What Was The Greek Ideal Of The Parthenon

The Parthenon, greatest monument in the city of classical Greece, was a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece. It was built in 447 BCE, to replace an existing temple in the same location, which was burned down by the Persians in 480 BCE. The Parthenon showed gratitude towards the Greek goddess Athena, the city 's patron goddess, for the salvation of Athens and Greece in the Persian Wars. The Parthenon showed a great deal of Greek idealism. Idealism means to form or pursue ideals, especially unrealistically. With the aid of optical techniques and formulas, the Parthenon represents the Greeks goal of arête, and during the classical time period, it showed this striving for visual perfection. Today, this goal is expressed in the 21st century through the value placed on external beauty. …show more content…
Most of the detail is what made the Parthenon unique. There were so much history in the different sculptures, including Athena, wars and battles and Troy. They were all depicted in honoring or telling about classical Greece. The Greeks were very proud of what they accomplished and what they constructed on the Parthenon. There were ideals that helped with the perfect proportions, one of them being the Golden Ratio (Phi=1.618). The Golden ratio is a special number found by dividing a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part (What is the Golden Ratio?). It was developed by the Greek sculptor Phidias. This formula helped keep the design of the Parthenon exactly how the Greeks wanted