The Temple of Parthenon at Athens .

“The monuments were imposing in their unrivaled grandeur, beauty and grace; the artists vied with one another in the technical perfection of their work, but the most admirable thing was the speed of execution”.

---- Plutarch.

The temple is built entirely in pentelic marble on high ground of Acropolis, south of Temple of Athena (old) and dedicated to Athena Parthenos the Virgin Athena. It is constructed by Architects Ictinus and Callicrates under supervision of sculptor Pheidias.

The temple is built on rectangular plan 71m (228’-2”) long and 32m (101’-4”) wide. It sends on crepidoma, a platform of three steps with tread 70 cm. and rise 50 cm and curves up in the middle of all four sides. These being to climb, smaller steps are also provided at the centre of east and west ends. The temple is designed in octa – style i.e. eight columns in front and back, which lean inward. There are seventeen columns on either side measuring the corner column twice. The intermediate columns are about 1.88 m whereas the corner columns are 1.90 m at the base. The corner columns were not only made stouter bit also set closer to the adjacent columns. Otherwise they would have appeared thinner and lonely against the open sky than those seen against the solid background of the naos wall. All are 10.4 m high and of Doric order. The fluting of the columns represents the highest degree of artistry. The shafts have the slight convexity or entasis with upward taper or diminution.

The temple is constructed facing the east so that the first rays of the rising sun should fall and illuminate the status of Athena, which is placed in ‘naos’ measuring 30 m long, 19 m wide with three rows of columns, ten on each side and five on western side in ten tiers. The statue of Athena in gold and ivory with eyes of precious stones was the finest sculptural achievement of master artist Pheidias. The statue measured 13m with its pedestal.

To its west is the virgin’s chamber – the Parthenon from which the temple derived its name. Its roof is supported by four Ionic columns. At the rear end there is opisthodomos or epinaos.

The entablature supported on columns is about 3.4 m high and curve up in the middle. The architrave was ornamented with bronze shields. The sculptured metopes are about 1.34 m square numbering 14 on front and back and 32 on south and north sides. The eastern metopes contained contests between gods and giants, on western metopes, between Greek and Amazons, on the southern between Cenaturs and Lapiths; on western metopes, between scenes from ‘Capture of Troy’. The friezes lean outward slightly.

The pediment inclined at 13º - 30’ had floral decoration called ‘Acroteria’ about 3 m. high as its top and lower angles. The sloping cornices of pediment contained the honey suckle ornament.

In order to cover the ends of marble tiles, the lower edges of the roof are masked by ‘Antifixae’ ornament.

The ‘Tympana’ in the pediment are fully enriched with fine sculptures in bright colors. Those on the eastern one presented the birth of Athena, and on the western, the contest of Athena and Poseidon for the soil of Attica. All these have undergone the ravages of time and remained in the ruin state.

After the fall of Greeks, it was under the Romans but still it received the same status as it did during the Greek’s control. The Greeks embraced Christianity and Parthenon ultimately became Christian chapel. Its one part was removed to create an apse. Under Turks it was turned into mosque in 1458. During Venetian siege, in 1687, a cannon shot exploded the gun powder stored in it which destroyed many valuable sculptures. The Venetians after winning the battle got over the Parthenon. They removed the central figure from the pediment. During the period of disorder, many marble pieces of sculptures disappeared. There were still 20 left in 1674 but there were only 12 in 1747 and hardly 4 in 1800. In 1803, Thomas Bruce, VIIth, Earl of Elgin, brought 120 tonnes of sculptures to Britain. These now adorn the British Museum at London, as they did at Acropolis of Athens.

The temple at its glory stood as a miracle of architecture with its glory stood as a miracle of architecture with its shining marble, sensuous sculpture in glowing colors.

It has influenced number of writers, artists and architects. Poet John Keats got inspiration for his poems. ‘Hyperion’ and ‘Ode on a Grecian Ura’. Poet Emerson paid highest compliment in following lines:

“Earth proudly wears the Parthenon

As the best gem upon her zone”.

Optical Illusion of Parthenon, Athens.

Many optical illusions are found in architecture and, strangely enough, many of these were recognized long before painting developed beyond its primitive stages. The architecture of classic Greece displays a highly developed knowledge of many geometrical optical illusions and the architects of those far-off centuries carefully worked out details for counteracting them. Drawings reveal many optical illusions to the architect, but many are not predicted by them. The ever-changing relations of lines and forms in architecture as we vary our viewpoint introduce many optical illusions which may appear and disappear. Any view of a group of buildings or of the components of a single building will exhibit some optical illusions. We never see in the reality the same relations of lines, forms, colors, and brightness as indicated by the drawings or blue-prints. Perhaps this is one of the best reasons for justifying the construction of expensive models of our more pretentious structures.

No detailed account of the many architectural optical illusions will be attempted, for it is easy for the reader to see many of the possibilities suggested by preceding chapters. However, a few will be touched upon to reveal the magnitude of the illusory effect and to aid the observer in looking for or recognizing them, or purely for historical interest. In architecture the eye cannot be wholly satisfied by such tools as the level, the square, and the plumb-line. The eye is satisfied only when the appearance is satisfactory. For the purpose of showing the extent of certain architectural optical illusions, the compensatory measures applied by the Greeks are excellent examples. These also reveal the remarkable application of science to architecture as compared with the scanty application in painting of the same period.

During the best period of Grecian art many refinements were applied in order to correct optical illusions. It would be interesting to know to what extent the magnitude of the optical illusions as they appeared to many persons were actually studied. The Parthenon of Athens affords an excellent example of the magnitude of the corrections which the designer thought necessary in order to satisfy the eye. The long lines of the architrave - the beam which surmounts the columns or extends from column to column - would appear to sag if it were actually straight. This is also true of the stylobate, or substructure of a colonnade, and of pediments and other features. These lines were often convex instead of being straight as the eye desires to see them.

In the Parthenon, the stylobate has an upward curvature of more than four inches on the sides of the edifice and of more than two and a half inches on the east and west fronts. Vertical features were made to incline inward in order to correct the common appearance of leaning outward at the top. In the Parthenon, the axes of the columns are not vertical, but they are inclined inward nearly three inches. They are said also to be inclined toward each other to such a degree that they would meet at an altitude of one mile above the ground. The eleven-foot frieze and architrave is inclined inward about one and one-half inches.

In Fig. 85, a represents the front of a temple as it should appear; b represents its appearance (exaggerated) if it were actually built like a without compensations for optical illusions; crepresents it as built and showing the physical corrections (exaggerated) in order that it may appear to the eye as a does.

Tall columns if they are actually straight are likely to appear somewhat shrunken in the middle; therefore they are sometimes made slightly swollen in order to appear straight. This outward curvature of the profile is termed an entasis and in the Parthenon column, which is thirty-four feet in height, amounted to about three-fourths of an inch. In some early Grecian works, it is said that this correction was overdone but that its omission entirely is quite unsatisfactory. Some authorities appear to believe that an excellent compromise is found in the Parthenon columns.

One of the conditions which is responsible for certain optical illusions and has been compensated for on occasions is represented in Fig. 86. On the left are a series of squares of equal size placed in a vertical row. If these are large so that they might represent stories in a building they will appear to decrease in size from the bottom upward, because of the decreasing projection at the eye.

Many optical illusions are found in architecture and, strangely enough, many of these were recognized long before painting developed beyond its primitive stages. The architecture of classic Greece displays a highly developed knowledge of many geometrical optical illusions and the architects of those far-off centuries carefully worked out details for counteracting them. Drawings reveal many optical illusions to the architect, but many are not predicted by them. The ever-changing relations of lines and forms in architecture as we vary our viewpoint introduce many optical illusions which may appear and disappear. Any view of a group of buildings or of the components of a single building will exhibit some optical illusions. We never see in the reality the same relations of lines, forms, colors, and brightnesses as indicated by the drawings or blue-prints. Perhaps this is one of the best reasons for justifying the construction of expensive models of our more pretentious structures.

No detailed account of the many architectural optical illusions will be attempted, for it is easy for the reader to see many of the possibilities suggested by preceding chapters. However, a few will be touched upon to reveal the magnitude of the illusory effect and to aid the observer in looking for or recognizing them, or purely for historical interest. In architecture the eye cannot be wholly satisfied by such tools as the level, the square, and the plumb-line. The eye is satisfied only when the appearance is satisfactory. For the purpose of showing the extent of certain architectural optical illusions, the compensatory measures applied by the Greeks are excellent examples. These also reveal the remarkable application of science to architecture as compared with the scanty application in painting of the same period.

During the best period of Grecian art many refinements were applied in order to correct optical illusions. It would be interesting to know to what extent the magnitude of the optical illusions as they appeared to many persons were actually studied. The Parthenon of Athens affords an excellent example of the magnitude of the corrections which the designer thought necessary in order to satisfy the eye. The long lines of the architrave - the beam which surmounts the columns or extends from column to column - would appear to sag if it were actually straight. This is also true of the stylobate, or substructure of a colonnade, and of pediments and other features. These lines were often convex instead of being straight as the eye desires to see them.

In the Parthenon, the stylobate has an upward curvature of more than four inches on the sides of the edifice and of more than two and a half inches on the east and west fronts. Vertical features were made to incline inward in order to correct the common appearance of leaning outward at the top. In the Parthenon, the axes of the columns are not vertical, but they are inclined inward nearly three inches. They are said also to be inclined toward each other to such a degree that they would meet at an altitude of one mile above the ground. The eleven-foot frieze and architrave is inclined inward about one and one-half inches.

In this fig.:

a. represents the front of a temple as it should appear; b represents its appearance (exaggerated) if it were actually built like a without compensations for optical illusions; c represents it as built and showing the physical corrections (exaggerated) in order that it may appear to the eye as a does.

Tall columns if they are actually straight are likely to appear somewhat shrunken in the middle; therefore they are sometimes made slightly swollen in order to appear straight. This outward curvature of the profile is termed an entasis and in the Parthenon column, which is thirty-four feet in height, amounted to about three-fourths of an inch. In some early Grecian works, it is said that this correction was overdone but that its omission entirely is quite unsatisfactory. Some authorities appear to believe that an excellent compromise is found in the Parthenon columns.

One of the conditions which is responsible for certain optical illusions and has been compensated for on occasions. On the left are a series of squares of equal size placed in a vertical row. If these are large so that they might represent stories in a building they will appear to decrease in size from the bottom upward, because of the decreasing projection at the eye.

This is obvious if the eye is considered to be at the point where the inclined lines meet. In order to compensate for the variation in visual angle, there must be a series of rectangles increasing considerably in height toward the top. The correction is shown in the illustration.

It is stated that an inscription on an ancient temple was written in letters arranged vertically, and in order to make them appear of equal size they were actually increased in size toward the top. Obviously a given correction would be correct only for one distance in a given plane.