Who is the parthenon dedicated to

In the final decade of the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Why is the Parthenon important, special and famous? The Parthenon is so special because first of all is the symbol of Athens democracy. It was built after the victory on the Persians who occupied Athens in BC. It was built to celebrate the victory and Athens political, economic and cultural superiority. The Parthenon combines elements of the Doric and Ionic orders.

Basically a Doric peripteral temple, it features a continuous sculpted frieze borrowed from the Ionic order, as well as four Ionic columns supporting the roof of the opisthodomos. Built in the 5 century B. The Parthenon epitomizes all the ideals of Greek thought during the apogee of the Classical era through artistic means.

These ideals are represented in the perfect proportions of the building, in its intricate architectural elements, and in the anthropomorphic statues that adorned it.

Perhaps the fullest, and most famous, expression of Classical Greek temple architecture is the Periclean Parthenon of Athens—a Doric order structure, the Parthenon represents the maturity of the Greek classical form. The Ancient Greek temple known as the Parthenon has long since been considered a great illustration of the ideal, Classical architectural construction. Generally in art, the gods were shown in temples and cult-like areas to be used for sacrifices and religious reasons, such as Athena at the Parthenon.

A philosophical ideal of ancient Greeks who believed that each person should have a harmonious blend sometimes called balance of physical, mental, and spiritual aspects.

In ancient Greece the rules of beauty were all important. Things were good for men who were buff and glossy. For the Greeks a beautiful body was considered direct evidence of a beautiful mind. They even had a word for it — kaloskagathos — which meant being gorgeous to look at, and hence being a good person.

In its purest form, classicism is an aesthetic attitude dependent on principles based in the culture, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, with the emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, clarity of structure, perfection, restrained emotion, as well as explicit appeal to the intellect.

Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. Ancient Greek art emphasized the importance and accomplishments of human beings. Even though much of Greek art was meant to honor the gods, those very gods were created in the image of humans.

Much artwork was government sponsored and intended for public display. Greek art characteristics Use aesthetic idealism to give perfect vision. Its works have both proportionality and balance. They seek to represent the human figure in a perfect way, both in drawing and sculpture, so they focused largely on athletics to show perfect and muscular bodies.

The essential characteristic of classical Greek art is a heroic realism. Painters and sculptors attempt to reveal the human body, in movement or repose, exactly as it appears to the eye. The emphasis will be on people of unusual beauty, or moments of high and noble drama. Ancient Greek art was influenced by the philosophy of the time and that shaped the way they produced art forms.

The difficulty in understanding Ancient Greek art is that the philosophers held a theoretical view of colour and art while the artists were more pragmatic in their production of art. An earlier structure known as the Older Parthenon or Pre-Parthenon once existed on the site of the current Parthenon. Many historians believe the Older Parthenon was under construction in B. In B. The massive structure was dedicated in B. Sculpting and decorative work at the Parthenon continued until B.

Pericles commissioned the renowned Greek architects Ictinus and Callicrates and the sculptor Phidias to design the Parthenon, which became the largest Doric-style temple of its time.

The structure has a rectangular floor plan and is built on a 23,square foot base, part of which was the limestone foundation of the Old Parthenon.

Low steps surrounded each side of the building, and a portico of Doric columns standing on a platform create a border around it. There are 46 outer columns and 19 inner columns.

The columns are slightly tapered to give the temple a symmetrical appearance. The corner columns are larger in diameter than the other columns. Incredibly, the Parthenon contains no straight lines and no right angles, a true feat of Greek architecture. Ninety-two carved metopes square blocks placed between three-channeled triglyph blocks adorn the exterior walls of the Parthenon.

The metopes on the West side depict Amazonomachy, a mythical battle between the Amazons and the Ancient Greeks, and were thought to be designed by the sculptor Kalamis.

The metopes on the East side show Gigantomachy, mythical battles between gods and Giants. Most metopes on the South side show Centauromachy, the battle of mythical centaurs with the Lapiths, and the metopes on the North side portray the Trojan War. The frieze was carved using the bas-relief technique, which means the sculpted figures are raised slightly from the background.

Historians believe the frieze depicted either the Panathenaic procession to the Acropolis or the sacrifice of Pandora to Athena. There are two sculpted, triangular-shaped gables known as pediments on each end of the Parthenon. The West pediment showed the conflict between Athena and Poseidon to claim Attica, an ancient region of Greece which included the city of Athens.

A shrine within the Parthenon housed an extraordinary statue of Athena, known as Athena Parthenos, which was sculpted by Phidias. The statue no longer exists but is thought to have stood 12 meters high 39 feet. It was carved of wood and covered in ivory and gold. Historians know what the statue looked like thanks to surviving Roman reproductions. The Athena statue depicted a fully-armed woman wearing a goatskin shield known as an aegis.

She held a six-foot tall statue of the Greek goddess Nike in her right hand and a shield in her left hand that illustrated various battle scenes. Two griffins and a sphinx stood on her helmet and a large snake behind her shield. It was undoubtedly an awe-inspiring sight for anyone who gazed upon it.

In the sixth century A. They outlawed pagan worship of the Greek gods and converted the Parthenon to a Christian church. They blocked the East side entrance and, following the custom of Christianity , forced worshipers to enter the church on the West side.

The massive statue of Athena was gone before the Byzantines arrived. The Parthenon remained a Christian church until A. The Ottoman Turks converted the Parthenon into a mosque, yet kept many Christian paintings and artifacts intact. Can you see the Parthenon for free? How much does it cost to see the Parthenon? Is Plaka Athens safe at night? How many steps are in the Parthenon? How is the Parthenon being preserved? What spread Greek culture? Where are the Parthenon sculptures now?

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