In September 480 BCE, under the leadership of Pericles, began the reconstruction of Acropolis, the ancient citadel of Athens, after it had been attacked and ravaged by the Persians. The centerpiece of the reconstruction program became the Parthenon, a remarkable marble peripteral temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos and designed by Iktinos and Kallikrates. Construction began in 447 BCE, when the power of the Athenian Empire was peaking, and was completed entirely by 432 BCE. The architecture of the temple is characterized by its meticulous columns, entablatures, pediments, metopes and frieze. The relief sculptures in the metopes and pediments narrate the Greek battles against the Persians and episodes from the life of Athena Parthenos, respectively. However, the most important feature was
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This statue served as a representative of the wealth and power of the Athenian Empire.
The architectural design of the Parthenos embodied all the ideals of Greek art that developed during the Classical era. The standards developed by philosopher Pythagoras of Samos and sculptor Polykleitos of balance, harmony and symmetry can be appreciated in the detailed features of the temple. The temple measured 30.88m by 69.5m at its base and was 13.72m tall. It was constructed using a fixed proportional schematic of 4:9 that can be seen in the ratio of length to width and the number of columns on either side. The temple displayed a combination of both Doric and Ionic styles within some of the architectural elements. This combination was chosen deliberately to imply that Athens was the political power leader of Greece. Having made of pure marble, the Parthenon weighed about 22,000 tons. The massive size of the temple represented the importance of religion to
This statue served as a representative of the wealth and power of the Athenian Empire.
The architectural design of the Parthenos embodied all the ideals of Greek art that developed during the Classical era. The standards developed by philosopher Pythagoras of Samos and sculptor Polykleitos of balance, harmony and symmetry can be appreciated in the detailed features of the temple. The temple measured 30.88m by 69.5m at its base and was 13.72m tall. It was constructed using a fixed proportional schematic of 4:9 that can be seen in the ratio of length to width and the number of columns on either side. The temple displayed a combination of both Doric and Ionic styles within some of the architectural elements. This combination was chosen deliberately to imply that Athens was the political power leader of Greece. Having made of pure marble, the Parthenon weighed about 22,000 tons. The massive size of the temple represented the importance of religion to