The Parthenon, dedicated by the Athenians to Athena Partenos, the patroness of the city, is the most magnificent creation of Athenian democracy at the height of its power.
It is also, the best monument of the Acropolis both in terms of design and execution. Built between 447 and 438 A.C. as part of the larger Pericles construction project, called the Pericles Parthenon (Parthenon III) which earlier replaced the marble temple (Parthenon II), which began after the victory of the Battle of Marathon in approximately 490 A.C. and was destroyed by the Persians in 480 A.C.
This temple was replaced by the first Parthenon (Parthenon I) of 570 A.C. The Parthenon of Pericles was designed by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates, while the sculptor Phidias supervised the entire construction program and created the sculptural decoration of the temple and the Cristian-Athena statue of Athena.
The Parthenon is a double peripteral Doric temple with several innovative and unique features. The temple is divided into pronau, cella and opisthodomos, with a separate room at the west end, and is surrounded by a pteron with eight columns on each of the short side and seventeen columns on the long.
The column has the same width as those of the Parthenon II, so it was used of the material prepared for this, although the new temple was much wider than its predecessor. The interior shows an innovative approach to both new and old elements: inside the cell a double Pi-shaped colonnade established a background in the statue of Athena Partenos of gold and ivory, which showed the goddess in full armor carrying Niki (Victory) to the Athenians in her right hand.
The west room, where the cityâs treasures were kept, had four Ionic columns. The wooden roof of two sloping sides had marble tiles, false palmette-shaped marble anchors along the edge of its long and false beaks in the shape of lionheads in the corners.
The building of the Parthenon, built with white marble from Mount Pentelic, was designed to house the gold and ivory image of Athena Parthenos, a colossal statue of twelve feet high elaborated by Phidias.
Approximately 70 meters long and 30 meters wide, the Parthenon was surrounded by columns around its perimeter, 8 on the main facades and 17 on the sides.
In the frieze was represented the procession of Panateneias, the most important religious festival that happened in Athens. Along the four sides of the building was the representation, including more than 300 human figures, gods and beasts.
Statues of marbles adorned the corners of the pediments and large, ornate palmettes at their apex. The pediments were decorated with sculptural compositions inspired by the life of the goddess Athena.
The eastern pediment depicts the birth of the goddess, who was born from the head of her father, Zeus, before an assembly of the gods of Olympus, while the west pediment shows Athena and Poseidon vying for the possession of the city of Athens before the gods, heroes and kings myths of Attica.
Ninety-two métopes alternating with triglyphs that were placed above the epistle of the outer colonnade and under the architrave. All of them were adorned with reliefs, the first sculptures of the Parthenon. Their themes were derived from legendary battles: Gigantomachy was depicted on the eastern side, the Troy War on the north side, the Amazonomaquia on the west side, and Centauromaquia on the south side.
The frieze, an element of ionic order, brilliantly added to this Doric temple along the top of the cella, pronau and opisthodomos, which portrayed the splendid procession of Panathinaia, the largest festival of Athens in honor of Athena.
The Parthenon remained unchanged until the fifth century D.C, when it was converted into a church dedicated to the first Saint Sophia and later to Panagia (Virgin Mary). Under the Turkish government it became a mosque.
In 1687, during the siege of the Acropolis by Morozini, the Parthenon was bombed and largely destroyed. More serious damage was caused in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin, who plundered the sculptural decoration of the temple and sold it to the British Museum. Conservation and restoration of the Parthenon occurred in 1896 - 1900 and again in 1922 - 1933.
A vast conservation and restoration program for the Acropolis monuments, including the Parthenon, has been under way since 1975 by the Acropolis Monuments Restoration Service in collaboration with the First Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, under the supervision of the Committee for Conservation of the Acropolis.
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