Without any doubt is the Parthenon the most impressive, characteristic and important monument of the Acropolis. This is not so very surprising when you know that the temple was build to honour the goddess Athena Parthenos, goddess of wisdom, warfare, and practical arts. But what was even more important for the people of Athens: she was the patron goddess of the city.

Construction of the Parthenon.

The fundaments of the temple of Pallas Athena, also known as the Great Temple, can be found directly south of the Erechteum. Another name for this temple is 'Temple of the Pissistradits' as it was renovated during the leadership of Pissistratus and his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. The big marble timpaan with in the middle pictures of Athena and Zeus fighting the giants most likely decorated the front of the temple. Another temple for Athena is called Hekatompedon by several people as it was 100 feet long. This temple was probably the predecessor of the Parthenon which can be seen today, but it also possible that on this place an even older temple was situated which was related to the reformations of the Panathenaea festivities in 566 BC.

The construction of the temple was already started under Cleisthenes, but Persians took Athens in 480 while the Greeks destroyed the Persian fleet at Salamis. The siege in the next year was even worse as all temples were burned down to the ground by the Persians. For a long time the Acropolis was not rebuild as the Atheneans were too occupied with rebuilding the fortifications and several other conflicts with the Persian empire. In this period only the cella, the central room of the Parthenon, was rebuild. The old statue of the goddess, which was saved from invading Persians by Themistocles, was placed in this hall.

Pericles, who ruled over Athens from 449 till 429 BC, decided to rebuild the period during the golden age of Athens which had followed on the defeat of the Persian empire. Of course the Parthenon dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the virgin Athena, had to become the jewel of the Acropolis and Athens. Between 477 and 438 the famous architects Ictinus and Callicrates rebuild the Parthenon at the exact same spot, but now the base was 2.5 metres wider and 3.5 metres shorter. The whole project was supervised by the famous Athenean sculptor Phidias.

Lay-out of the building.

The 30.88 metres wide and 69.51 metres long temple is peripteral, which means that it has columns on each side (seventeen on the long sides, and eight on the narrow ones). The building order has Doric and Ionic aspects. The pillars are Doric for example, but the narrowing of these pillars, the frieze at the outerwalls of the Cella, and the connections in the roof are Ionic. The result is a perfect balance of power and refinement. The new and special architectonic methods which were used by the builders only adds to this balance. The resulting building is exceptional because of its harmonic look, perfect proportions and rich and very detailed sculptures.

The first part of the temple was called the Pronaos. It was the porch of the temple with six columns on one side, and the entrance to the cella on the other side. The cella, which was the central part of the temple, sheltered the famous chryselephantine cult statue of Athena, made by Phidias. Behind the cella was a rectangular room with four Ionic columns which was the most holy part of the whole temple. This hall was called the Parthenon, or the 'Hall of virgins' as young maids served the goddess in this room during the Panathenaea festivities. During the fourth century the whole temple became known as the Parthenon.

The sculptural decoration of the Parthenon is a unique combination of the Doric metopes and triglyphs on the entablature and the Ionic frieze on the walls of the cella. The 92 metopes depict several myths about Athena such as the battle against the Giants on the east side which is also known as the gigantomachy, the war of the Amazones on the west which is called the amazonomachy, the centauromachy on the south which tells us about the annihilation of the Centaurs by the Lapiths, and finally several scenes from the Troyan war on the north side.

The large relief frieze, which is the most important Ionic aspect of the building, is even more related to Athena. It depicts the procession of the Panathenaea, the most formal religious festival of ancient Athens, which was even visited by several gods to witness the handing over of the peplos. The scene runs along all the four sides of the building and includes the figures of Gods, beasts and of some 360 humans. The two pediments of the temple are decorated with mythological scenes: the east, above the building's main entrance shows the birth of Athena and the west, the fight between Athena and Poseidon for the name of the city of Athens.

Unfortunately nothing is left of the 12 metres high statue of Athena which was created by Phidias with gold and ivory. A few small Roman copies and a description by Pausanias can not give us an impression of the original which stood in the cella. Athena was portrayed standing while she wore a long chiton with on her breast the head of the gorgo Medusa. In one hand she held a spear and in the other a small Nike. Her helmet was decorated with a sphinx en two winged horses, also known as Pegasi. Against her legs leaned a large shield with on the inside a snake crawling upwards to symbolize Erechtonius. Other pictures on the statue deal with myths about Athena: the birth of Pandora on the socle, the battle against the Centaurs on her sandals, a fight with Amazones in the outside, and the battle of the gods against the Giants on the inside of the shield.

Dismantlement of the Parthenon.

The Parthenon retained its religious character in the following centuries and was converted into a Byzantine church, a Latin church and a Muslim mosque. The Turks used the Parthenon as a powder magazine when the Venetians, under admiral Morosini, sieged the Acropolis in 1687. One of the Venetian bombs fell on the Parthenon and caused a tremendous explosion that destroyed a great part of the monument which had been preserved in a good condition until then.

The disaster was complete in the beginning of the 19th century, when the British ambassador in Constantinople, Lord Elgin, stole the greatest part of the sculptural decoration of the monument (frieze, metopes, pediments), transferred them to England and sold them to the British museum, where they are still exhibited, being one of the most significant collections of the museum.

More pictures of the Parthenon can be found below:

• The antefixes
• The cella
• The columns
• The entablatures
• The frieze
• The metopes
• The pediments
• The stylobate
• The facades
• The pteroma