Building the Parthenon was a technologically innovative and, of course, extremely difficult task for the ancient Greeks. They managed to extract, transport and lift huge quantities of marble from Penteli, to the rock of the Acropolis, with their technology.
Free citizens, settlers, slaves and marble workers from Paros, Naxos and Asia Minor worked on the works of the Acropolis.
Athens became a construction site
Thousands of craftsmen built the Parthenon in record time. In 447 BC, during the "Golden Age of Pericles", construction began on the Parthenon, the largest building on the Acropolis. The construction was carried out by the architects Iktinos and Kallikratis, while Pheidias had the task of general administrator. Athens was turned into a construction site. Goldsmiths, coppersmiths, marble sculptors, carpenters, rope makers and ox owners worked for the construction of the Parthenon. It is said that among the thousands of workers was the Athenian philosopher Socrates, who was a stonemason. The projects were completed within 8 years.
"Lithagogias Street": The road from the quarry of Penteli to the Acropolis
At least 20 thousand tons of Pentelian marble were used for the construction of the Parthenon. In order to transport the marbles, the ancient craftsmen built the "Lithagogias Street". The road started from the quarry in the cave of Davelis in Penteli and ended at the south side of the Acropolis. The journey took about 6 hours. It is estimated that there were about 20 carriages that covered the route ten times a day. The coordination was complex and impeccable, as everything had to arrive at the Acropolis construction site at the right time and not earlier to avoid overcrowding. When the marbles arrived, the workers had to lift them onto the sacred rock. It was impossible for them to do it with their physical strength alone. Thanks to their engineering knowledge and ingenuity, they discovered ways of lifting that resembled modern methods.
They built makeshift cranes with huge pulleys to which slides were attached on either side to serve as counterweights. In addition to this method, craftsmen also made wooden cranes. Archeologists estimate that 8 large cranes and other smaller ones worked around the Parthenon, mainly inside the temple under construction. Taking advantage of the principles and laws of physics, they used suitable levers and pulleys that multiplied the moment of force. They were so well made that they could lift a ten-ton marble to a height of 15 metres in twenty minutes.
Similar technical devices were used in the restoration of the Parthenon in 1984. Since 2017, the Lavrio Technology Park has housed the crane, which was built in France and served the restoration work continuously for 33 years. It is a historic machine in the construction of which the architect and restorer of the Parthenon, Manolis Korres, was also involved. The historical crane of the Parthenon is exhibited in the Lavrio museum for educational purposes.
Watch the crane assembly video at the technological park of Lavrio below:
