The Parthenon: General

The name Parthenon comes from two sacred aspects of the goddess, Athena. The Athena Polios, meaning 'of the city' and Athena Parthenos, meaning 'young maiden'. Therefore Parthenon means, "Place of the Parthenos." The construction of the Parthenon began in 447BC and continued until 432BC. It was designed by a famous sculptor named Phidias under the order of Pericles, a Greek politician. The Parthenon was an example of a Doric style temple which was a simple style with plain columns.It is made of white marble surrounded by 46 columns. Most extraordinary was the giant 40 foot statue of Athena which is named Athena Promachos and is made of gold, ivory and wood.

The Parthenon has suffered much damage which included the stealing of the gold from the statue of Athena in 296 BC. In the 5th century BC, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church and in 406BC, it turned into a Turkish mosque. The Turkish later stored gunpowder which exploded and destroyed the central section. However, more significantly, in 1801-1803, the Turkish sold most of the sculptures in the Parthenon to Lord Elgin who then sold it to the British museum. There is much controversy over where the sculptures should reside.



Bibliography: http://gogreece.about.com/od/athenssightseeing1/a/parthenonathens.htm
               http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/parthenon.html
              http://sacredsites.com/europe/greece/parthenon.html