Category: Parthenon

The Parthenon was built by the Ancient Greeks and is found in Athens during the pre-Christian’s times. It is preserved as a respected constructed architecture by many individuals. It is established on the application of ancient Greek mythology. It has been known that every mind composite of structures was guarded by different Gods. The intention of the building was a worship centre; thus, the assembly of the architectural construction was open and utilised to a greater degree trophy. The Parthenon is a sacred sanctuary for their Goddess, Athena, to demonstrate to the world that the Greek powers have overpowered the Persian armed force (Annereyna 2016). The building itself was known for the sign of war and appeared over the aggression it dealt with.

Anthropomorphism in Ancient Greece was achieved greatly between the Greeks (Visser n.d. cited in Unknown 2013). The idealism of the way Greeks live, details been given attention to and the complex mathematical understandings illustrated synchronisation in the world, were ideas have been set and made in Athenian’s eyes (Lee 2015). Having that, it is this idealism that helped achieve and incorporate the most impeccable proportions of the architectural building, with the use of its complicated elements and the use of anthropomorphism that enhanced the building (Lee 2015).

Some materials and techniques used onto the building to achieve the outcome were the finest marble they could possibly find, planning and execution which took a long time to complete, peristyle colonnade that joined the building altogether, post and lintel construction surrounded by columns, and lastly the Greek architecture influenced the Roman architecture and many more in the ancient times (Bunny 2018).

The Parthenon’s stylistic qualities is that it has no straight lines, its’ shape is rectangular, and the construction is elevated and prominent (Bunny 2018).

The Notre Dame de Chartres Cathedral was one of the most authentic work and marked the highest point of French Gothic architecture that was completed in the 13th century. It is situated in the Centre-Val-De-Loire area in France and was built during the post-Christians times (UNESCO n.d.). Chartres Cathedral was established on the standards of the Catholicism (Annereyna 2016). The purpose of the Cathedral was to hold assemblies formany people to gather, hence why closed windows and walls are present (Annereyna 2016). It was specifically used for Catholics to worship, gather and listen to sermons and lectures about God. The main feature that made the Cathedral stand out are the 167 stained glass windows which uses Vitreous paints (Cartwright 2018). These windows portray old testament. During the making, only five colours were used, and which were bright ruby red, sapphire blue, green, yellow, and purple. The building was based on squares which symbolised the Earth, circles consisted of three and symbolised sacred trinity, and hexagons that was a symbol of Virgin Mary (Augustyn et al. n.d.).

Anthropomorphism was used on the outside design of the cathedral as well as the music playing bells. A small engraved female anthropomorphism of philosophy in the middle bearing insight originates from God (Stones n.d.).

Materials and techniques used onto the building to achieve the outcome were that the architectural building was made out of stones, made out of skeleton frame, the rib vault, pointed arches, and flying buttress.

Its’ stylistic qualities are that it’s symmetrical, shaped as a cross with rounded apse and is covered in stained glass.

Both the Parthenon and the Chartres Cathedral were built in different centuries by different people and different places, yet they have similarities that surprises many. Both purposes of the architecture were to connect the citizens by giving them a worship centre. They have structures that are layered with patterns and designs that represent their own worshippers. Both buildings were made with delicacy and made to be the most beautiful and perfect architectures during their times. The Chartres Cathedral has many large windows to allow natural light to enter just like the Parthenon, made with wide openings. The most resemblance found in both buildings are the humongous designs that stood out the most, yet when both looked at closely, they are to be seen somewhat elevated.

References

1. Annereyna n.d., Course hero, However a similarity between these two masterpieces, viewed 12 August 2019.
2. Bunny, B. 2018, Own location, The influence of ancient Greek architecture, viewed 12 August 2019.
3. Unknown 2013, Athena in ancient Greek religion, Athena within ancient Greek religion, viewed 12 August 2019.
4. Lee, A. 2015, Ancient Art, The Parthenon, Athena, and the Ideal Greek, viewed 12 August 2019.
5. UNESCO n.d., United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Chartres Cathedral, viewed 13 August 2019.
6. Augustyn, A., Kuiper, K., Singh, S., Sinha, S. & Tikkanen, A., n.d., Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chartres Cathedral, viewed 13 August 2019.
7. Cartwright, M. 2018, Ancient history Encyclopedia, The stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral, viewed 13 August 2019.
8. Stones, A. n.d., Employees Oneonta, The royal portals of Chartres, viewed 13 August 2019.
9. https://www.coursehero.com/file/p4moeoq/However-a-similarity-between-these-two-masterpieces-would-be-they-were-both/
10. https://www.coursehero.com/file/p4moeoq/However-a-similarity-between-these-two-masterpieces-would-be-they-were-both/
11. https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Influence-of-Ancient-Greek-Architecture
12. http://athenainancientgreekreligion.blogspot.com/2013/12/anthropomorphism.html
13. https://ancientart.as.ua.edu/the-parthenon-athena-and-the-ideal-greek/
14. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/81/
15. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chartres-Cathedral
16. https://www.ancient.eu/article/1277/the-stained-glass-windows-of-chartres-cathedral/
17. https://www.ancient.eu/article/1277/the-stained-glass-windows-of-chartres-cathedral/
18. http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth212/royal_portals.html

I personally love Greece and there are numerous reasons why I love this beautiful country. Not only about their history but how the country is so beautiful and how is located at the southeast end of Europa, and geographically. You can see where its located on a map, and surrounded by neighboring countries such as Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania and Turkey. There are numerous reasons and interesting things to do in Greece, those you can discover about this country and you only have this particular experience in Greece like the country on his north side of the Mediterranean Sea, east of the Ionian Sean and bordered by the Aegean Sea in the east. Greece is the most mountainous country in the continent and Greece mountains are about 80% of it. Greece’s climate has been divided into 3 classes: Mediterranean climate a mild, their wet winters, and hot and dry summers. Another famous side of Greece, it’s capital call Athens. It was named in honor of the greek goddess Athena, who was a goddess of wisdom and war. It was the birthplace of civilisation, where democracy was first created and most of the wise men of ancient times. I am planning to go for my next summer vacation, I am so ready to visit this country mostly Santorini.

The details of The Parthenon was designed by Ictinus and Callicrates, it is made entirely of a marble from Mount Pentelicus also called Pentelic marble and stands approximately eighteen meters high, mountain range enclosing the attic plain on its northeast but within the department in Greece. These selections were precisely made for these materials of the Parthenon were chosen with many points to be considered and ensured their future. The Mount Pentelicus offered an excellent marble for many of the buildings and sculptures, which was taken from of Athens in the 5th and 4 th centuries BC. Ictinus and Callicrates wanted to achieve an appearance of perfection on the Parthenon. They did this by reducing in the center and giving an impression where they could be viewed as straight from all of the sides. Ictinus and Callicrates hired an artist who sculpted the art for the Parthenon.

The details of the Parthenon floor is a Doric peripteral temple, which reported and consisted of a rectangular shape and a sequences of low steps on all the supports of the Parthenon. These marble were used as the building materials, which it was coming from the Mount pentelicus. This particular touch gave a luminent look when you see it on a sunny day. Lintels are supporting beams that span between columns were tied by bow-tie shape iron clamps to secure them. Sculptures were decorated from the pediments of the temple. The eastern pediment depicted the birth of athena and western pediment showed the battle between Athena and the sea god Poseidon for the control of Athens.

The interior was particular because it was supposed to be a place where you are close to your divinity, not a simple meeting place where you can do whatever you want. In the temple there is a representation of a traditional architecture of the temples in Greece: a rectangular box lifted as one comparatively small door, was a fenced in columns all around, a sketch which Greeks borrowed from the temples of Egypt. Usually the priests could enter the boxlike inside of the temple. The temple as a unique in its great size and decoration. Erected from 20,000 tons of beautiful attic marble, with 8 columns across ends instead of the 6 traditionally utilize in Doric style, and 17 instead of 13 along sides. The dimensions gave it enormous appearance conveying an impression of supremacy.

I suggest, to not change anything of this temple of Athena. It has a part of the story and history, we will never fix or bring to life. Even if we want. the Parthenon to better but we cannot change the fact that this is supposed to stay like this. It plays a huge part of the history of every single country in the world, and we fix it. I think we are changing the history and not maintaining anything or respect the true story of every man who works to build this beautiful temple. We tend to think if we fix it, we are helping by forgetting that we are losing that side of the history we need to keep and cherish.

The Parthenon was a large marble temple for the goddess Athena in the city of Athens overlooking the city and Aegean Sea.Athens was one of many Greek cities and almost all had had an Acropolis. Athens was one of the most powerful city-state and around that time The Parthenon was built.

The Parthenon was a Sacred precinct rather than a Defensive precinct and this building has tremendous influence as not only it became the Symbol of Democracy but also because it has a very unique architectural refinement. The Parthenon was under development around 447-38 B.C.E and was completed around 432 B.C.E. The Parthenon became an important part of culture due to the fact that it was a great achievement in western history even though it is the birthplace of democracy, it was limited at the time but it was still a form of democracy.

The Parthenon is dedicated to Athena as the city of Athens was named after her. There is also a myth about the building, “Two gods vying for the honor of being the patron of this city”, as stated in Parthenon (Acropolis). The gods that the myth is referring to are Poseidon and Athena. Poseidon is the god of the Sea and Athena is the goddess of Wisdom and she is associated with war. Both gods gave a gift to the people of Athens. They had to choose either Poseidon’s gift or Athena’s gift. Poseidon’s gift was saltwater of the sea which is a gift of Naval Superiority while Athena’s gift was an olive tree which symbolized land of prosperity and of peace.The Athens decided to pick Athena’s gift of Prosperity and Peace.

The Parthenon is a Doric Temple which are identifiable from massive columns with shallow broad flutes and the columns go down directly onto the temple floor which is called the stylobate. “The east end, which is the entrance and above it in the sculpture of pediment, is the story of Athena and Poseidon vying to be patrons of the city of Athens. Inside the building was a large sculpture of Athena”, as stated in Parthenon (Acropolis). The Metopes are carved with scenes that showed the Greeks battling various enemies and this is supposed to show their triumphs, proving that Civilization is better than Barbarism.

The Parthenon was not the first temple to Athena, there was an older temple to the right of The Parthenon and this old temple was destroyed when the Persians invaded and that hurt the Atheneans, so they left the ruins of the old temple to remember it but a generation later they decided to remove it because both the Atheneans and Persians were able to establish peace. Pericles, who was the leader of Athens embarked on a large, very expensive building campaign. As stated in Parthenon (Acropolis), “Historians believed that because the Atheneans had become the leaders of the Delian League. The Delian League is an association of Greek city-states that paid a kind of tax to help protect Greece against Persia. Pericles dipped into that treasury and built the Parthenon”. This is important because this tells us how The Parthenon came to be.

The Parthenon was used as a storehouse,treasury which meant that it was full of valuable items and it remained intact until the seventeenth century. As stated in Parthenon (Acropolis), “The early Christians turned the temple into a church and it was probably at this time that the sculptures representing the birth of Athena were removed and many of the metopes were defaced. The temple served as a church until Athens was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century”. That was when it became a mosque.

In 1687, during the time of the Venetian siege of the Acropolis, the defending Turks used The Parthenon as a storehouse for gunpowder, which ignited from the Venetian bombardment. The explosion blew out the center of the building,destroying the roof and parts of the walls and colonnade. The Venetians were successful in capturing the Acropolis, but only for less than a year when further damage was done in an attempt to remove the sculptures from the west pediment. When the lifting tackle broke and the sculptures fell and shattered. Most of the sculptures that were destroyed in 1687, are now only known from drawings made in 1674, by an artist probably to be identified as Jacques Carrey.

Lying on Acropolis, the magnificent birthplace of Greek myths, Parthenon serves as the most representative figure in Greek culture, and was built to worship Athens’ patron deity, Athena. Funded by the Delian League in memory of the victory in the Persian War, Parthenon has also seen a demonstration of absolute Athenian dominance, built right on the debris of the original temple that was destructed by the Persians. Similarly, Federal Hall is presently seen as the democracy milestone in America’s history. Served as the first congress, supreme court, and executive branch offices, and also went through destruction, Federal Hall now solemnly stands on Wall Street, reminding people of the national pride it resembles. One can argue that Parthenon and Federal Hall serves as a symbol of democracy in their nations. During the construction of the Parthenon, every detail was voted by the citizens of Athens; Federal Hall, even though it didn’t go through the same process, whose location, and its own body was still carefully selected and was reconstructed many times for various purposes. More importantly, Federal Hall carried all forms of historic democratic highlights, such as the signing of the Bill of Rights. The two architectures are often seen as the resemblance of democracy. Parthenon, built in the “Golden Age” under the lead of Pericles, represents the democracy under one man’s rule; Federal Hall, however, even though borrowed the similar Dorian structure from Parthenon, resembles a more concrete democratic system that the Athenian democracy failed to present.

Parthenon is frequently seen as the representation of national dominance and restored democracy demonstrated by the Athenians. After capturing the Persians at the gulf of Salamis, the coalition of Spartans and the Athenians established a good reputation for defeating the Persians by using successful strategies. Then Athens, which later on expanded her ambition to a prodigious empire, decided to build an alliance named Delian League. Then during its empirical era, Athens turned her affiliated city-states to client states and they had to pay treasury by certain periods to be under Athens’ protection. Then the leading statesman, Pericles, brought up the proposal of restoring the temple as well as demonstrating the world of Athenian dominance. Pericles’ proposal, later on, was passed by the Athenian assembly—the Council. The entire process was based on the majority-ruled policy which later on recognized as Athenian democracy. The procedure of constructing the Parthenon was also democratic: A suggestion would be brought up to the national assembly, then the assembly would debate then vote if the detail of construction would be passed or not. In the end, five guys were voted to lead the construction: Phidias and Kalamis, who were the designers of interior sculptures, and Ictinus and Calibrates were the architects, and Pericles, who was in charge of the overall construction.

Even though the construction of the temple was seemingly beneficial to the Athenians, the historical facts are against the common belief. It was indeed brought beneficial to Athens. As the greatest sea power during the era, the construction of the temple undoubtedly increased patriotism towards the Athens Empire, and it indeed created more job opportunities for the lower-class men especially on construction. Parthenon is a treasure to the world too. In fact, including many other notable architectures that have been remained in nowadays Greece, many architecture masterpieces were built during the Golden Age of Pericles, together continuously inspire modern architecture such as Federal Hall and the replica in Tennessee. However, it was possibly initially not recognized by the Hellenic people. According to Meiggs theory, after the battle of Plataea, the Hellenic people already agreed that they would not build another temple on the ruins of the Persian War, for they wanted to leave the ruin as “an everlasting memorial of the barbarian’s sacrilege” (Meiggs, 37). So the motive of building the temple was not the majority of people’s pursue in the first place, but Athenians still built it anyways. What’s more, even the motif of building architecture can be justified by restoring the national pride, it can’t change the fact that Pericles was using the entire Delian League’s treasury to construct his own state. So it can’t be neglected that Athenians treated their alliances as objects and used the league’s funds for their own purposes. What makes this movement more suspicious, is, even though these architectures that survived after thousands of years undeniably were the treasure in the Hellenic era too, unfortunately, most people who enjoyed this benefit were Athens people but not the rest of the Delian League; and the number of the Athenians who had seen Parthenon in their lifetime is much less than what it is predicted nowadays.

So there have been voices arguing Parthenon was more like a political campaign and a religious restoration Pericles made targeting the lower-class men and aristocrats. Pericles promises of opening more jobs to lower-class men and protect the religious unity regarding the construction. And by this Pericles won the workers’ and craftsmen’s hearts. Meanwhile, before the Persian war, Persian people already brought in Zoroastrianism, a form of monotheism by believing in only one god. It is reasonable to predict that during the Persian invasion Zoroastrianism was spread to Athens. On the other hand, new science began taking place, led by Thucydides and later on Socrates, attacking the idea of polytheism and the notion of moral cosmos; the elite class began losing to believe, only paid lip service to the gods. To restore the existing aristocracy, which, to some extent, maintaining his leadership, Pericles started conveying people to rebuild the sacred temple. It was also proven that one of the designers was Pericles’ friend, so clearly it was a misuse of power. So more likely built under Pericles’ intention, despite establishing national dominance of religious sacredness of the Athens, Parthenon was served more like a political tool of keeping his reign while keeping Pericles’ promises to the lower class, and the way of promoting his best friends.

Federal Hall, on the other hand, witnessed the birth of constitutional democracy. Served as the Stamp Act Congress, the building had been served for rebellious uses against the British, and from 1785 to 1789 it served as the congress of the confederation. However, the most significant event was the inauguration of George Washington, which ensembles that the constitutional democracy had been instituted by the American government. Then having gone through reconstructions and demolishment it was renovated in 1812 after the capital of the U.S was moved to Philadelphia. The new structure borrowed the classic Dorian structure of the Parthenon, in the meaning of borrowing its democracy too. Then in 1883, a new statue of George Washington sculpted by John Quincy Adams Ward added the final touch of the Federal Hall we see today. Interestingly, Parthenon has a chryselephantine statue standing inside of the temple, designed by Phidias, to represent the goddess herself and the great success that Athenians made, so one may argue that the two statues share the same meaning but different. The Athenian democracy, which doesn’t have a fundamental law or debate but directly vote. Meanwhile, the modern-day democracy more contains, in Wolin’s words, “a constitution that establishes representative government and so enables a large, scattered citizenry to “participate”; and a pluralistic politics that is generated by free competition between highly organized economic and social interests”(Wolin, 84).

However, if the initial purpose of using a similar Dorian structure aims at borrowing the Athenian democracy as well, people will probably be disappointed because the two buildings, even though they look similar, represents different concepts of democracy. Athenian democracy, even Periclean democracy, was performed in a relatively peaceful way. Even though it was seen as tyranny, Eupatrids and Draco’s Council of 500 already demonstrated their determination of bringing Athens a more powerful political structure. Then in 593 BC when Solon, a nobleman succeeded the leadership, he peacefully reformed the existing council by elevating the economic burden while shredding the influence of remaining aristocracy. Because the former leaders already built a strong base of democracy, when Pericles succeeded from the hollow structure from Cleisthenes, it was also peaceful and in a democratic way. America, however, established its democracy by unrecognizing nobilities and in a form of violence. Wanted to be recognized and treated equally by the British government but ignored, inspired by the French Revolution, the series of huge defensive actions against the British Empire like Battles in Lexington and the signing of Bill of rights was based on the idea of “give me liberty or give me death” by Patrick Henry.

One can argue that American has conquered the democracy problems where Athens failed to realize. As Plato once said, “Democracy is a savage beast, and the Athenians proved this by making beasts of themselves”(Cary, 209), indicating the Athenian democracy will eventually turn into tyranny. Indeed, Athens was the most successful state that utilizes democracy after it emerges, whereas other Ionian states, even though after the defeat of Sparta gave way to oligarchies to democracies, was not able to control it from turning to tyranny. After the Persian War, the Athens embarked upon a new ear between the death of Aristotle and the rising of Pericles. It does not doubt that Pericles is a good leader, and as a leading statesman, the assembly always seeks his guidance because he can always uphold the satisfaction among them by his amazing proposals and excellent speech skills. However, it cannot be guaranteed that there will always be that person with charisma to lead the states all the time. This was most obvious in the Peloponnesian War when Pericles died the moral absolute lost its beheading power, so it turned into chaos and oligarchies, and finally led to tyranny, eventually, the fallen of the Athens. Different from the potential moral absolute Athenian democracy is leading, Federal Hall established a different but same “form” by using branches and bureaucracies. Therefore, it separates different branches, which has a central government culminating national power, the armed forces and the supreme court to hold each others’ power from going far way beyond, and eventually, the president serves a representative figure of what the government resembles. It could be said that constitutionalizing America shaped democracy in a way which it would not be uphold to tyranny. Nowadays some scholars think America is moving from constitutional democracy to democratic constitution, such as Croly, who derived the conclusion that America is going to a necessary sequence of a democratic constitution, where the government is more centralized in its industry, society, etc. (Croly, Chapter 9, 338). However, America is still a democratic country because of its separation of power, and just because of its centralized action, both government and people would strengthen their responsibility.

Then it is possible to bring out the conclusion that the Athenian democracy, especially Periclean democracy, carried out by different results, is shaped into different political systems. Known from rising from revolution, the American government believes that democracy is rooted in the revolution. But they know democracy shall be suppressed by the constitution, so they separated power to uphold the potential tyranny that could be caused by moral absolute. Athens, on the other hand, established democracy in a relatively peaceful way but ignored the fact that it has the potential of turning to tyranny, which is the least what the American government is looking for. So one could say based on their shared architecture style, both Parthenon and Federal Hall represents democracy, but the difference is, the Athenian democracy was not necessarily served in building the Parthenon, non in building the Federal Hall.

Works Cited

1. Allan, David. “The Age of Pericles in the Modern Athens: Greek History, Scottish Politics, and the Fading of Enlightenment.” The Historical Journal, vol. 44, no. 2, 2001, pp. 391–417. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3133613.
2. Barnes, Elinor. “THE FIRST FEDERAL CITY: NEW YORK IN 1789.” New York History, vol. 21, no. 2, 1940, pp. 162–179. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2313
3. Cary, M. “ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY.” History, vol. 12, no. 47, 1927, pp. 206–214. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24400152.
4. Chambers, Mortimer H. “Thucydides and Pericles.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. 62, 1957, pp. 79–92. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/310968.
5. McWhorter, Robert Ligon. “The Athenian Democracy.” The Georgia Review, vol. 5, no. 3, 1951, pp. 290–299. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41396113.
6. Meiggs, Russell. “The Political Implications of the Parthenon.” Greece & Rome, vol. 10, 1963, pp. 36–45. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/826894.
7. “The American Democracy and Its National Principles.” The Promise of American Life, by Herbert Croly and Franklin Foer, REV – Revised ed., Princeton University Press, PRINCETON; OXFORD, 2014, pp. 326–354. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wpzss.13.
8. Thucydides, and Jeffrey S. Rusten. The Peloponnesian War. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
9. Xenos, Nicholas, editor. “NORM AND FORM: THE CONSTITUTIONALIZING OF DEMOCRACY.” Fugitive Democracy: And Other Essays, by Sheldon S. Wolin, Princeton University Press, PRINCETON; OXFORD, 2016, pp. 77–99. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv7n0ck0.8.
10. 4982.Seymour, Whitney North. “The Proposed Bill of Rights Memorial: A Gift from the Lawyers of the United States.” American Bar Association Journal, vol. 48, no. 12, 1962, pp. 1159–1162. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25722207.

Moshing as artifact: in relation to the history of the Parthenon.

Through August to September of 490 BC, a battle between Athens and Plataea against the Persian Empire erupted in Marathon, Greece; this would be the first of a further series of conflicts between Greece and The Achaemenid Empire. The battle had been instigated by the Greek involvement in the Ionian Revolt, where Athens and Eretria had supported the Ionians in overthrowing the Persian rule. A second invasion of Greece began in 480 BC and during this time the old temple of Athena was destroyed by the Persians amid their brief occupation in Athens. Following Greece’s victory in the subsequent Battle of Plataea, Athens had amassed a large amount of surplus revenue, and in 448 BC the Athenian assembly voted to use it to rebuild the temple of Athena atop the Acropolis; this would come to be the Parthenon.

Work on the Parthenon began in 447 BC with Pericles, Iktinos, and Phidias being key figures in the construction. Pericles was the driving force in the project, he continuously promoted and supported arts and literature within Athens and fostered Athenian democracy, he was re-elected numerous years to political leadership. Iktinos was the principle architect of the building with co-architect Callicrates, and Phidias was responsible for the carvings and sculptures adoring the building. The Parthenon was completed in 432 BC, it served as an inspiration to the people of Athens both present and future, and as a monument to the societal structures of Athens which included the practice of individual freedom, the equality of opportunity, and the introduction of democracy.

What was its purpose, what was it made for, and what happened there?

The goddess the temple was dedicated to, Athena, is associated with wisdom, handicraft, and warfare.

The Athenian temple was born from violence, metaphorically it was built from the rubble of a capital ravaged by war, though distinctively the Parthenon stood for more than the battle itself. The placement of the building, above the city and visible from the mountains and sea, mirrored the significance of escalation or rather of rising above. Athenians had rid of their kings and began ruling amongst themselves; gathering in assemblies to debate and discuss what to go forth with in the democracy. Patrick Dillon summarizes; “Athenians had used their wealth not to build tombs or palaces for kings but on better things. On thinking, talking and wondering” he continues later, “The Parthenon was more than a temple to a goddess. The Athenians themselves were part of it” [4].

Damage

Damage to the Parthenon didn’t occur until the second century BC; Christopher Hitchens noted ‘… a fire destroyed/damaged much of the interior, including the interior colonnade, the ceiling, and the cult statue. The temple was restored, with a new statue modeled on the original, in 165 – 160 BC.’, [1, pp.17] though this wasn’t to be the most transformative force brought upon the building. The Parthenon was closed sometime in the fifth century AD by the Constantinople government, and shortly after was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Holy Wisdom, this conversion shifted the building’s form dramatically. The building’s orientation was reversed to conform to Christian practice with three doorways installed between the opisthodomos and cellar, this would be used as the narthex or porch and the only way to enter the building. The cellar entrance was blocked off by an apse built on the east end, where the floor was also raised to form a chancel which would be where a alter was set. During this time many of the sculpted figures adorning the building had suffered defacement, though it’s unknown if it was intentional and systematic. The building would exist in this state for a thousand years until 1204 when Athens passed into the hands of Othon de La Roche to which it became Notre Dame d’Athènes (Our Lady of Athens) [2]; not many changes to the physicality of the building occurred until around 200 years later when in 1458 the Acropolis surrendered to the Ottoman empire. Under the Ottoman rule, the Acropolis acted as a fortress for the Turkish troops and the Parthenon became a mosque for the use of the garrison, during this time the mosaics and frescoes were plastered over or whitewashed, but this wasn’t to be the only physical transformation the building undertook with the Ottoman occupancy.

In 1684 a war erupted between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, this was to be known as the Morean War or the Sixth Ottoman-Venetian War. September 28th, 1687, the Turks had stored their ammunition, along with women and children, within the Parthenon. It’s speculated that the Turks believed that the opposing Christian forces would respect the building’s history with such religion, or that they assumed the structure was strong enough to withstand heavy artillery [2, pp.77], regardless the building was bombarded. Around 700 cannonballs hit the temple, killing as many as 300 and destroying large areas of the building. The upper part of the cellar was mainly destroyed, the middle portions of the long side colonnades and the columns of the east porch were taken down and the interior colonnade was overthrown [1]. The war lasted 15 years and ended with the Venetians victorious, though their occupancy lasted just two years. Following this attack on the structure, sometime between 1689 and 1755 a small mosque was built within the cellar walls, but it collapsed in 1842, possibly due to not being built with foundations.

Throughout the history of the Parthenon, there has been much plundering and excavations. The Venetian commander Francesco Morosini had played a big part in the looting and destruction of 1688, when he attempted to loot Athena’s and Poseidon’s horses and chariots from the west pediment of the Parthenon, his removal equipment couldn’t support the sculptures and subsequently, the marble had been dropped to the ground to fragment or smash; a head of Lapith was found buried in the mud in 1870 and it’s speculated that it was dropped from Morosini’s boat on transit. There were two pieces intact from this looting, which now reside in Copenhagen. The removal and transporting of the marbles continued, when in the late eighteenth century Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier obtained a firman to remove part of the Parthenon frieze and send them to France. The frieze was two meters long and was passed to the Louvre, Paris, as part of his collection after his death; the piece is still exhibited there.

The final noted looting holds the most significance to the history of the Parthenon, the controversy surrounding it still echoes in the British Museum chamber, where the plundered marbles now sit on exhibition and have done since 1832 after they were moved from their temporary exhibition in the old British Museum, 1817. The main antagonist was Thomas Elgin, the 7th Earl of Elgin, a Scottish nobleman, soldier, politician, and diplomat. He was appointed as the British ambassador to the Ottoman government in 1799, and during the summer of 1800, he sent several artists, draughtsmen, and modelers to travel to Athens, with their initial duties consisting of making drawings of the monuments. Though in 1801 Elgin claimed he had received a firman which allowed him to fix scaffolding around the temple to assist in the molding of the sculptures and physical figures; likely to make copies, and further that he was authorized to ‘to take away any pieces of stone with old inscriptions or figures thereon.” [4]. Lord Elgin removed fifty slabs, two half-slabs of the frieze, and two fifteen metopes and transported them to England. There was speculation that his choice to remove the sculptures was a response to the danger that surrounded the ancient ruins, assuming that his intent was to protect them -although the removal of the sculptures and dispatch from Greece concluded before his first visit to Athens in the early summer 1802. When citing this as his reasoning for removing the sculptures, it is important to note that during the process of detachment Elgin and his men had caused considerable damage to the building, as well as the pieces he had planned to conserve.

Entasis in Antiquity

Refinements of architecture play an essential role in shaping the visual image and structure of the building. Refinements are conscious decisions made by the architects to revise the otherwise strictly straight lines of the building for aesthetic or practical reasons. Entasis, a slight convex curve of the shaft of a column, is a refinement frequently embodied by classical architecture. Many theories have been advanced to account for the implementation and purpose of entasis. The Parthenon, Temple of Hera, and Propylaea, which together exhibit varied forms and degrees of entasis, are prime examples of how entasis served its purposes in antiquity. Respectively, entasis corrects optical illusion, satisfies aesthetic needs, and enhances the functionality of architecture. The different applications of entasis reflect the unique ideas behind each building of its architectural purpose and its relationship to the surroundings. Prevailed in antiquity, entasis is an ingenious human invention that originated from our pursuit of both aesthetics and practicality.

Optical Illusion

Vitruvius, in his influential On Architectura, introduces the idea of optical illusion that the straight horizontal and vertical lines of post-and-lintel architecture appear to be curved when built on a large scale (figure 1. b).[footnoteRef:0] Whereafter, many scholars have connected the use of refinements with the correction of such optical disharmony. Entasis, by bulging the seemingly thinner section of the column from a perspective, cancels the concavity and “straightens” the lines of the building to eliminate the optical illusion. The brilliant architects Ictinus and Callicrates of the Parthenon incorporated entasis to balance the Parthenon which was built on uneven ground so that it shows perfect order and unity (figure 1.a). The diameter of the order decreases by a slight amount as the height increases in the upper ⅔ section (figure 2). As described in “Refinements on refinements” by Manolis Korres, “the first visitors to the Parthenon were certainly aware of entasis. …however…their eyes could not immediately grasp the very subtle refinements applied to the Parthenon columns, which they often took to be straight (figure 3).”[footnoteRef:1] Without careful observation, the curvature of the columns of the Parthenon is indeed hard to perceive. The columns at peristyle have the entasis of 17.5 millimeters over the height of 9.56 meters, with a ratio of 1:546; the columns at east porch have a ratio of 1:383; the columns at west porch have a ratio of 1:493.[footnoteRef:2] The columns, with small refinements, appeared to be in straight lines. Thus, the architects’ pursuit of the appearance of perfect geometry is a pure correction of optical refinement rather than of any aesthetic means. Without entasis, the orders would have appeared with a concavity in the middle, showing imperfection and weakness. Such a pursuit of regularity and geometry is appropriate to the Parthenon for its purpose as the house of gods, which symbolizes authority, immensity, and perfection. In classical architecture, entasis of the orders, particularly the example of the Parthenon, allowed the architects to achieve harmony of form by the eye, correcting the optical illusion. [0: ] [1:] [2: ]

Aesthetics

The application of entasis, however, seems not to be restricted to the correction of optical illusion in classical architecture. In fact, entasis are utilized to please the senses of the beholders for aesthetic reasons as well. “The greeks were not satisfied with the use of restricted rules or of a single rule as meant by Vitruvius…For the Greeks, the work was in its entirety a question of sensation.”[footnoteRef:3] In Paestum, the exaggerated use of entasis of the columns at Temple of Hera I is so visible to the human eye that it is impossible to claim the orders are constructed of straight lines. According to Frank Salmon in Cockerell and the Discovery of Entasis in the Columns of the Parthenon, at the Temple of Hera, the maximum extent of the entasis is 4.8 centimeters over a height of 5.5 meters with a ratio of 1/100.[footnoteRef:4] It exceeds the mere correction to become straight lines but rather inversely emphasizes the curvature of the columns. The columns of the Temple of Hera shape like cigars and mimic a muscular human body bearing a great weight with its organic shapes, analogous to the muscular details in the male statues of the classical period (figure 4).[footnoteRef:5] The exaggerated curvature is a personification of architecture comparable to the Greek ideology at the time. Entasis expresses a sense of dynamics and plasticity of Hellenism. Freedom of expression is conveyed through the variations of dimensions of the architecture. In addition, “the analogy between organic shapes and bearing structure is self-evident.”[footnoteRef:6] The Greeks were fully aware that “straight lines tend to create an oppressive and inflexible mien.”[footnoteRef:7] The purpose of entasis here is to give the column an organic structure and to avoid machine-made straightness, according to the aesthetics at the time. The Greeks and Romans were also admirers of nature, where they have found curved lines are the most beautiful forms.[footnoteRef:8] With the application of entasis, the continuing decrease of the diameter of the columns made Temple of Hera appear to grow taller, rising up from the ground with the majesty of Hera, as if it took root on Earth. Classical architectures are attempts to integrate human structures as a part of the living and organic nature while reconstructing the man-made idea of aesthetics. The utilization of entasis pleases the eyes of the viewers by relieving the rigidity of the straight line and perfect geometry while giving life and dynamics to the building. Such entasis is intended to be apparent and reflects the aesthetics of the building rather than compensating for the optical illusion. [3:] [4: ] [5:] [6:] [7: ] [8: ]

Practicality

Entasis could also be remarkably subtle, too subtle to be motivated by aesthetic concerns at all, but rather only for practicality. Athenian Propylaea, which has been measured at a maximum of 10 millimeters of entasis over a height of about 9 meters, shows a ratio of 1/900, far smaller than Temple of Hera and Parthenon.[footnoteRef:9] The invisibility of the refinement, therefore, indicates that the entasis is apart from optical correction and aesthetic motivation. Another example of the finest alteration in orders is that the section from the upper part of the orthostate to the lower part of the epistyle of the Parthenon had an entasis of about 2.7 millimeters, in comparison to its height of 8.9 meters with a 1/3300 ratio.[footnoteRef:10] This entasis is indetectable to the naked eye, more subtle than any previously known.[footnoteRef:11] Without modern technology, it would not have been discovered. Given the undetectability of the curvature, such entasis can hardly have served either to correct the optical illusion of the lines of the building or to stylize them. No aesthetic motivation seems adequate to explain these examples. The only possible explanation is that the curvature of orders sorely enhances the structural stability of the architecture, different from the two previous examples. J. Keller in The shape of the strongest column states that the strongest column is not strictly cylindrical, but rather “tapered along its length, being thickest in the middle and thinnest at its ends”.[footnoteRef:12] With refinements, the orders are strengthened to be more structurally stable and bear more weight. Thus, besides the optical correction and aesthetics, during the classical period, entasis enhances the functioning of the architecture, concerning only practicality. [9: ] [10:] [11: ] [12: ]

In conclusion, entasis, the building of orders, play various important roles in classical architecture. Examples of Parthenon, Temple of Hera, and Propylaea provide three different interpretations of the application and purpose of entasis—the pure correction of optical illusion, the alteration based on aesthetics, and the enhancement of practicality of the structure. It is not definite in which each entasis aims to achieve, but with its impact on the aesthetics and structure of the building, entasis is an essential feature in the prosperity of classical architecture.

Bibliography

1. Vitruvius, On Architecture, esp. books 1, 3, and 10.
2. Manolis Korres, “Refinements on refinements,” in Lothar Haselberger (ed.), Appearance and
3. Essence: Refinements of Classical Architecture: Curvature (1999), pp. 79-104.
4. Frank Salmon, C.R. Cockerell and the Discovery of Entasis in the Columns of the Parthenon
5. (2011)https://www.hoart.cam.ac.uk/Downloads/c-r-cockerell-and-the-discovery-of-entasiS-in-the-columns-of-the-parthenon
6. J. Keller, The shape of the strongest column. Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 5 (1960), 275.

• Figure 1: 1.a. Parthenon as it visually appears with optical correction; 1. b. Parthenon as it visually appears without optical correction; 1. c. The actual form of Parthenon with optical correction.
• Figure 2: The orders of the Parthenon with entasis.
• Figure 3: Parthenon observed in a distance.
• Figure 4: The orders of Temple of Hera in Paestum with exaggerated entasis.

There have been many cases of Western Architecture that have been destroyed in acts of war, natural disasters, or because of structural integrity failure. In this paper, we will look into why some buildings were rebuilt, how they were rebuilt, and why some buildings weren’t built the same. Other topics that may be touched on here will also be temporary buildings that have become permanent and buildings that were built to look as if they were destroyed and worn down.

One of the earlier occurrences of western architecture’s destruction due to war was actually the Parthenon in Greece. During the Great Turkish War, there was an apparent direct hit on a gun powder magazine inside of the Parthenon which resulted in an explosion that caused a collapse of part of the Parthenon. The Parthenon was never rebuilt and there was also no monument built in its place. While we can’t really ever be sure as to why this is the case, we can assume that many factors were at play here. According to the Greek historian, Herodotus, there was a previous Parthenon that was replaced by what we now know as the current Parthenon due to other conquests. In summary, it seems as though the Parthenon has a history of being demolished in conflicts which might make sense, and here’s why. The Parthenon was used as a Treasury for the city of Athens before being converted to a Christian Church. If there were valuables in the Parthenon, which I would imagine a treasury containing, then I could imagine why it would be the target of many conquests. This leads to the other piece of western architecture that was targeted in an act of war based on the functionality of the buildings. In 2001 there was an attack on The World Trade Center. From the 1600s to the 2000s not much has seemed to change. The World Trade Center was used for office spaces and housed about 430 companies on top of also attracting 70,000 tourists and commuters every single day. Because of its obvious financial importance to the United States Economy, it would have been the perfect target for an enemy. In 2001 there was an attack that brought both of the towers to the ground. This resulted in a massive investigation that showed that it was an act of war against the United States. The World Trade Center was rebuilt, but not to look exactly like the towers that were previously there. Many people believe that the change in design was to not entice another attack of similar proportions. After a couple years of hesitation, the Freedom Tower was starting to be built and then renamed for fear of another attack. Now known as One World Trade Center, it is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. This speaks volumes to the power and revitalization of the United States. Many believe that this was done to show that no one can destroy freedom and democracy. Another fun fact of the memorial building was that they added a spire to the One World Trade Center in order to make its total height 1,776 feet tall which was the year the Declaration of Independence was signed. This further proves the impossibility of destroying freedom theory. Their neighbors up north have also had their fair share of disrespectful destruction of Western Architecture. Canada created a monument to Brock in 1824. By 1840 it was heavily damaged by a bomb set off in an act of war. Once some time has passed the monument had started to be rebuilt again in 1853. Here you can see some similarities between the Americans in 2001 and the Canadians in the 1840s because they both waited a considerable amount of time to start rebuilding.

Canada’s friends in France have just recently experienced a tragic loss of their Notre Dame Cathedral. The cathedral was destroyed by a fire that they believe started in the roof. The French legislative body voted to rebuild and start accepting donations to rebuild the cathedral. Since there is such a long history with this cathedral and a huge respect for art and history in France, the cathedral will be attempted to be built as a near replica. This is an interesting contrast between the United States when they decided to replace the World Trade Center with a different design because of its concerns for future attacks. The French thankfully don’t have to make those same decisions because the fire was not deliberate. Comparing and contrasting these buildings and their destructions and restorations gives us an interesting peek into how situations and culture can affect what happens in the history of architecture in the western hemisphere.

Natural disasters have caused some of the most destruction to architecture. Back in New York, the Blenheim Bridge stretched 210 feet. The enormous size, along with the fact that it was build in 1855, is what makes it an interesting piece of architecture to write about in this paper. When there was a flood in 1869, there was a restructuring that was necessary to keep the bridge intact. When the hurricanes of 2011 hit, it caused record flooding for the area which completely obliterated the bridge. As discussed before the United States’ culture from past experience isn’t one of rebuilding replicas. They have a respect for history, but it doesn’t seem as though they care to rebuild it. The case is the same for this bridge in New York. The Blenheim Bridge was mostly recovered, but funnily enough, was not attempted to be rebuilt. This leaves one to wonder that if this bridge was in France, would it have been rebuilt accurately if at all? History and the present tell us that they most definitely would.

In summary, we’ve talked about a couple different time periods and a couple different cultures with their very different situations and discussed how they went about their dilemmas with their architecture. This paper almost honestly wouldn’t feel complete without further digging into one last situation that further could prove the point that how these pieces of architecture were treated definitely had a pattern based on culture and the situation. The Pennsylvania Station in New York City. Although it seemed like many people in the United States wanted to save the original Penn Station, we seem to be a country founded on fiscal responsibility. Because it seemed to be costing more money to keep up than to demolish, it was ultimately demolished and rebuilt. An interesting fact is that one of the developers suggested that a part of the building be used as a World Trade Center, which would have caused a whole other type of destruction if that idea was acted upon. Regardless, the United States ended up demolishing the building to rebuild another more functional, financially responsible, less aesthetically pleasing building.

The point is that this seems to be a trend in the United States, while other countries such as France and the United Kingdom seem to make every attempt to rehabilitate most destroyed buildings. Sure the United States has a lot of still-standing historic buildings, but have many of them had to be rebuilt? No, not really. So with this pattern, the United States should really attempt to hold onto what they have because history seems to say that they won’t be rebuilt if anything happens to them. Works Cited

1. “French Government Moves Forward on Notre Dame Restoration Plans.” Crux, 9 July 2019, https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2019/07/08/french-government-moves-forward- on-Notre-dame-restoration-plans/.
2. “History of Brock’s Monument.” History of Brock’s Monument, Queenston Heights | The Friends of Fort George, http://www.friendsoffortgeorge.ca/brocks-monument/history/index.html.
3. History.com Editors. “9/11: Rebuilding of Ground Zero.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 20 June 2011, https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/911-rebuilding-of- ground-zero.
4. “Old Blenheim Bridge.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https:// www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/old-Blenheim-bridge.htm.
5. “The Parthenon Is Blown Up.” History Today, https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months- past/Parthenon-blown.
6. “World Trade Center History: National September 11 Memorial & Museum.” World Trade Center History | National September 11 Memorial & Museum, https://www.911memorial.org/ learn/resources/world-trade-center-history.

The thought that great historical monuments should be preserved has its roots in the preservation of the history and beauty expressed by the monuments, but the underlying reasons are often overlooked. In “The Lovely Stones,” writer Christopher Hitchens puts forth a detailed argument that the original Parthenon sculptures should be returned to Greece. Doing so, he employs a variety of rhetorical devices, including enumeration of historical facts, hypothetical situations and examples, and wordplay.

Hitchens’s deft use of enumeration begins with his discussion of the history behind the Parthenon. Hitchens claims that, despite its stunning beauty, Parthenon also bears experience of damage and abuse over history. Parthenon was indeed “closed and desolated” five centuries after the birth of Christianity and used for centuries “as a garrison and an arsenal” by Turkish forces. Even “a powder magazine was detonated” and gave Parthenon a huge damage. This enumeration of tragic occurrences to the Parthenon evokes some sort of loss in the reader and compels the reader to give more sympathy and interest in the structure. The enumeration also serves as a contrast to “the beauty and symmetry” of the Parthenon. This contrast of damage and beauty suggestively implies that Parthenon is a monument to which preservation efforts have need to be taken and to which further damage must be prevented. After all, Hitchens’s enumeration of tragic occurrences to the Parthenon draws the reader’s attention and effectively introduces the topic. Even though Hitchens’s use of enumeration may come off as overly dramatic for readers it effectively sets up for Hitchens argument.

As persuasive as Hitchens’s use of enumeration is his use of hypothetical situations with examples. During a discussion about the legitimacy of the British museum’s deal regarding the Parthenon, Hitchens establishes a hypothetical situation: “If the Mona Lisa had been sawed in two during the Napoleonic Wars and the separated halves had been acquired by different museums … not be a general wish to see what they might look like if reunited?” Reading this hypothetical situation, the reader is likely driven to an imagination regarding an artwork as famous and invaluable as the Mona Lisa. With a reference to Mona Lisa and a rhetorical question, Hitchens familiarizes the issue of Parthenon to the reader and strongly urges the reader to nod in agreement with what he has to say about the legitimacy of the British Museum’s deal. Hitchens goes as far as to provide an example of the sculpture of Iris whose body is at present in London and head is at present in Athens. This example ground the previous hypothetical situation in reality so that even skeptical readers would think about the legitimacy of the British Museum’s deal again. Hence, without the hypothetical situation and example, Hitchens’s message would lose the reader’s agreement.

Lastly, Hitchens bolsters his argument by employing clever wordplay. In the very beginning of his article, Hitchens quotes the great classicist A.W. Lawrence, who claims that the Parthenon “may be assessed as absolutely right.” The word “right” immediately leaves curiosity in the reader, for the word barely makes sense without any context given at the beginning of the article. Then at the very end of the article, Hitchens remarks, “and one day, surely, there will be an agreement to do the right thing by the world’s most ‘right’ structure.” This appearance of the same word “right” at the beginning and the end of the article creates an effective wordplay. Indeed, Lawrence’s word is used in the very last sentence to suggest a hope that justice, and righteousness, will solve the issue of the Parthenon eventually. Because Hitchens has made claims the reader is strongly persuaded by his claims and called to take action towards monuments

In summary, Christopher Hitchens using enumeration, hypothetical situations and examples, and wordplay makes the case that the original Parthenon structure must be returned to Greece. It is his use of persuasive elements that not only inform the reader of the problem but also spur the reader into action.