The Periclean Building Program

“There was one measure above all which at once gave the greatest pleasure to the Athenians, adorned their city and created amazement among the rest of mankind, and which is today the sole testimony that the tales of the ancient power and glory of Greece are no mere fables.”
The concept of beauty was first explored by the ancient Greeks, beauty being narrowly defined and a central concept to their quality of life. Their classical values stressed order and serenity. In 447 Pericles’ building program, one of his greatest achievements was conceived with the objective of reconstructing and beautifying the Acropolis, which, upon return from the Athenian’s triumph against the Persians at Plataea in 479 BC, was discovered to have been destroyed and its precious buildings laid to waste.
Themistocles, Aristides and Kimon successively vied with each other in rebuilding the city. But Pericles surpassed them all.
Through its great naval alliance the city controlled an empire - Pericles now insisted his countrymen support him in constructing a city whose magnificence, architectural genius, and sheer brilliance would reflect the prestige of imperial Athens:

The Propylaea is sometimes considered the most perfect of all the surviving specimens of Athenian art. Architects often consider it more unique in its design than the Parthenon.

Pericles summoned a conference of all Greek states to consider the questions of rebuilding the Greek temples destroyed by the Persians. Athens decided to draw heavily on the reserves of the alliance for a magnificent building program centred on the Acropolis. In 447 work started on the temple later known as the Parthenon and on the gold statue of Athena (by Phidias), which it was to house; the Acropolis project was to include, among other things, a temple to Athena Nike and the Propylaea (started 437), the entrance gateway, far grander and more expensive than any previous Greek secular building.

In 437 BC the architect Mnesicles began his project for the Propylaea, the monumental new gateway to the sanctuary of the Acropolis. A marvel of architectural achievement, the Propylaea consists of a central portal with two adjoining Doric stoa wings, made of Pentelic white marble.

Pericles’ desire was to make Athens an artistic and cultural as well as a political centre. It was believed that every Grecian should strive for a perfect life; a life dictated by the gods. Hence, all buildings or dwelling places should also attain that certain "perfection." In response, Pericles dedicated himself to beautifying Athens, not only in architecture, but also in spirit. Greek life was dominated by religion and so it is not surprising that the temples of ancient Greece were the biggest and most beautiful. They also had a political purpose as they often built to celebrate civic power and pride, or offer thanksgiving to the patron deity of a city for success in war.