INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE PARTHENON
Added on: 13th Jul 2016
THE RECTANGULAR BUILDING (MEASURED AT
THE TOP STEP OF ITS BASE TO BE 101.34 FT WIDE
BY 228.14 FT LONG) WAS CONSTRUCTED OF
GREAT QUALITY WHITE MARBLE, SURROUNDED
BY FORTY-SIX COLUMNS, ROOFED WITH TILES AND
HOUSED A NEARLY FORTY-FOOT-TALL STATUE OF
THE GODDESS ATHENA. THE STATUE, KNOWN AS
ATHENA PROMACHOS, “ATHENA THE CHAMPION,”
WAS MADE OF WOOD, GOLD, AND IVORY AND COULD
BE SEEN FROM A DISTANCE OF MANY MILES
WHILE MUCH OF THE STRUCTURE REMAINS INTACT,
THE PARTHENON HAS SUFFERED CONSIDERABLE
DAMAGE OVER THE CENTURIES. IT ALL STARTED
IN 296 BCE WHEN THE TYRANT LACHARES REMOVED
THE GOLD FROM THE STATUE OF ATHENA IN
ORDER TO PAY HIS ARMY
IN THE FIFTH CENTURY CE THE PARTHENON WAS
CONVERTED INTO A CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND IN 1460
THE PARTHENON HELD A TURKISH MOSQUE. IN 1687
GUNPOWDER STORED BY THE TURKS INSIDE THE
TEMPLE EXPLODED AND DESTROYED THE
CENTRAL AREA
THE PARTHENON HAD FORTY-SIX OUTER PILLARS AND
TWENTY-THREE INNER PILLARS, BUT NOT ALL OF
THEM SURVIVE TODAY. ALSO, THE ROOF (NOW
NON-EXISTENT) WAS COVERED WITH LARGE
OVERLAPPING MARBLE TILES KNOWN AS
IMBRICES AND TEGULAE
IF YOU’RE NOT IMPRESSED BY THE TEMPLE’S
ARCHITECTURE, HOWEVER, KNOW THAT THE
PARTHENON’S DESIGN IS EARTHQUAKE-RESISTANT.
IN SPITE OF ITS COLUMNS SUBTLY LEANING
INWARD SO THAT A PERSON CAN VIEW THEM
BETTER ON AN UPWARD ANGLE, THE PARTHENON
BOASTS A VERY FINE PARABOLIC UPWARD
CURVATURE THAT ALLOWS THE MONUMENT
TO DECISIVELY SHED RAINWATER WHILE ALSO
REINFORCING IT AGAINST EARTHQUAKES. THOSE
ANCIENT GREEKS WERE WELL AHEAD OF THEIR
TIME
THE PARTHENON WAS ALSO USED AS A TREASURY
LIKE MANY OTHER GREEK TEMPLES OF THE ERA
DESPITE THE PARTHENON BEING THE MOST POPULAR
ATHENIAN STRUCTURE OF ALL TIME, IT WAS NOT
REALLY FINANCED BY THE ATHENIANS. HAVING
CONCLUDED THE PERSIAN WARS, ATHENS HAD
BECOME, BY 447 BCE, THE DOMINANT POWER IN
WHAT IS NOW GREECE, THE CENTRE OF A
REGIONAL EMPIRE. FUNDS FROM THE OTHER
CITY-STATES IN THE DELIAN LEAGUE, INITIALLY
FORMED TO FIGHT PERSIA, WERE USED TO BUILD IT.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE MONEY THAT FINANCED THE
AMBITIOUS ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT MAINLY
CAME FROM TRIBUTES EXACTED FROM THE ALLIED
CITY-STATES UNDER ATHENS’ PROTECTION RATHER
THAN FROM THE ATHENIAN CITIZENS
MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE DELIAN LEAGUE,
OF WHICH ATHENS WAS THE LEADING MEMBER,
WERE STORED IN THE OPISTHODOMUS, THE BACK
ROOM OF THE CELLA (THE INNER CHAMBER OF A
TEMPLE IN CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE)
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