Greek Architecture
dedicated to Athena the patron goddess
The Greeks believed in certain ideas
like reason, moderation, balance and
harmony in their designing of designing
and building structures. The most
important structure in Greek society was
the temple dedicated to the patron god
or goddess. They were simple, graceful
structures that were made of the finest
stone and marble. They served as
places for the ancient gods and
goddesses to inhabit and for the people
to come and give sacrifices.
These temples had a walled room in
their center called a cella where the
statues of the gods and goddess stood.
A smaller room was sometimes used as
a special treasury to hold gold and other
offerings that were given to the temple
complex. Large columns supported the
roof and at first were carved from wood.
Later the Greeks used marble blocks
chiseled from stone quarries to form
these columns. The three different
styles of columns, that the Greeks used
were the Doric, Ionic, and the
Corinthian.
Usually the Greeks would build
their temples on an acropolis or the
high part of the city. The acropolis
would serve as a fortress and the
religious center of each city state. The
columns of the Greeks are one of the
main types of architecture that we use
even today in buildings such as the
White house, and the Capitol building in
Washington. Once the columns were
built then the sculptors would come in
and design pictures of events that
pertained to the god or goddess or
honor warriors who had defended their
city state.
The Parthenon was one such temple
of Athens. It was built in 449 B.C. by
Pericles the leader of Athens. Pericles
asked the famous sculptor Phidias to
help design and build a new temple
called the Parthenon which in Greek
means “dwelling of the maiden”.
The building was 228 feet long, 65 feet
high and 101 feet wide. It basically held
two rooms- the main room held a forty
foot statue of Athena made of gold and
ivory. Her left hand rested on a twenty
foot spear and the right hand held a
statue of Nike, the goddess of victory.
The other room was the temple
treasury. Around these rooms 46
columns of the Doric order went around
the four sides. The Parthenon was built
throughout of the finest marble that was
very light in color and as stated by the
Greeks would reflect the suns colors at
various times of the day.
The two triangular ends of the roof
(pediments) were filled with sculpture
depicting the birth of Athena (east) and
the contest between Poseidon and
Athena for possession of Athens (west).
Along the frieze of the Cella there was a
524 foot continuous sculpture of 350
people and 125 horses in the
Panathenaic procession honoring the
birthday of Athena. Many of these
sculptures are consider to be some of
the greatest sculptures ever made and
were taken by a British Lord named
Elgin and kept in the British museum in
London. The Parthenon was dedicated
to Athena but it also clearly showed to
the world that Athens and the Athenian
people were the most powerful and their
glory was second to none.