The Acropolis of Athens is a monument of ancient architecture. Athens Acropolis: a brief description of the complex, history and reviews. Acropolis of Athens: architecture, monuments Athens
Acropolis II millennium BC. e. The buildings, the ruins of which can now be seen on the Acropolis, were erected in the middle of the 5th century BC. BC e. However, even before the 5th c. the Athenian Acropolis was not a desert rock. Life has been going on here since the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The Acropolis was already a refuge for the inhabitants of the surrounding plains during the attack of enemies. Powerful fortress walls up to 10 meters high and 6 meters wide protected the Acropolis, making it an impregnable stronghold. It was possible to penetrate the hill from the west and north. The entrance from the western, less reliable side was fortified especially carefully. On the north side, it was apparently hidden by thickets of bushes and the steps of a narrow staircase carved into the rock led to it. Subsequently, when only the sanctuaries of the gods remained on the Acropolis, the stairs on the northern slope became unnecessary and the northern entrance was laid. Only one main entrance to the Acropolis has been preserved - from the western side.
In the XVI-XII centuries. BC e. Athens did not stand out from the rest of the cities of Greece. They were inferior to Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos and other powerful Hellenic centers. The advance of Athens began after the fall Cretan state. There is still a poetic legend about the ancient hero Theseus, who brought victory to Athens. The legend tells of the terrible tribute that the Athenians had to send annually to Crete. Seven boys and seven girls became the prey of a terrible monster, half-man, half-bull - the minotaur, who lived in a labyrinth in Crete. Once, the myth tells, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, the brave and handsome Theseus, fell into the number of young men. With the help of the daughter of the Cretan king Ariadne, who fell in love with him, he defeated the monster and returned to Athens, bringing them freedom and glory.
The ancient Acropolis of Athens may have been similar to the acropolises of Mycenae and Tiryns. The buildings of this time were poorly preserved, since later many structures were erected on the Athenian Acropolis in different eras.
Excavations have shown that in the II millennium BC. e. meetings of rulers, trials, and religious festivities took place here. In the northern part of the Acropolis, archaeologists have found a site, apparently, for the sacred ceremonies of the Athenians. West royal palace, at the northern gate, a well was discovered that gave good drinking water people who found protection from enemies behind the walls. The data of archaeological excavations show that in these years the social, religious, cultural life Athenians was focused on the Acropolis.
Greek temple orders. By the VI century. BC e. in Greek architecture, the main types of temples were already fully developed, the most common of which was the peripter. It was most often a building rectangular in plan, surrounded on all sides by a colonnade and covered with a gable roof. In the Greek temple, the architectural elements of the building were brought into a certain system. There was an order of their location depending on the nature of the structure. This order was called order(ill. 8, 9, 10).
Some temples were built in the Doric order, others - in the Ionic order, others - later, starting from the 4th century. BC e., in Corinthian. Each order was expressive in its own way. Doric order - the most strict but in forms; buildings built in it can give the impression of a strict, even sometimes severe. The Ionic order is distinguished by the elegance of forms and proportions, the lightness of the elements. It is noteworthy that the Roman architect Vitruvius saw in the Doric order an expression of masculine strength, the forms of the Ionic reminded him of a refined feminine beauty, complemented by ornaments. The Corinthian order differed from these two orders in its special elegance and luxury.
On the diagrams, you can see the image of three orders and the names of their parts. All parts of the order can be divided into groups: bearing elements - stylobate, columns and carried - entablature, roof. The ratio of the main parts - the power or weakness of the bearing, the heaviness or lightness of the carried - and gives the building a harsh and intense character, or naturally harmonious, or light.
Buildings on the Acropolis in the VI century. BC e. In the VI century. BC e. on the Acropolis stood the temple of Athena, called Hekatompedon 1. It was located directly opposite the Propylaea and struck with its beauty the person who entered the Acropolis. This effect was facilitated by the measured gradual ascent of the hillside and the passage through the small gates decorated with columns - the Propylaea.
The placement of the Propylaea and Hekatompedon on the ancient Acropolis was dominated by symmetry, which was often followed by archaic masters. The principle of symmetry was also considered important by sculptors, especially the creators of sculptures on the pediments of temples. Symmetry also underlay the statues that adorned the Acropolis at that time. The image from the front, strictly in front, which seemed especially expressive and beautiful, also appeared in the planning of buildings of that time. That is why the architects placed the temple of Hekatompedon right in front of the Propylaea, so that a person who entered the Acropolis would see this main temple of the sacred hill not from the side, but from the front, from the richly decorated facade 2 .
From the buildings of the VI century. BC e. only foundations survived on the Acropolis, and even then not all of them. This is due to the fact that most of the buildings were destroyed during the Greco-Persian wars, and the fact that on the Acropolis in the 5th century. BC e. new buildings were erected. Archaic temples are better preserved where in subsequent epochs there was no such rapid construction and where, as on the Acropolis, every piece of land was not expensive. That is why the temples of the VI century. can be seen not on the Acropolis, but in other areas of Greece: the temple of Apollo in Corinth, Hera in Olympia, Demetrgues in Paestum (ill. 11). They, of course, were similar to the temples of the Acropolis in the VI century. BC e.
The architectural forms of archaic temples are heavy and severe. The columns seem to swell under the weight of the roof pressing on them. The severity was softened only by sculptural decorations. Some pedimental compositions of the archaic temples of the Acropolis have been preserved, although, unfortunately, it is not always precisely determined to which temple this or that sculptural group belonged, and their reconstructions are not always indisputable.
Pediment - the struggle of Hercules with the hydra. On the Acropolis, slabs with reliefs were found, which depict the feat of Hercules - the fight against the hydra 3 . The small size of the flat relief makes one think that it belonged to a small temple or treasury. The relief material is soft limestone (the so-called pig). Sculptures made from it were brightly painted. The coloring covered the rough surface of the stone.
Unfortunately, only the torso and legs have survived from the figure of Hercules. The hydra was depicted with many heads on writhing serpentine bodies 4 . There is still no clarity in the composition, which will appear later: the main thing is not highlighted, the particulars are not relegated to the background. Struggle saturates both this and other monuments. The mobility of figures is typical for such compositions of archaic art. In them, everything is subordinated to the disclosure of the theme of the victory of a human hero over an evil force.
The pediments of the Hekatompedon. Other sculptures that adorned the temples were found on the Athenian Acropolis. In one of the groups, Hercules is shown fighting Triton, in the other - a fantastic monster with three bodies and three heads - Tritopator. There is reason to believe that they decorated the most ancient temple- Hecatomnedon 5 . The statues are made of limestone and brightly painted. The master filled the low side parts of the pediments with flexible snake tails intertwining with each other, thinner and thinner towards the corners.
An ancient sculptor depicted Heracles defeating the sea monster Triton (ill. 12). Triton is shown as a man with fish tail 6. The hero pins the enemy to the ground 7 . Attention is drawn to the tense, more voluminous than in the previous pediment forms, the beauty of their outlines.
Three human bodies of Tritopator - a kind ancient Attic deity (ill. 13) - pass at the waist into long tails that fill the lateral low part of the pediment. Tritopator's faces are peaceful and good-natured (ill. 14). In the hands of one is a wavy ribbon depicting water, the other has a tongue of flame, a sign of fire, the third has a bird, a symbol of air, and behind is something like a wing. Tritopator personified the elements of water, fire and air. In this sculptural group there is already more volume, juiciness. The statues are not as flat as in the relief of Hercules with the hydra. The composition is more difficult. Three faces are presented from different points of view: the first head is in front, the other two are turned. The tritopator is shown emerging from the corner of the pediment. And although he moves to the side, his faces and torsos turn towards the viewer.
These sculptures were painted, and the paint is quite well preserved. The hair on the head and beard were blue, the eyes were green, the ears, lips and cheeks were red. The bodies are covered in pale pink paint. The snake tails are painted with red and blue stripes.
One of the heads of Tritopator, kept in the Museum of the Acropolis of Athens, entered the history of art under the conditional name "Bluebeard" (ill. 15).
The bright color attracted ancient artists. The paint brought the images to life. She deprived the mythological scene of horror, introduced an element of the game into it. In Greek art, evil creatures - sphinxes, gorgons, tritons - do not look terrible and omnipotent, the superiority of the human mind over them is always felt. This manifested the humanism of the Greeks - the great conquest of human culture.
Pediment - Athena with a giant. Around 530 BC e. The Hekatompedon was rebuilt. On one of the pediments of the new temple (it is called Hekatompedon II, in contrast to the old one), the battle of the Olympian gods with the giants was depicted (ill. 16). A statue of Athena fighting a giant has been preserved (ill. 17). In all likelihood, it was placed in the center of the pediment, and other figures were located on the sides. Athena the victorious is shown in impetuous movement, the giant is defeated at her feet. The master emphasizes the victory of the goddess, raising her figure above the losing strength of the giant. The triumph of the patroness of the city is already perceived from a distant approach to the temple. The theme of the struggle sounds here without a hint of cruelty, not like in the scene of the fight between Hercules and Triton, where the hero, in the heat of battle, strained all his strength and pressed the monster to the ground. The sculptor does not show Athena tense, he rather demonstrates the superiority of the noble goddess. This scene, presented in monumental forms, is worthy of the great temple of the Acropolis, worthy of Athens.
It is noteworthy that at the end of the VI century, BC. e. instead of limestone, marble is often used for sculptures. The faithful Greeks began to use this beautiful stone to depict the human figure. Slightly translucent from the surface, it conveyed the tenderness of the skin well and, better than other breeds, met the desire of the Hellenic sculptors to show a person beautiful and perfect.
The meaning of pediment compositions. The plots of the pediment compositions of archaic temples were never accidental. Sculptors did not make them just for decoration. They have always included deep meaning, a kind of metaphorical image of being perceived by the artist. In the view of the Hellenes of the harsh archaic era, the world was in an unceasing fierce struggle. In Greek legends and myths, it took on the character of the victory of light, lofty forces over dark, lowly creatures. The giants fought the titans, the inhabitants of Olympus - the gods - with the giants, courageous people-heroes entered into an unequal battle with terrible monsters - tritons, hydras, gorgons.
In the images of architecture, in sculptures, in drawings on vases, the physical strength of a person was glorified, his victories were shown. In art, the universal idea of the triumph of the perfect both physically and spiritually hero-man found expression.
Potters of the 6th century BC e. they liked to emphasize the massiveness of forms and wide bodies of vases, architects created powerful, swelling in the middle and narrow at the top columns of temples, sculptors showed broad shoulders and narrow waists in the statues of young men - winners in competitions. The great spiritual tension of man found expression in archaic monuments. Such an interpretation of artistic forms and narrative depictions of the struggle and victory of light forces over dark ones appear during a period of decisive breaking of the old worldview. In these centuries, a new, Hellenic culture was born, which opposed the dogmas of Eastern civilization with new principles. The significance of the turning point was enormous for the further fate of the European peoples.
Statues cor. In 1886, fourteen marble statues Athenian girls. Subsequently, several more of the same statues were found. At the time when Athens was ruled by the sons of the tyrant Peisistratus, there were many sculptures on the Acropolis, including statues of girls, or, in Greek, cor (ill. 7). These statues had high pedestals different types- round, square, some in the form of columns with Doric or Ionic capitals 8. They were made mostly of marble brought from the islands of the Aegean Sea. Only a few are made of local Attic Pentellian marble.
Greek sculptors showed the kor in long, festive clothes. The girls do not look alike, although they stand in the same position - strictly frontally, holding straight, maintaining solemnity. It is still not known exactly who these statues represent. Some want to see goddesses in them, others - priestesses, others - noble girls with gifts to the goddess. The statues of the kor convince of the love of the late archaic society of the end of the 6th century. BC e. for ornaments and patterns. Especially beautiful and varied are complex hair styling, carefully curled curls of the hairstyle. Sculptors depict them with great skill.
The proximity of the countries of the East makes itself felt in the details of these monuments of archaic art. Elegant clothes cor. Most of them are wearing chiton shirts. Some kora hold them with the left hand at the hip, and the fabric folds beautifully. A cloak is thrown over the top - a himation, often luxurious, flowing in picturesque folds (ill. 18).
The faces reveal little of the mood of the core. Only the corners of the mouth are slightly raised and the lips are folded into a restrained smile, still far from a living feeling of joy (ill. 19). Their clothes speak more about the character of the girls. For some, the folds of chitons form complex patterns, cheerfully interrupt each other, for others they calmly flow down, for others they are shown as restrained, rare. The clothes, as it were, correspond to the different characters and moods of the girls - sometimes cheerful and lively, sometimes calm, sometimes strict and concentrated. This shows the ability of ancient sculpture of the archaic period to convey feelings not by facial expressions, but by the plasticity of forms and expressiveness of lines.
Before the discovery of the Acropolis corals, ancient sculpture was presented as white marble, colorless. Koras surprised the world by the fact that they retained paint, while most other Greek statues had lost it. The paint lies in a dense layer on the marble, in some places even covering it. But the statues do not lose from this in their artistic expressiveness. The ultimate generalization is combined in them with concreteness, emphasized coloring of the pupils, scarlet lips, dark hair. Paint, bringing the image closer to reality, even with greater strength affirms the character and idea of the work - the glorification of beauty.
Much later, the images of Roman sculptors III - IV centuries. n. e. - individual, specific - would no longer withstand such a coloring. It would make them too close to reality, naturalistic, and the work would lose the ability to express the general idea. later monumental sculpture therefore also refuses coloring. The Greeks, however, in the statues of the cores and in their other works were not afraid of this, the character of generalization was so strong in their plastic forms.
The statues of the girls are beautiful. Contemplating them, a person receives great pleasure. Before him, the feelings of ancient sculptors who managed to convey the serene beauty of youth seem to come to life. During the Greco-Persian wars, these beautiful statues were smashed and lay in a pile of so-called Persian rubbish until they were used as simple stones during the construction of new temples. Possibly archaic statues from the 6th c. BC e. lost for the Greeks of the 5th century. BC e. the charm that their fathers and grandfathers felt. It is also possible that the badly damaged statues have already lost their religious significance. After all, it is known that the Greeks often treated the statues as living beings: sometimes they dressed them, smeared them with fragrant oils, brought food, once they even tied the legs and arms of some statues, as they were afraid that they might leave.
The archaic buildings and sculptures of the Acropolis are full of great peculiar beauty. They will not be replaced by any stories about the feelings and moods of the people of this time. The works of the Greek archaic do not lose their value, even when placed next to the creations of the masters of the classical era. So, often a person experiences deeply the feelings of the heroes of books written many decades or centuries ago. The music of the past centuries also excites no less than the works of modern composers. So the archaic monuments of the Athenian Acropolis, pediment compositions and sculptures, imbued with a special charm that will never be repeated later on, stop a person’s gaze, although they are inferior in perfection to the works created on the Acropolis in the middle of the 5th century BC. BC e.
The victory of democracy in Greek cities. At the end of the VI century. BC e. in Athens, the aristocracy lost many of the advantages it used to enjoy. The social structure was now based on democratic principles. Row Life Forms Greek cities become more progressive; the democratic system promoted the development of sciences and arts.
At the end of the VI century. BC e. The free Greek cities were opposed by the huge Persian power of the Achaemenids, which experienced a constant sharp struggle between various dynasties. The unlimited power of the king, the complex bureaucracy characteristic of the ancient Eastern states with a mass of disenfranchised subjects seemed to the Hellenes a manifestation of barbarism.
Rise of Miletus. The Greek cities, located in Asia Minor on the coast of the Aegean Sea, were under the rule of the Persians for a long time. Exorbitantly high taxes, the arbitrariness of the Persian rulers - satraps, their constant interference in the economic affairs of the Greeks placed a heavy burden on the shoulders of the inhabitants of Asia Minor cities. Big City Miletus revolted and overthrew the Persian henchman. The Miletians were supported by other cities of Asia Minor, and the uprising flared up. The Persians suppressed it, but realized that the cities of the Balkan Peninsula set an example of love of freedom for the Greeks of Asia Minor, and decided to destroy the foundations of the democratic system in the cities of mainland Greece.
Beginning of the Greco-Persian Wars. In 492 BC. e. The son-in-law of the Persian king Darius I Mardonius went on a campaign against Greece. However, after the death of three hundred ships during a storm, he ingloriously returned back. The second campaign of the Persians in 490 BC. e. was also unsuccessful. In the historic battle of Marathon, the Greeks utterly defeated the Persian army. A more difficult test fell on the Hellenes in 480 BC. e., when the army of the Persians led new king- Xerxes. The hordes of barbarians moved from the north and stopped at the Thermopylae Gorge. Greek warriors showed an example of courage and stamina. Only with the help of a traitor, the Persian troops managed to win. 300 valiant Spartans, who covered the withdrawal of the main troops, fell along with their leader, King Leonidas. At the place of their death, a monument was erected - a marble statue of a lion with the inscription: "Traveler! Go and erect to our citizens in Lacedaemon that, observing their covenants, here we died with our bones!" The Persian army, breaking through the gorge of Thermopylae, moved towards Athens and captured them.
Destruction of the monuments of the Acropolis. Athens was destroyed. The Acropolis was especially hard hit. The temples were destroyed and lay in ruins, their treasures were plundered, the sanctuaries were desecrated. Numerous sculptures, including statues of kors, were thrown from their pedestals and smashed. Here is what the famous Greek historian Herodotus writes about the capture of the Acropolis by the Persians:
"The Persians settled on that hill opposite the Acropolis, which the Athenians call the Areopagus, and began to besiege the Acropolis in the following way: arrows were wrapped in tow, lit and then fired from bows into the fortification. The besieged Athenians, although they were brought to the last extreme and the fortification collapsed, continued The Athenians rejected the offer of the Peisistratides 9 to surrender, and for the purpose of defense they used various means, among other things, they threw huge stones at the barbarians every time they approached the gate. As a result, Xerxes, not being able to take the Athenians, time did not know what to do.
Finally, after such difficulties, access to the Acropolis was opened to the barbarians: the fact is that, according to the oracle, all of Attica was destined to fall under the rule of the Persians. So, in front of the Acropolis, but behind the gate and the ascent, where there were no guards and where, as it seemed to everyone, no one could ascend, in the same place with a steep descent near the sanctuary of Aglaura's daughter Kekron, When the Athenians they saw these barbarians entering the Acropolis, some of them threw themselves from the wall and perished, while others fled into the sanctuary; The barbarians who entered the wall rushed first of all to the gates, opened them and killed those who prayed for protection; after killing all of them, the barbarians robbed the temple and set the whole Acropolis on fire.
Greek victory. The Hellenes, despite the capture of Athens by the Persians, with honor came out of the ordeal. In the battle of Salamis, the resistance of the Persian fleet was broken; in the battle of Plataea, the enemy's land army was defeated. Having defeated their enemies, the Greeks showed the superiority of the democratic system over the obsolete social system of the Persians. The Greek cities won a victory, the significance of which was extremely great. Not only the well-being of the Greek state proper depended on the outcome of the Greco-Persian wars. It is difficult to imagine what the Hellenic culture would have been like if the Persians had won. It is unlikely that the Acropolis would then be crowned with the majestic Parthenon. Probably, there would be no genius Phidias, Scopas, Lysippus. And without classical Greek culture the nature of Roman civilization, and at the same time of further European civilization, would have been completely different.
The victory of the Greeks over the Persians meant the triumph of the new, progressive principles of democracy and freedom in the political and social order. The victory led to the emergence of new fruitful impulses in Greek art. The system of archaic artistic thinking, which had some common features with the ancient eastern one, turned out to be untenable. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the transition from the art of the archaic to the art of the classics coincides in time with the favorable outcome of this war for the Greeks.
The statue of Athena Parthenos, located in the Parthenon (in the Acropolis, in the very center of Athens, Greece), reaches about 10 meters in height. The statue is an image of a warlike woman, a real goddess. Athena Parthenos, translated from ancient Greek, sounds like Athena the Virgin.
The Parthenon, crowning the Acropolis, is the property of not only the Greek cultural heritage but also the pride of the whole modern world.
The clarity and logic of the architectural forms of this temple are opposed to the natural slopes of the mountain, but such a background seems inseparable from the created architectural solution.
A distinctive manner of creation of the architects of ancient Greece was the principle of the so-called "golden section", which gave harmony to buildings.
The purpose of the Parthenon was to hold festive celebrations. At the same time, he acted as a real repository, saving not only material values, but also works of art.
Just as the statue of Zeus was revered in Olympia, in the Parthenon it was Athena Parthenos.
The famous Athena Parthenos, translated from ancient Greek as Athena the Virgin, can be safely called a symbol of Ancient Hellas.
In the middle of the 5th century BC, this masterpiece was created by the greatest master of sculptural art Phidias. In those distant times, the depicted goddess Athena, the patroness of the ancient Greek capital, was located in the center of the policy in the Parthenon.
The history of the statue of Athena Parthenos - the patroness of civilians
Athena Parthenos, located in the Acropolis, reaches about 10 meters in height. The statue is an image of a warlike woman, a real goddess, from which another sculpture came - a statue of the wingless goddess of Victory Nike.
It is worth noting that the work had a wooden frame, despite the fact that the main part of the composition is made of ivory.
There are also elements of chased gold on the sculpture, in particular, Athena's clothes and helmet are made of this material.
About a ton of precious metal and ivory covered the entire wooden frame of the 13-meter sculpture. By the way, the gold used in the process of creation by the author Phidias was on the account of the national reserves of the state.
Often, scientists call this statue chrysoelephantine because of the combination of ivory and gold. The statue of Zeus is also made in this technique, using similar materials.
During the Byzantine period, the grandiose statue almost disappeared without a trace.
However, nowadays scientists managed to establish some information about the monument, thanks to the information of Greek authors and famous traveler and the thinker of those years, Pausanias.
The geographer and navigator has repeatedly described the masterpiece in a detailed detailed manner. He wrote that dressed in a tunic, the Greek goddess was created in full growth.
Pausanias also confirmed the material from which the commemorative sculpture was made.
Describing the goddess Nike, the thinker emphasized that her size was equal to four cubits of the goddess Athena.
Additional elements in this sculptural composition there was the head of Medusa and a snake writhing around a spear.
Varvakios Athena, found during excavations, is a real copy of the goddess, the creator of which is Phidias. By the way, speaking about the author, we should briefly dwell on his work.
The creative path of the author of the statue of Athena Parthenos
The work of Phidias and the creators of his era plays a huge role in contemporary culture Greek state.
Like Homer and Hesiod, he set the boundaries for mythological deities.
The figures of that time created a real basis for ancient Greek concepts in belief.
The ideals of the gods - Zeus, Athena, Hermes, Apollo - determined by their works, became the starting point in the creation of masterpieces of subsequent generations.
The Greek creators of the beautiful looked up to the examples of the art of the classics of the ancient Greek world.
The gods were portrayed as restrained, calm and unshakable: no passions, emotions or experiences.
Dignity, morality and balance - such they were recognized by representatives of our modernity.
The statue of Zeus, created by Phidias, became a predetermining element in creating the image of the king of all the Olympian gods.
In this work, he managed to successfully combine mercy and omnipotence.
The sculpture of Zeus caused a lot of admiration among the influential political and cultural figures of Ancient Greece.
Two created sculptures of Pallas Athena gave glory to the author. Here he combined images of greatness, masculinity and light. The virgin was considered a deity patronizing crafts, protection from conquerors.
Athena Parthenos was preceded by a grandiose statue made of bronze. His work was the image of the goddess - the protector from all enemies.
This creation - a statue of Athena Promachos - was in the Acropolis, next to the Parthenon.
In the temple itself there were other amazing statues of Phidias.
By the way, most of them are the property of the world
public and preserved among the exhibits of the British Museum.
The eastern pediment of the Parthenon was decorated with a composition that tells of the birth of Pallas.
In the western part, a dispute between the goddess and Poseidon was depicted - the gods could not distribute dominion over Hellas.
Many other characteristic ideas of Phidias were able to combine the stylistic consistency of architectural rules with naturalness and genuineness of images.
Simultaneous severity and frivolity put the work of the master on a sublime level.
If we analyze the work of the predecessors, then in comparison with the works of the author Athena Parthenos, one can easily detect their tightness and unnatural poses.
Really lively images, unconstrained, natural, they were parallel to the free movements of ordinary people.
Thanks to the plasticity and gracefulness of the poses, they distinguished the figures with special liveliness to the smallest detail.
In comparison with the old sculptures, in which static symmetry and rigid established antiquity were the main principles, the work of Phidias became that golden mean, reflecting some elements of the established style and the individuality of the future.
Description of the sculpture of Athena Parthenos
From the image of Varvakios, also related to the list of works of this master, scientists have emphasized the main features that Athena Parthenos supposedly possessed.
Describing some of the nuances of her warlike image, the helmet of the goddess is singled out. He possessed three peculiar crests.
Identical images of griffins were located on the sides, while in front there was a sphinx.
The shield of Athena Parthenos also had some illustrations, in particular, the battle of the deities with the giants, the battle with the Amazons was engraved on its surface.
There are speculations that the creator included his own image among the statues on the shield of Athena. Presumably, Daedalus and Theseus present here are the prototypes of Phidias and Pericles. It was this act that became fatal for the great sculptor.
He was accused of insulting the gods, as a result of which he was imprisoned. In conclusion, the creator committed suicide. By the way, there is evidence that it was the statue of Zeus from Olympia that was his dying work.
Athena, standing at full height, left a free space between the top of the helmet and the ceiling of the Parthenon. Wanting to increase the width of the inside of the building, the author of the sculpture persuaded the builders not to follow the classical form of the Dorian style temples.
As planned by Phidias, the facade had to accommodate more than six columns, so exactly eight huge columns surrounded the statue behind and on the sides. This made it possible to create the effect of an architectural frame in which the statue of Athena Parthenos was inscribed.
Ancient Greek figures often glorified the goddess Athena in their writings. Plato, Socrates and other philosophers considered the sculpture of Athena identically equal to the concept of beauty.
Second half of the 5th c. BC e. - the heyday of all types of art and the most harmonious embodiment of the aesthetic ideals of the classics.
The leading place among the policies of Greece continues to be occupied by Athens, which, during the reign of Pericles, is experiencing a golden age of its economic, political and cultural development.
Architecture
Under Pericles, the most remarkable ensemble of the era is created - the Acropolis of Athens, which dominates the city and its environs. Destroyed during the Persian invasion, the Acropolis was rebuilt on an unprecedented scale.
During the third quarter of the 5th c. BC e. sparkling white marble buildings were erected: the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the temple of Nike Apteros (Wingless Victory). The building of the Erechtheion, which completes the ensemble, was built later, during the Peloponnesian War.
On the hill of the Acropolis, the main sanctuaries of the Athenians were located, and above all the Parthenon - the temple of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and the patroness of Athens. The treasury was also kept there. In the building of the Propylaea, which served as the entrance to the Acropolis, in their two outbuildings-wings there were a library and an art gallery (pinakothek).
On the slope of the Acropolis, where people gathered for dramatic performances, the theater of Dionysus was erected. Steep and steep, with a flat top, the hill of the Acropolis formed a kind of natural pedestal for the buildings crowning it.
Greek architects knew how to perfectly choose the places for their buildings. The temple was erected where it was as if a place had been prepared for it by nature itself, and at the same time, its calm strict forms, harmonious proportions, light marble columns, bright colors contrasted the temple with nature, affirmed the superiority of a structure reasonably created by man over the surrounding world. Masterfully planned Greek architects architectural ensembles. The most perfect of them was the ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis.
Propylaea of the Athenian Acropolis
The planning and construction of the Acropolis were carried out under the general guidance of the greatest sculptor of Greece - Phidias (second and third quarters of the 5th century BC).
The Acropolis embodied the idea of the power and greatness of the Athenian state and at the same time, for the first time in the history of Greece, expressed the idea of pan-Hellenic unity. The entire structure of the ensemble is permeated with noble beauty, calmly solemn grandeur, a clear sense of proportion and harmony. In it one can see a visual implementation of the words of Pericles: "We love wisdom without effeminacy and beauty without whimsicality."
The meaning of the layout of the Acropolis can be understood only by imagining the movement of solemn processions during the days of public festivities. The procession ascended the Acropolis from the west. The road led up to the solemn gate - the Propylaea (437-432 BC, architect Mnesicles). The powerful Doric colonnade of the Propylaea facing the city is framed by two unequal, but mutually balanced wings of the building, the temple of Nike Apteros (between 449-420 BC, architect Kallikrates) adjoins the right, smaller wing. This temple, small in size, harmonious and clear in form, as if separated from the general massif of the hill, was the first to meet the procession. Slender Ionic columns on each of the two short sides of the temple (according to the type of amphiprostyle) give the building features of grace.
Temple of Nike Apteros
After passing through the Propylaea, the procession entered a wide square, in the center of which stood a bronze statue of Athena Promachos (“Warriors”, ca. 9 m high), created by Phidias (465-455 BC). The brilliance of the gilded tip of her spear was visible from afar, and this statue itself was a kind of vertical axis of the entire ensemble.
From the Propylaea main temple Acropolis Parthenon seen from the corner. This makes it possible to simultaneously look at the western facade and the long (northern) side of the peripter). The festive procession moved along the northern colonnade of the Parthenon to its main eastern facade. Large building The Parthenon is balanced by the graceful and relatively small temple of Erechtheiope standing on the other side of the square, shading the sublime severity of the Parthenon with free asymmetry.
The builders of the Parthenon (447-438 BC) were Iktin and Callicrates, the sculpture was carried out by Phidias and his assistants. The Parthenon is the most perfect creation of Greek classical architecture and one of the highest achievements in the history of architecture in general. This monumental, majestic building rises above the Acropolis, just as the Acropolis itself rises above the city and its environs. But not the size, but the crystal clarity of forms, the harmonious perfection of proportions, the excellent proportion of parts, the correctly found scale of the building both in relation to the Acropolis hill and in relation to a person, determined the impression of sublime beauty, heroism, monumentality and significance of the Parthenon.
The type of Greek temple, over the creation of which many generations worked, received the most perfect interpretation in the Parthenon. In its basic forms, it is a Doric peripter with eight columns on the short sides and seventeen on the long sides. But it organically also includes elements of the Ionic order: columns elongated in proportion, a lightweight entablature, a continuous frieze encircling the building, made of squares of Pentelic marble. The coloring emphasized the structural details and formed a background against which the sculptures of the pediments and metopes stood out.
The majestic clarity and strict harmony of Parfenov seem to be opposed by the grace and freedom of composition of the Erechtheion, an asymmetric building built on the Acropolis by an unknown master in 421-406. BC e.
Erechtheion
Dedicated to Athena and Poseidon, the Erechtheion is distinguished by a picturesque interpretation of the architectural whole, a contrasting juxtaposition of architectural and sculptural forms, which allows the viewer to view the temple from different points of view, revealing its various aspects. The layout of the Erechtheion takes into account the unevenness of the soil. The temple consists of two rooms located at different levels. It has porticos of various shapes on three sides, including the famous cor (caryatid) portico on the south wall.
The feeling of festive lightness and harmony of the building is caused by the use of the Ionic order and the beautifully used contrasts of light porticos and smooth walls. With its dissection and picturesque forms, the Erechtheion paves the way for the art of the late classics, sometimes more tragically agitated, sometimes lyrically refined, but less integral and heroic than the high classics.
Sculpture
Phidias
. The sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was created under the guidance and with the participation of Phidias, who was born in Athens and created his main works here. He also owned a twelve-meter statue of Athena the Virgin (Athena Parthenos, 447-438 BC), located in the Parthenon naos (several reduced marble copies of the Roman period have been preserved). Solemnly she stood in full dress, leaning on a shield. At her feet is a snake - a symbol of wisdom, on her right outstretched hand - a figure of the goddess of Victory. The beautiful appearance of the goddess conquered with calm confidence, strict wisdom. The majestic peace of Athena was opposed by the dynamics of the relief covering her shield, depicting the full stormy movement of the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons (the legendary warrior maidens). Among the fighting Greeks, Phidias portrayed himself and Pericles. For this daring undertaking, he was accused of godlessness. The statue of Athena Parthenos was made of gold and ivory using the so-called chrysoelephantine technique (the base of the statue is wooden, clothes and hair are covered with thin sheets of gold, the face, hands, feet are covered with ivory plates). The shimmering gold statue of the goddess Athena, installed inside the temple, was in harmony with the general character of the colorful range of the building. In complete harmony with the structure was the sculpture that adorned the Parthenon from the outside. It gives a clear idea about the work of Phidias, and about the sculpture of the heyday of the classics in general.
On the eastern pediment of the Parthenon there was a composition dedicated to the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus, on the western - the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for possession of the Attic land. Free in their movements, the figures formed groups, naturally placed in the triangles of the pediments, combined into a complete whole. Phidias refused to build a symmetrical composition and vertically standing central figures, as the masters of the early classics did. The direct connection with the rhythm of the columns, which the composition of the Olympic pediment received with this decision, was replaced by a more complex one. The grouping of calmly standing and rapidly moving figures is proportionately balanced. Among the statues of the eastern pediment, where the whole of Olympus was represented, three moiras stand out, the goddesses of fate, the daughters of the goddess of the night (later taken out of the temple, now they are in London, in the British Museum, now it is believed that these are Aphrodite, Dione and Peyto), their images - the most perfect creations of high classics.
Moirae from the eastern pediment of the Parthenon
The effortless nobility of the movements of these figures is emphasized by the beauty of the flowing folds, behind which one can feel the richest plasticity of a living human body. The harmony and majesty of the pediment sculptures of the Parthenon are achieved by the selection of subtly felt natural movements, free expediency and unity of compositions that glorify the beauty and perfection of man.
All ninety-two metopes of the temple were decorated with marble high reliefs, among which images of the battle between lapiths and centaurs stand out (London, British Museum).
Metope of the Parthenon: the battle of the centaurs with the lapiths
These are two-figure compositions that sequentially unfold scenes of struggle in front of the viewer. The variety of movements and the inexhaustible richness of their motives are striking. The composition of each metope is subject to the logic of the movement of figures and scenes as a whole, and at the same time it corresponds to the limits of the space allotted to it by architecture. Sculpture fully fulfills its figurative tasks without destroying the architectural whole.
A frieze, or zophor, was built on the same principle, completely covered with a ribbon of reliefs depicting a festive procession dedicated to Athena (part of the frieze depicting the gods is now kept in Athens, in the Acropolis Museum, part in London, in the British Museum, "Girls" - in Paris, in the Louvre).
Fragment of the Parthenon frieze
The preservation of the plane of the wall is facilitated by a single movement of numerous figures, participants of the procession, directed parallel to it. For about 200 m of the frieze with reliefs, while placing the figures on the same level, avoiding monotony and variegation, the creators of the frieze conveyed all the richness and diversity, grandeur and beauty of the people's procession, its solemn harmony. Here are young horsemen, and beautiful girls in long robes, and a group of participants in the procession with sacrificial animals. The undulating rhythm of movement pervades the composition.
Above the entrance to the temple, on the eastern side of the frieze, there are figures of gods looking at the procession. People and gods are depicted equally beautiful. The spirit of citizenship and high self-consciousness allowed the Athenians to proudly affirm the aesthetic equality of man and the gods.
Polykleitos . By the beginning of the second half of the 5th c. BC e. artistic life flourished not only in Athens, but also in other cities. From Argos (Peloponnese) came a contemporary of Phidias Polikleitos, in whose art a special interest was shown in depicting calmly standing man. The most famous statue of Polikleitos is “Dorifor” (“Spear-bearer”, middle of the 5th century BC, Naples, National Museum), the perfect embodiment of the courageous ideal of a valiant warrior citizen.
Doryphorus
This bronze statue, known from Roman copies, depicts a muscular, strong youth carrying a spear on his shoulder. The magnificent modeling of the body gives the image a feeling of complete reality, powerful proportions and solemn restraint of movement emphasize the heroic-monumental character of the statue. With the whole weight of the body, Doryfor rests on his right leg, the left, set back, touches the ground only with his fingers. The balance of the figure is achieved by the fact that the raised right hip corresponds to the lowered right shoulder and, conversely, the lowered left hip corresponds to the raised left shoulder. Such a system of building a human figure determines the vitality of the statue and at the same time its measured rhythmic structure.
Polycletus also owned the theoretical treatise "Canon": a system of ideal proportions and laws according to which the image of a person should be built (for example, the proportions of the head and figure were expressed by the ratio 1: 7). In Doryphoros, Polikleitos followed his theory exactly. This led to the approval of a certain normativity and somewhat ponderous proportions of the figure. At the end of his life, the sculptor departed from his "Canon". His "Diadumen" (420-410 BC, Athens, National Archaeological Museum) - a young man crowning himself with a bandage of a winner, distinguished by more slender proportions, greater spirituality and softness of expression, which anticipate the art of the late classics.
By the end of the 5th c. to p. e. Significant changes took place in the art of high classics: the features of refined lyricism and intimacy began to displace monumental heroics. These trends found expression in the marble reliefs of the balustrade of the temple of Nike Apteros on the Acropolis. The lyricism of the relief Nike Untying a Sandal (c. 411-407 BC, Athens, Acropolis Museum) is born from the perfection of proportions, the graceful ease of movement revealed by the flowing lines of the folds of clothes. The brevity of the stop of the bowed figure of the goddess emphasizes that living naturalness, light dynamics, which oppose the majestic calmness of the images of high classics.
Nika untying her sandal
Vase painting and painting
In the era of high classics, vase painting, as before, developed in the same direction as monumental painting and sculpture. More heroic images on mythological themes appeared in it. The clarity and harmony of the compositions corresponding to the shape of the vase, the majestic freedom of movement, the expressiveness of the characteristics of the heroes distinguish the murals of vases similar to the “Crater from Orvieto” (c. 450 BC, Paris, Louvre), which shows the Argonauts.
Crater from Orvieto
The freedom, ease, lightness and accuracy of the drawing in the paintings of the white-backed lekythos, which served cult purposes, are striking.
We can judge about the monumental painting that has almost not come down to us not only by vase painting, but also by literary sources, by descriptions of paintings and by their assessment by contemporaries. In ancient times, the fresco technique was more often used, but, probably, glue and wax (encaustic) paints were also used. The names of outstanding painters have been preserved, among which the most significant was Polygnotus, a native of the island of Thassos (middle of the 5th century BC). The historical and mythological themes of the painting of Polygnotus and the masters who worked with him are close to the themes of sculptural pediments and reliefs (“Battle of the Greeks with the Amazons”, “Battle of Marathon”, etc.). According to the nature of the execution, the pictorial compositions, apparently, were similar to the paintings on the vases. The artist used mainly four colors: white, yellow, red and black. According to the descriptions, the color in the compositions of Polygnotus had the character of coloring, but the drawing was perfect.
Huge bronze statue of Athena Promachos stood on the Athenian Acropolis between the Propylaea and the Parthenon. Athena Promachos (Ἀθηνᾶ Πρόμαχος), whose name translates as "Athena fighting in the front row", was the goddess of wisdom and war. Her statue was the first thing seen by a person entering the territory of the Acropolis through the Propylaea.
That the statue was dedicated precisely Athena Promachos, was determined from a commentary on the speech of Demosthenes against Androtion at the beginning of the 4th century (this is the only ancient source that mentions this Athena as "Promachos"). In Antiquity, she was called the "bronze Athena" to distinguish her from the "golden Athena" - a statue made by Phidias of gold and ivory, which stood in the Parthenon. Pausanias (2nd century) described her as a "great bronze Athena" on the Acropolis.
The sculptor who created the statue of Athena Promachos was Phidias. It was cast around 456 BC. and thus one of the earliest works of Phidias. On the Acropolis, he is credited with the authorship of two more statues - the statue of Athena Parthenos, who stood in the Parthenon, as well as Athena Lemnia (Lemnos), which probably stood not far from the Propylaea.
Drawing by Gorham Philipps Stevens, 1936 Probable view of the statue of Athena Promachos with war trophies at the foot against the backdrop of the Mycenaean defensive wall
The statue was created from trophies captured from the Persians during Battle of Marathon, which the Athenians won in 490 BC. With the spoils of war from this victory, a large number of monuments were created, subsequently installed both in Athens and in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. The statue of Athena Promachos was created, possibly in honor of the triple victory commander Kimon over the Persians in the battle of (and on) the Eurymedon River in 467 BC. or in honor of the Peace of Kallia in 449 BC, which ended the period of the Greco-Persian wars. Some researchers suggest that the sculpture was created simultaneously with the construction of the Parthenon, that is, around 430 BC.
Archaeologist Linfert's version of the appearance of Athena Promachos, 1982
Reached our times financial documentation, carved on a stele, parts of which were found on and in the Acropolis. These records cover nine years, but their dates are indeterminate, since the names of the officials responsible for the expenses have not been preserved. In addition, scientists only take it on faith that these costs relate to the Bronze Athena, although they could be made both for the construction of a building, and for the creation of several statues of a standard size.
From the statue, which, according to Stevens, numbered 9 meters high(if you subtract the pedestal of 1.52 meters, then Athena herself was 7.48 meters high), nothing has survived. ABOUT appearance Athens Promachos can only be judged by her images on Attic coins printed in the Roman period in the 1st-2nd centuries. Also, several surviving copies of that sculpture were identified from these coins. She looked like a woman standing straight in a relaxed pose in a spacious peplos with a belt. With her left hand she held the shield at her leg, and in her right hand she squeezed a spear (on the same hand you can see a winged object - an owl or Nika). However, it is possible that in fact she held a spear in her left hand, and with her right she raised a shield, while a huge owl sat at her feet, as shown on some coins, it is also possible that she held both a spear and a shield in her left hand, then how an owl sat on her right, and a snake at her right feet (researchers have different opinions on this matter). As Pausanias wrote, on her shield were depicted scenes from the centauromachy(battles between lapiths and centaurs). The centauromachy was a mythical allusion to the Greco-Persian War and was also depicted on the metopes of the Parthenon, on the sandals of Athena Parthenos, and on the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. This shield was engraved by the famous Athenian sculptor Mies after a drawing made by the artist Parrasios (Παρράσιος). The helmet of Athena is attributed by some archaeologists to the Attic type, while others belong to the Corinthian. Pausanias wrote that the statue was so tall that the gilded tip of her spear and the crest of her helmet were visible to sailors sailing past Cape Sounion, located 65 kilometers from Athens.
The stones of the pedestal with blocks of the architectural belt lying on them stand in place of the statue.
Pedestal statue of Athena Promachos, which measured 5 x 5 x 1.5 meters (see below), was restored in the Roman period - probably during the reign of Emperor Augustus (31 BC - 14 AD). ). Part of the fragments of its relief belt has survived to this day. It is not known whether the statue occupied the entire pedestal or only part of it.
View of the place of the statue from the side of the Erechtheion
A statue of Athena Promachos stood overlooking the city for about 1000 years, but around 465 AD was transported to Constantinople, where many surviving Greek bronze sculptures were brought. The monument was destroyed in 1203 by a superstitious crowd, among whom there was a rumor that Athena Promachos had lured the crusaders who besieged the city from July 11 to 18.
The place of the statue from the side of the Erechtheion in the approximation
The base of the statue's pedestal was discovered by the French archaeologist Charles Ernest Beulet. in 1853. It was located to the west of, not far from the Propylaea of Mnesicles. It is a platform measuring 5.465 x 5.58 meters, partly carved into the rock and partly composed of blocks of coarse limestone. A square hole measuring 0.48 x 0.48 meters, where a wooden beam was inserted, which was the support of the statue, was made approximately in the center of the platform. Now there are several parts on the surviving blocks architectural belt with ionics (egg-shaped ornament with points in between), made of white Pentelian marble. It is possible that he decorated the pedestal of the statue after the restoration in the Roman period (however, it is equally likely that he belonged to some Roman monument that stood near the library of Hadrian).
A tablet with information about the statue, to the left of which the Ionic architectural belt is visible
Of the statues of the same type that have come down to us as Athena Promachos, a small bronze sculpture stands out in particular. Athens Earl Elgin, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a torso from the Louvre, known as " Athena Medici” (the head from this torso is apparently in the National Museum of Rome).
Ministry of Railways of the Russian Federation
ROSTOV STATE UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
COURSE WORK
Subject: “world culture”
Work theme: " Ancient Greece. Acropolis. Sculpture: Phidias, Polykleitos, Myron”
Completed by: student of the 2nd year of the correspondence department, group
GTS-2-
Kolabina Tatyana Alexandrovna
Rostov-on-Don 2002
1.1. History of creation
1.2. Propylaea and Temple of Nike Apteros
1.3. Erechtheion
1.4. Parthenon
1.5. Ensemble of the Acropolis
1.6. Acropolis in later eras
2.2. Parthenon
2.3. Propylaea.
2.4. Temple of Athena Nike.
2.5. Monuments on the Acropolis.
Conclusion.
1. The Acropolis of Athens is a pearl of ancient culture.
Acropolis-(Greek akropolis, from akros - upper and polis - city), elevated and fortified part ancient Greek city, fortress, shelter in case of war. On the Acropolis, temples were usually built in honor of the patron deities this city. The most famous is the Acrepolis in Athens.
His buildings are exquisite in proportion and harmoniously connected with the landscape. This ensemble, created under the general direction of Phidias, consists of the main entrance of the Propylaea (437–432 BC, architect Mnesicles), the temple of Athena Nike (449–420 BC, architect Callicrates), the main temple of the Acropolis and Athens the Parthenon (447–438 BC, architects Iktin and Kallikrates), the Erechtheion Temple (421–406 BC).
ACROPOLIS in Athens, the fortified part of ancient Athens, where the main shrines of the city were located, is famous for its religious buildings of the classical period.
1.1. History of creation
The Acropolis of Athens, which is a 156-meter rocky hill with a gentle top (approx. 300 m long and 170 m wide), the site of the oldest settlement in Attica. In the Mycenaean period (15-13 centuries BC) it was a fortified royal residence. In the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. There was a lot of construction going on on the Acropolis. Under the tyrant Pisistarates (560-527), a temple of the goddess Athena Hekatompedon was built on the site of the royal palace (that is, a temple a hundred steps long; fragments of sculptures of pediments have been preserved, the foundation has been revealed). In 480, during the Greco-Persian wars, the temples of the Acropolis were destroyed by the Persians. The inhabitants of Athens took an oath to restore the shrines only after the expulsion of enemies from Hellas.
In 447, on the initiative of Pericles, new construction began on the Acropolis; the management of all the works was entrusted to the famous sculptor Phidias, who, apparently, was the author of the artistic program that formed the basis of the entire complex, its architectural and sculptural appearance.
1.2. Propylaea and Temple of Nike Apteros.
The sacred road along which the procession of the Athenians moved from the agora to the temple of the patron goddess during the main holiday of the Great Panathenaic, leads to the Propylaea, which has 5 passages and was flanked in antiquity by two equestrian statues of the Dioscuri. In the left wing, protruding from them, there was the Pinakothek (a collection of pinak paintings brought as a gift to the goddess Athena), in the right there was a repository of manuscripts and a room for the gatekeeper and watchmen. To the right of the Propylaea on the pyrgos (a ledge of a fortified rock) stands a small, light and graceful temple of the Ionic order, consecrated to Athena Nike, known as the temple of Nike Apteros (Wingless Victory; 443-420, architect Kallikrates).
1.3. Erechtheion
After the participants of the procession passed the Propylaea and entered the sacred territory, a panorama of the central part of the complex opened before them. In the foreground, slightly to the left of the road, stood a colossal bronze statue of Athena Promachos (Warrior), cast by Phidias. Behind it in the distance was the Erechtheion (architect unknown), the temple of Athena and Poseidon at the site of the dispute between these gods for the possession of Attica. The temple has an asymmetric plan, unique in Greek architecture; its three porticos are located at different levels: on the western side, a portico leading to the temple of Athena Poliada (City), on the northern side, the entrance to the sanctuary of Poseidon-Erechtheus, near the southern wall of the temple is the famous portico of caryatids; the whole building was surrounded by a frieze with overlaid white figures (not preserved). In the Erechtheion, the oldest sanctuary of Athens, there was the sacred xoan of Athena (a wooden statue), according to legend, which fell from the sky, the altars of Hephaestus and the hero Booth, the tomb of the legendary Athenian king Kekrop, from the west adjoined the sanctuary of the Attic dew goddess Pandrosa. In the courtyard of the Erechtheion, a sacred olive tree grew, donated to the city by Athena, a salty spring beat, which Poseidon carved with his trident.
1.4. Parthenon
The lightness of forms, the special sophistication of decorative finishes and the complexity of the composition of the small Erechtheion contrasts with the strict and majestic, emphatically monumental Parthenon (Temple of Athena the Virgin; 69.5 m long and 30.9 m wide, the height of the columns is 10.5 m; 447 consecrated in 438; architect Iktin with the participation of Callicrates), which is a Doric peripter. The building is perceived from the Propylaea in three quarters, the viewers saw not one of its facades, but the entire volume of the structure, got an idea of its appearance as a whole, and before seeing the main, eastern facade, they had to go around the temple from the outside.
In the temple itself, in the naos, there was a chrysoelephantine statue of Athena Parthenos (Virgin) by Phidias, the sacred money of the goddess and the treasury of the Athenian Maritime Union were kept in the opisthodom. In the pediments there were sculptural groups depicting the most significant events in the cult of Athena, her birth and the dispute with the sea god Poseidon for the possession of Attica. The metope reliefs around the perimeter of the building depicted scenes of mythological battles. Architectural details, sculpture and reliefs were brightly painted. The plan and order decision of the Parthenon also differ from the traditional ones in a number of features: in front of the naos there was a hall of the maiden's chamber (the Parthenon, which gave the name to the whole temple), along the wall of the naos there was an Ionic frieze depicting the Panathenaic procession.
In front of the Parthenon, on the right side of the Propylaea, there were also the sanctuaries of Artemis Brauronia and Athena Ergana (Handicraft), the repository of weapons and sacred armor of Halkothek (450). The open area of the Acropolis was occupied by numerous altars and gifts to the gods, statues and steles.
The temple and theater of Dionysus (6th century BC rebuilt in 326), the Odeon of Pericles (a covered round building for musical competitions) (2nd half of the 5th century BC) adjoined the northwestern slope of the Acropolis. , the theater of Herodes Atticus (2nd century AD), the sanctuary of Asclepius, Stoya (Portico) of Eumenes.
1.5. Ensemble of the Acropolis
The Acropolis rises above all of Athens, its silhouette forms the skyline of the city. In ancient times, the Parthenon rising above the hill could be seen from any part of Attica and even from the islands of Salamis and Aegina; sailors approaching the shore could already see from afar the brilliance of the spear and helmet of Athena the Warrior. In ancient times, the sanctuary was known not only as a famous cult center, but also as a monument of great art, confirming the glory of Athens as the “school of Hellas” and the most beautiful city. The thoughtful composition of the entire ensemble, perfectly found general proportions, a flexible combination of various orders, the finest modeling of architectural details and their unusually accurate drawing, the close relationship between architecture and sculptural decoration make the Acropolis buildings the highest achievement of ancient Greek architecture and one of the most outstanding monuments of world art.
1.6. Acropolis in subsequent eras.
In the 5th c. The Parthenon became the Church of Our Lady, the statue of Athena Parthenos was moved to Constantinople. After the conquest of Greece by the Turks (in the 15th century), the temple was turned into a mosque, to which minarets were attached, then into an arsenal; The Erechtheion became the harem of the Turkish pasha, the temple of Nike Apteros was dismantled, and the wall of the bastion was built from its blocks. In 1687, after a cannonball hit from a Venetian ship, an explosion destroyed almost the entire central part of the temple of Athena-Virgo; during an unsuccessful attempt by the Venetians to remove the sculptures of the Parthenon, several statues were broken. At the beginning of the 19th century the Englishman Lord Elgin broke out a number of metopes, tens of meters of a frieze and almost all the surviving sculptures of the pediments of the Parthenon, a caryatid from the portico of the Erechtheion.
After the declaration of independence of Greece, during the restoration work (mainly in the late 19th century), the ancient appearance of the Acropolis was restored as far as possible: all late buildings on its territory were liquidated, the temple of Nike Apteros was re-laid, etc. The reliefs and sculptures of the temples of the Acropolis are in the British Museum (London), the Louvre (Paris) and the Acropolis Museum. Remaining under open sky the sculptures have now been replaced by copies.
2. The Acropolis of Athens in ancient times.
2.1. Foundation and construction of the Acropolis.
In the late Helladic period, the territory of Athens coincided mainly with the territory of the Acropolis; neighboring hills, including the Areopagus hill, served as burial places. The area of the future agora also served as a necropolis for local population Attica, and at that time was not yet united.
In the II millennium, the Acropolis was a powerful fortification. Its upper winding platform was surrounded by a wall 10 m high and 6 m thick. The wall consisted of two parallel walls several meters apart, built dry of large limestone blocks, and the gaps between the blocks were carefully filled with small stones and rubble. The gap between the walls was filled with broken stone. All this created such a powerful fortification that seemed impenetrable.
For centuries, this wall served as a reliable protection for the population of ancient Athens. Only after the Persian invasion of Attica twice in 480 and 479. it was partially destroyed, its northern side was especially badly damaged.
