{"id":4177,"date":"2016-07-15T14:15:23","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T14:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/?p=4177"},"modified":"2016-08-10T14:48:56","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T14:48:56","slug":"parthenon-facts-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/cities\/athens\/parthenon-facts-history\/","title":{"rendered":"The Parthenon: Facts and History"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this post you will find some interesting facts and history<\/strong>\u00a0of the Parthenon<\/strong> in Athens.<\/p>\n

The Parthenon<\/strong> is surely the most important monument of ancient Greece and is one of the most famous in the world. It was the most sacred of monuments, and was famous in antiquity as a Greek architectural masterpiece<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Parthenon<\/strong> is located in the southern area of the Acropolis<\/strong>, in the heart of the city of Athens<\/strong>, on top of a hill 156 meters high and visible from several kilometers away.<\/p>\n

The monument was a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena<\/strong>. The name, “Parthenon”<\/strong>, refers to the epithet of the goddess, “Athena Parthenos” (indicating her status of unmarried and a virgin), and the myth of her creation, by parthenogenesis, from the head of Zeus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t\t

\r\n\t\t \r\n\t\t \r\n\t\t<\/div>\n

In fact, the colossal statue of Athena Parthenos<\/strong>, about twelve meters high,\u00a0 stood inside the Parthenon<\/strong>.\u00a0 To build it, forty talents of gold were used (about 1,140 kilograms of gold) and it cost the city seven hundred talents, the equivalent price of a fleet of 230 ships.<\/p>\n

However, it is believed that the Parthenon<\/strong> was used primarily as treasury.<\/p>\n

Parthenon Architecture<\/h2>\n

The Parthenon<\/strong> was built between the middle of the fifth century and 432 BC by architects Callicrates<\/strong> and Ictinus<\/strong>, under the supervision of Phidias<\/strong>, who was also entrusted with the sculptural decoration.<\/p>\n

The gables, as well as the statue of Athena<\/strong>, were the work of Phidias<\/strong> and described several important scenes.\u00a0 For example, one of them depicts the quarrel that Athena<\/strong> had with Poseidon<\/strong> for possession of Athens<\/strong> and Attica<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Built entirely of Pentelic marble<\/strong>, the Parthenon<\/strong> rests on a base of three steps. It had eight Doric columns<\/strong> in the front area and 17 columns on the long sides<\/strong>, each 10.43 meters high<\/strong>, and with a base diameter of 1.905<\/strong> meters. Overall, the Parthenon<\/strong> measured 69.54 x 30.87 meters<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"partenone

Photo credits by playlight55<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>
\n <\/p>\n

The impression of absolute perfection<\/strong> is achieved through the specific composition of the individual elements, and thanks to clever use of barely perceptible optical corrections<\/strong> necessary to harmonize the views of the monument with the human eye.<\/p>\n

In fact, some examples<\/strong> of the optical corrections are:<\/p>\n