Greek Parthenon Research Paper

The Greek Parthenon is an extravagant and intricately detailed result of what say to be the “Golden Age of Athens,” and others believe this to be a result of Athens overstepping and abusing their power. Despite these opposing viewpoints of why the Pantheon came to be, it is without a doubt a sculptural and architectural feat, that continues to be highly studied and praised. It is a prime example of the Doric style architecture. The build up to the construction of the Parthenon is not simple. It indirectly took two major and then many minor Persian invasions, internal conflict, and possibly some swindling of money.
The first Persian invasion occurred in 490 BCE, under the rule of King Doric. This invasion was a result of Greek cities refusing

The Spartans were not apart of this league. This was a league of cities that would continue to fight off Persian invaders, and cities could be apart of it in two ways. Either they could send support financially, or they could send troops. Most however, opted to support financially. As Athens grew in power, partially because of being in charge of this league, they started to abuse this power. The Athenian people started to treat the other cities in the league as subjects, and not co-members. When a group tried to leave, Athens would use force to keep them in. As this abuse of power increased, so did the abuse of the funds. Athens moved the treasury to Athens in 454. The funds that were supposed to go towards military advances and defense began to go towards extravagant civil works in Athens. This led to the “Golden Age of Athens” which ran from 465 – 431 BCE.
One of these building projects was the Temple of Athena Parthenos, also known as simply, the Parthenon. This temple was dedicated to Athena as a virgin. It was common for each city to have a patron goddess. Athens, the goddess of war was the goddess for Athens. Construction for this temple, or naos started in 447, and it cost 469 silver talents, that were taken from the joint treasury. An architect, Ictinus and a sculptor, Phidias were tasked with the recreation of this temple. The first temple was wooden, and was destroyed in one of the invasions

As it was first constructed, it served as a temple to Athens’ patron goddess, Athena. Or, more specifically, a temple to the virgin Athena. The temple also served as a way for the Athenian government to have “openness and transparency”. It was in the temple that the government would carve the records of official decisions and transactions in rock, to be displayed. Later, this temple was converted to a temple for the Virgin Mary. After this, the temple was used as a Turkish mosque in the 15th century. In 1687, during a time of war, the once sacred structure, was used as a gunpowder magazine, and was destroyed. It was not until 1970 that serious reconstruction began to take