The Parthenon Essay

The Parthenon
In the ancient Greek world , Religion was a very important part in people’s lives ,with formal rituals , such as sacrifices , myths that explained the origins of mankind , and temples that overshadowed the Greek cities , built in the honor of the gods . one of the greatest and most famous of all Greek temples is the Parthenon . The Parthenon is a magnificent temple in the center of Athens , it stood on the highest part of its acropolis (The fortified height or citadel of an ancient Greek city ). it was built between 447 and 432 BCE in the honor of the leader goddess of the city, goddess of wisdom and war, Athena who leaded Greek forces to victory against the Persian armies . the Parthenon was named after Athena’s epithet, Parthenos. This temple was built to replace the destroyed buildings on the acropolis , that have been demolished by the Persians who attacked the city. It was designed by the architects iktinos and kallikratis and supervised by the sculptor Phidias who also built the statue of Athena . 22,000 tons of pentelic marble (a fine-grained , white, golden shaded marble) ,was used for the building, which is a very high quantity and has refined quality . The Parthenon became the largest Doric temple although it mixed two architectural styles : the Doric( The oldest and simplest of the classical styles of Greek architecture characterized by heavy columns with plain capitals and no base .) and the newer lonic ( similar to the Doric , characterized by two opposed volutes in the capital.) . The temple measured 30.88 m by 69.5 m , it included a combination of architectural refinements that made it seem perfectly straight , harmonic and sonorous . it was entered through large wooden doors decorated with bronze ivory and gold . It is said that it was very richly decorated “ No Greek temple was so richly decorated .” it had 92 metopes (any of the square spaces, either decorated or plain) and two pediments filled with monumental sculpture , and most importantly the gigantic statue of Athena inside the building ,12 m high and carved with ivory and gold .Thanks to its solid and fine architecture, The temple would stand still for a thousand years despite all the damage it takes from pollution , wars and natural phenomena and it still dominates the modern city of Athens symbolizing glory and power. The Parthenon stood for 2500 years, and throughout this long period

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