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INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE PARTHENON

Added on: 13th Jul 2016

 

THE RECTANGULAR BUILDING (MEASURED AT

THE TOP STEP OF ITS BASE TO BE 101.34 FT WIDE

BY 228.14 FT LONG) WAS CONSTRUCTED OF

GREAT QUALITY WHITE MARBLE, SURROUNDED

BY FORTY-SIX COLUMNS, ROOFED WITH TILES AND

HOUSED A NEARLY FORTY-FOOT-TALL STATUE OF

THE GODDESS ATHENA. THE STATUE, KNOWN AS

ATHENA PROMACHOS, “ATHENA THE CHAMPION,”

WAS MADE OF WOOD, GOLD, AND IVORY AND COULD

BE SEEN FROM A DISTANCE OF MANY MILES

Athena Promachos

 

 

WHILE MUCH OF THE STRUCTURE REMAINS INTACT,

THE PARTHENON HAS SUFFERED CONSIDERABLE

DAMAGE OVER THE CENTURIES. IT ALL STARTED

IN 296 BCE WHEN THE TYRANT LACHARES REMOVED

THE GOLD FROM THE STATUE OF ATHENA IN

ORDER TO PAY HIS ARMY

statue of Athena

 

 

IN THE FIFTH CENTURY CE THE PARTHENON WAS

CONVERTED INTO A CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND IN 1460

THE PARTHENON HELD A TURKISH MOSQUE. IN 1687

GUNPOWDER STORED BY THE TURKS INSIDE THE

TEMPLE EXPLODED AND DESTROYED THE

CENTRAL AREA

Parthenon

 

 

THE PARTHENON HAD FORTY-SIX OUTER PILLARS AND

TWENTY-THREE INNER PILLARS, BUT NOT ALL OF

THEM SURVIVE TODAY. ALSO, THE ROOF (NOW

NON-EXISTENT) WAS COVERED WITH LARGE

OVERLAPPING MARBLE TILES KNOWN AS

IMBRICES AND TEGULAE

Parthenon

 

 

IF YOU’RE NOT IMPRESSED BY THE TEMPLE’S

ARCHITECTURE, HOWEVER, KNOW THAT THE

PARTHENON’S DESIGN IS EARTHQUAKE-RESISTANT.

IN SPITE OF ITS COLUMNS SUBTLY LEANING

INWARD SO THAT A PERSON CAN VIEW THEM

BETTER ON AN UPWARD ANGLE, THE PARTHENON

BOASTS A VERY FINE PARABOLIC UPWARD

CURVATURE THAT ALLOWS THE MONUMENT

TO DECISIVELY SHED RAINWATER WHILE ALSO

REINFORCING IT AGAINST EARTHQUAKES. THOSE

ANCIENT GREEKS WERE WELL AHEAD OF THEIR

TIME

earthquake

 

 

THE PARTHENON WAS ALSO USED AS A TREASURY

LIKE MANY OTHER GREEK TEMPLES OF THE ERA

treasury

 

 

DESPITE THE PARTHENON BEING THE MOST POPULAR

ATHENIAN STRUCTURE OF ALL TIME, IT WAS NOT

REALLY FINANCED BY THE ATHENIANS. HAVING

CONCLUDED THE PERSIAN WARS, ATHENS HAD

BECOME, BY 447 BCE, THE DOMINANT POWER IN

WHAT IS NOW GREECE, THE CENTRE OF A

REGIONAL EMPIRE. FUNDS FROM THE OTHER

CITY-STATES IN THE DELIAN LEAGUE, INITIALLY

FORMED TO FIGHT PERSIA, WERE USED TO BUILD IT.

IN OTHER WORDS, THE MONEY THAT FINANCED THE

AMBITIOUS ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT MAINLY

CAME FROM TRIBUTES EXACTED FROM THE ALLIED

CITY-STATES UNDER ATHENS’ PROTECTION RATHER

THAN FROM THE ATHENIAN CITIZENS

Delian League

 

 

MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DELIAN LEAGUE,

OF WHICH ATHENS WAS THE LEADING MEMBER,

WERE STORED IN THE OPISTHODOMUS, THE BACK

ROOM OF THE CELLA (THE INNER CHAMBER OF A

TEMPLE IN CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE)

opisthodomus

 


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