| Hekatompedon | |
|---|---|
 Sculpture from the east pediment center depicting a lioness killing a calf | |
  Location within Greece | |
| General information | |
| Type | Temple for the worship ofAthena |
| Architectural style | Ancient Greek Archaic |
| Location | Athens, Greece |
| Coordinates | 37°58′17″N23°43′36″E / 37.9715°N 23.7267°E /37.9715; 23.7267 |
| Current tenants | Museum |
| Construction started | ca. 570 BC |
| Completed | ca. 550 BC |
| Destroyed | 490 BC |
| Owner | Greek government |
TheHekatompedon orHekatompedos (Ancient Greek:ἑκατόμπεδος, fromἑκατόν, "hundred", and πούς, "foot"), also known asUr-Parthenon andH–Architektur, was an ancientGreek temple on theAcropolis of Athens built fromlimestone in the Archaic period, and it was located in the position of the presentParthenon.
The name of the temple, "Hekatompedon", was found in inscriptions and is translated as “one hundred feet long”. Differing significantly from modern measurement systems, the length of their "foot" measurement may be seen by comparison: in modern measurements the length of the temple was 46 meters (whereas, using a modern measurement, their "one hundred feet" would only amount to approximately 30 meters).
This temple was built around 570–550 BC by theAthenians. They then demolished the Hekatompedon in 490 BC after their victory over an invasion byPersians at theBattle of Marathon in order to celebrate the victory by building a larger temple (that later would become known as theOlder Parthenon). The latter temple was destroyed in 480 BC during theSecond Persian invasion of Greece when the returning Persiansdestroyed Athens, and finally, the temple that the Persians destroyed was replaced with the presentParthenon.
The existence of the Hekatompedon is witnessed by historical documents. Its foundations have disappeared, but architectural and sculptural elements found in the southern part of theMycenaean wall ofAcropolis of Athens have been assigned by scholars to this early temple.
As with many other archaeological findings on the Acropolis, the initial descriptions of Hekatompedon in the late nineteenth century were based only on architectural and sculptural fragments. In that limited context, Hekatompedon was known asH-Architektur in descriptions and cataloguing, next to other buildings such asA–,B–Architektur, etc.[1]
The description of the temple as well as its presumed location have changed over time with the advancement of archaeological methods and techniques and knowledge gained through further discoveries.
The first descriptions were byWilhelm Dörpfeld. Dörpfeld had assigned all fragments to the neighbouringOld Temple of Athena that stood between the still standingErechtheum and Parthenon.[2]
Theodor Wiegand hypothesized in 1904 thatH–Architektur was a non-peripteros temple located on the site of the Old Temple of Athena, and was in fact an earlier stage of the Old Temple that was later expanded with aperistasis. Moreover, he identifiedH–Architektur as theHekatompedon mentioned in ancient inscriptions.[1][3]
However, in 1922,Ernst Buschor proposed thatH–Architektur had been located to the south, on the site of the still standing Parthenon and he identified the earlier structure asUr-Parthenon, German for "original Parthenon".[1][4]
In 1936,Walter-Herwig Schuchhardt's extensive research on the surviving fragments and sculptures proved that the pediments of the temple must have been larger than earlier presumed. As a result, he reconstructed aperipteros temple instead of the previous reconstructions that included a distyle or tristylein antis temple.[1][5]
Further research byWilliam Bell Dinsmoor, Immo Beyer, and others, as well as historical correlations between the surviving fragments and the destruction of the Acropolis by the Persians in 480 BC have led to the current hypothesis that Hekatompedon was a hexastyle peripteral Doric temple with a 46-metre longcrepidoma and that was located on the site of Parthenon.[1]
The pediments were colourfully painted and their porous limestone has allowed the ancient paint to survive well.[6] One of the pediments (likely the West pediment) contained two lionessestearing apart a bull in the centre. On the leftHerakles fights againstTriton and on the right he fights with the Three-bodied (Triple-bodied) Daemon with the symbols of the three elements of nature in his hands.
The three upper bodies of the winged monster hold a wave, a flame, and a bird. The lower portion of the figure has intertwined snake tails thought to symbolize the four natural elements, i.e. water, fire, air, and earth, respectively. The figure is thought to represent eitherNereus orTyphon.
Overall the meaning of the whole pediment is mysterious due to a lack of understanding of earlier religious beliefs. Some scholars speculate that it means the dominance of the human wisdom over elements represented through water deities: the lions are earth animals, whereas the bull represents water creatures. In addition, bothTriton and Nereus were sea creatures defeated byHerakles on the way to theHesperides garden, which earned him immortality.
The East pediment, also known as the Lioness pediment, contains two in the centre, who are killing a calf (only one has been recovered) and twosnakes flanking the lionesses on the side corners. The meaning of this scene is again, unknown without certain knowledge of the ancient religious beliefs of these ancient peoples.
Other surviving sculptures include four horses and more lionesses carved in relief, both frommetopes of the temple, and a very fragmentarygorgon from the centralakroterion.
The style of the sculptures is typical of the early Archaic period. The overall narrative scenes of the pediments and metopes is half narrative, including human or semi-human figures, half animal, including animals placed in a symmetrical or repetitive fashion. This also is a characteristic of the illustrations on the contemporaryancient Greek pottery. Humans in this ancient artwork were depicted consistently with what is called thearchaic smile and is interpreted variously by modern authors.
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