INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE PARTHENON

DURING THE CLASSICAL PERIOD NOT ONLY THE

PARTHENON BUT ALSO THE ERECHTHEION AND

THE TEMPLE OF NIKE (YEP, THE GODDESS OF

VICTORY WHO INSPIRED NIKE SPORTSWEAR) WERE

BUILT OVER THE OLD RUINS OF THE ACROPOLIS

APART FROM THESE STRUCTURES, ANOTHER

SIGNIFICANT MONUMENT FOUND AT THE FOOT OF

THE ACROPOLIS IS THE ‘’THEATRE OF DIONYSUS,’’

WHICH IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE FIRST

THEATRE IN HISTORY

WHILE MODERN MEDIA DEPICTS GREEK TEMPLES

AND STRUCTURES AS HAVING GLEAMING WHITE

FACADES, IT IS ACTUALLY THE OPPOSITE THAT

WAS TRUE. THE PARTHENON MOST LIKELY HAD

MULTI-COLOURED FACADES, BUT OF COURSE

THE VISUAL VIBRANCY HAS LOST ITS SHINE DUE

TO THE JUGGERNAUT OF TIME AND THE POLLUTION

OF PRESENT DAY ATHENS

PERICLES, PROBABLY THE GREATEST ATHENIAN

STATESMAN OF ALL TIME AND THE CITY’S FIRST

CITIZEN, WAS THE ONE WHO WAS INSPIRED TO

CONSTRUCT THE PARTHENON

FROM 1801 TO 1803 PARTS OF THE TEMPLE’S

REMAINING SCULPTURES WERE SOLD BY THE

TURKS (WHO CONTROLLED GREECE AT THE TIME)

TO THE ENGLISHMAN LORD ELGIN. THESE

SCULPTURES WERE FORCIBLY REMOVED, SOLD TO

THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND CALLED THE ELGIN

MARBLES. GREECE HAS ASKED THE BRITISH MUSEUM

TO RETURN THE SCULPTURES BUT THE BRITS

HAVE REFUSED TO DO SO

ACCORDING TO TRIPADVISOR.COM THE PARTHENON

IS THE MOST COPIED BUILDING IN THE WORLD.

THERE ARE MANY BUILDINGS WORLDWIDE THAT

FOLLOW ITS ARCHITECTURAL ORDER AND LOOK

LIKE IT AND THERE’S A FULL SCALE REPLICA

OF THE ORIGINAL PARTHENON LOCATED IN

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

MORE THAN HALF A MILLION PEOPLE VISITED THE

NEW ACROPOLIS MUSEUM DURING ITS FIRST

TWO MONTHS OF OPERATION BACK IN 2009 AND

DURING THAT SAME TIME MORE THAN 409,000

INDIVIDUAL INTERNET USERS FROM 180

COUNTRIES VISITED THE MUSEUM'S WEBSITE,

WWW.THEACROPOLISMUSEUM.GR, BREAKING

THE RECORD FOR THE MOST VISITED MUSEUM

(ONLINE) IN SUCH A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME

THROUGHOUT HISTORY, THE RATIO FOR LENGTH TO

WIDTH OF RECTANGLES OF 1.61803 39887 49894 84820

HAS BEEN CONSIDERED THE MOST PLEASING TO

THE EYE. THIS RATIO WAS NAMED THE GOLDEN

RATIO BY THE GREEKS. IN THE WORLD OF

MATHEMATICS, THE NUMERIC VALUE IS CALLED

“PHI,” NAMED FOR THE GREEK SCULPTOR PHIDIAS,

WHO WIDELY USED THE GOLDEN RATIO IN HIS

SCULPTURES. THE EXTERIOR DIMENSIONS OF THE

PARTHENON FORM A PERFECT GOLDEN RECTANGLE

AND IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE PARTHENON WAS BUILT

TO EXTREMELY PRECISE DIMENSIONS ACCORDING

TO THIS MATHEMATICAL RATIO OF SACRED GEOMETRY