The Artwork Of The Week this week is the Ancient Greek temple of the Parthenon.
The Parthenon, 447-432BCE. Architects: Iktinos and Callicrates, Sculptor: Phidias. Marble. 45’ tall x 228’ long x 101’ wide (13.72m x 69.5m x 30.9m). Sits on the Athenian Acropolis in Greece.
I have a complicated history with the Parthenon, beginning with not liking it for almost a decade because it was famous and popular. Then, I realized halfway through my undergraduate education that this thinking was a terrible reason to not like a piece of art, so I did some research and read up on exactly why the Parthenon is such a historically revered piece of art. Now, it has a special place in my heart and I ended up writing my undergraduate senior thesis on the statue that lived within. But that’s a discussion for another post.
The Parthenon is an ancient Greek temple from the Classical period of Greek art and architecture. It was built between 447BCE and 432 BCE by architects Iktinos and Callicrates (and teams upon teams of artisans), and is the perfect example of a temple of two orders. If you want to know what “orders” are, go read my other post on columns and bask in what is probably my favorite topic in art history. The Parthenon has one peristyle in the Doric order along the outer edge of the stylobate, and two colonnades bookending the cella with a continuous frieze around the cella itself in the Ionic order.
The outer peristyle consists of Doric columns and is topped with 92 metopes across the four sides depicting four different stories form greek mythology: the gigantomachy in the east, the amazonomachy in the west, the centauromachy in the south, and the sack of Troy in the north. The pediments depict either the cycle of day and night the birth of Athena, or the legendary founding of Athens in the east, and the contest for godly patronage of Athens in the west.
The inner peristyle is topped with a 98m (322’) frieze depicting the Panathenaic procession from the northwest of the Acropolis and up to the temple complex on the top of the Acropolis. The procession was part of a festival held every four years where offerings and a new robe were carried up to the temple and offered to Athena, the godly patron of Athens. The Ionic columns and frieze border the cella where the famed chryselephantine sculpture of Athena lived, and the robe offered during the Panathenaic procession was either placed on the statue or hung next to it.
Though the temple looks pristine and white in modern times, it was once pained in bright colors, making it quite the spectacle. However, many people find it hard to envision some of the worlds most famous greek and roman artworks as colorfully painted. They feel as though the colors would detract from the dignity of the works and be distracting and tacky. In response to these thoughts, I ask what is the difference between colorful paintings on classical temples and colorful stained glass windows in christian churches? Both are there to make the building nicer to look at, and both buildings perform the same function.
Regardless, the Parthenon stands as one of the most recognizable structures in the world and is complex enough that a simple Artwork Of The Week entry is not enough. Look forward to one or more full length articles about it in the future!
