Our last stop at the Acropolis was the Parthenon. It was built only in nine years, between 447 and 438 BCE — can you believe?! It was the third temple to be built in the same location, and was dedicated to Athena, the patron goddess of Athens. It is often considered one of the greatest examples of Doric architecture and sculpture (it has about 16,500 architectural elements!). Our arrival was quite easy! The Parthenon sits at the top of the hill, just beside the Erectheion, overlooked by the Caryatids. The ground is a bit slippery, it is always full of tourists and the weather can be quite hot, but luckily, we had sneakers on and a bottle of water by our side.
The Parthenon can be seen from many places in Athens — even down the hill, and it glows up beautifully at night. After taking photographs, we had to sit beside it and just try and take in its grandeur. It is amazing to think how this building still stands! Imagine it in its entirety, how would it look like? That's a job for the imagination, because many of its metopes, friezes and pediments, when not lost, are either at the third floor of the Acropolis Museum or at the British Museum.
The original metopes' themes were mostly wars and contests. The frieze showed the Great Panatheia, an ancient Athenian religious festival, with many colorful sculpted figures over a blue background. The east pediment showed the birth of Athena, while the west pediment showed Athena and Poseidon's fight over Attica (which Athena won, thus turning Attica into Athens).
Over time, this incredible building has been the subject of many events — it suffered a fire in 267 AD, many of its sculptures were destroyed by Christians, it even became a church and, after the Turkish conquest in 1458, a mosque. In the 1900s, many of its elements were looted by Lord Elgin (which is why there are so many Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum). This rich history lives within it, and fuels the imagination of anyone who has the privilege to be so close to this monument. Check out some of the photographs we took:
This is the travel journal of our trip around Greece and Turkey, in the fall of 2019.
