What was the architectural style of the parthenon

A Samuel H. Kress Fellowship from the American Research Institute in Turkey enabled fieldwork in Ionia that led me to new questions about the context of Ionic friezes. This article has benefited from recent conversations with Ingrid Rowland and Thomas Noble Howe, and I am forever indebted to their published revelations about ancient architectural practices and thought, which originally inspired and continue to inform my research; my frequency of citing their work cannot do justice to how much I have internalized their groundbreaking ideas.

David Karmon, editor of JSAH , and an especially thoughtful anonymous reviewer improved the final product greatly. This article is dedicated to the memory of Barbara Barletta, both for her encouragement and for her incredible scholarship, without which this article would not exist. I own all mistakes and errors of judgment. Leslie Shear Jr. The counterview supported in the present study is put forth in Barbara A. In accordance with scholarly consensus on influences coming from the Parthenon, the Hephaisteion's peristyle backers completed at an unknown date, perhaps in the late s and figural friezes carved in the late s almost certainly derive from the Parthenon's friezes and bordering moldings within the pronaos and opisthodomos and along the upper walls of the sekos, as analyzed together in the present study.

For questions about the Parthenon's influence and the dating of the peristyles of the Hephaisteion, see Sheer, Trophies of Victory , — For analysis of epigraphic evidence and its relation to practices of scale architectural drawing, see J.

Resemblances of detail in the Parthenon and Propylaia affirm the constitutive rather than imitative role that shared masons played in these contemporary projects in spite of their having different architects, and therefore the limited reach of design prior to the active unfolding of form creation during the construction process.

On these passages, see also J. For epigraphic evidence of full-sized models for individual features rather than small-scale models projecting whole buildings, see note 33, below. On the building and sculpting chronology, see John G. For a full discussion of the epigraphic evidence for the chronology of the Parthenon, see Shear, Trophies of Victory , 43— Maarten Delbeke and Matthew A.

Cohen Leiden: Leiden University Press, , — Berkeley: University of California Press, , — On the evidence for the building process of the Parthenon, see Shear, Trophies of Victory , 43— Georgios A.

Panetsos and T. See B. On the fascinating possibility that the lapis primus had served as an architrave block for the Older Parthenon, see Margaret M. Korres, From Pentelicon to the Parthenon , 50— In order to fit the dimensions of the Periklean building The height is virtually the same as that of the columns of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia of the s BCE, which measure between See Jeffrey M.

Judith M. Barringer and Jeffrey M. Hurwit Austin: University of Texas Press, , , with discussion of earlier scholarship at note Builders achieved the increase in height for the columns by adding one drum, resulting in shafts of eleven drums total.

The resulting height is 5. The Parthenon's columns are instead comparable to those of the Temple of Aphaia at Aigina, which are equal to 5.

As discussed later in this article, the Parthenon's comparatively slender columns are also consistent with a workforce that would have included Cycladic masons, who would have been familiar with the Cycladic practice of using elongated columns. See J. April , ed. Ernst Berger Mainz: Von Zabern, , 43— London: Macmillan, , — During construction of the columns, however, variations of as much as 4.

This is the Proportionsmodul of 0. Francis Cranmer Penrose was the first to analyze the ratio between the height of the order and the width of the stylobate. Nichols, , 8. On this Archaic and Classical feature, see Margaret M. A paradeigma might also be accompanied by a two-dimensional template known as an anagrapheus , used for setting the profiles of moldings, perhaps like those of the Parthenon's ceiling bearers discussed later in this article.

For the Stoa of the Bulls at Delos, the contracts from prior to BCE specify the contractor's responsibility for transporting the model for the Ionic capitals and setting it in place IG II 2 , lines 10— Plaster was used for at least one of the models referred to in the records of payments to the workmen who supplied them for the Temple of Asklepios at Epidauros in ca.

Penrose was the first to observe these adjustments. Penrose, Investigation of the Principles of Athenian Architecture , 14—16 and plates 5—6. See Ingrid D. Ingrid D. Rowland and Thomas Noble Howe, trans. The Temple of Athena at Paestum from the late sixth century, which is outwardly Doric intermixed with Ionic details, originally incorporated eight Ionic columns within its porch, including six freestanding and two engaged columns in a tetrastyle prostyle arrangement.

In Athens, the Stoa Poikile featured Ionic columns in its interior. See T. Ionic columns, however, were not incorporated into monumental Athenian buildings until the Classical period. See Elizabeth P. A prominent exception to avoided intermixture on the exterior of a temple building is the Temple of Athena at Assos from the sixth century BCE, where the architrave of the Doric building is sculpted in the manner of an Ionic frieze.

As Barletta notes, Poul Pedersen offers a design-related argument for Corinthian rather than Ionic capitals, though no material evidence for the capitals has been found.

In addition to a Doric hawksbeak and fillet, the moldings crowning the antae feature a cyma reversa molding, an ovolo with egg-and-tongue decoration, and a carved bead-and-reel astragal. See A. The narrowness of the returns is consistent with coeval Attic practice for Doric antae, and therefore the general Ionicization of Doric architecture in Attica during the Classical period. It is true that Pausanias 1.

Ridgway insightfully points out, the context of Pausanias's experiences of Roman architecture would have desensitized him, leading him to perceive continuous friezes as mere ornament. Ridgway, Prayers in Stone , 17— The blue background of the frieze was reported by early travelers to the Parthenon.

See also the discussion in Ridgway, Prayers in Stone , — Beyond the complexities involved, the rule of the second column was not followed even in the hexastyle Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae, which, according to Pausanias 8. Cooper, The Temple of Apollo Bassitas , vol. I thank an anonymous reader for suggesting this note of explanation. Hermann Kienast discovered a full-scale ground plan drawn in red chalk on the foundations of the late sixth-century BCE Temple D at the sanctuary of Hera at Samos; the plan is consistent with markings on the masonry at higher levels.

See Hermann J. On this general procedure, see John McK. Camp II and William B. Dinsmoor Jr. The ways in which the builders worked through paradeigmata for any individual parts are lost to us, but a residue of the process may be preserved in the slight departure of the actual triglyph widths from the proportion that underlies the schematic frames in plan and elevation throughout the Parthenon.

For the opposite theory—that is, that construction began in the west—see William Bell Dinsmoor, The Architecture of Ancient Greece , 3rd ed. London: B. Batsford, , — At the Hephaisteion, these ceiling bearers, along with the appearance of a simple band below a smooth frieze course in the inward-facing backers of the peristyle, likely reflect the influence of the inward-facing entablatures of the Parthenon's pronaos and opisthodomos.

See note 5, above. Against scholarly speculation that the steep viewing angle from within the pteron would have rendered the frieze on the sekos too difficult to read, see Bonna D. See also Ridgway, Prayers in Stone , —, including reflection on the difficulties of equating this intervention on the part of the city-state with the particular personality of Perikles. Those at the west end of the temple depicted the contest between Poseidon and Athena for the right to be the patron deity of Athens Athena's gift of the olive tree was preferred over Poseidon's spring.

The eastern pedimental group showed the birth of Athena from Zeus' head. The pedimental sculpture suffered badly when the Parthenon was hit by a Venetian shell in and the powder magazine inside exploded. This reclining god probably Dionysus from the east pediment gives some sense of the quality of the sculpture:. For a complete catalogue, with images and descriptions of all the Parthenon pedimental sculpture, see Perseus' Parthenon East Pediment Page and West Pediment Page photos will be available only if you are on a Reed computer or a computer on another campus which has enhanced access to the Perseus photos by license agreement.

The Parthenon frieze runs around the upper edge of the temple wall. Its relatively small size 3 feet 5 inches tall and placement inside from the triglyphs and metopes made it fairly hard to see from the ground. Unlike the metopes, the frieze has a single subject on all four sides. On three sides north, west, and south it depicts a procession of horsemen, musicians, sacrificial animals, and other figures with various ritual functions.

On the east side there is a scene centered on a child handing a folded cloth to an older man. On one side of them seated gods and goddess are in attendance; on the other, two girls are carrying something. Although the state of preservation is poor, the interpretation of the subject has hotly debated.

Meantime, other items from the Parthenon have found their way to the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, and elsewhere, although many remain in Athens. The design plan of the Parthenon is rectangular x feet and built in proportion to the Doric ratio of The peristyle is enclosed by a colonnade of fluted columns carved in situ with square capitals, resting upon a three-step base.

The columns are topped by a wide capital and a slab of stone called an abacus, which helps to relieve the tensile forces in the beam. The Greek form of construction employed a simple post-and-beam trabeated arrangement, translated into stone from ancient principles developed in timber construction. The entablature, or roof structure, comprised of lintels connected by bow-tie shaped iron clamps consists of a plain architrave, a frieze of alternating triglyphs and metopes plain panels with relief sculpture, now partly lost , and, at the east and west gables, a low triangular pediment, filled with relief sculpture now mostly lost.

The structure incorporates numerous architectural refinements. To begin with, the local, white Pentelic marble provided the ideal medium for the sharpness of detail required for the design and execution of the sculpted relief panels of the frieze and portico.

The building was also subject to meticulous refinements of proportion and geometry, known as entasis , to maintain an appearance of exact alignment.

Apparently perpendicular and horizontal lines are, in fact, set out within curved and inclining planes, to correct the optical illusion of perspective distortion. For example, the tapering columns are swollen in section, about two-fifths of the way up, to correct the illusion of a concave profile that a staight-sided shaft would produce.

Furthermore, the end columns have a closer spacing and thicker diameter than the main columns and incline diagonally towards the centre of the temple to counteract their appearance of outward inclination. The other columns are inclined inwards, 2. Lastly, the three steps of the base have a curved profile, rising towards the centre.

The treads are set with a slight upward tilt. The devices of perspective-correction produce a complex geometry for construction. The whole scheme of decorative sculpture was intended to illustrate how great this Goddess of the Athenians was.

Pedimental Sculptures. In the two pediments she was depicted with her father, Zeus, and with the other gods. The east pediment sculpture illustrates the birth of Athena from out of the head of her father, Zeus. The west pediment portrayed the contest between Athena and Poseidon to become the city's patron.

Both appear at the centre of the composition, with Athena holding the olive tree and Poseidon raising his trident to strike the ground. They are flanked by two groups of horses drawing chariots, while a crowd of celebrities from Athenian mythology populates the side areas of the pediment. Eight of them line each end, with 17 columns from front to back. Each end features a second row of six columns between the outer face and the inner structure. The columns were made in the Doric order, which means that they had a simple round capital, and stood 34 feet.

Each is comprised of eleven marble blocks, known as drums, stacked one upon another. As with the stylobate, the columns were made thicker in the middle to compensate for the visual effect of foreshortening. The inner structure contained the sanctuary itself. The cella was a rectangular building made of ashlar blocks. It comprised two rooms that shared a back wall, with their entrances at opposite sides. The eastern side was the larger of the two, featuring the great statue of Athena flanked on three sides by a row of columns.

The western room was smaller, and supported by four Ionian columns; known as the Hall of the Virgins, it served as a treasury. The architrave of the cella, or the facing just above the capitals of its columns, was carved to depict the Panathenaic festival, which was held yearly in celebration of Athena. By far, the roof was the most complicated part of the Parthenon, featuring the most variety in structural forms and the most decoration.

These structures will be addressed in ascending order. Just above the capitals of the columns is a layer of marble with a flat and unpainted outer facing.

The only decoration is found at the top of this layer, with a once-painted outer lip. A second layer just above the architrave, this layer was once brightly colored. It is comprised of alternating blocks of triglyphs, which appear as three vertical bars, and metopes, or reliefs depicting one scene in a series reflecting a common theme. The platform on which the roof proper rested stood atop the layer of the triglyphs and metopes, but extended out somewhat beyond that layer.

The revealed lower surface was decorated and painted. The eastern and western ends featured a triangular panel above the cornice, enclosing the space just beneath the roof. The pediments had once been painted, and served as a backdrop to free-standing sculptures.