Greece’s famous Parthenon is one of the most instantly recognizable structures in the world. With its scarred, but still-elegant white columns and imposing position on top of a rocky Athenian hill, many modern architects consider the Parthenon to be architectural perfection. And even though the building itself has been stripped down to a shell of its former self, the Parthenon is as endlessly impressive today as it was thousands of years ago. Anything with this much history would have to be impressive.
The Parthenon was built as a temple to the Greek Goddess of wisdom, Athena, between 447 and 432 B.C. The ancient Greeks chose to build the Parthenon on the tallest hill in Athens, called the Acropolis. In the past, the kings of the city lived on the Acropolis, and it was the first place the citizens went to protect themselves in times of war. But after the Athenians changed their system of government, there were no kings… and no need to for a home for them on the hill. So in the 440s B.C., the Athenians decided to build a temple there to honor their patron goddess.
The people of Athens hired two architects to design the new temple, Callicrates and Ictinus. These were two men of unbelievable genius, and they designed a building of incredible majesty and beauty. To this day, the current renovators of the Parthenon can’t quite understand how two ancient Greek architects achieved such a marvel of architecture. Whole pieces of the building were designed to create optical illusions, such as floating floors and falsely-straightened columns.
Time Takes its Toll
Upon its completion, the Parthenon stood on the hill honoring Athena for almost a thousand years. Then, in about 400 A.D., the current king sent out an edict that all must convert to Christianity, and the Parthenon was turned into a Christian church. Unfortunately, transforming the temple into a church required huge changes to be made, and the Parthenon was never the same.
The Parthenon continued to act as a Christian church for another 1000 years until 1400 A.D., when the Ottoman Empire took over Greece. The Ottomans converted the Parthenon into a mosque (making few structural changes, fortunately), and 200 years later, used it as a storage space for ammunition during a war with Venice. This didn’t turn out to be a good choice-- soon after storing their ammunition there, a fire caused a huge explosion, doing a lot of damage to the Parthenon’s carvings and marble roof. Since then, the building has been shot at, looted, and generally stripped down. Today, the Parthenon is a shell of its former self. Currently, renovations are taking place that will restore this amazing historical building to its former glory. To read more about the Parthenon and its history, visit the Smithsonian Magazine website at: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/
Glacier National Park, Parthenon, The Phantom of the Opera, Cleopatra
