TOPIC: GREEK ARCHITECTURE

PARTHENON

SUBMITED TO: ADITI JOSHI, SUBMITED BY: DIVYANG BARDOLIA{0902} , SUB: HISTORY ,SEM: 6TH
 INTRODUCTION
Type Greek Temple
Architectural style Classical
Location Athens, Greece
Current tenants Museum
Construction started 432 BC
Completed 447 BC
Destroyed Partly on 26 September 1687
Height 13.72 m (45.0 ft)
Technical details
Size 69.5 by 30.9 m (228 by 101 ft)
Other dimensions Cella: 29.8 by 19.2 m (98 by 63 ft)
Design and construction
Owner Greek government
Architect Iktinos, Kallikrates
Other designers Phidias (sculptor)
 HISTORY
 The single greatest building constructed during the Greek
Classical period. Built as a temple to worship Athena who was
the patron goddess of the city of Athens. The architects of the
Parthenon intended the brilliant white marble to be the
ultimate expression of Athens grandeur. Even in ruins, it
crowns the Acropolis. The Parthenon remained relatively intact
until 1687 when it was severely damaged in an explosion.
 The Parthenon was heavily damaged in 1678 by Turkish
bombardment. It is currently being carefully reconstructed.
 In addition to damage in wartime, it has lost many of its
sculptures. Some are in the British Museum, some in other
museums.
 CLIMATE
 Encompasses the statistics
of temperature, humidity, atmospheric
pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle count
and other meteorological elemental measurements in a
given region over long periods. Climate can be contrasted
to weather, which is the present condition of these
elements and their variations over shorter periods.
 A region's climate is generated by the climate system,
which has five
components: atmosphere,hydrosphere, cryosphere, land
surface, and biosphere.
 The climate of a location is affected by its latitude, terrain,
and altitude, as well as nearby water bodies and their currents.
Climates can be classified according to the average and the typical
ranges of different variables, most commonly temperature and
precipitation. The most commonly used classification scheme was
originally developed by Wladimir Köppen. The Thornthwaite
system, in use since 1948, incorporatesevapotranspiration along
with temperature and precipitation information and is used in
studying animal species diversity and potential effects of climate
changes. The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification
systems focus on the origin of air masses that define the climate of a
region.
 CULTURE
 The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in
Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece,
through the influence of the Roman Empire and its successor
the Byzantine Empire. Other cultures and states such as Latin and
Frankish states, the Ottoman Empire, the Venetian Republic, Genoese
Republic, and British Empire have also left their influence on modern
Greek culture, but historians credit the Greek War of Independence with
revitalising Greece and giving birth to a single entity of its multi-faceted
culture.
 In ancient times, Greece was the birthplace of Western culture. Modern
democracies owe a debt to Greek beliefs in government by the people,
trial by jury, and equality under the law. The ancient Greeks pioneered in
many fields that rely on systematic thought, including biology, geometry,
history, philosophy, and physics. They introduced such important literary
forms as epic and lyric poetry, history, tragedy, and comedy. In their
pursuit of order and proportion, the Greeks created an ideal of beauty
that strongly influenced Western art.
 GEOGRAPHY
 Greece is a country located in Southern Europe, on the southern
end of the Balkan Peninsula. Greece is surrounded on the north
by Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia and Albania; to the west by
the Ionian Sea; to the south by the Mediterranean Sea and to the
east by the Aegean Sea and Turkey. The country ranges
approximately in latitude from 35°00′N to 42°00′N and
in longitude from 19°00′E to 28°30′E. As a result, it has considerable
climatic variation, as discussed below. The country consists of a
large mainland; the Peloponnese, a peninsula connected to the
southern tip of the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth; and a large
number of islands, including Crete, Rhodes, Corfu,
the Dodecanese and the Cyclades. According to the CIA World
Factbook, Greece has 13,676 kilometres (8,498 mi) of coastline
 80% of Greece is mountainous, and the country is one of the most
mountainous countries of Europe. The Pindus, a chain of mountains
lies across the center of the country in a northwest-to-southeast
direction, with a maximum elevation of 2637 m. Extensions of the
same mountain range stretch across the Peloponnese and underwater
across the Aegean, forming many of the Aegean
Islands including Crete, and joining with the Taurus Mountains of
southern Turkey. Central and Western Greece contain high and steep
peaks dissected by many canyons and other karstic landscapes,
including the Meteora and the Vikos Gorges - the latter being one of
the largest of the world and the third deepest after the Copper
Canyon in Mexico and the Grand Canyon in the USA, plunging vertically
for more than 1,100 metres. Mount Olympus is the highest point of
Greece and the fourth highest in relative topographical prominence in
Europe, rising to 2,919 m above sea level. The Rhodope
Mountains form the border between Greece and Bulgaria; that area is
covered with vast and thick forests.
 THE TEMPLE FORM
 The Parthenon is a Doric
Temple, named because of the
style/order of column used in
its construction.
 The Parthenon was a Doric
temple. The Doric was
considered the most ancient
and the most dignified order.
 The Parthenon’s form grew
out of other, earlier Greek
temples. The simplest temples
had a cella and a pronaos.
•A Doric temple has 8 columns on each end and 17 along each side.
•The Parthenon is 60 meters in length, 30 meters wide and 18 meters in
height.
 Cella
 “The inner, main chamber of a
temple. Greek term: Naos.

 Description: This chamber

containing the image of the
god was the principal part of
the temple. Generally the cella
received its light through the
open door alone, but
sometimes there was also an
opening in the roof or possibly
windows on either side of the
door.”
 PRONAOS

 “In the Greek temple, the

porch, portico, or entrance-hall
to the temple proper or cella.”
 OPISTHODOMOS

 The Parthenon had a double

cella with a pronaos and
opisthodomos (“a porch at the
rear of the cella which often
served as a rear entrance.”)
 Floor plan of the Parthenon

OPISTHODOMOS 2nd CELLA CELLA PRONAOS

 INTERIOR VIEW

Reconstruction drawing of interior of Parthenon, showing

statue of Athena Pantheons
The cella on the west was dedicated to Athena Parthenos,
from which the whole building got the name Parthenon. It’s
likely that the western cella was used as a treasury. Its doors
were probably reinforced with bronze bars.
Note that the cella is surrounded by a series of columns,
called a colonnade; at each end it also has an additional
set of columns between the outside colonnade and the cella.
SIDE COLONNADE