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Myth, Art, War: The Acropolis Programme
Gillian Shepherd
.
Gillian Shepherd
Image Source Page: h0p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Acropolis-‐Athens34.jpg
The Acropolis, Athens
The Persians found Athens itself abandoned except for a few people in the Temple of Athena Polias… who had barricaded the Acropolis with planks and timbers. It was partly their poverty which prevented them from seeking shelter in Salamis with the rest, and partly their belief that they had discovered the real meaning of the Priestess’ oracle – “that the wooden wall should not be taken”… The Persians occupied the hill which the Athenians call the Areopagus, opposite the Acropolis, and began the siege. The method they used was to shoot into the barricade arrows with burning tow attached to them. Their wooden wall had betrayed them, but still the Athenians, though in imminent and deadly peril, refused to give in… The Persians who had got up [the Acropolis] first made straight for the gates, flung them open, and slaughtered those who were in the sanctuary. Having left not one of the alive, they stripped the temple of its treasures and burnt everything on the Acropolis. Xerxes, now absolute master of Athens, despatched a rider to Susa with news for Artabanus of his success.
Herod. 8. 50 ff.
Reconstruction of the Acropolis c. 480
Image Source Page: h0p://www.trentu.ca/faculty/rfitzsimons/AHCL2200Y/LE%2009-‐03.htm
I will not place life above freedom, nor will I desert my leaders Whether they live or die, but I will bury all those of our allies who die in ba:le. And after defeating the barbarians in the war, I will destroy none of the cities which have fought for Greece, but from all those who have chosen to support the barbarian I will exact the tithe. And of the sacred shrines which have been burnt and thrown down by the barbarians, I will rebuild none at all, but I will allow them to be left as a memorial to future generations of the godlessness of the barbarians
Lykourgos, Leocratem 81
The Oath of Plataea
The Acropolis building programme
• Parthenon (447-32) • Propylaea (437-2) • Erechtheion (421-404) • Temple of Athena Nike (421-404)
NB Delian League; Perikles; Athena Parthenos = Athena the Virgin
Parthenon Erechtheion
Propylaea Temple of Athena Nike
Image Source Page: h0p://www.absolutatenas.com/la-‐acropolis/
The Athenian Acropolis
The Parthenon
• 469 talents (from building accounts) • 1 talent = 60 minae (Attic-Euboic
standard) • 1 mina = 100 drachmae • I.E. 2,814,000 drachmae • 1 dr. = approx. 1 day’s wage • $100 million? (probably not, but you get the idea)
The Parthenon (nb octastyle)
Photo © Gillian Shepherd
Parthenon, plan
Image Source Page: h0p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Parthenon-‐top-‐view.svg
Image Source Page:h0p://jRradu.free.fr/GRECEANTIQUE/GRECE%20CONTINENTALE/PAGES%20THEMATIQUES/restauraZon-‐acropole.php3?r1=0&r2=0&r3=0
Bombardment of the Parthenon by Morosini (1687)
Image Source Page: h0p://www.baroque-‐in-‐art.org/Study-‐of-‐a-‐pediment-‐from-‐the-‐Parthenon-‐large.html
Parthenon, West Pediment (Jacques Carrey)
Parthenon, reconstruction of pediments
East pediment (British Museum) Hestia, Dione and Aphrodite?
Image Source Page: h0p://www.sandrashaw.com/AH1L18.htm
Image Source Page: http://heritage-key.com/greece/pediments-parthenon
The Parthenon Metopes
• West: Amazonomachy (Greeks vs Amazons) • North: Trojan War • East: Gigantomachy (Greeks vs Giants) • South: Centauromachy (Greeks vs Centaurs)
Centauromachy (south metopes), British Museum
Source Page: h0p://www.shafe.co.uk/art/Parthenon_Metope_27_South.asp
Image Source Page: h0p://www.greek-‐thesaurus.gr/new-‐acropolis-‐museum.html
Image Source Page: h0p://www.trentu.ca/faculty/rfitzsimons/AHCL2200Y/LE%2010-‐01.htm
Temple of Zeus, West Pediment, Centauromachy (Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs; Theseus, Pethithoos (grandson of Zeus and king of Lapiths)
/
Image Source Page: h#p://www.ancient.eu.com/image/423/
Image source page: h0p://cultureconnectdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/frieze.jpg
Image source page: h0p://www.emersonkent.com/images/frieze_parthenon.jpg
The Parthenon Frieze
Panathenaic Procession?
Problems: • Non-mythological event on a temple? • Discrepancies with literary sources
• Why horsemen instead of foot soldiers? • Males not females bearing water jars? • No ship with the peplos hoisted like a sail?
• Generalised rather than actual version? • Numerous other interpretations, including mythological and historical
East frieze: peplos scene? Image source page: h0p://nepalchildrenshome.org/wp-‐content/plugins/image-‐widget/parthenon-‐frieze-‐gods-‐i5.jpg
Phidias showing the frieze of the Parthenon to his friends (Sir Lawrence Alma-‐Tadema, 1868)
Image source page: h0p://www.wikipainZngs.org/en/sir-‐lawrence-‐alma-‐tadema/phidias-‐showing-‐the-‐frieze-‐of-‐the-‐parthenon-‐to-‐his-‐friends-‐1868
Parthenon Frieze (position on Parthenon and British Museum)
Image Source Page: h0p://www.visit-‐ancient-‐greece.com/elgin-‐marbles.html
Image source page: h0p://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Riders_in_the_procession-‐North_frieze-‐Parthenon-‐BriZsh_Museum.jpg
Athena Parthenos? Reproduction based on evidence for the original of c. 440 by Pheidias
Cf. Thuc. 2. 13; Pausanias I.24.5; Pliny Natural History 36.18 ff.
Varvarkeion Athena (2nd cent. AD)
And:
Image Source Page: h0p://www.williamhenry.net/conference08.html
Nashville, Tennessee
Source Page: h0p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena_Parthenos
Erechtheion
Photo © Gillian Shepherd
The Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis
Image Source Page: h0p://travel.ezinemark.com/athena-‐nike-‐temple-‐of-‐victory-‐goddess-‐773661f44e51.html
Image Source Page: h0p://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth212/pagan_chrisZan.html
Nike binding her sandal (parapet, Temple of Athena Nike)
Nikai conducting a bull to sacrifice (Temple of Athena Nike)
Image Source Page: h0p://jRradu.free.fr/GRECEANTIQUE/GRECE%20CONTINENTALE/ATHENES/MUSEE%20ACROPOLE/musee-‐acropole-‐056.php3?r1=0&r2=0&r3=0
Temple of Athena Nike, South Frieze Greeks and Persians (Marathon?) c. 410 BC
Image Source Page: h0p://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/ARTH209/late_fiih_century.htm
The Propylaea
Image Source Page: h0p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Propylaea-‐athens.jpg
Image Source Page: h0p://www.fransite.net/Klassiek/Grieks/kunst/IKTINOS%20and%20KALLIKRATES,%20Parthenon,%20the%20Temple%20of%20Athena%20Parthenos%20(view%20from%20the%20northwest),%20Acropolis,%20Athens,%20Greece,%20447-‐438%20BCE_jpg_orig.html
Suppose, for example, that the city of Sparta were to become deserted and that only the temples and foundations of buildings remained, I think that future generations would, as time passed, find it very difficult to believe that the place had really been as powerful as it was represented to be. Yet the Spartans occupy two-‐‑fifths of the Peloponnese and stand at the head not only of the whole Peloponnese itself but also of numerous allies beyond its frontiers. Since, however, the city is not regularly planned and contains no temples or monuments of great magnificence, but is simply a collection of villages in the ancient Hellenic way, its appearance would not come up to expectation. If, on the other hand, the same thing were to happen to Athens, one would conjecture from what met the eye that the city had been twice as powerful as in fact it is. We have no right, therefore, to judge cities by their appearances rather than by their actual power…
Thucydides I. 10.
? Was Thucydides right?
Photo © Gillian Shepherd Photo © Gillian Shepherd
Image Source Page: h0p://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acropolis-‐Athens34.jpg
Enjoyed this subject? Then sign up for the “sequel” next semester…
Semester 2 The Roman World (MDS1TRW)
