of Athens suffered more significant changes. The apse in the eastern part was destroyed and rebuilt. The new apse closely adjoined the ancient columns, so the central slab of the frieze was dismantled. This "peplos scene" slab, later used to build fortifications on the Acropolis, was found by Lord Elgin's agents and is now on display at the British Museum. Under Michael Choniates himself interior decoration the temple was restored, including painting Judgment Day on the wall of the portico, where the entrance was located, murals depicting the Passion of Christ in the porch, a number of murals that depicted saints and previous Athenian metropolitans. All the murals of the Parthenon of the Christian era were covered with a thick layer of whitewash in the 1880s, but in the early 19th century, the Marquis of Bute ordered watercolors from them. It is from these watercolors that the researchers established the plot motifs of the paintings and the approximate time of creation - the end of the 12th century. At about the same time, the ceiling of the apse was decorated with mosaics, which collapsed over several decades. Glass fragments of it are also exhibited in the British Museum.

On February 24 and 25, 1395, the Italian traveler Nicolo de Martoni visited Athens, who left in his Book of the Pilgrim (now in the National Library of France, Paris) the first systematic description of the Parthenon after Pausanias. Martoni presents the Parthenon as a landmark of exclusively Christian history, but considers the main wealth not numerous relics and the revered icon of the Virgin, written 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 Equal-to-the-Apostles Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, the first Byzantine emperor to officially accept Christianity. Martoni also tells of a cross carved 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 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 of the Latinocracy period is the tower near the right side of the portico, built after the capture of the city by the crusaders. For its construction, blocks were used 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 climbed to the very roof. Since the tower blocked the small doors to the vestibule, the central western entrance of the Parthenon of the ancient era began to be used again.

During the reign of Aksiaioli in Athens, the first drawing of the Parthenon was created, the earliest of those that have survived to this day. It was performed by Chiriaco di Pizzicoli, an Italian merchant, papal legate, traveler and lover of the classics, better known as Cyriacos of Ancona. He visited Athens in 1444 and stayed in the splendid palace that the Propylaea had been turned into to pay his respects to Acciaioli. Cyriacus left detailed notes and a number of drawings, but they were destroyed by fire in 1514 in the library of the city of Pesaro. One of the images of the Parthenon survived. It depicts a temple with 8 Doric columns, the location of the metope - epistilia is accurately indicated, 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 does not look like a dispute between Athena and Poseidon. This is a lady of the 15th century 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 that are better preserved, as Kyriak correctly suggests, a scene of a fight between centaurs and lapites 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

Alterations and decoration

The most detailed description of the Parthenon from the Ottoman period is by Evliya Çelebi, a Turkish diplomat and traveler. He visited Athens several times during the 1630s and 1640s. Evliya Celebi noted that the transformation of the Christian Parthenon into a mosque did not greatly affect its internal appearance. The main feature of the temple was the canopy over the altar. He also described that the four columns of red marble that supported the canopy were highly polished. The floor of the Parthenon is laid out with polished marble slabs up to 3 m each. Each of the blocks that decorated the walls is 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 let in sunlight. Spon and J. Wehler also mentioned this feature, suggesting that in fact this stone is fengite, transparent marble, which, according to Pliny, was the favorite stone of the emperor Nero. Evliya recalls that the silver inlay of the main doors Christian temple removed, and antique sculptures and the paintings are covered with white, although the layer of white is thin and you can see the plot of the painting. Further, Evliya Celebi gives a list of characters, listing the heroes of the pagan, Christian and Muslim religions: demons, Satan, wild animals, devils, sorceresses, angels, dragons, antichrists, cyclops, monsters, crocodiles, elephants, rhinos, as well as Cherubim, 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 give a description of the mosaics made of gold pieces and fragments 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 have been preserved from the previous Christian era. They also tell about the legend, according to which the hand of the Turk who shot at the fresco of Mary withered away, so the Ottomans decided not to harm the temple anymore.

Although the Turks did not have the desire to protect the Parthenon from destruction, they did not have the goal of completely distorting or destroying the temple. Since it is impossible to accurately determine the time of mashing the metopes of the Parthenon, the Turks could continue this process. However, in general, they committed less destruction of the building than the Christians a thousand years before the Ottoman rule, who turned the majestic ancient temple to a Christian cathedral. All the time the Parthenon served as a mosque, Muslim worship took place surrounded by Christian murals and images of Christian saints. In the future, the Parthenon was not rebuilt and its present appearance has been preserved unchanged since the 17th century.

Destruction

The peace between the Turks and the Venetians was short-lived. A new Turkish-Venetian war began In September 1687, the Parthenon suffered the 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 bombard the Acropolis with cannons on Philopappou Hill. When cannons fired at the Parthenon, which served as a powder magazine for the Ottomans, it exploded, and part of the temple instantly turned into ruins. In previous decades, Turkish gunpowder depots have been repeatedly blown up. In 1645, a lightning struck the warehouse, equipped in the Propylaea of ​​the acropolis, 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 place 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 on the building, which served as a Christian church for several centuries.

Judging by the traces of shelling only on the western pediment, 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, interiors that once served as a Christian church and a mosque; the roof on the north side collapsed. The western pediment turned out to be almost unscathed, and Francesco Morosini wished 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. A few fragmentary fragments were nevertheless taken to Italy, the rest remained on the Acropolis. Since that time, the history of the Parthenon has become the history of ruins. The destruction of the Parthenon was witnessed by Anna Ocherjelm, maid of honor to Countess Königsmark. 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 the mosque, she found an Arabic manuscript that was transferred by Anna's brother Ocherjelm to the library of the Swedish city of Uppsala. Therefore, after its two thousand years of history, the Parthenon could no longer be used as a temple, since it was destroyed much more than one might imagine, seeing its current appearance - the result of many years of reconstruction. John Pentland Magaffi, who visited the Parthenon several decades before the restoration work began, noted:

From a political point of view, the destruction of the Parthenon caused minimal consequences. A few months after the victory, the Venetians gave up power over Athens: they did not have enough strength to further protect the city, and the plague epidemic made Athens completely unattractive to the invaders. The Turks again set up a garrison on the Acropolis, albeit on a smaller scale, among the ruins of the Parthenon, and erected a new small mosque. You can see it on the first famous photos temple built in 1839.

From destruction to reconstruction

Early explorers of the Parthenon included British archaeologist James Stewart and architect Nicholas Revett. Stuart first published drawings, descriptions and drawings with measurements of the Parthenon for the Society of Amateurs in 1789. In addition, it is known that James Stewart collected a considerable collection of ancient antiquities of the Athenian Acropolis and the Parthenon. The cargo was sent by sea to Smyrna, then the trace of the collection is lost. However, one of the fragments of the Parthenon frieze, taken out by Stewart, 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 antiquary, trustee of the British Museum.

is still unclear and legal side affairs. The actions of Lord Elgin and his agents were regulated by the Sultan's firman. Whether they contradicted it 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 take measurements 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 the 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 to remove sculptures, since the surviving parts of the building were destroyed in this way. Irish traveler, author of several works on ancient architecture, Edward Dodwell wrote:

Independent Greece

Duvin Hall in the British Museum displaying the Elgin Marbles

However, official archaeological policy remained unchanged until the 1950s, when a proposal to remove the staircase in the medieval tower in the western part of the Parthenon was strongly rejected. At the same time, a program of restoration of the appearance of the temple was unfolding. 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. Most of all, the earthquake of 1894 intensified the work, which largely destroyed the temple. The first cycle of work was completed in 1902, their scale was rather modest, and they were carried out under the auspices of a committee of international consultants. Until the 1920s and for a long time after the chief engineer Nikolaos Balanos worked without external control. It was he who began the program of restoration work, designed for 10 years. There were plans to completely restore the interior walls, reinforce the pediments 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 the colonnades that connected the east and west facades.

Scheme showing the blocks of individual columns of the ancient era, Manolis Korres

Thanks to the Balanos program, the destroyed Parthenon acquired its modern look. However, since the 1950s, after his death, the 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 staples to connect antique marble blocks. Over time, they rusted and deformed, causing the blocks to crack. In the late 1960s, in addition to the problem of the Balanos anchorages, environmental effects came to light: polluted air and acid rain damaged the sculptures and reliefs of the Parthenon. In 1970, a UNESCO report suggested a variety of ways to save the Parthenon, including enclosing the hill under a glass jar. In the end, in 1975, a committee was established that oversees the preservation of the entire complex of the Acropolis of Athens, and in 1986 work began to dismantle the iron fasteners 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. Part of the elements of the frieze will be replaced with copies, the originals will be transported to the exposition of the New Acropolis Museum. The chief engineer of the works, Manolis Korres, considers it a top priority to patch the bullet holes fired at the Parthenon in 1821 during the Greek Revolution. Also, restorers must assess the damage caused to the Parthenon by strong earthquakes and 1999. As a result of consultations, it was decided that by the time the restoration work was completed, the remains of a Christian-era apse could be seen inside the temple, as well as the plinth of a statue of the goddess Athena Parthenos; restorers will pay no less attention to 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

Sculpture of the Parthenon in the British Museum. Part Three: The Ionian Frieze August 24th, 2010

An Ionian frieze depicting the Panathenaic procession occupies the huge hall of the British Museum. Only a few of his slabs are now in other collections. Procession of Athenian Maidens from the East Wall - Louvre: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Egastinai_frieze_Louvre_MR825.jpg
Poseidon, Apollo and Artemis - in the Acropolis Museum: http://ancientrome.ru/art/artwork/img.htm?id=1643
There are also a few more plates. But only in the British Museum can one get a holistic view of this part of the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon.
Before us is the corner of the western and southern walls. male figure looks very strange: the body is depicted in front, the legs are turned in one direction, the head in the other. The movement is thus stopped:

The length of the frieze, which went along the walls of the cella of the temple, behind the columns, is 160 meters, its height is 1 meter.
The preparations for the procession were depicted on the western wall. Some characters are already on their way, some are standing still. The flow of the main movement is directed to the left, but some figures are turned to the right. In this part of the frieze, we see only men:

Now on the Parthenon itself there are copies of the reliefs. Here's what the west front looks like:

The Panathenaic procession on the frieze is an image, not a detailed document. Sculptors depict the most important thing without going into details. The procession of the Athenians bifurcates: along the southern and northern walls, mortal people move towards the gods.

Sculptors depict riders with special pleasure. The procession is multifaceted. On the frieze, everything is flattened, sometimes, like knots, you have to unravel the legs of horses and riders. In the next hall there is a special multimedia program that transforms a planar image on a frieze into a spatial one. Very exciting! By the way, when everything was painted, the plans were divided more clearly.

As far as the movement of the horses and the postures of the riders are individualized, all the young men are so similar. Just brothers! The ideal type dominates, nothing personal.
This is not the army of Qin Shi Huangdi.

What was the Panathenaic procession depicted on the frieze?
“The holiday was many days, solemn and magnificent; he demanded the presence on it of all Athenians (and since the time of Peisistratus, formally, of all Hellenes). His main rite was to bring a new fire to the Acropolis from the lower city. They took it in the grove of Akadem, planted under Cleisthenes at the end of the 6th century. BC e. torches were lit on the altar of Eros or Prometheus, and the young men assigned to each of the ten Athenian phyla (territorial units) carried him to the Acropolis in a relay race. The winner received a strange prize: hydria with water. However, in the ritual of cosmogony it is quite natural: after all, this “water” is the parent of “fire”. The action of bringing fire was night - in accordance with the night ritual of the passions of the sun god in the underwater world.
Early in the morning, at sunrise, a procession formed near the Athenian cemetery of Keramik. It included all full-fledged citizens, except for slaves - indigenous people and Meteks, old people, young men and women. At the head was a priestess girl with a ritual eve basket, in which a knife was hidden among the barley intended for food for the victim animal. Further, at the beginning of the procession, there were thallophores - noble elders in white robes, with flowering branches in their hands, Indigenous Athenians carried two diphros for the gods - solemn thrones without backs. They were followed by sacrificial animals, cows and sheep, accompanied by young men and musicians, followed by meteki in purple robes - men carried heavy boat-shaped scaphos with honeycombs and other gifts to the gods and hydrias with water on their shoulders, women - umbrellas. The third part, the tail of the procession, was made up of ephebe youths on horseback in black cloaks. /Akimova L.I. Art of Ancient Greece: Classics. - St. Petersburg: ABC Classics, 2007, p.184 /

“The procession, approaching the Acropolis, took the model of the ship in the Prytaneum, the building where the city magistrates met, where the state seal and other symbols of the Athenian policy were kept. Newly woven saffron peplos was fastened on the mast of the ship, fluttering and shining like the sun. At the entrance to the Acropolis, the ship was left below and the peplos was carried on the mast-styulis removed from it, the horse ephebes dismounted. The rest of the procession climbed the steep slope to the top. Having reached the Parthenon, the procession split into two arms - one bypassed the temple from the north, the other from the south, and they met at the far end of the temple, where the Great Altar was located and where sacrifices were made. After the offering of sacrifices, the central event of the holiday, the goddess was presented with a new peplos. At sunrise, the doors of the temple were dissolved, and an extraordinary spectacle opened up in the naos: they were met in all its splendor, illuminated by the first rays of the sun, a colossal (about 12 m high) statue of Athena Parthenos by Phidias, made of gold and ivory. Previously, in the temple of Polias, peplos was placed on the knees of a seated goddess. In the Parthenon, where the statue was standing, after the ceremony it entered the temple treasury. Then the multi-day agony began. /Akimova L.I. Art of Ancient Greece: Classics. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka-classic, 2007, p.185 /

Until now, we have considered the reliefs of the northern side. On the south wall we see the same set of characters, they are just grouped differently.

Riders alternate with chariots:

Men lead sacrificial animals:

The east frieze looks completely different. Here people approach the gods. The traffic becomes slower and gradually people stop.

The goddess Athena is the most bizarre (in terms of motivation) character in Greek mythology.

After all, she is the goddess of "smart" war, but at the same time she is trying to solve all issues by peace.

She despises the pettiness of the other Olympians and rarely intervenes in their conflicts.

But in the event of a threat to the Pantheon itself, Athena will be the first to join the battle.

The goddess Athena repeatedly served as the punishing sword of Olympus, punishing the most self-confident mortals, but it was she who founded the greatest city of Greece, and then remained to look after these mortals after the gods of Olympus were gone forever.

And it is not surprising that her greatest sanctuary, the legendary Parthenon, also faced a very difficult and sometimes simply amazing fate.

Where is

The Parthenon is located in the very center of the capital, on the Athenian Acropolis.
The center of Athens is easy to navigate. There are many pedestrian zones, and the sights are concentrated in a heap. It is impossible to get lost - two guiding hills rise above the main plane of the city: the Acropolis and Lycabettus.
The Acropolis (Akropolis) - translated from Greek: "upper city" - was built on a rocky hill 156 meters high, which served as a natural fortification during sieges.

The Parthenon in Ancient Greece

The large pedestrian street Dionysiou Areopagitou leads from the center of Athens to the main attraction of Greece.
Walk straight along it without turning anywhere. Gradually rising up the mountain, it will lead you straight to the goal.

The Parthenon in Athens is visible from almost everywhere and looks especially beautiful at night when the lights are turned on.

Moreover, at first glance at the Acropolis, one can understand that the gods played a very important role in the life of the Greeks - it is literally crammed with various temples and sanctuaries of almost all more or less noticeable Olympians, from the mighty and formidable Zeus to the eternally drunk, but no less formidable Dionysus.

It is worth noting that the Parthenon is not the first sanctuary of the Acropolis dedicated to Athena. 200 years before its construction, not far from its current location, there was another temple - Hekatompedon. Scientists even admit that for some time, the temples existed in parallel.

The history of the temple, who built the Parthenon

Parthenon under restoration

Construction of the Parthenon began in 447 BC. The project is attributed to the architect Ikten, and the construction was led by Kallikrates, who was practically the court master of the ruler Pericles.

In addition to the Parthenon, Callicrates built several more temples on the Acropolis, and also actively participated in the worldly life of the city, bringing to mind and completing the project of the Long Walls, which then very unpleasantly surprised the Spartan army during the Peloponessian Wars.

True, the offended Spartans still razed the walls to the ground thirty years later, but, alas (or maybe vice versa, fortunately), Callicrates did not catch this. In addition, the inhabitants of the city restored the walls and they served as a symbol of Athenian independence for another three hundred years.

The Parthenon is the main masterpiece of the master. The temple still did not turn out the way Kallikrates intended it to be. The construction took more than nine years, and all these years the Athenian government regularly reported to its people for every coin spent on the construction (archaeologists managed to find marble tablets with reports).

Holiday Panathineon

At the Panathenaic feast of 438 B.C. e., the temple was solemnly opened to visitors, but decorative works continued for another six years under the guidance of the sculptor Phidias, the successor of Callicrates and the creator of one of the seven Wonders of the World - the statue of Zeus at Olympia. For the Parthenon, Phidias created an equally beautiful statue of Athena Parthenos, which became the main decoration of the temple.

Alas, but glorious history the sanctuary did not last even two hundred years - the last ruler who really honored Athena was Alexander the Great. After his visit to the temple in 323 B.C. e., Athens gradually slipped into tyranny, and later was repeatedly captured first by barbarian tribes, and then by the Romans. Around the same time, there was a big fire in the temple and the statue of Athena Parthenos was lost (however, by the time of the fire it was practically worthless - all the golden elements had been torn off in advance so that the then ruler of Athens could pay the soldiers).

Byzantine era of the Parthenon

After the fire, the temple was restored and it served as the last refuge of the goddess for almost 800 years, until under Patriarch Paul III it was turned into the Cathedral of St. Sophia.

All the treasures were taken to Constantinople, however, by that time there were not many of them left. The temple was significantly rebuilt, but on the whole retained its characteristic appearance.

But in 1458, Athens again changed its state affiliation, becoming part of the already Ottoman Empire.

The Turks placed a military garrison in the Acropolis, and the Parthenon was turned into a mosque, rebuilt into Once again and seriously damaging the murals inside the temple. Interestingly, in addition to painting over all plots that contradicted Muslim culture, no other changes were made to the interior of the temple.

In 1687, during the war between the Ottomans and the Holy League, the Parthenon, which served as a warehouse and shelter for the Turks, was fired upon from the dominant height - Philopappou Hill. A direct hit on the powder magazine literally destroyed the temple, burying more than 300 Turks under it.

Parthenon in 1840

For the next two hundred years, the ruins of the Parthenon served historical monument until restoration began in the 1840s.

The process of restoring the main ancient temple is still going on, with varying success, but the fact that many archaeological discoveries have been made is difficult to deny.

True, in recent years, the restoration project has been frozen - after joining the EU, Greece simply did not have money left to restore monuments.

What did the Ancient Greek Parthenon look like?

The ancient Greek Parthenon was a truly majestic sight.

Sectional Parthenon

The basis of the temple is the stylobate that has survived to this day - a three-stage rise leading to the temple. The temple itself is a rectangular building, with a colonnade on each of the four sides. The dimensions of the base rectangle are 69.5 × 30.9 meters.

There were 8 columns on the facades of the temple, 17 more on the sides, which gives us a total of 48 supports (the corner columns are both elements of both the facade and the side part).

Interestingly, the columns were not perpendicular, but were located at an angle, leaning inward. Moreover, the angle of inclination of the corner columns is much smaller than that of the others. The columns themselves were classic examples of the Dorian order, although they were unusually large.

One of the surviving friezes of the Parthenon

Inside the temple, two additional steps were made, which led to the central platform, surrounded from the facades by 12 more columns.
The platform was divided into three naves, a large central one and two small ones on the sides. The central nave was surrounded by three sides 21 columns. In its center was the same, later missing, statue of Athena Parthenos.

The inner frieze of the temple was made in the Ionic style and depicted a festive procession on the last day of the Panathenaic.

A total of 96 plates of this frieze survived, most of them are in the British Museum. The Greek government has been trying in vain for many decades to return the marble fragments of the Parthenon decoration to their historical place.

As for the exterior, little is known about it. The pediments of the Parthenon were destroyed in the Middle Ages, so they are restored mainly by guesswork.

The eastern pediment could depict the birth of Athena, but the details of the sculptures are almost gone. Western, most likely, shows the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica. In total, 30 statues from the pediments have survived, but their condition is rather deplorable, especially those that were in the British Museum at the end of the 20th century - they were subjected to a rather barbaric cleaning.

The outer friezes of the Parthenon are slightly better preserved - at least it is known exactly what was depicted on them.

On the eastern side of the temple, the history of the war of centaurs and lapiths was imprinted, on the western side - Trojan War, in the north - gigantomachia, and in the south - scenes from the battle of the Greeks and the Amazons.

Most of the surviving high reliefs are in the Athens Museum, and their exact copies are gradually taking their places in the restored Parthenon.

Statue of Athena

The most successful copy of the famous statue of Phidias

The statue of Athena is described as one of Phidias' greatest works. The statue of the goddess was made of wood covered with gold (about a ton) and decorated with ivory.

Instead of emphasizing the inaccessibility and aloofness of the deity (as he did with Olympian Zeus), Phidias portrayed Athena as simple and close to his people.

The statue was relatively low (13 meters) and depicted a proudly standing Athena, holding a spear in one hand, and a two-meter figure of the goddess of victory Nike in the other.

The head of the goddess was decorated with a three-crested helmet, and at her feet was a shield depicting scenes from battles.

Alas, the statue cost the architect of the Parthenon his life - in an impulse to perpetuate not only the divine Athena, but also himself, the master entered into one of the scenes decorating the shield of the goddess, a bald old man with a sculptor's hammer.

Phidias on the shield sculpture of Athena the Virgin

The Athenians did not appreciate the humor and condemned it for blasphemy. Phidias died in prison.

The famous statue was probably destroyed in a fire, presumably in the 5th century BC. e., but there are several copies of varying degrees of accuracy.

The most reliable, called "Athena Varvarikon", can be seen in the national archaeological museum.

Modern Parthenon

Modern Parthenon

It makes no sense to describe in detail what the Parthenon looks like today - Greek archaeologists and builders brought it as close as possible to the ancient temple.

Of course, all the gloss and beauty of the sculptures of the Parthenon are lost, but the building is still amazing.

Every year the temple becomes more beautiful, and the stories of the guides more and more impressive, so visiting the Parthenon is a process that is interesting to repeat every few years.

How much does it cost to visit

Surviving sculptures on the pediment of the roof of the Parthenon

Access to the main monument of ancient architecture of the Hellenes is open from 8.30 to 18.00.
It is recommended to visit it in the early hours or in the evening, when the heat is not particularly strong and the influx of tourists is not very large. At the entrance there is a small stall selling sparkling water and freshly squeezed juices (4.5 euros). Please note that they will not let you inside with a glass, and the glass is quite large.

Stock up on a bottle of water, upstairs in front of the entrance and to the left there are fountains and a toilet.
Entry with large bags is also prohibited, but there are lockers on site where you can leave them.

There are several entrances and ticket offices, including from the side of the museum and on the southeast side, near the theater of Dionysus.

The queue at the box office from the side of the museum is usually smaller.

The ticket price for entering the Parthenon territory (12 euros) includes visiting 6 attractions, including the temple of Olympian Zeus, the Ancient and Roman Agora, the theater of Dionysus and the ancient area of ​​​​Athens - Ceramics.
The ticket is valid for 4 days.

The ancient temple of the Parthenon in Athens is not only a grandiose monument. It is also the national symbol of Greece, which the country is very proud of.

Incredibly beautiful in its simplicity, the building has withstood the test of time and only fell under heavy cannon shells made millennia after the construction of the last sanctuary of Athena.

Isn't it worthy of admiration before the work of ancient masters!

Despite the fact that the temple of the Greek goddess has been under restoration for a long time and is surrounded by scaffolding, being near it is an amazing and exciting feeling.
If you happen to visit Athens, be sure to visit the Parthenon - the great spirit of ancient Hellas, frozen in Pentelian marble.

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

At the top of the rock of the Acropolis of Athens rises 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 Acropolis of Athens and the Parthenon

The Parthenon was built between 447 and 437 BC. e. on the site of an earlier temple, which was erected to commemorate the victory over the Persians in 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, Athens could build a fleet of 450 ships for 450 talents. When the people accused Pericles of squandering, he replied: “Our descendants will be proud of this temple for centuries!

Temple in the night illumination

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 concede all the glory to Pericles, shouted that he attributed the construction costs to the public account. The head of the work was appointed Phidias sculptures; he carved with his own hands most decorations of the Parthenon. The consecration of the temple took place in 438 BC. e. during the Panathenaic festival, held 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 the greatest destruction in 1687, during the war between the Venetians and the Turks, when a red-hot cannonball that flew through the roof made 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 more 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 a system of optical correction. From a distance, straight lines are perceived as slightly concave, and in order to eliminate this “defect”, the architects made middle part the columns are slightly thickened, and the corner columns are slightly tilted towards the center, thereby achieving the appearance of straightness.

South facade of the temple

Sculptures of the Parthenon - 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, Greeks and Amazons - on the south, gods and giants - in the north, and participants in the Trojan War - in the west. 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 dethrone him. Soon the god of thunder felt severe pain, and then the blacksmith Hephaestus hit him on the head, and Athena jumped out.

East 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 sea ​​water, carved into the rock by the trident of Poseidon. Along the perimeter of the outer walls of the temple, at a height of 11 meters from the floor, another frieze, Ionic, stretched in a continuous ribbon. Its reliefs illustrate scenes from the traditional ceremony of celebrating the "Birthday of the Goddess Athena" - Panathenaia. Horsemen, chariots, musicians, people with sacrificial animals and gifts, etc. are depicted here. The end of the procession is depicted on the eastern end: the priest receives from the Athenian peplos - a new garment woven for Athena. In ancient times, the Parthenon housed a treasury where the treasury of the Athenian Maritime Union was kept..

Fragment of the eastern facade of the temple

And in the center of the temple stood a 13-meter statue of Athena Parthenos, made of gold and ivory. Alas, the original statue has not survived to this day. In the museums of the world you can see only copies of the masterpiece of Phidias, recreated according to the descriptions.