The Parthenon, the great temple of the Virgin Athena, stands at the top of the Acropolis hill. Symbol of Athens and a symbol of democracy. South of the Erechtheion temple is the foundation of an ancient Doric temple, the "Urparthenon", dating back to the time of the Peisistrati. Some scholars report that this temple was built twice in the 6th century, dedicated to Athena Poliada and destroyed by the Persians in 480.
Painting of the ruins of the Parthenon and the Ottoman mosque built after 1715, in the early 1830s by Pierre Peytier.
The "Pro-Parthenon" was built south of the "old temple" and was dedicated to Athena Promachos. If this is true, then this temple must have stood on the site where the Parthenon we know was later built. Some scholars confirm that there was indeed a temple before the Pre-Parthenon, but some of the relics attributed to it may have belonged to the neighboring "ancient temple" of Athena.
The church was also called "Parthenon", which means the house of Athena Parthenos(Virgin). From there came the complex of Hercules, Triton and the three-bodied Demon, which stands imposingly at the top of the stairs at the entrance to the Archaic on the Acropolis Museum. Its construction must have been well advanced after the battle of Marathon until its destruction by the Persians. After the end of the Medes, the construction of the new Parthenon was begun. This "Kimoneios" Parthenon was never completed because of the death of Kimon in 450 BC. Χ.
The Parthenon we know
Shortly after, as part of Pericles' building program, the rebuilding of the Parthenon began in 447 BC. In this temple Athena was no longer to be worshipped in her warlike form as "Promachos", but as a "Virgin" who brought moral victory to the city. In the 4th century, we are first informed that this "Great New" was called the Parthenon. The Parthenon was built of white Pentelic marble, with a foundation of porcelain and a wooden roof with a marble canopy. Construction began in 447 BC X and the dedication took place in 438 BC on the festival of the Panathenaea. The sculptural decoration was completed in 432 BC. X. The particularly large nave was the main reason for reducing the width of the temple wings. At the lower end of the nave, which could be entered through a special door, was the cultic ivory statue of the Virgin Athena. In the years of Pausanias there was a water tank in front of the statue, probably to provide the moisture necessary for the care of the ivory.
The temple has 92 metopes. On the east side we have scenes from the battle of the giants, on the west side the battle of the Amazons, on the north side scenes from the fall of Troy, and on the south side the quarrel between the Lapiths and the Centaurs. The frieze surrounding the temple shows the procession of the Panathenaeans. In the pediments on the east we see the birth of Athena and on the west the quarrel between Athena and Poseidon. The conception of the plan of the building is attributed to Iktinos and Kallikrates under the general supervision of Pheidias. The temple is a Doric, six-columned, amphiprotic pavilion with 8 columns on the narrow sides and 17 on the long sides. The nave is divided into two unequal parts. The largest housed the statue of Athena and in the background was probably the treasury of the city, where the money of the alliance fund of the Athenians or Delian Alliance the ritual utensils for the worship of Athena, as well as many valuable votive offerings, were kept.
In 334 BC Alexander the Great dedicated shields from the spoils of his victory over the Persians at Granicus River to the eastern entablature of the temple. The rectangular holes have been preserved. During the Roman occupation, the Athenians placed a resolution in honor of Nero on the same spot. The Parthenon in the 5th century AD was converted into a Christian church, a three-aisled basilica, and a three-sided arch was added to the east side, resulting in the destruction of the sculptures there. The church was dedicated to the worship of Panagia Athiniotissa.
In 1018, the Byzantine emperor Basil II worshipped at the Parthenon. During the Fourth Crusade (1204), the ducal De la Roche family had taken over the government of Athens. The church was then consecrated Notre Dame. As soon as Athens fell to Mohammed II the Conqueror in 1458, the Parthenon was converted into a mosque. In 1687, during the Second Venetian-Turkish War, it was a powder magazine of the Turks. Thus, the shell of Morosini's artillery fell on the Parthenon and blew it up, severely damaging the architectural and sculptural decoration. Morosini forcibly removed sculptures from the temple and destroyed many more.
“View of the Parthenon from the Propylea,” Edward Dodwell, Views in Greece, London 1821, depicting buildings of the time within the Acropolis
At the beginning of the 19th century, the British ambassador to England at the High Gate, Lord Thomas Bruce Elgin, on the basis of a firman from the Sultan, stole and destroyed a significant part of the Parthenon sculptures, of which the surviving ones now adorn the display cases of British Museum.
