The+Parthenon

Gods and pillars and Athens, oh my! These are all things that describe the Parthenon. The Parthenon greatly influenced Ancient Greece.

The Parthenon is a temple built in Ancient Greece. Its official name is “The Temple of Athena the Virgin”. The name Parthenon comes from the Greek word //parthenos//, which means “virgin”. Construction started on the Parthenon in 447 BC and finished in 432 BC. Historians greatly admire it because of its feats in architecture. There are different sculptures carved outside of the temple. This structure represents the power that was held by Pericles, an Athenian politician.

The Parthenon’s purpose was to host a statue of Athena Parthenos. In Acropolis, there were two other temples for Athena. They built the Parthenon to replace those temples. The Parthenon was the most revered temple in Ancient Greece for 1,000 years. In the 13th century, the temple was converted into a Christian church. Later on, it became a mosque. The reason that the building is in ruins today is because of an explosion that happened in 1687, when the Venetians attacked Athens.

The Parthenon was built out of limestone. It is rectangular shaped and is held up by pillars on all sides. The statue was located in the center of the temple. This was designed by Iktinos and Kallikrates and was sculpted by Pheidias. There are two different kinds of pillars in the Parthenon: Doric and Ionic. The Doric pillars are short and thick, while the Ionic pillars are tall and slim.

The Parthenon was very significant. It was a place that allowed the Greeks to worship their gods. They committed 15 years into the construction of the Parthenon. In Greece, religion was extremely important to their lives. Their belief in gods helped them live their lives and taught them good morals. Because they worshiped the Parthenon so much, it was able to remain standing through centuries of war and strife.

Today, the Parthenon is quite a spectacle. It is visited by millions of people every year. There is a fence around it to keep trespassers out. Most of the sculptures are in the Acropolis Museum near the Parthenon. The rest are in the British Museum and in the Louvre in France. The Greek Government has been campaigning for several years to get the statues back from the British Museum. So far, they have been unsuccessful.

Without the Parthenon, Greece might not have been as great of a country. It helped them during wars because they could use the limestone for building war machines. The Parthenon also helped keep their society together. Next time you go to Greece, make sure to stop by the Parthenon so you can marvel at the amazing work of architecture.