Parthenon

Who were the architects?

Calicrates and Iktinos

Purpose:

- statue of Athena, 12m, decorated with blue, red, gold. A colossal chryselephantine statue - temple to celebrate Athena, the namesake of the city of Athens - celebrates Athens - testifies the piety and wealth of the city, emphasis on interior -city and religious centre, shows the city's power and wealth - symbol of birth of democracy and peace, proclaims to the world the success of Athens as a leader of the Greek forces which had defeated the Persian army - a treasury for the state - majestically imposing dominates the city of Athens -enshrines the statue -purpose resembles the unique function of "a temple and an art gallery" -symbolic of the city-states glory -Converted to a church during last decade of the 6th Century. Became an important Christian pilgrimage centre in Eastern Roman Empire - rituals performed outside -symbol of Pericles

Analyse the architectural composition:

- temple of Doric Order (8 x 17) - colonnade of 8 on east and west, and 17 on north and south - emphasis placed on exterior rather than interior as the Greeks adapted Egyptian technique of building with stone and lintel - columns are not equally spaced, neither are the lines straight -foundations are made of limestone, columns consist of Pentelic marble -optical refinements are used -columns slope inwards, by no more than two inches and have an entasis - stylobate is not entirely flat. This makes the parthenon look completely straight and symmetrical -Doric columns have a capital made of a circle topped by a square -doric column is plain but powerful looking in its design - typical entablature with architrave, frieze with metopes, triglyphs and a pediment - high relief metopes in entablature show the civilised defeating the barbarian - South shows Lapith and the centaurs - West shows Greeks and Amazons. All represent rational through chaos

Who was the Parthenon dedicated to?

Athena Parthenos, greek goddess of wisdom

Who promoted the building?

Pericles

How was the finance subsidised?

Pericles diverted funds being used for defence against further Persian aggression

What is an entasis?

a bulge that reduces the impact of tapering

" it is, even to present day

recent and newly wrought

Parthenon is "quintessentially

stone architecture conditioned by possibilities and limitations of blocks resting on one another without mortar