The Parthenon, or Temple to Athena Parthenos, Athena in her aspect as warrior maiden, is the earliest and most important building of the Periklean refurbishing of the Acropolis (Figure 16.4). Although a Doric temple, the Parthenon incorporates several Ionic features, a fusion suitable for an empire that now reached across the Aegean to East Greece, the heartland of Ionic architecture. Its architects were Iktinos and Kallikrates, but its complex sculptural decoration was the work of Pheidias, who also served as overseer of the entire Acropolis building program. Built between 447 and 438 BC, the Parthenon was the third temple on the site, replacing a smaller
Figure 16.2 Plan, the Acropolis, Athens, fifth century BC
Figure 16.3 The Acropolis (reconstruction), Athens, fifth century BC
Temple from the mid-sixth century BC and a second, larger building, under construction when the Persians sacked the Acropolis in 480 BC. Preservation of the Parthenon long after the end of pagan religion was ensured by the conversion of the temple first into a Christian church, later into a Muslim mosque. In 1687, however, its center was destroyed in an explosion, when an artillery shell from attacking Venetians hit gunpowder stored there by the Ottomans. Much
Figure 16.4 The Parthenon, seen from the west
Of the surviving sculptural decoration was removed to Britain in the early nineteenth century by Lord Elgin; purchased by the government, the sculpture entered the collections of the British Museum. The Parthenon itself has undergone various restorations in modern times, most recently from the 1980s to the present.
The builders of the Parthenon took advantage of the preparatory work done for the late Archaic temple destroyed by the Persians. In particular, they reused much of the foundation platform. Because the new temple was somewhat larger than its predecessor, adjustments had to be made. The temple lies over the sharp southward slope of the Acropolis bedrock, so on the south, especially, the foundations had to be built up in many courses in order to provide a level surface for the temple.
The ground plan of the Parthenon departs from the typical in a few important respects (see Figure 16.2). The colonnade consists of eight columns on the short sides and seventeen on the long sides, an expansion of the usual Doric column count that imparts rather the feeling of a massive Ionic temple. Following the standard Greek procedure of building temples from the outside in, the colonnade would have been the first portion of the temple erected. From the east, one passed through a truncated porch (prostyle hexastyle, or six columns, with the end two being placed in front of the wall ends) into the cella, home of the gold and ivory cult statue made by Pheidias. A two-storied Doric colonnade, supporting a gallery on the upper floor, framed the statue behind as well as on the sides in a U-shaped formation. Recent research of Manolis Kor-res has revealed that the east wall of the cella contained windows on either side of the doorway; the cella and the cult statue were hence better lit than previously thought. A second room lay adjacent to the cella on the west. This room, entered from the truncated porch on the west, was called the Parthenon, the chamber of the virgin, but apparently served as a treasury rather than as the home of a cult statue. Two, or perhaps four, Ionic columns held up the roof. Since the proportions of Ionic columns could be taller and slenderer than Doric, there was no need for a second tier in order to reach the roof beams.
The elevation of the temple follows the arrangement expected for the Doric order. Since no expense was spared, the temple was decorated with sculpted metopes on all four sides, and sculpted pediments. Unusual, however, is the addition of a sculpted frieze, an Ionic feature, high inside the colonnade, on the top of the exterior walls of the cella, the Parthenon, and the two truncated porches.
Also unusual are the deviations from strict vertical and horizontal lines and proportional arrangement, the so-called “refinements.” The stylobate, for example, is not flat, but curves slightly from the center down to the four corners, as if four people held a sheet by its corners, billowed it up into the air, then pulled it down slowly. The centers of the long sides are some 10cm higher than the corners. Other “refinements” include the thickening of the corner column one-fortieth more than the normal column diameter; corner contraction, that is, the setting in from the corner, in this case a distance of ca. 0.60m, of the corner columns on the short sides; the slight tilt inward of the columns; the upward tapering of the columns; the leaning inward of the long walls of the cella; and the slight outward tilt of the entablature and pediments. All of these variants are measurable and sometimes can be verified with the naked eye. Many have been observed on earlier and later temples, in particular Doric rather than Ionic, but nowhere else have they all been combined as here. The precise carving of the appropriate blocks must have required much additional time. Why the bother?
The purpose of these deviations has been much debated. Vitruvius, the Roman architect, who had consulted a book about the Parthenon by Iktinos and Karpion, proposed that the architects compensated for anticipated optical illusions. Since a long horizontal line seems to sag, it should look perfectly horizontal if its middle is raised. Modern commentators have made other suggestions. Perhaps the curve of the stylobate is actually perceived as more pronounced, a deliberate exaggeration that makes the stylobate appear larger than it really is. A third interpretation, which correlates well with intellectual trends in Classical Athens, favors the tension created between expectations and appearances: one expects straight lines, but sees (or senses) curves and tilts. The lines of the building thus never quite explain themselves. The building remains a mystery that the viewer cannot stop contemplating. The correct answer or answers may be impossible to find, but in any case, the abundant use of refinements is a mark of the sophistication of the design of this great temple.
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