The Elgin Marbles : The Creation Of The Parthenon

The Greeks finished building an exquisite temple to their beloved goddess, Athena in the year 432 BCE. (Sayre 60). The name of this enriched, unique temple was the Parthenon. The Parthenon took the Greeks approximately fifteen years to complete and as Pericles stated, it was built to give gratitude to their goddess Athena for the salvation of their city, Athens and all of Greece in the Persian Wars (Sayre 60). It was also a symbol of their power and superiority among other cultures. It was something the Greeks took great pride in and recognized it to a great extent. The Parthenon was built on the highest point of the city of Athens to look over the precious Greek city. On the exterior walls of the Parthenon there was beautiful artwork that

The Athenian Greeks at the height of their power built a temple called the Parthenon which was a monument to their core values of perfectionism, humanism, and rationalism. It is important to understand that the human eye has imperfections which deceive the mind, so one can understand the unique steps that were taken to achieve the illusion of perfection to the human eye. The Greeks loved perfection, and as seen in the Parthenon, the Greek architects purposely made the Parthenon imperfect to account for the imperfections in the human eye. This was done so that when one views the Parthenon with the naked eye, it appears to be perfectly symmetrical, straight, and proportional. The entire Parthenon does not have a single right angle. An example of the Greeks compensating for the imperfections of the human eye is seen in the base of the Parthenon, which from a picture or in real life looks perfectly straight, but in reality it is actually curved slightly upward. It is curved because the Greeks knew that if you have a perfectly flat base for a building, it appears curved to the human eye. To account for that, the Greeks made it so that the base was already curved. The Greeks also curved the columns of the Parthenon inward, because if the columns were straight, it would appear to be curving outward. Again, the Greeks knew about how the human eye deceives the mind, and decided that they must trick the eye to please the mind. This was all done because the Greeks strived for

A personal love of Ancient Greek mythology, the Greek gods, and the myths made the first visit to the Parthenon exciting. The statue of Athena Parthenos shows great detail of her wardrobe, face, and her shield. The gold crown on her head shows detail and closely resembles the golden crowns depicted in many Ancient Greek works of arts. The gold draping that covers the colossal body frame of Athena is beautiful and it makes the statue stand out while presenting a feminine side of Athena. As one enters into the huge stone doors that lead to the Naos room which houses the statue of Athena is genuinely breathtaking as one approaches the 42 feet tall statue. The 65 feet high building structure of the Parthenon is amazing as one walks between each of the 46 Doric columns it gives an astonishing idea of what one can expect upon entering the

In the article “The Battle for the Parthenon Marbles”, written by Helena Smith, the author shows the reader the debacle the Parthenon faces. She shows the reader how the New Acropolis Museum has transformed Athens. Since the opening of the museum there has been in increase in traffic and cafes and restaurant have been full. In the first post-opening press conference Greek officials couldn’t contain their excitement after looking at the high number of ticket sales. The buyers of these tickets were both local and abroad. In the first five days of the opening about 55,000 people had bought the tickets. The New Acropolis Museum is on track to retrieve the Parthenon sculptures from the British

The Parthenon is located on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece; is a former temple which was dedicated to Greek goddess Athena, whom the Athens considered their leader. According to the British Museum (2015), The Parthenon was built nearly 2500 years ago and has a long and complex history. After thousands of years it became a church of the Virgin Mary of the Athenians, then a mosque and then finally resulted in a archaeological ruin. After the result of a ruin, the buildings were reformed in which various sculptures were damaged. During the 1800’s after the Parthenon being damaged, the Elgin marbles (Elgin) a part of the remaining sculpture, was removed and given to a British museum. For hundreds of years there has been a question if the British museum should return the Elgin marbles back to the Athenians or not. I believe that that the safest and most beneficial place for the Elgin marbles is the British museum, therefore the British should not return the marble to the Athenians.

It appears, the Greeks feel they have been robed from their statues at the Parthenon between the years 1801-1805. Lord Elgin, was the ambassador of the Ottoman Empire, which Athens was a part. He was granted permission from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to take any statues from the Parthenon. However, the Greeks feel Lord Elgin took advantage of his position by taking the statues back to the British Museum. Since the Turks had conquered Greece, it is hypotactically assumed they did not have any use or desire to keep the Parthenon intact. This led to Lord Elgin’s adventure of collecting the statues for the museum. In addition, to this, he was quite happy to have these items, because at that time it was popular to have Greek decorations or

The acquisition of the Parthenon marbles by the British museum has been a controversial topic for many years. The Parthenon marbles (commonly known as the ‘Elgin marbles’) concerns the set of stone sculptures and archaeological features which were procured by Lord Elgin and imparted to the British museum in 1816. Although the British endorse the legality of the subtraction of the marbles, many argue that the situation was ambiguous. Through the removal of these historically significant artefacts, Greece has suffered impacts upon their national pride, value and cultural symbolism. This topic is not only a matter of legal and ethical import, but also a degradation of justice.

The Elgin Marbles are a collection of Greek marble sculptures made by the citizens of Athens, originally part of the Parthenon. In the early 1800s, the marbles where removed from the building and transported overseas to Britain to be on display in the British Museum, where they reside currently. In my opinion, the marbles should be returned to their site of origin. These sculptures hold great cultural significance to Greece and deserve to be on display where they were built. Today, the Parthenon is protected and preserved, thus the artifacts would be protected as well, where they belong.

The winding rocky path that led up to the Acropolis was surrounded by numerous small shrines, including one to the god Pan, who had appeared to the runner Phidippides before the battle of Marathon. At its top was the Propylaia, an entryway and façade that formed the gateway to the Acropolis. Once inside the 'Sacred Precinct' you'd notice the most fabulous building in there, "The Parthenon". The Parthenon was started in 447 BC, but they couldn't finish it so they completed it some fifteen years later. It housed both a treasury and a sanctuary to Athena, in which was placed a fantastic 12-meter high ivory and gold statue of the goddess "Athena", called the "Athena Parthenos".

The Parthenon Around the fifth century BCE the people of Greece were deeply rooted in the arts and in philosophy. Because they were constantly looking for their place in nature and where they stood in the grand scheme of things within the universe, thus influencing everything around them, especially their love of the arts. This was very evident in their drama, sculptures, and even in their architecture. One of their most prominent achievements was the Parthenon.

After reviewing the lectures and smart history materials, I found that the Parthenon was very interesting. I believe that the Parthenon is one of the most beautiful architectural structures in Greek history. It was built around 447-432 BCE, and is located on the hill of Acropolis. Individuals named, Iktinos and Kallikrates were the architects of this temple. This structure was actually so important and popular that replicas of this temple were built in other locations such as Nashville, Tennessee. The Parthenon is made completely out of marble and was built in devotion to a Greek goddess named Athena. This temple shows the authority, prosperity and culture of the Athenian society (Ancient-Greece).

The Altar of Zeus transitioned from Parthenon’s traditional architectural concept and function yet gave a more decorative purpose and artistic details to the architecture. It is not hard to see that the artists in Hellenistic period who designed and constructed the Altar of Zeus purposely wanted the observant to focus more on the majestic size and delicate refinement of the architecture than the ones in conventional Athenian period. Compared to the traditional alter that served as an outside subordinate to the main Parthenon temple that practiced votive sacrificing to the goddess Athena, the Altar of Zeus continued with the traditional structural element of the Athenian Parthenon, including columns, entablatures and internal walls, yet at the same time, expanded the depth of the altar and widened the distance between the columns to create a more inviting extent that naturally attracts the observations to the interior décor of the temple, which is a symbolic transition from classical Greek visual and structural balance to Hellenistic’s choice

Located on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, the Parthenon is the most famous and most important piece of architecture in Greece. Standing in ruins as a former temple dedicated to the Greek Goddess of wisdom, Athena, the Parthenon has held the most important sculptures made by the Greeks. During the 1800s, when Greece was under the control of the Ottomans, sculptures from the Parthenon were sent to Britain by Lord Elgin for safe protection. The Parthenon Marbles have since then never been returned to the Greeks. The sculptures, currently housed in the British Museum in London, should be returned to their homeland because they are part of Greece’s culture, they have a safe home ready for them in the Acropolis Museum, they are not being cared for as they should, it would most likely boost the economy, and the English did not have the right to take them in the first place.

After reading your article about the Parthenon Marbles, I felt like I was reading my article, except that yours is put together more eloquently. I completely concur with you regarding how the British might have a “legal” claim on the marbles, but these marbles, as you put it, “belong where they came from”. Therefore, I also believe that they should be returned to Greece, no matter what the British claim regarding their “ownership”.

The architects were Iktinos and Kallikrates with a mention of Vitruv and dedicated to the Goddess Athena Pallas or Parthenos (virgin). It's main function was to house the statues of Athena which were made of gold and ivory by Phedias. The inner chamber was unusually large so it could house the oversized statue of Athena. The greater width and length of the Parthenon features double decked columns instead of walls. The back room sheltered Athena's treasure.