Parthenon: Pericles’ Architectural Marvel & Golden Age of Athens Explained

On the Athenian Acropolis sits a series of temples dedicated to Athena and the glory of Athens. When the Persians captured Athens in 480, before the naval Battle of Salamis, they destroyed all of the old wooden structures. After the victory over the Persians at Salamis, and before the fateful battle at Plataea in 479, the Athenians vowed to leave the remains as a memorial to the great devastation and war that occurred. During the next thirty years, Athens increased its political power and glory, first with the Delian League and then the Athenian Empire.

The Athenian statesman Pericles proposed an ambitious new building program that would glorify Athens, and at the same time make the Acropolis worthy of Athenian power, showing off the city’s greatness to visitors. Using the funds from the Athenian tribute states, Pericles proposed to use this money to build a great temple to Athena. He was opposed by a rival politician Thucydides of Melesias (not the historian), who argued that the use of the funds was immoral; Pericles had Thucydides ostracized in 444 so that he could continue his plans.

The Parthenon on the Acropolis at Athens

Pericles chose Phidias, the great sculptor, as the general designer of the temple precinct. On the far side, opposite the new Parthenon, stood the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Erecthteum. They were all designed to work together in a concerted effort. The Propylaea, with Mnesicles as the architect and envisioned by Phidias, was a designation for porches and other monumental entrances. It was the entrance for the Acropolis in general. It stood obliquely to the Parthenon, but in its sight line. It was a three-aisled hall in a square pattern, with five gateways, and it blended Doric with Ionic features and had a six-column porticoe. At the top of the pathway leading to the Acropolis stood the small Temple of Athena Nike, at the traditional location for her sanctuary.

It is a small temple, with Callicrates as the architect. Off to the side was the Erechtheum, which was planned to be put up at the same time. It was constructed in 420, only after Phidias had left Athens. It replaced an earlier, sixth-century temple of the Athena Polias, which also was destroyed in 480. It housed the goddess’s sacred structure made of olive wood, as well as other objects. It had an irregular tripartite layout due to the lay of the land.

Phidias had already made a name for himself by earlier commissions celebrating the Athenian victory at Marathon with sculptures at Delphi and on the Acropolis, the latter honoring Athena Promachos, the Athenian protector in the battle. This sculpture was made of Persian armor taken from the battlefield. The spear tip and helmet of the thirty-foot-high bronze statue could be seen far away at sea. A story indicated that Pericles argued that with the Peace of Callias in 449, the war was over, and any vows made in 479 were now fulfilled. In antiquity, this story was questioned, and it is possible that Pericles simply obtained a majority vote from the people for the construction of the new temple.

The new temple would be to Athena Parthenos, the maiden of the Parthenon. The building would be on a preexisting temple site on the Acropolis that had been destroyed in 480. It was made of Pentalic marble from Attica. The designer-architect was Ictinus, who also built a temple at Bassae. The contractor was Callicrates, who constructed the temple in the Doric order. This temple had eight columns in the front and rear instead of the normal six. The columns have a swelling, fatter or wider in the middle compared to the top and bottom, and lean inward, while the upper part of the temple inclines outward.

The platform of the temple also descends from the center of the columns to the temple corner. These changes allowed the temple to flow naturally, without the normal harshness of the Doric style. It was a large temple, measuring 228 feet by 101 feet. The statue to Athena Promachos stood outside the Parthenon. A new cult statue was now built for the temple to Athena Parthenos. This figure was forty feet high and was said to be made of ivory and gold. It was probably made of wood, with the head, hands and feet made of ivory, while the drapery was veneered with gold.

The statue was armored, and around her shoulder was a goatskin cloak, or aegis, which was magical. Her helmet had three crests in the shape of a sphinx and two winged horses. Her left hand held a lance and rested on a shield with her holy snake coiled upon it. The shield had a relief of the Greeks and Amazons fighting. Two figures on the shield were in the form of Pericles and a bald man identified as Phidias, something that was viewed as an affront to standards. These figures would also amount to sacrilege. While Pericles’s enemies could not get at him, they could get at his friends—in this case, Phidias, who was forced to flee to Olympia. He would then become renowned again for the huge gold and ivory statue of the seated Zeus for his temple.

The Parthenon also had numerous sculptural motifs around the temple. On the outside, 92 scenes of the battle of the metopes were on the north and south sides of the temple. They showed the battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs, as well as Trojan scenes. At the far end of the temple sides were motifs of gods and giants that probably represented the Greeks and Amazons fighting, with Theseus defeating the Amazon invasion. They showed the victory of Hellenism over the barbarian east, an allegory of the Athenians’ victory over the Persians. On the two wide pediment sides were depictions of Athena.

The eastern pediment showed her birth, with Hephaestius cleaving the head of Zeus with an axe and Athena emerging fully armed and armored. This was then framed by the rising and setting of the Sun in its chariots, while on the far end were the gods and goddesses, probably the Olympian gods, in various stages of repose, reclining, seated, and standing. On the western pediment was the famous struggle between Poseidon and Athena for the ownership of Athens. Poseidon causing the salt spring on the Acropolis to gush forth is depicted, while Athena is presented with the gift of the olive tree. Also seen was the Athenian river god, Ilissus or Cephisus.

The interior frieze above the architrave in the cella has 420 of the 520 scenes that survive. They depict one event and create a continuous story of the Great Panathenaea and the annual festival. The great ceremony, held every four years, became a crucial part of Pericles’s desire to glorify Athens and its accomplishments. The friezes are probably generalized figures. Although it was a religious festival, it was also secular.

The procession celebrated the bringing of her new robe, woven by the citizens’ daughters. The images showed the taking down and folding of her old robe and its storage. Next came officials on horseback, leading sacrificial animals in a procession. The friezes were high, and although they might have been difficult to see (especially due to the lighting and shade), they present the procession in an idealized fashion. The figures’ faces were reserved and tranquil. The idea was to present a perfect state of being.

The Parthenon was the culmination of political and artistic planning of Pericles during the golden age of Athens. The work of Phidias and his shop of artists created the monuments of Athens, which would endure for ages and highlight the accomplishments of the city-state and its empire.