The Parthenon and its sculptures
The temple known as the Parthenon was built on the Acropolis of
Athens between 447 and 438 BC. It was part of a vast building
programme masterminded by the Athenian statesman Perikles (died 429
BC). Inside the temple stood a colossal statue representing Athena,
patron goddess of the city. The statue, which no longer exists, was
made of gold and ivory and was the work of the celebrated
sculptor Pheidias.
The building itself was decorated with marble sculptures
representing scenes from Athenian cult and mythology. There are
three categories of architectural sculpture. The frieze (carved in
low relief) ran high up around all four sides of the building
inside the colonnades. The metopes (carved in high relief) were
placed at the same level as the frieze above the architrave
surmounting the columns on the outside of the temple. The pediment
sculptures (carved in the round) filled the triangular gables at
each end.
Although the building was to undergo a number of changes, it
remained largely intact until the seventeenth century. The early
Christians turned the temple into a church, adding an apse at the
east end. It was probably at this time that the sculptures
representing the birth of Athena were removed from the centre of
the east pediment and many of the metopes were defaced. The
Parthenon served as a church until Athens was conquered by the
Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century, when it became a mosque. In
1687, during the Venetian siege of the Acropolis, the defending
Turks were using the Parthenon as a store for gunpowder, which was
ignited by the Venetian bombardment. The explosion blew out the
heart of the building, destroying the roof and parts of the walls
and the colonnade.
The Venetians succeeded in capturing the Acropolis, but held it
for less than a year. Further damage was done in
an attempt to remove sculptures from the west pediment, when
the lifting tackle broke and the sculptures fell and were smashed.
Many of the sculptures that were destroyed in 1687, are now
known only from drawings made in 1674, by an artist probably to be
identified as Jacques Carrey.