At the Parthenon in Athens, you will see the remains of a temple built for the Greek goddess Athena, the patron goddess of the ancient city of Athens, in 438 BC. C. The Parthenon is located on the Acropolis, a hill that overlooks the city of Athens, Greece.
On the acropolis
Acro means “high” and polis means “city”, so Acropolis means “high city.” Many other places in Greece have an acropolis , such as Corinth in the Peloponnese, but the Acropolis generally refers to the site of the Parthenon in Athens.
When the Parthenon was built, Lycabettus Hill was outside the city limits of Athens. But Lycabettus is actually the highest hill in Athens now. Climb up for a brilliant view of the Acropolis and the Parthenon.
In addition to the obvious classical monuments you’ll see on the Acropolis, there are older remains dating back to the Mycenaean period and earlier. You can also see in the distance the sacred caves that were once used for the rites to Dionysus and other Greek deities. These are generally not open to the public.
The Acropolis Museum sits next to the Acropolis rock and houses many of the finds from the Acropolis and the Parthenon. This building replaced the old museum that was on top of the Acropolis.
About the Parthenon
The Parthenon in Athens is considered the best example of Doric-style construction, a simple, unadorned style characterized by smooth columns. Although expert opinions differ, the best estimate of the original size of the Parthenon is 111 feet by 228 feet or 30.9 meters by 69.5 meters.
The Parthenon was designed by Phidias, a famous sculptor, at the behest of Pericles, a Greek politician credited with the founding of the city of Athens and with the encouragement of the “Golden Age of Greece.” The Greek architects Ictinos and Callicrates supervised the practical construction work. Alternative spellings for these names include Iktinos, Kallikrates, and Pheidias. There was no official transcription from Greek to English, which resulted in many alternative forms of spelling.
Work on the building began in 447 BC. C. and continued for a period of approximately nine years until 438 BC. Some of the decorative elements were completed later. It was built on the site of an earlier temple that is sometimes called the Pre-Parthenon. There were probably even earlier Mycenaean remains on the Acropolis, as some pottery fragments from that period have been found there.
The temple was sacred to two aspects of the Greek goddess Athena: Athena Polios (“of the city”) and Athena Parthenos (“young maiden”). The ending on means “place of,” so “Parthenon” means “place of the Parthenos.”
Many treasures would have been displayed in the building, but the glory of the Parthenon was the gigantic statue of Athena designed by Phidias and made of chryselephantine (elephant ivory) and gold.
The Parthenon survived the ravages of time quite well, serving as a church and then a mosque until it was finally used as an ammunition depot during the Turkish occupation of Greece. From 1453 with the fall of Constantinople until the revolution of 1821, Greece was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks.
In 1687, during a battle with the Venetians, an explosion tore through the building and caused much of the damage seen today.
The “Elgin Marbles” or “Parthenon Marbles” Controversy
Lord Elgin, an Englishman, claimed that he received permission from the local Turkish authorities to remove whatever he wanted from the ruins of the Parthenon in the early 19th century. But based on surviving documents, he apparently interpreted that “permission” quite liberally. It may not have included shipping decorative marbles and sculptures to England. The Greek government has been demanding the return of the Parthenon marbles and an entire vacant floor awaits them in the Acropolis Museum. They are currently on display at the British Museum in London, England.
Visiting the Acropolis and the Parthenon
Many companies offer tours of the Parthenon and the Acropolis. You can join a tour for a small fee in addition to your admission on the site itself or just wander around on your own and read the limited healing cards. One tour that you can book in advance is the Athens Half-Day Sightseeing Tour with the Acropolis and Parthenon. From November to March, the first Sunday of each month is free entry to the Parthenon.
If you want an ideal photo of your visit, the best image of the Parthenon is from the other end, not the first view you get after climbing through the propylate . That presents a difficult angle for most cameras, while shooting from the other end is easy to obtain. And then turn around; You will be able to take great photos of Athens from the same place.
