The Parthenon

February 13, 2013

High Classical: 450-400

! Athens continued to be the most creative cultural center; very wealthy ! Buildings on the Acropolis at Athens ! Victory over the Persians in 480 BCE

Art in the High Classical Period

! Human anatomy is accurately shown ! Movement is naturalistic ! Contrapposto stance ! Continued desire to represent the ideal ! Desire for beauty and harmony in proportion in sculpture and architecture

Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer), High Classical, 450-440 BCE (Roman copy after a bronze original

Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer), High Classical, 450-440 BCE (Roman copy after a bronze original

Achilles Painter, Amphora with Achilles, 440 CE

Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer), High Classical, 450-440 BCE (Roman copy after a bronze original

Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer), High Classical, 450-440 BCE (Roman copy after a bronze original

Polykleitos Canon Beauty arises from the commensurability of the parts, such as that of nger to nger, and of all the ngers to the palm and the wrist, and of those to the forearm, and of the forearm to the upper arm, and in fact, of everything to everything else.

! BBC excerpt from How Art Made the World

The Athenian Acropolis, 5th c.

! High City, 500 above city ! Pericles ! Erechtheion, Temple of Athena Nike, Temple of Athena Parthenos (aka Parthenon) ! Greatest sculptors and architects ! Phidias ! Iktinos and Kallikrates

The Acropolis, Athens

The Parthenons History

! Middle Ages ! Ottoman conquest ! 17th century artillery mishap ! 21st century problems

triglyph metope frieze pediment column capital stylobate (podium) stereobate (stairs

Iktinos and Kallikrates, Temple of Athena Parthenos (Parthenon), Acropolis, Athens High Classical, 447-338 BCE

Greek Temples of the Archaic and Classical Periods

symmetrical plan peripteral colonnade central room (cella) porches at both ends gable roof with triangular pediments Doric or Ionic

Parthenon mathematical formula 2y + 1 Columns: 2(8) + 1 = 17

Plan of Temple of Athena, Paestum, c. 500 BCE x=2y + 1 6 x 13 columns Ionic order introduced in the porch

Drawings of optical renements in order to counteract illusion of sagging architectural members

Curvature of the stylobate

Doric or Ionic?

triglyph metope frieze pediment column capital stylobate (podium) stereobate (stairs

Parthenon Sculptural Scheme Designed by Phidias Pediments East: Birth of Athena West: Contest of Athena and Poseidon Metopes North: Sack of Troy South: Centauromachy East: Gigantomachy West: Amazonomachy Frieze Panathenaic Procession Assembly of the gods Presentation of the peplos to Athena Cella Cult statue of Athena Parthenos

East Pediment of the Parthenon: Birth of Athena Designed by Phidias, 447-432 BCE

East Pediment of the Parthenon: Birth of Athena Designed by Phidias, 447-432 BCE Figures of three goddesses: Hestia, Dione, and Aphrodite wet drapery technique

Peplos Kore, Archaic Period, 530 BCE

Parthenon Sculptural Scheme Designed by Phidias Metopes North: Sack of Troy South: Centauromachy East: Gigantomachy West: Amazonomachy 92 metopes

Lapith and Centaur South metopes 447-432

Detail of the Centauromachy from the Franois Vase (left)

Perseus and Medusa, metope from Temple C at Selinus, Archaic, 560 BCE (left)

Lapith and Centaur South metopes 447-432

Reconstruction of the Parthenon

Parthenon Sculptural Scheme Designed by Phidias Frieze Panathenaic Procession Assembly of the gods Presentation of the peplos to Athena

Panathenaic Procession Frieze Designed by Phidias Running frieze outside of cella wall 36 off the ground, 3 high, 480 long 447-432

Panathenaic Procession Frieze, west

Siphnian Treasury frieze, 530 BCE (left)

Maidens carrying cult equipment

East Frieze: Assembly of the Olympian gods Poseidon, Apollo, Aphrodite

Folding of the peplos, east frieze

Tumultuous History of the Parthenon

! Built in 446 BCE ! Converted to a Christian church ! Converted to a mosque ! Used as a weapons storehouse in the 17th century ! So by 1800...

Lord Elgin, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire

! Only half of the original sculpture of the Parthenon remained by 1800 ! Permission of the Ottoman Empire to remove half of the remaining sculptures ! Brought it back to Britain ! Acquired by the British Museum in 1816 ! Still on display at the British Museum today ! Free of charge ! 5 million visitors/year

The Parthenon/Elgin Marbles in the British Museum

So whats the problem?

The Elgin Marbles Controversy

(Right: The new Acropolis Museum in Athens, open since June 2009)

! Problem: Greece wants the Elgin Marbles to be returned to Athens ! Reasons to return them to Greece: unity, museum, stolen ! Reasons to keep the Elgin Marbles in England at The British Museum: savior, unstable Greece, unity, slippery slope ! Whose side are you on?

The New Acropolis Museum, Athens

The Elgin Marbles Controversy

(Right: The new Acropolis Museum in Athens, open since June 2009)

! Problem: Greece wants the Elgin Marbles to be returned to Athens ! Reasons to return them to Greece: unity, museum, stolen ! Reasons to keep the Elgin Marbles in England at The British Museum: savior, unstable Greece, unity, slippery slope ! Whose side are you on?

! Battle over the Parthenon Marbles

Parthenon Sculptural Scheme Designed by Phidias Cella Cult statue of Athena Parthenos

Phidias, Cult Statue of Athena Parthenos Model of the lost statue Original: 38 tall, chryselepantine Pliny and Pausanias

Replica of the Parthenon, to scale Nashville, TN

Phidias, Cult Statue of Athena Parthenos Replica of the lost statue 38 tall, chryselepantine Pliny and Pausanias

sandals: centauromachy exterior shield: amazonomachy interior shield: gigantomachy