Trifter

The Parthenon

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parthenon_from_south.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parthenon_von_SW.jpg

The Parthenon, the shrine built by the Athenians for their patron goddess Athena is possible the world’s most famous building, and is as near as possible to perfection. It represents the climax of the Doric style, the first of the three Orders, and the one that engaged the Greeks longest and most intensely. Aesthetically, the main criticism of the Doric Order is that it is inclined to be heavy, but the Parthenon, though much the largest temple in Greece, demonstrates by the beauty of its design that this effect is not inevitable. Unusually, it has eight columns across the porch, and 17 along each side. The temple stands on the highest point of the Acropolis, and would have been visible from any spot in Periclean Athens. Built in Pentelic marble between 447 and 436 BC, its architects were Ictinus and Callicrates. The sculpture was by Pericles’ friend, the genius Phidias, though naturally many hands were employed. Originally it contained an image of the goddess 40 feet high, by Phidias, in gold and ivory.

At close quarters, the sheer size of the temple is a surprise, being disguised by the perfection of the proportions and subtle devices such as the slight convex curve of the columns to correct the optical illusion that makes straight columns look concave. Such devices required extraordinary mathematical calculation as well as building skill. The columns are over 34 feet high and measure 74 inches in diameter at the base. A well-built man leaning against one fits into the curve of a single flute.

Renaissance drawings show that the Parthenon survived two millennia in good condition, but in 1687 it was partly destroyed by an explosion during the war between Venice and the Ottoman Turks, who had turned it into a mosque and were currently using it as an arsenal. Thereafter it deteriorated steadily, a process currently accelerating due to atmospheric pollution. In 1801-05 Lord Elgin rescued, though the Greeks say stole, the famous Elgin marbles, including substantial fragments of Phidias’ masterpiece, the frieze, which was 524 feet long. The frieze was 40 feet above the floor and therefore quite hard to see so, in order to compensate. Phidias designed it with the background to the figures tilted slightly forward.

Erechtheion

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erechtheion.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erechtheion_-_caryatides_1.jpg

The Erechtheion belongs to the great reconstruction of the Acropolis of Athens, set in motion by Pericles after the Persian Wars, and stands to the north of the Parthenon. The finest building in the Ionic Order, which, having originated in the cities of Ionia, was just becoming fashionable in mainland Greece, it is sometimes attributed to Mnesicles, who designed the Propylaea, the monumental gateway to the Acropolis. It was built in marble between 421 and 406 BC, and its plan is peculiar and unique, since it has three facades or porches, east, north and south. All of these are at different levels, the result of a sloping site and a profusion of divinities, for the temple was dedicated to not one but three – Athena, Poseidon, and Hephaestos – as well as to the Athenian heroes Erectheus, for whom the temple is named, and his brother Butes. It was sited, according to legend, where Poseidon, brother of Zeus and god of the sea, who first claimed possession of the city, thrust his trident into the ground. The result was that a salt water well sprang up within the precincts of the Erechtheion.

The decorative sculpture of the Erechtheion is of the same superlative quality as that of the Parthenon. The best known feature of the building is the south porch, associated with the cult of Athena, in which the columns are replaced by caryatids, sculpted female figures which are slightly more than life size and combine the Classical attributes of strength and beauty. As the temple appears today, the second caryatid from the left is a copy, cast in Portland cement, the original having been removed by Lord Elgin.

Sources:

http://ancient-greece.org/architecture/erechtheion.html

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/athens-erechtheion-temple.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/The_Parthenon.html