The buildings were created from the mind of Pericles and the sculptor Phidias sometime between the 7th and 8th century BC. They envisioned Greece being the center of all beauty and inspiration, with monuments of no comparison. Having these edifices c

In 1800, Lord Elgin, British ambassador to Turkey, secured permission to remove parts of the structures to the British Museum, because they would be safer there than in Athens enduring weather, war, and pollution. A few years later, during the Greek War of Independence (1821-1830), the Acropolis was twice bombarded, and much of the Erechtheion was destroyed. What we have done here to preserve a piece of history for ourselves, the citizens of Nashville, Tennessee, have built a replica of the Parthenon. The more recent architects tried as much as possible in duplicating the Parthenon by using the same dimensions as the original, with similar materials, and so far as our knowledge has taken us, with the dame decorations and coloring as the original that was built over 2000 years ago.

onstructed, Pericles, the leader of the democratic faction and a friend of Sophocles, dreamt of Athens as the leader of a panhellenic confederacy, as an ideal democracy, and above all as a city with magnificent edifices, temples, public buildings and theatres, (Durant).

These buildings were used as a place of worship for the Gods, like Athena, until the Mycenaean occupation of the Acropolis around 1600 BC (Bury/Meiggs). At that time, the Acropolis was changed from a religious center to a settlement for defense. The concepts of beauty and pride in architecture were lost in this period; people called the walls of the Acropolis “cyclopean walls,” after the Greek Mythological creature called the Cyclops.

The pedimental sculptures are relief sculptures larger than those of the metopes are. They were displayed at both ends of the temple, at the West End of the temple the sculptures depicted the contest between Poseidon and Athena for the right to be the patron deity of Athens. The eastern pedimental group showed the birth of Athena from Zeus’s head. But the pedimental sculptures suffered a tremendous loss when the Parthenon was hit by a Venetian bombshell in 1687 and the powder magazines stored inside, exploded, (Solomon).

Yet, thanks to the enormous political and economic revival of Athens after the war and destruction of the city, the task of building a new city and temple were relatively soon accomplished.

Peisistratos, around the middle of the 6th century, made his first attempt to establish himself as a tyrant when he seized the Acropolis. In 574 BC, Peisistratos finally and firmly established his position on the Acropolis with the use of mercenaries. Peisistratos’ son, Hippias, held the Acropolis after the death of his father and murder of his brother; the Acropolis was now his stronghold over the Athenian people. In 510 BC, Hippias was attacked and blockaded in the Acropolis by the Spartans; he seemed to have held out against his opponents until the capturing of his children forced him to surrender. With Hippias’ stronghold, it would therefore seem that the Acropolis was defensible until a few years later when the Spartans, besieged in turn in the Acropolis, were forced to surrender to the Athenians. The Acropolis was clearly not very effective as a long-term defense system, (Durant).

Between the Greek mainland and the island of Crete, 220 islands dot the Aegean Sea, forming a circle around the island of Delos. On the isle of Delos, as told in Greek stories, the great god Apollo and his sister Thetis had been born. Delos was so sacred as a sanctuary, that both death and birth was forbidden upon its shores. All known graves were emptied so that the island might be purified and those about to give birth or die were hurriedly conveyed from within its borders. On Delos, after the expulsion of the Persians, Athens and

Some topics in this essay:
Parthenon Doric, Greeks Durant, Athenians Pericles, Solomon Parthenon, Nashville Tennessee, Erechtheion Ionic, Persians Athens, Aegean Sea, League Treasury, Theseion Acropolis, temple athena, city athens, sacred rock, temple athena nike, century bc, athena nike, middle 6th century, temple west, shrines temples, athenian people, religious center, pedimental sculptures,