Temple of the goddess Athena is a monument of ancient architecture. Where is the Parthenon
One of the most revered goddesses by the ancient Greeks, Pallas Athena, was born quite in an unusual way: Zeus, her father, swallowed her mother, Metis (Wisdom), when she was expecting a child. He did this for one simple reason: after the birth of his daughter, he was predicted to have a son who would overthrow the Thunderer from the throne.
But Athena did not want to sink into oblivion - therefore, after some time, the Supreme God began to be tormented by an unbearable headache: the daughter asked to go outside. His head hurt so badly that the Thunderer, unable to bear it, ordered Hephaestus to take an ax and hit him on the head with it. He obeyed and cut his head, releasing Athena. Her eyes were full of wisdom, and she was dressed in warrior clothes, holding a spear in her hand, and an iron helmet on her head.
The goddess of wisdom turned out to be an active resident of Olympus: she came down to the people and taught them a lot, giving them knowledge and crafts. She also paid attention to women: she taught them to do needlework and weave, and took an active part in government affairs - she was the patroness of a just struggle (she taught them how to solve problems peacefully), taught them to write laws, thus becoming the patroness of many Greek cities. For such a majestic goddess it was necessary to build a temple, which, according to descriptions, would not be equal in the whole world.
The Parthenon is located in the capital of Greece, Athens, in the southern part of the Acropolis, an ancient architectural complex located on a rocky hill at an altitude exceeding 150 meters above sea level. m. You can find the Athens Acropolis Parthenon at: Dionysiou Areopagitou 15, Athens 117 42, and at geographical map Its exact location can be found at the following coordinates: 37° 58′ 17″ N. latitude, 23° 43′ 36″ e. d.
The Parthenon Temple, dedicated to Athena, began to be built on the territory of the Acropolis around 447 BC. e. instead of the unfinished sanctuary destroyed by the Persians. The construction of this unique architectural monument was entrusted to the architect Kallikrates, who erected the building according to the design of Iktin.
It took the Hellenes about fifteen years to build the temple, which at that time was a rather short term, given that construction and Decoration Materials were brought from all over Greece.
Fortunately, there was enough money: Athens, whose ruler was Pericles, was just experiencing a period of greatest prosperity and was not only the cultural capital, but also the political center of Attica.
Callicrates and Iktinus, having access to considerable funds and opportunities, during the construction of the temple were able to implement more than one innovative design solution, as a result of which the architecture of the Parthenon turned out to be unlike any other structure of this type. The main feature of the sanctuary was that the facade of the building from one point was perfectly visible immediately from.
three sides This was achieved by installing the columns in relation to each other not parallel, but at an angle. The fact that all the pillars had different shapes : to from afar central columns
seemed slimmer and not so thin, all the pillars were given a convex shape (the outermost columns turned out to be the thickest), slightly tilting the corner columns towards the center, and the central ones away from it. As the main building material Penelian marble, mined near the Acropolis, was used, according to the description, quite interesting material , since initially it has White color , but after some time under the influence of sunlight, it begins to turn yellow. Therefore, the Parthenon in Athens at the end construction work turned out to be unevenly painted, which gave it an original and interesting view
: on the northern side the temple had a gray-ashy tint, on the southern side it turned out to be golden-yellow in color. Another feature of the ancient temple was that when laying marble blocks, Greek craftsmen did not use either cement or any other solution: the builders carefully ground them around the edges and adjusted them to each other in size (at the same time inner part
did not trim - this saved time and labor). Larger blocks were located at the base of the building; smaller stones were laid on them, fastened horizontally with iron fasteners, which were inserted into special holes and filled with lead. The blocks were connected vertically with iron pins.
Description Three steps lead up to the temple, which was dedicated to Athena and is a rectangular building. Athens Acropolis
Unfortunately, due to the fact that most of the pediments were destroyed (only thirty statues survived in very poor condition), exactly what the exterior of the Parthenon looked like, very few descriptions have survived.
It is known that all sculptural compositions were created with the direct participation of Phidias, who was not only the main architect of the entire Acropolis and developed the plan for this architectural complex, but is also known as the author of one of the wonders of the world - the statue of Zeus at Olympia. There is an assumption that the eastern pediment of the Parthenon contained a bas-relief depicting the birth of Pallas Athena, and the western pediment depicted her dispute with the god of the seas, Poseidon, about who would be the patron of Athens and the whole of Attica.
But the friezes of the temple are well preserved: it is absolutely known that on the eastern side of the Parthenon the struggle of the Lapiths with the centaurs was depicted, on the western side - episodes from the Trojan War, on the southern side - the battle of the Amazons with the Greeks. A total of 92 metopes with various high reliefs were installed, most of which have been preserved. Forty-two slabs are kept in the Acropolis Museum of Athens, fifteen in the British Museum.
Parthenon from inside
To get inside the temple, in addition to the external steps, it was necessary to overcome two more internal ones. The area in the middle of the temple was 59 meters long and 21.7 meters wide and consisted of three rooms. The largest, central one, was surrounded on three sides by 21 columns, which separated it from two small rooms located on either side of it. The inner frieze of the sanctuary depicted a festive procession from Athens to the Acropolis, when the maidens carried a gift to Athena.
In the center of the main platform was the statue of Athena Parthenos, made by Phidias. The sculpture dedicated to the goddess was a real masterpiece. The statue of Athena was thirteen meters high and showed a proudly standing goddess, with a spear in one hand and a two-meter sculpture of Nike in the other. Pallas wore a three-crested helmet on his head, and near his feet there was a shield on which, in addition to scenes from various battles, the initiator of construction, Pericles, was depicted.
It took Phidias more than a ton of gold to make the sculpture (weapons and clothes were poured from it); ebony from which the frame of the statue is made; Athena's face and hands were carved from ivory highest quality; gems, shining in the eyes of the goddess; the most expensive marble was also used. Unfortunately, the statue did not survive: when Christianity became the ruling religion in the country, it was taken to Constantinople, where it was in the 5th century. burned during a strong fire.
Near the western entrance to the shrine there was an opisthodomos - closed room in the back, where the city archive and the treasury of the maritime union were kept. The length of the room was 19 m and the width was 14 m.
The room was called the Parthenon (it was thanks to this room that the temple got its name), which translated means “house for girls.” In this room, selected maidens, priestesses, made peplos (sleeveless women's outerwear sewn from light material, which Athenians wore over a tunic), which was presented to Athena during a solemn procession that took place every four years.
Dark days of the Parthenon
The last ruler who favored and cared for this architectural monument was Alexander the Great (he even installed fourteen shields on the eastern pediment and presented the goddess with the armor of three hundred defeated enemies). After his death, dark days came for the temple.
One of the Macedonian rulers, Demetrius I Poliorcetes, settled here with his mistresses, and the next ruler of Athens, Lacharus, tore off all the gold from the sculpture of the goddess, and the shields of Alexander from the pediments, in order to pay off the soldiers. In III Art. BC e a major fire occurred in the temple, during which the roof and fittings collapsed, the marble cracked, the colonnade partially collapsed, the doors of the temple, one of the friezes and ceilings burned down.
When the Greeks adopted Christianity, they made a church out of the Parthenon (this happened in the 6th century AD), making appropriate changes to its architecture and completing the premises necessary for Christian rituals. The most valuable thing that was in the pagan temple was taken to Constantinople, and the rest was either destroyed or severely damaged (primarily this applies to sculptures and bas-reliefs of the building).
In the XV century. Athens came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, as a result of which the temple was transformed into a mosque. The Turks did not make any special alterations and calmly held services among Christian paintings. It was the Turkish period that turned out to be one of the most tragic events in the history of the Parthenon: in 1686, the Venetians shelled the Acropolis and Parthenon, where the Turks stored gunpowder.
After about seven hundred cannonballs hit the building, the shrine exploded, as a result of which the central part of the Parthenon, all the internal columns and rooms were completely destroyed, and the roof on the north side collapsed.
After this, the ancient shrine began to be robbed and destroyed by everyone who could: the Athenians used its fragments for domestic needs, and the Europeans were able to take the surviving fragments and statues to their homeland (currently most of The remains found are located either in the Louvre or in the British Museum).
Restoration
The revival of the Parthenon began no earlier than Greece gained independence, in 1832, and two years later the government declared the Parthenon a monument of ancient heritage.
As a result of the work carried out, already fifty years later on the territory of the Acropolis there was practically nothing left of the “barbarian presence”: absolutely all buildings that were not related to the ancient complex were demolished, and the Acropolis itself began to be restored according to the surviving descriptions of what the Parthenon looked like in ancient Greece (currently the temple, like the entire Acropolis, is under the protection of UNESCO).
In addition to the fact that the Parthenon was restored to the best of its ability, and the original statues were replaced with copies and sent to the museum for storage, the Greek government is actively working to return the exported fragments of the temple to the country. And here there is an interesting point: the British Museum agreed to do this, but on the condition that the Greek government recognizes the museum as their legal owner. But the Greeks do not agree with this formulation of the issue, since this would mean that they have forgiven the theft of the statues two hundred years ago and are actively fighting for the statues to be returned to them without any conditions. The Parthenon is one of the most famous monuments
ancient architecture. This 2,500-year-old magnificent temple on the Acropolis in Athens has survived earthquakes, fires, explosions and repeated looting attempts. And although the Parthenon was in no way an engineering breakthrough in construction, its style became the paradigm of classical architecture.
1. Acropolis in Athens
The Acropolis in Athens, where the Parthenon is located, is also called the "sacred rock" and was used for defensive purposes.
2. Cultural layers
Cultural layers discovered on the slopes of the Acropolis indicate that there were settlements on the hill since 2800 BC, that is, long before the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures.
3. The Acropolis was a sacred place sacred place and other temples stood on it. The Parthenon replaced the old Temple of Athena, which was destroyed during the Persian invasion in 480 BC.
4. House Parthenos
The name "Parthenon" is derived from one of the many epithets of Athena (Athena Parthenos), and it means ""house of Parthenos"". This name was given to the temple in the 5th century BC because a cult statue of Athena was installed inside it.
5. Construction of the Parthenon
Construction of the Parthenon began in 447 BC. and was completed in 438 BC, but the final decoration of the temple continued until 432 BC.
6. Ictinus, Callicrates and Phidias
The Parthenon, which was built by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias, is considered by most modern architects and historians to be the highest expression of ancient Greek architectural genius. The temple is also considered the culmination of the development of the Doric order, the simplest of the three classical Greek architectural styles.
7. 192 Greek warriors
Several modern historians (including art historian John Boardman) believe that the frieze above the Doric columns of the Parthenon depicts the 192 Greek soldiers who died at the Battle of Marathon against the Persians in 490 BC.
8. Stones from Pentelikon
Some of the financial records of the construction of the Parthenon have been preserved, which show that the largest expense was the transportation of stones from Pentelikon, which was located sixteen kilometers from the Acropolis of Athens.
9. The Greek government and the EU have been restoring the Parthenon for 42 years
The Parthenon restoration project (which is funded by the Greek government and the European Union) has been ongoing for 42 years. It took the ancient Athenians only 10 years to build the Parthenon.
10. 12-meter statue of the goddess Athena
The rectangular building, 31 meters wide and 70 meters high, was built of white marble. Surrounded by forty-six columns stood a 12-meter statue of the goddess Athena, made of wood, gold and ivory.
11. Tyrant Lahar
Although much of the structure remains intact, the Parthenon has suffered significant damage over the centuries. It all started in 296 BC, when the Athenian tyrant Lacharus removed the gold covering from the statue of Athena in order to pay the debt of his army.
12. In the fifth century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church
In the fifth century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church, and in 1460 a Turkish mosque was located in the Parthenon. In 1687, the Ottoman Turks placed a gunpowder warehouse in the temple, which exploded when the temple was shelled by the Venetian army. At the same time, part of the temple turned into ruins.
13. 46 external columns and 23 internal
The Parthenon had 46 outer columns and 23 inner columns, but not all remain today. In addition, the Parthenon used to have a roof (it currently does not).
14. The Parthenon's design is earthquake resistant
The Parthenon's design is earthquake-resistant, even though the temple's columns are quite thin.
15. The Parthenon was used as a city treasury
The Parthenon was also used as the city's treasury, like many other Greek temples of the era.
16. The construction of the Parthenon was not financed by the Athenians.
Even though the Parthenon is the most popular Athenian building of all time, its construction was not financed by the Athenians. After the end of the Persian Wars, Athens became, in 447 BC, the dominant power in what is now Greece. Funds for the construction of the temple were taken from the tribute paid to Athens by other city-states of the Delian League.
17. Delhi League funds were kept in an opisthodome
The monetary deposits of the Delian League, which was ruled by Athens, were kept in the opisthodome - the rear closed part of the temple.
18. The Parthenon, Erechtheion and the Temple of Nike were built over the ruins of the Acropolis.
During " classical period“Not only the Parthenon, but also the Erechtheion and the Temple of Nike were built over the ruins of the Acropolis.
19. The first theater in history
Besides these structures, another important monument at the foot of the Acropolis is the "Theater of Dionysus", which is considered to be the first theater in history.
20. The Parthenon had a multi-colored facade
From 1801 to 1803, part of the remaining sculptures of the temple were taken away by the Turks (who controlled Greece at that time). These sculptures were subsequently sold to the British Museum.
23. A full-scale replica of the Parthenon is located in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Parthenon is the most copied building in the world. There are many buildings around the world that were created in the same style. There is also a full-size replica of the Parthenon located in Nashville, Tennessee.
24. The opening of the Acropolis Museum took place in 2009
More than half a million people visited the new Acropolis Museum within the first two months of its opening in 2009.
25. Golden Rectangle of the Parthenon
A rectangle's length to width ratio of 1.618 was considered most pleasing to the eye. This ratio was called the "golden ratio" by the Greeks. In the world of mathematics, this number is called "phi" and it was named after the Greek sculptor Phidias, who used the golden ratio in his sculptures. From the outside, the Parthenon is a perfect “golden rectangle”.
The Parthenon is located on the Acropolis, in the heart of Athens. Built on a strategic location, it stands out from the rest of the buildings of the Greek capital and is visible from literally anywhere in the city. Therefore, you definitely won’t be able to pass by or get lost. You can get to it in several ways:
- By metro - to the station called Akropolis;
- By bus - there are numerous routes to the Acropolis: 106, 24, 57, 137, 230, A3, E22;
- By trolleybus No. 15, 5, 1;
- On foot - along Dionysiou Areopagitou Street. It leads up the mountain and leads straight to the Parthenon.
History of the Parthenon
For those who are at least a little familiar with Greece and its history, the Parthenon is associated with the goddess Athena. The temple arose as a dedication to the patroness of the city. But few people know that long before him, the Hekatompedon, an ancient temple also dedicated to Athena, stood in the same place.
As a replacement for the old temple destroyed by the Persians, the Parthenon was built on the initiative of Pericles, a famous Athenian politician, famous commander and reformer. He invited the sculptor Phidias to participate in the construction, and Ictius and Callicrates were chosen as architects. The latter built several more temples on the Acropolis, but it was the Parthenon that became his main brainchild. Although for a long time it did not turn out the way it was intended. The construction of the future symbol of Athens took more than 9 years. And for every coin spent on the project, the government was accountable to the people of Athens. Some of the financial reports have preserved a lot interesting facts. For example, the most expensive and largest stone was brought from Mount Pendelikon, located 16 km from Athens. High quality marble was also used for construction.
The Parthenon was solemnly presented to the public during the Panathenaic festival - the largest political and religious festivals of antiquity. But decorative work continued for several more years. They were led by Phidias, who created the statue of Athena - it became the main decoration of the Parthenon. The way she looked has concerned historians for several centuries. They say that the statue was best job Fidia. The wooden statue was covered with a ton of gold and decorated with ivory. The 13-meter statue held a spear in one hand and the figure of Nike in the other.
For almost 1,000 years, the Parthenon served as the main temple of the Greek religion. It was still intact in the 4th century. AD, but by that time Athens was no more than just a provincial city of the Roman Empire with a glorious past. In the 5th century The statue of Athena was stolen and transported to Constantinople. Here it collapsed several centuries later.
The Parthenon was then converted into the Christian Church of the Virgin Mary. This inevitably led to the reconstruction of the temple - pagan sculptures and some columns were removed. Most likely even destroyed. In the 15th century New changes awaited the Parthenon. This time, the Ottomans, who captured the city, rebuilt the once pagan temple of Athena into a mosque. However, they did not cause serious damage.
In the 17th century, during an attack by the Venetians, the Parthenon was literally destroyed as a result of the explosion of a gunpowder warehouse. And only in the 1840s. Its restoration began, but first of all, new and medieval buildings, as well as the Muslim minaret, were removed.
What the Parthenon looked like: past and present
In ancient times, the Parthenon looked majestic - as befits a temple of a goddess especially revered by the Greeks. He had rectangular shape with a colonnade on all 4 sides. It is believed that the number of Dorian columns was 48. Inside the Parthenon there was a central platform, also fenced with columns. And in its center stood the now lost statue of Athena.
One of the surviving friezes of the Parthenon depicts a scene of the festive procession that usually accompanied the Panathenaea. Pages were immortalized on several sides of the temple historical events and legends: the Trojan War, the battle of the Amazons and the Greeks. As for the pediment, several statues have survived, and even those are in deplorable condition. The originals are kept in the Athens Museum and the Acropolis Museum, and copies have been installed in their place. However, half of the remaining parts of the friezes and sculptures were taken to London and have not yet been returned to Greece.
By the way, the structure is unique in terms of geometry. If you place an object 15 cm high at one end of the Parthenon step, it will be invisible from the opposite side. This means that flat structures actually have curvature. Another secret of the Parthenon is “encrypted” in its columns - they are slightly inclined inward. It is believed that such features allowed the temple to withstand seismic loads, which once again confirms the skill of the architects.
Archaeologists have brought the modern Parthenon as close as possible to the original. It cannot regain its lost brilliance and greatness, but progress is obvious. Destruction and unfinished reconstruction did not prevent the Parthenon from becoming one of the main monuments of the world.
Visit to the Parthenon
Visit main monument Athens is possible from 8:30 to 18:00.
Ticket price - 12 euros, under 18 years of age visit free of charge.
Since there are a lot of tourists here during the season, and summer heat brings inconvenience, it is better to come here at opening or in the evening. For the convenience of tourists, there is a kiosk near the Parthenon where you can buy drinks, there is a toilet and a storage room - large bags are not allowed inside.
For Greece, the Parthenon is not just a historical monument. It is pride and a national symbol. Repeat the work of the architects and create your own version of the Parthenon in different time tried in several cities around the world. But no one managed to surpass the example of classical ancient architecture.
Parthenon in Athens (Greece) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.
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The Parthenon has always been considered one of the most significant and monumental buildings of the Acropolis in Athens. The temple was built in honor of the goddess Athena, the patroness of the capital of Greece.
According to ancient myth, supreme god decided to get rid of his wayward daughter while she was in her mother’s womb, swallowing them whole. But she did not give him peace, and then the Thunderer ordered Athena to be removed from his head; at that time she was already in armor, with a sword and shield in her hands. For such a warlike goddess, of course, it was necessary to build a fairly majestic temple.
Construction of the Parthenon began around 447 BC, and lasted more than fifteen years. Excellent marble was brought from all over Hellas to the Acropolis, best samples ebony, ivory and precious metals.
The main architects of the temple were Callicrates and Iktin. They were able to implement an extraordinary architectural solution by applying the rule of the golden proportion, where each subsequent part of the whole relates to the previous part in the same way as it relates to the whole whole. The marble columns of the temple are not placed strictly parallel to each other, but at a certain angle. As a result, the Parthenon acquired a number of architectural features- the main one is that it appears to those looking at its façade from three sides at once.
Parthenon
Phidias was in charge of the sculptural design of the Parthenon; numerous friezes and sculptural compositions were made under his strict guidance. He is directly responsible for the main attraction of the temple - the thirteen-meter statue of Athena, the production of which took more than a ton of pure gold from the city treasury and the most expensive solid marble. Phidias also distinguished himself by depicting the initiator of construction, Pericles, on the goddess’s shield.
In the Parthenon, everything is thought out to the smallest detail, each detail has its own unique size, shape and purpose. This is one of the main attractions of Greece, which is deservedly considered a masterpiece of world architecture. Unfortunately, now little remains of its former greatness, but even the ruins that remain in its place delight millions of tourists.
25. Temple of the goddess Athena on the Acropolis
The Parthenon - the temple of the goddess Athena - is the largest structure on the Acropolis and the most beautiful creation of Greek architecture. It stands not in the center of the square, but somewhat to the side, so that you can immediately take in the front and side facades and understand the beauty of the temple as a whole. The ancient Greeks believed that the temple with the main cult statue in the center represented the house of the deity.
The Parthenon is the temple of Athena the Virgin (Parthenos), and therefore in its center there was a chrysoelephantine (made of ivory and gold plates on a wooden base) statue of the goddess.
The Parthenon was erected in 447–432 BC. e. architects Ictinus and Callicrates from Pentelic marble. It was located on a four-stage terrace, the size of its base was 69.5 x 30.91 meters. The Parthenon is surrounded on four sides by slender colonnades; gaps of blue sky are visible between their white marble trunks. Entirely permeated with light, it seems airy and light. There are no bright designs on the white columns, as is found in Egyptian temples. Only longitudinal grooves (flutes) cover them from top to bottom, making the temple seem taller and even slimmer. The columns owe their slenderness and lightness to the fact that they taper slightly towards the top. In the middle part of the trunk, completely invisible to the eye, they thicken and therefore seem elastic, more firmly withstanding the weight of the stone blocks. Iktypus and Callicrates, having thought through every smallest detail, created a building that amazes with its amazing proportionality, extreme simplicity and purity of all lines.
Placed on the upper platform of the Acropolis, at an altitude of about 150 meters above sea level, the Parthenon was visible not only from anywhere in the city, but also from numerous ships sailing to Athens. The temple was a Doric peripeter surrounded by a colonnade of 46 columns.
The most famous masters participated in the sculptural design of the Parthenon.
The artistic director of the construction and decoration of the Parthenon was Phidias, one of the greatest sculptors of all time. He is responsible for the overall composition and development of the entire sculptural decoration, part of which he performed himself.
The organizational side of the construction was handled by Pericles - the largest statesman Athens.
The entire sculptural design of the Parthenon was intended to glorify the goddess Athena and her city - Athens. The theme of the eastern pediment is the birth of Zeus's beloved daughter. On the western pediment the master depicted a scene of a dispute between Athena and Poseidon for dominance over Attica. According to the myth, Athena won the dispute and gave the inhabitants of this country an olive tree.
The gods of Greece, the thunderer Zeus, the mighty ruler of the seas Poseidon, the wise warrior Athena, and the winged Nike gathered on the pediments of the Parthenon. The sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was completed by a frieze, which depicted a solemn procession during the festival of the Great Panathenaia. This frieze is considered one of the pinnacles of classical art. Despite all its compositional unity, it amazed with its diversity. Of the more than 500 figures of young men, elders, girls, on foot and on horseback, not one repeated the other; the movements of people and animals were conveyed with amazing dynamism.
The figures of the sculptural Greek relief are not flat, they have volume and shape human body. They differ from statues only in that they are not processed on all sides, but seem to merge with the background formed by the flat surface of the stone.
Light colors enlivened the Parthenon marble. The red background emphasized the whiteness of the figures, the narrow vertical projections that separated one slab of the frieze from the other stood out clearly in blue, and the gilding shone brightly. Behind the columns, on a marble ribbon encircling all four facades of the building, a festive procession was depicted.
There are almost no gods here, and people, forever imprinted in stone, moved along the two long sides of the building and united on the eastern facade, where a solemn ceremony took place to present the priest with a robe woven by Athenian girls for the goddess. Each figure is characterized by its own unique beauty, and all together they accurately reflect the true life and customs of the ancient city.
Indeed, once every five years, on one of the hot days of mid-summer, a nationwide celebration took place in Athens in honor of the birth of the goddess Athena. It was called the Great Panathenaia. Not only citizens took part in it Athenian State, but also many guests. The celebration consisted of a solemn procession (pump), the bringing of a hecatomb (100 head of cattle) and a common meal, sports, equestrian and musical competitions. The winner received a special, so-called Panathenaic amphora, filled with oil, and a wreath made from the leaves of the sacred olive tree growing on the Acropolis.
The most solemn moment of the holiday was the national procession to the Acropolis.
Riders on horses were moving, statesmen, warriors in armor and young athletes were walking. Priests and nobles walked in long white robes, heralds loudly praised the goddess, musicians filled the still cool morning air with joyful sounds. Along the zigzag Panathenaic road, trampled by thousands of people, sacrificial animals climbed the high hill of the Acropolis. The boys and girls carried with them a model of the sacred Panathenaic ship with a peplos (veil) attached to its mast. A light breeze fluttered the bright fabric of the yellow-violet robe, which was carried as a gift to the goddess Athena by the noble girls of the city.
For a whole year they wove and embroidered it. Other girls raised sacred vessels for sacrifices high above their heads.
Gradually the procession approached the Parthenon. The entrance to the temple was made not from the Propylaea, but from the other, as if so that everyone would first walk around, examine and appreciate the beauty of all parts of the beautiful building. Unlike Christian churches, ancient Greek ones were not intended for worship inside them; the people remained outside the temple during religious activities.
In the depths of the temple, surrounded on three sides by two-tiered colonnades, stood proudly famous statue the maiden Athena, created by the famous Phidias. Her clothes, helmet and shield were made of pure sparkling gold, and her face and hands shone with the whiteness of ivory.
Many book volumes have been written about the Parthenon, among them there are monographs about each of its sculptures and about each step of gradual decline from the time when, after the decree of Theodosius I, it became a Christian temple. In the 15th century, the Turks turned it into a mosque, and in the 17th century, into a gunpowder warehouse. It was turned into final ruins by the Turkish-Venetian War of 1687, when a Venetian artillery shell hit it and in one moment did what all-consuming time could not do in 2000 years.