The Parthenon was built in the 5th century BC in thanksgiving for the Greek victory over thePersian invaders during theGreco-Persian Wars.[10] Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon also served as the citytreasury.[11][12] Construction started in 447 BC when theDelian League was at the peak of its power. It was completed in 438 BC; work on the artwork and decorations continued until 432 BC. For a time, it served as the treasury of the Delian League, which later became theAthenian Empire.
In the final decade of the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to theVirgin Mary. After theOttoman conquest in the mid-15th century, it became amosque. In theMorean War, a Venetian bomb landed on the Parthenon, which the Ottomans had used as a munitions dump, during the 1687siege of the Acropolis. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon. From 1800 to 1803,[13]the 7th Earl of Elgin controversially removed many of the surviving sculptures and subsequently shipped them to England where they are now known as theElgin Marbles or Parthenon marbles.[14] Since 1975, numerous large-scale restoration projects have been undertaken to preserve remaining artefacts and ensure its structural integrity.[15][16]
The word "Parthenon" comes from the Greekparthénos (παρθένος) 'maiden, girl' as well as 'virgin, unmarried woman'. The Liddell–Scott–JonesGreek–English Lexicon states that it may have referred to the "unmarried women's apartments" in a house, but that in the Parthenon it seems to have been used for a particular room of the temple.[17] There is some debate as to which room that was. The lexicon states that this room was the westerncella of the Parthenon. This has also been suggested by J.B. Bury.[10] One theory is that the Parthenon was the room where thearrephoroi, a group of four young girls chosen to serve Athena each year, wove apeplos that was presented to Athena duringPanathenaic Festivals.[18] Christopher Pelling asserts that the name "Parthenon" means the "temple of the virgin goddess", referring to the cult of Athena Parthenos that was associated with the temple.[19] It has also been suggested that the name of the temple alludes to the maidens (parthénoi), whose supreme sacrifice guaranteed the safety of the city.[20] In that case, the room originally known as the Parthenon could have been a part of the temple known today as theErechtheion.[21]
In 5th-century BC accounts of the building, the structure is simply calledὁ νᾱός (ho naos;lit. "the temple"). Douglas Frame writes that the name "Parthenon" was a nickname related to the statue of Athena Parthenos, and only appeared a century after construction. He contends that "Athena's temple was never officially called the Parthenon and she herself most likely never had the cult titleparthénos".[22] The ancient architectsIktinos andCallicrates appear to have called the buildingἙκατόμπεδος (Hekatómpedos;lit. "the hundred footer") in their lost treatise on Athenian architecture.[23]Harpocration wrote that some people used to call the Parthenon the "Hekatompedos", not due to its size but because of its beauty and fine proportions.[23] The first instance in which Parthenon definitely refers to the entire building comes from the fourth century BC oratorDemosthenes.[24] In the 4th century BC and later, the building was referred to as theHekatompedos or theHekatompedon as well as theParthenon.Plutarch referred to the building during the first century AD as theHekatompedos Parthenon.[25]
A 2020 study by Janric van Rookhuijzen supports the idea that the building known today as the Parthenon was originally called theHekatompedon. Based on literary and historical research, he proposes that "the treasury called the Parthenon should be recognized as the west part of the building now conventionally known as theErechtheion".[26][27]
Because the Parthenon was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, it was sometimes called the Temple ofMinerva, the Roman name for Athena, particularly during the 19th century.[28]
Parthénos was also applied to theVirgin Mary (Parthénos Maria) when the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the final decade of the 6th century.[29]
Although the Parthenon is architecturally a temple and is usually called so, some scholars have argued that it is not really a temple in the conventional sense of the word.[30] A smallshrine has been excavated within the building, on the site of an oldersanctuary probably dedicated to Athena as a way to get closer to the goddess,[30] but the Parthenon apparently never hosted the official cult of Athena Polias, patron of Athens. Thecult image of Athena Polias, which was bathed in the sea and to which was presented thepeplos, was an olive-woodxoanon, located in another temple on the northern side of the Acropolis, more closely associated with the Great Altar of Athena.[31] TheHigh Priestess of Athena Polias supervised the city cult of Athena based in theAcropolis, and was the chief of the lesser officials, such as theplyntrides,arrephoroi andkanephoroi.[32]
The colossal statue of Athena byPhidias was not specifically related to any cult attested by ancient authors[33] and is not known to have inspired any religious fervour.[31] Preserved ancient sources do not associate it with any priestess, altar or cult name.[34]
According toThucydides, during thePeloponnesian War when Sparta's forces were first preparing to invade Attica,Pericles, in an address to the Athenian people, said that the statue could be used as a gold reserve if that was necessary to preserve Athens, stressing that it "contained forty talents of pure gold and it was all removable", but adding that the gold would afterward have to be restored.[35] The Athenian statesman thus implies that the metal, obtained from contemporary coinage,[36] could be used again if absolutely necessary without any impiety.[34] According to Aristotle, the building also contained golden figures that he described as "Victories".[37] The classicist Harris Rackham noted that eight of those figures were melted down for coinage during the Peloponnesian War.[38] Other Greek writers have claimed that treasures such as Persian swords were also stored inside the temple.[citation needed] Some scholars, therefore, argue that the Parthenon should be viewed as a grand setting for a monumental votive statue rather than as a cult site.[39]
ArchaeologistJoan Breton Connelly has argued for the coherency of the Parthenon's sculptural programme in presenting a succession of genealogical narratives that track Athenian identity through the ages: from the birth of Athena, throughcosmic and epic battles, to the final great event of theAthenian Bronze Age, the war ofErechtheus andEumolpos.[40][41] She argues a pedagogical function for the Parthenon's sculptured decoration, one that establishes and perpetuates Athenian foundation myth, memory, values and identity.[42][43] While some classicists, includingMary Beard,Peter Green, andGarry Wills[44][45] have doubted or rejected Connelly's thesis, an increasing number of historians, archaeologists, and classical scholars support her work. They include: J.J. Pollitt,[46] Brunilde Ridgway,[47] Nigel Spivey,[48] Caroline Alexander,[49] andA. E. Stallings.[50]
The existence of both the proto-Parthenon and its destruction were known fromHerodotus,[53] and the drums of its columns were visibly built into the curtain wall north of theErechtheion. Further physical evidence of this structure was revealed with the excavations ofPanagiotis Kavvadias of 1885–1890. The findings of this dig allowedWilhelm Dörpfeld, then director of theGerman Archaeological Institute, to assert that there existed a distinct substructure to the original Parthenon, called Parthenon I by Dörpfeld, not immediately below the present edifice as previously assumed.[54] Dörpfeld's observation was that the three steps of the first Parthenon consisted of two steps of Poros limestone, the same as the foundations, and a top step of Karrha limestone that was covered by the lowest step of the Periclean Parthenon. This platform was smaller and slightly to the north of the final Parthenon, indicating that it was built for a different building, now completely covered over. This picture was somewhat complicated by the publication of the final report on the 1885–1890 excavations, indicating that the substructure was contemporary with the Kimonian walls, and implying a later date for the first temple.[55]
Part of the archaeological remains calledPerserschutt, or "Persian rubble": remnants of the destruction of Athens by the armies ofXerxes I. Photographed in 1866, just after excavation.
If the original Parthenon was indeed destroyed in 480, it invites the question of why the site was left as a ruin for thirty-three years. One argument involves the oath sworn by the Greek allies before theBattle of Plataea in 479 BC[56] declaring that the sanctuaries destroyed by the Persians would not be rebuilt, an oath from which the Athenians were only absolved with thePeace of Callias in 450.[57] The cost of reconstructing Athens after the Persian sack is at least as likely a cause. The excavations ofBert Hodge Hill led him to propose the existence of a second Parthenon, begun in the period ofKimon after 468.[58] Hill claimed that the Karrha limestone step Dörpfeld thought was the highest of Parthenon I was the lowest of the three steps of Parthenon II, whose stylobate dimensions Hill calculated at 23.51 by 66.888metres (77.13 ft × 219.45 ft).
One difficulty in dating the proto-Parthenon is that at the time of the 1885 excavation, the archaeological method ofseriation was not fully developed; the careless digging and refilling of the site led to a loss of much valuable information. An attempt to make sense of the potsherds found on the Acropolis came with the two-volume study by Graef and Langlotz published in 1925–1933.[59] This inspired American archaeologistWilliam Bell Dinsmoor to give limiting dates for the temple platform and the five walls hidden under the re-terracing of the Acropolis. Dinsmoor concluded that the latest possible date for Parthenon I was no earlier than 495 BC, contradicting the early date given by Dörpfeld.[60] He denied that there were two proto-Parthenons, and held that the only pre-Periclean temple was what Dörpfeld referred to as Parthenon II. Dinsmoor and Dörpfeld exchanged views in theAmerican Journal of Archaeology in 1935.[61]
Animation showing the Parthenon in 2011 and how it looked originally
In the mid-5th century BC, when the Athenian Acropolis became the seat of theDelian League,Pericles initiated the building project that lasted the entire second half of the century. The most important buildings visible on the Acropolis today – the Parthenon, thePropylaia, theErechtheion and the temple ofAthena Nike – were erected during this period. The Parthenon was built under the general supervision ofPhidias, who also had charge of the sculptural decoration. The architectsIctinos andCallicrates began their work in 447, and the building was substantially completed by 432. Work on the decorations continued until at least 431.[62]
The Parthenon was built primarily by men who knew how to work marble. These quarrymen had exceptional skills and were able to cut the blocks of marble to very specific measurements. The quarrymen also knew how to avoid the faults, which were numerous in thePentelic marble. If the marble blocks were not up to standard, the architects would reject them. The marble was worked with iron tools – picks, points, punches, chisels, and drills. The quarrymen would hold their tools against the marble block and firmly tap the surface of the rock.[63]
A big project like the Parthenon attracted stonemasons from far and wide who travelled to Athens to assist in the project. Slaves and foreigners worked together with the Athenian citizens in the building of the Parthenon, doing the same jobs for the same pay. Temple building was a specialized craft, and there were not many men in Greece qualified to build temples like the Parthenon, so these men would travel and work where they were needed.[63]
Other craftsmen were necessary for the building of the Parthenon, specifically carpenters and metalworkers. Unskilled labourers also had key roles in the building of the Parthenon. They loaded and unloaded the marble blocks and moved the blocks from place to place. In order to complete a project like the Parthenon, many different labourers were needed.[63]
Floor plan of the ParthenonThe east facade in March 2021
The Parthenon is anoctastyleperipteralDoric temple with anIonichexastyleamphiprostyle two-chamberedcella. It was built on theeuthynteria andkrepis of its precursor building, theOlder Parthenon. In common with other Greek temples, the Parthenon is built using thepost and lintel construction, surrounded by columns ('peripteral') carrying anentablature. The gable-end of the Parthenon features eight columns instead of the traditional six found in typical Doric temples. Although octastyle temples were not entirely unknown, their presence in mainland Doric architecture, along with the wider inner masonry structure, thecella,[64] makes the Parthenon unique in its design.[note 1] There are seventeen columns on the sides. A ratio of 4:9 proportion is found in the elevation and the relationship of the columns to their spacing (the interaxial).[citation needed] There is a double row of columns at both the front and rear. Thecella is divided into two compartments. Theopisthodomos (the back room of the cella) contained the monetary contributions of the Delian League. The hexastylepronaos replaced the typicaldistyle in antis porch to thenaos.[68] At either end of the building, thegable is finished with a triangularpediment originally occupied by sculpted figures.
The choice to design the Parthenon as an octostyle temple likely stemmed from the challenge of scale: creating a larger naos required a proportionally larger overall structure. Maintaining the traditional hexastyle layout would have necessitated wider spacing between columns, which could have compromised structural stability.[citation needed] Moreover, expanding the temple while adhering to the established Doric proportions would have disrupted their harmony. Consequently, the architects made a series of design decisions that ultimately broke with mainland Doric conventions to achieve both the desired size and aesthetic integrity.[69]
The Parthenon's interior displays several unusual and innovative features. The northern peristyle contained an archaicnaiskos and altar, preserved to maintain religious continuity on the site.[70] The Parthenon's porticos are unusually shallow, and the naos includes a second step. The rear room (opisthodomos) was wider, a Cycladic trait, and held four columns, likely Ionic or Corinthian.[71] Large doors connected the rooms, and the only pronaos had tall windows (about 3 m high and 2.5 m wide), a rare feature in Greek architecture.[citation needed] The north window also served as a landing for a staircase within the thick wall leading to the attic. Other irregularities include varyingabacus lengths, deliberate interaxial differences of up to 4.8 cm, and unevenarchitrave blocks are misaligned and differ by as much as 18 cm.[72] Scholars interpret these changes variously—as adjustments for corner contraction (Dinsmoor),[73] evidence of a mid-construction design change (Wesenberg),[74] or signs of improvisation when an Ionic frieze replaced an intended Doric one (Korres).[citation needed]
The close measurement of the Parthenon in the nineteenth century revealed that the temple deviated from strict rectilinearity through several optical refinements.[note 2] First, the stylobate is curved, bulging upward at the center—by 10.3 cm over 70 m (a 1/700 ratio)—with a corresponding curvature in theentablature, visible as a slight ridge on the capitals.[75] Second, the columns exhibitentasis, i.e., swelling that reduces toward the top, a practice in use by mid-6th century[76] but in Parthenon the effect is subtler with a ratio of 1/550 to 1/600. Third, both the columns and naos walls incline slightly inward. Fourth, the corner columns are slightly displaced.[citation needed]
Scholars have proposed several explanations for the curvatures found in Parthenon.[note 3] The primary explanation is based on the Optical Correction or Irradiance Theory, proposed inAn Investigation of the Principles of Athenian Architecture byFrancis Penrose in 1851.[78] The theory asserts that convex adjustments were made to counteract the concave appearance silhouetted objects can have to the human eye.[79] Others attribute the refinements to structural, such as drainage, or aesthetic considerations rather than perceptual ones.[80] In 1978, John Pennethorne's The Geometry and Optics of Ancient Architecture argued that curvilinear nature of the Parthenon was a deteriberate design choice, supporting Penrose's conclusions and corresponding withVitruvius' account of theScamilli impares.[81]Karl Bötticher believed the deviations resulted fromstructural settlement,[82] whileWilliam Henry Goodyear viewed them as symbolic and aesthetic.[83]
Another refinement relates to the Doric order's angle, that is the challenge of spacing columns, metopes, and triglyphs so the frieze ends correctly at the corners, known as contraction problem.[84] At the Parthenon, the architects to resolve this problem varied the length of the metopes, between 1.175 and 1.37 m, and 'overcontracting' the corner incolumnations.[85][86]
There was no standardized unit of measurement in ancientGreek metrology, as each region—or even individual building site—often employed its own foot (πούς).[87] Scholars have proposed several possible units for the Parthenon: the Attic (or Ionic) foot at 294.3 mm, the Common foot at 306.5 mm, and the Doric foot at 327 mm.[note 4] However, applying any of these to the temple's architectural dimensions, such as the stylobate's length and width or the column height, fails to yield consistent integer values.[89] Attempts to link the design instead to Vitruvius's modular system, based on half the lower column diameter (the width of a triglyph), have been similarly inconclusive.[citation needed] In the Parthenon, the triglyph measures about 858.3 mm, though actual widths vary from roughly 0.84 m to 0.87 m.[citation needed]
More recent research by Ernst Berger identifies 858 mm as a recurring unit underlying the building's main dimensions. Dividing this by 2.5 produces a 'Parthenon foot' of 343.04 mm, as proposed by Anne Bulckens. This measure preserves the Parthenon's characteristic 9:4 proportion while also revealing additional ratios that Bulckens suggests may relate to the pentatonic scale.[90]
No ancient Greek text on architecture has survived to the present day.[note 5] The methods and working practices of Greek architects are unknown to us, so attempts to reconstruct the system of proportion used on the Parthenon as a means of uncovering the motivations of its architects have gone hand-in-hand with a desire to explain its purported ‘perfection’. These systems fall into two broad categories: arithmetic or geometric ratios and systems of modularity.
Perhaps one of the most common beliefs about the system of proportion used on the Parthenon is that of theGolden Ratio Theory.[note 6] That the Golden Section, orphi, the ratio of the sum of two values and their larger value, determined the construction of the temple was first articulated byAdolf Zeising in hisNeue Lehre von den Proportionen des menschlichen Körpers (1854).[92] Zeising made specific reference to the plan of the Parthenon when he and subsequent scholars made expansive claims that phi was ubiquitous in nature and art and fundamental to human perception of beauty.[93] More recent research has questioned whether ancient architects either had knowledge of phi or made use of it, has pointed out that application of the ratio to the Parthenon was somewhat arbitrary in its construction, and that the basis of the claim was often a geometric figure superimposed on a photograph rather than from measured drawings.[94]
While Zeising’s hypothesis remains unsubstantiated, an alternative observation that the ratio of the length and width of several features of the Parthenon gives simple, commensurablewhole number ratios, namely 9:4, has garnered some support.[95] First published in 1863 by William Watkiss-Lloyd,[96] this relationship was detected on thestylobate, the diameter of column to intercolumniation, and the height of the facade including the cornice to the width.[97] That this ratio falls out intointeger values, avoidsirrationals and is seen on other Greek buildings has led to the popular temptation to see this method of proportioning as the one that motivated the original architects. Lloyd’s approach has, like other numerical ratio-based approaches, been criticised for its arbitrariness, its susceptibility to selective measurementconfirmation bias, and the absence of explicit ancient sources validating it.[note 7]
One attempt to describe the Parthenon as a geometric system aligned withGreek mathematical thought wasJay Hambidge’s Dynamic Symmetry theory. Published in the early 20th century[99] it sought to explain harmonious proportions through so-called “root rectangles” and their relationships, inspired by patterns found in nature such asphyllotaxis. Starting from root rectangles whose sides are irrational values, he goes on to construct reciprocal rectangles often in the form of thegolden spiral. These recursively generated rectangles, Hambidge claimed, generated a dynamic growth which could be mapped onto the Parthenon, and this demonstrated that Greek design was inherently dynamic and natural rather than static. The theory was influential outside academia on figures such asGeorge Bellows[100] andLe Corbusier[note 8], and was responsible for a revival of interest in the Golden Section; it was nevertheless also criticised for its arbitrariness and lack of historical evidence.
Most recent research has endeavoured to incorporate the idea that the Parthenon’s design reflectsPythagorean musical ratios, such as 3:2 (theperfect fifth) and 4:9. According to this interpretation, the Parthenon’s dimensions (length, width, and height) relate as musical intervals, embedding mathematical harmony into architecture. Anne Bulckens begins with the discovery of a ‘theoreticaltriglyph’ width of 857.6 mm, which is the basis for a modular system from which smaller units, “dactyls”, can be derived, and on which basis she observes the presence of 3-4-5right triangles in the structure.[102] Drawing on the work of Kappraff[103] and McClain,[104] Bucklens shows that all key measurements relate to the musical scale of Pythagoras.[note 9]
The cella of the Parthenon housed thechryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos sculpted byPhidias and dedicated in 439 or 438 BC. The appearance of this is known from other images. The decorative stonework was originally highly coloured.[105] The temple was dedicated to Athena at that time, though construction continued until almost the beginning of thePeloponnesian War in 432. By the year 438, the Doric metopes on thefrieze above the exterior colonnade and the Ionic frieze around the upper portion of the walls of thecella had been completed.[citation needed]
In March 2022, the Acropolis Museum launched a new website with "photographs of all the frieze blocks preserved today in the Acropolis Museum, the British Museum and the Louvre".[107]
The frieze of the Parthenon's entablature contained 92metopes, 14 each on the east and west sides, 32 each on the north and south sides. They were carved in high relief, a practice employed until then only in treasuries (buildings used to keep votive gifts to the gods).[108] According to the building records, the metope sculptures date to the years 446–440. The metopes of the east side of the Parthenon, above the main entrance, depict theGigantomachy (the mythical battle between the Olympian gods and theGiants). The metopes of the west end show theAmazonomachy (the mythical battle of the Athenians against theAmazons). The metopes of the south side show the ThessalianCentauromachy (battle of theLapiths aided byTheseus against the half-man, half-horseCentaurs). Metopes 13–21 are missing, but drawings from 1674 attributed to Jaques Carrey indicate a series of humans; these have been variously interpreted as scenes from theLapith wedding, scenes from the early history of Athens, and various myths.[109] On the north side of the Parthenon, the metopes are poorly preserved, but the subject seems to be thesack of Troy.[9]
The mythological figures of the metopes of the East, North, and West sides of the Parthenon had been deliberately mutilated byChristian iconoclasts in late antiquity.[110]
The metopes present examples of theSevere Style in the anatomy of the figures' heads, in the limitation of the corporal movements to the contours and not to the muscles, and in the presence of pronounced veins in the figures of theCentauromachy. Several of the metopes still remain on the building, but, with the exception of those on the northern side, they are severely damaged. Some of them are located at theAcropolis Museum, others are in theBritish Museum, and one is at theLouvre museum.[111]
In March 2011, archaeologists announced that they had discovered fivemetopes of the Parthenon in the south wall of the Acropolis, which had been extended when the Acropolis was used as a fortress. According toEleftherotypia daily, the archaeologists claimed the metopes had been placed there in the 18th century when the Acropolis wall was being repaired. The experts discovered the metopes while processing 2,250 photos with modern photographic methods, as the whitePentelic marble they are made of differed from the other stone of the wall. It was previously presumed that the missing metopes were destroyed during the Morosini explosion of the Parthenon in 1687.[112]
The most characteristic feature in the architecture and decoration of the temple is the Ionicfrieze running around the exterior of the cella walls. Thebas-relief frieze was carved in situ and is dated fromc. 443–438.[113]
One interpretation is that it depicts an idealized version of thePanathenaic procession from theDipylon Gate in theKerameikos to theAcropolis. In this procession held every year, with a special procession taking place every four years, Athenians and foreigners participated in honouring the goddessAthena by offering her sacrifices and a newpeplos dress, woven by selected noble Athenian girls calledergastines. The procession is more crowded (appearing to slow in pace) as it nears the gods on the eastern side of the temple.[114]
Joan Breton Connelly offers a mythological interpretation for the frieze, one that is in harmony with the rest of the temple's sculptural programme which shows Athenian genealogy through a series of succession myths set in the remote past. She identifies the central panel above the door of the Parthenon as the pre-battle sacrifice of the daughter of the kingErechtheus, a sacrifice that ensured Athenian victory overEumolpos and his Thracian army. The great procession marching toward the east end of the Parthenon shows the post-battle thanksgiving sacrifice of cattle and sheep, honey and water, followed by the triumphant army of Erechtheus returning from their victory. This represents the first Panathenaia set in mythical times, the model on which historic Panathenaic processions were based.[115][116] This interpretation has been rejected byWilliam St Clair, who considers that the frieze shows the celebration of the birth of Ion, who was a descendant ofErechtheus.[117] This interpretation has been rejected byCatharine Titi, who agrees with St Clair that the mood is one of celebration (rather than sacrifice) but argues that the celebration of the birth of Ion requires the presence of an infant but there is no infant on the frieze.[9]
Part of the east pediment still found on the Parthenon (although part of it, like Dionysus, is a copy)
Two pediments rise above the portals of the Parthenon, one on the east front, one on the west. The triangular sections once contained massive sculptures that, according to the second-century geographerPausanias, recounted the birth of Athena and the mythological battle between Athena andPoseidon for control of Athens.[118]
The east pediment originally contained 10 to 12 sculptures depicting the Birth of Athena. Most of those pieces were removed and lost during renovations in either the eighth or the twelfth century.[119] Only two corners remain today with figures depicting the passage of time over the course of a full day.Tethrippa ofHelios is in the left corner andSelene is on the right. The horses of Helios's chariot are shown with livid expressions as they ascend into the sky at the start of the day. Selene's horses struggle to stay on the pediment scene as the day comes to an end.[120][121]
The supporters of Athena are extensively illustrated at the back of the left chariot, while the defenders of Poseidon are shown trailing behind the right chariot. It is believed that the corners of the pediment are filled by Athenian water deities, such as theKephisos river, theIlissos river, and nymphKallirhoe. This belief emerges from the fluid character of the sculptures' body position which represents the effort of the artist to give the impression of a flowing river.[122][123] Next to the left river god, there are the sculptures of the mythical king of Athens (Cecrops or Kekrops) with his daughters (Aglaurus,Pandrosos,Herse). The statue of Poseidon was the largest sculpture in the pediment until it broke into pieces duringFrancesco Morosini's effort to remove it in 1688. The posterior piece of the torso was found by Lusieri in the groundwork of a Turkish house in 1801 and is currently held in theBritish Museum. The anterior portion was revealed by Ross in 1835 and is now held in theAcropolis Museum of Athens.[124]
Every statue on the west pediment has a fully completed back, which would have been impossible to see when the sculpture was on the temple; this indicates that the sculptors put great effort into accurately portraying the human body.[123]
The only piece of sculpture from the Parthenon known to be from the hand of Phidias[125] was the statue of Athena housed in thenaos. This massivechryselephantine sculpture is now lost and known only from copies, vase painting, gems, literary descriptions, and coins.[126]
The Parthenon's position on the Acropolis dominates the city skyline of Athens.
A major fire broke out in the Parthenon shortly after the middle of the third century AD.[127][128] which destroyed the roof and much of the sanctuary's interior.[129]Heruli pirates sacked Athens in 276, and destroyed most of the public buildings there, including the Parthenon.[130] Repairs were made in the fourth century AD, possibly during the reign ofJulian the Apostate.[131] A new wooden roof overlaid with clay tiles was installed to cover the sanctuary. It sloped at a greater angle than the original roof and left the building's wings exposed.[129]
The Parthenon survived as a temple dedicated to Athena for nearly 1,000 years untilTheodosius II, during thePersecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, decreed in 435 that allpagan temples in theEastern Roman Empire be closed.[132] It is debated exactly when during the 5th century that the closure of the Parthenon as a temple was put into practice. It is suggested to have occurred inc. 481–484, on the order ofEmperor Zeno, because the temple had been the focus of Pagan Hellenic opposition against Zeno in Athens in support ofIllus, who had promised to restore Hellenic rites to the temples that were still standing.[133]
The Parthenon was converted into a Christian church in the final decades of the fifth century[135] to become the Church of the Parthenos Maria (Virgin Mary) or the Church of theTheotokos (Mother of God). The orientation of the building was changed to face towards the east; the main entrance was placed at the building's western end, and the Christian altar andiconostasis were situated towards the building's eastern side adjacent to anapse built where the temple'spronaos was formerly located.[136][137][138] A large central portal with surrounding side-doors was made in the wall dividing the cella, which became the church'snave, and from the rear chamber, the church'snarthex.[136] The spaces between the columns of theopisthodomos and theperistyle were walled up, though a number of doorways still permitted access.[136]Icons were painted on the walls, and many Christian inscriptions were carved into the Parthenon's columns.[131] These renovations inevitably led to the removal and dispersal of some of the sculptures. Sometime after the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church, the metopes of the north, west and east facades of the Parthenon were defaced by Christians in order to remove images of pagan deities. The damage was so extensive that the images on the affected metopes often can't be confidently identified.[139][140]
The Parthenon became the fourth most important Christian pilgrimage destination in theEastern Roman Empire afterConstantinople,Ephesos, andThessaloniki.[141] In 1018, the emperorBasil II went on a pilgrimage to Athens after his final victory over theFirst Bulgarian Empire for the sole purpose of worshipping at the Parthenon.[141] In medieval Greek accounts it is called the Temple of Theotokos Atheniotissa and often indirectly referred to as famous without explaining exactly which temple they were referring to, thus establishing that it was indeed well known.[141]
At the time of theLatin occupation, it became for about 250 years aLatin Catholic church ofOur Lady. During this period a tower, used either as a watchtower orbell tower and containing a spiral staircase, was constructed at the southwest corner of the cella, and vaulted tombs were built beneath the Parthenon's floor.[142]
The oldest surviving drawing of the Parthenon, an ancient copy of the original byCyriacus of Ancona, is found in Codex Hamilton 254, a fifteenth-century manuscript preserved in theBerlin State Library.The humanistCyriacus of Ancona, who revealed the existence of the Parthenon after it had fallen into oblivion in the Middle Ages.
The rediscovery of the Parthenon as an ancient monument dates back to the period ofHumanism; in 1436Cyriacus of Ancona was the first after antiquity to describe the Parthenon and to call it by his name, of which he had read many times in ancient texts, including that ofPausanias Periegetes. Thanks to him, Western Europe was able to have the first design of the monument, which Ciriaco called "temple of the goddess Athena", unlike previous travellers, who had called it "church of Virgin Mary":[143]
...mirabile Palladis Divae marmoreum templum, divum quippe opus Phidiae ("...the wonderful temple of the goddess Athena, a divine work of Phidias").
In 1456,Ottoman Turkish forces invaded Athens and laid siege to aFlorentine army defending the Acropolis until June 1458, when it surrendered to the Turks.[144] The Turks may have briefly restored the Parthenon to theGreek Orthodox Christians for continued use as a church.[145] Some time before the end of the fifteenth century, the Parthenon became amosque.[146][147]
The precise circumstances under which the Turks appropriated it for use as a mosque are unclear; one account states thatMehmed II ordered its conversion as punishment for an Athenian plot against Ottoman rule.[148] The apse was repurposed into amihrab,[149] the tower previously constructed during the Roman Catholic occupation of the Parthenon was extended upwards to become a minaret,[150] aminbar was installed,[136] the Christian altar and iconostasis were removed, and the walls were whitewashed to cover icons of Christian saints and other Christian imagery.[151]
Despite the alterations accompanying the Parthenon's conversion into a church and subsequently a mosque, its structure had remained basically intact.[152] In 1667, the Turkish travelerEvliya Çelebi expressed marvel at the Parthenon's sculptures and figuratively described the building as "like some impregnable fortress not made by human agency".[153] He composed a poetic supplication stating that, as "a work less of human hands than of Heaven itself, [it] should remain standing for all time".[154] The French artistJacques Carrey in 1674 visited the Acropolis and sketched the Parthenon's sculptural decorations.[155] Early in 1687, an engineer named Plantier sketched the Parthenon for the Frenchman Graviers d'Ortières.[129] These depictions, particularly Carrey's, provide important, and sometimes the only, evidence of the condition of the Parthenon and its various sculptures prior to the devastation it suffered in late 1687 and the subsequent looting of its art objects.[155]
Fragment of an exploded shell found on top of a wall in the Parthenon, thought to originate from the time of the Venetian siege
As part of theMorean War (1684–1699), theVenetians sent an expedition led byFrancesco Morosini toattack Athens and capture the Acropolis. The Ottomans fortified the Acropolis and used the Parthenon as agunpowder magazine – despite having been forewarned of the dangers of this use by the 1656 explosion that severely damaged thePropylaea – and as a shelter for members of the local Turkish community.[156]
On 26 September 1687 a Venetian mortar round, fired from theHill of Philopappos, blew up the magazine.[131][157] The explosion blew out the building's central portion and caused the cella's walls to crumble into rubble.[152] According to Greek architect and archaeologist Kornilia Chatziaslani:[129]
...three of the sanctuary's four walls nearly collapsed and three-fifths of the sculptures from the frieze fell. Nothing of the roof apparently remained in place. Six columns from the south side fell, eight from the north, as well as whatever remained from the eastern porch, except for one column. The columns brought down with them the enormous marble architraves, triglyphs, and metopes.
About three hundred people were killed in the explosion, which showered marble fragments over nearby Turkish defenders[156] and sparked fires that destroyed many homes.[129]
The southern side of the Parthenon, which sustained considerable damage in the 1687 explosion (photo taken in 2009)
Accounts written at the time conflict over whether this destruction was deliberate or accidental; one such account, written by the German officer Sobievolski, states that a Turkish deserter revealed to Morosini the use to which the Turks had put the Parthenon; expecting that the Venetians would not target a building of such historic importance. Morosini was said to have responded by directing his artillery to aim at the Parthenon.[129][156] Subsequently, Morosini sought to loot sculptures from the ruin and caused further damage in the process. Sculptures ofPoseidon and Athena's horses fell to the ground and smashed as his soldiers tried to detach them from the building's west pediment.[137][158]
In 1688 the Venetians abandoned Athens to avoid a confrontation with a large force the Turks had assembled atChalcis; at that time, the Venetians had considered blowing up what remained of the Parthenon along with the rest of the Acropolis to deny its further use as a fortification to the Turks, but that idea was not pursued.[156]
Once the Turks had recaptured the Acropolis, they used some of the rubble produced by this explosion to erect a smaller mosque within the shell of the ruined Parthenon.[159] For the next century and a half, parts of the remaining structure were looted for building material and especially valuable objects.[160]
The 18th century was a period ofOttoman stagnation—so that many more Europeans found access to Athens, and the picturesque ruins of the Parthenon were much drawn and painted, spurring a rise inphilhellenism and helping to arouse sympathy in Britain and France for Greek independence. Amongst those early travellers and archaeologists wereJames Stuart andNicholas Revett, who were commissioned by theSociety of Dilettanti to survey the ruins of classical Athens. They produced the first measured drawings of the Parthenon, published in 1787 in the second volume ofAntiquities of Athens Measured and Delineated.
From 1801 to 1812, agents ofThomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, removed about half the surviving Parthenon sculptures, sending them to Britain in efforts to establish a private museum. Elgin stated he removed the sculptures with permission of the Ottoman officials who exercised authority in Athens at the time.[161] The legality of Elgin's actions has been disputed.[162][9]
During theGreek War of Independence (1821–1833) which ended the 355-year Ottoman rule of Athens, the Acropolis was besieged twice, firstby the Greeks in 1821–22 and thenby the Ottoman forces in 1826–27. During the first siege, the besieged Ottoman forces attempted to melt the lead in the columns of the Parthenon to cast bullets. During the second siege, the Parthenon was significantly damaged by Ottoman artillery fire.[163][164]
When independent Greece gained control of Athens in 1832, the visible section of the minaret was demolished; only its base and spiral staircase up to the level of thearchitrave remain intact.[165] Soon all the medieval and Ottoman buildings on the Acropolis were destroyed. The image of the small mosque within the Parthenon's cella has been preserved inPierre-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière's photograph, published in Lerebours'sExcursions Daguerriennes in 1842: the first photograph of the Acropolis.[166] The area became a historical precinct controlled by the Greek government. In the later 19th century, the Parthenon was widely considered by Americans and Europeans to be the pinnacle of human architectural achievement, and became a popular destination and subject of artists, includingFrederic Edwin Church andSanford Robinson Gifford.[167][168] Today it attracts millions of tourists every year, who travel up the path at the western end of the Acropolis, through the restoredPropylaea, and up the Panathenaic Way to the Parthenon, which is surrounded by a low fence to prevent damage.[citation needed]
Life-size pediment sculptures from the Parthenon in the British Museum
The dispute centres around those of the Parthenon Marbles removed by Elgin, which are in theBritish Museum.[14] A few sculptures from the Parthenon are also in theLouvre in Paris, inCopenhagen, and elsewhere, while more than half are in theAcropolis Museum in Athens.[19][169] A few can still be seen on the building itself. In 1983, theGreek government formally asked the UK government to return the sculptures in the British Museum to Greece, and subsequently listed the dispute withUNESCO. The British Museum has consistently refused to return the sculptures,[170] and successive British governments have been unwilling to force the museum to do so (which would require legislation). In 2021, UNESCO called upon the UK government to resolve the issue at the intergovernmental level.[171] Discussions between UK and Greek officials are ongoing.[172][173]
Four pieces of the sculptures have been repatriated to Greece: 3 from the Vatican, and 1 from a museum in Sicily.[174]
In 1981, anearthquake caused damage to the east façade.[175] Air pollution andacid rain have damaged the marble and stonework.[176]
An organized effort to preserve and restore buildings on the Acropolis began in 1975, when the Greek government established the Committee for the Conservation of the Acropolis Monuments (ESMA). That group of interdisciplinary specialist scholars oversees the academic understanding of the site to guide restoration efforts.[177] The project later attracted funding and technical assistance from theEuropean Union. An archaeological committee thoroughly documented everyartefact remaining on the site, and architects assisted withcomputer models to determine their original locations. Particularly important and fragile sculptures were transferred to theAcropolis Museum.
A crane was installed for moving marble blocks; the crane was designed to fold away beneath the roofline when not in use.[178] In some cases, prior re-constructions were found to be incorrect. These were dismantled, and a careful process of restoration began.[179]
Originally, various blocks were held together by elongated ironH pins that were completely coated in lead, which protected the iron from corrosion. Stabilizing pins added in the 19th century were not lead-coated, and corroded. Since the corrosion product (rust) is expansive, the expansion caused further damage by cracking the marble.[180]
The Acropolis of Athens as seen from the Pnyx in October 2025 with the scaffolding on the west façade of the Parthenon removed after 15 years.
The last remaining slabs from the western section of the Parthenon frieze were removed from the monument in 1993 for fear of further damage.[181] They have now been transported to the newAcropolis Museum.[176] Until cleaning of the remaining sculptures was completed in 2005,[182] black crusts and coatings were present on the marble surface.[183] Between 20 January and the end of March 2008, 4200 items (sculptures, inscriptions smallterracotta objects), including some 80 artefacts dismantled from the monuments in recent years, were removed from the old museum on the Acropolis to the new Acropolis Museum.[184][185]
In 2019, Greece's Central Archaeological Council approved a restoration of the interior cella's north wall (along with parts of others). The project will reinstate as many as 360 ancient stones, and install 90 new pieces ofPentelic marble, minimizing the use of new material as much as possible. The eventual result of these restorations will be a partial restoration of some or most of each wall of the interior cella.[186]
Since the 19th century, the Parthenon's exterior has been encased in various extents of scaffolding until September 2025, when the scaffolding on the western side was removed temporarily. The Greek government says that it intends to remove all scaffolding from the monument altogether by 2026 after the completion of restoration works.[187]
^While the octastyle plan is characteristic of Cycladic architecture, it was rare in mainland Doric temples. The few other known Doric octastyle temples (Corfu,Cyrene andSelinunte) are located on islands or in colonies.[citation needed] This combination of features is known as the Attic-Doric style.[65] The marble ceiling is also a Cycladic feature.[66][67]
^First published in Hoffer, Allgemeine Bauzeitung (1838), perhaps also an observation made independently by Pennethorne and published in The Elements and Mathematical Principles of the Greek Architects and Artists (London 1844). See Goodyear, 1912, pp.3-5 for discussion.
^ Curvature has been observed in a few other Greek temples, e.g., the Temple of Apollo at Corinth from the mid-sixth century BC, and theLibrary of Celsus at Ephesus, 2nd century AD.[77]
^Each has had its advocate, Dörpfeld and Dinsmoor of the Doric, for example. See H. Bankel, Das Fußmaß des Parthenon, 1984.[88]
^Markowsky cites five sources, and it is a claim commonly made in reference works.[91]
^Lloyd's study was republished in the second edition of Penrose's An Investigation of the Principles of Athenian Architecture, 1888, where Penrose asserted it "completely solved the problem” of the Parthenon's proportions. However, Jay Hambidge's close measurement refuted the claim, "It has long been assumed that the relation of the end to side top step of the temple was four to nine, that is one to two and a quarter. This is not true. The amount of error is too great. The real relationship is 1 to 2.25109, and the real rectangle measures 101.347 by 228.141."[98]
^Matila Ghyka was an advocate of Hambidge and a known influence on Le Corbusier's modular.[101]
^Lehman and Weiman's The Parthenon and Liberal Education, also develops the thesis that the Parthenon embodies principles of Pythagorean musical theories.
^Sakoulas, Thomas."The Parthenon".Ancient-Greece.org.Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved15 December 2020.
^Wilson, Benjamin Franklin (1920).The Parthenon at Athens, Greece and at Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville, Tennessee: Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved11 November 2020.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Freely 2004, p. 69Archived 17 November 2022 at theWayback Machine "Some modern writers maintain that the Parthenon was converted into a Christian sanctuary during the reign ofJustinian (527–565)...But there is no evidence to support this in the ancient sources. The existing evidence suggests that the Parthenon was converted into a Christianbasilica in the last decade of the sixth century."
^B. Holtzmann and A. Pasquier,Histoire de l'art antique : l'art grec, École du Louvre, Réunion des musées nationaux, and Documentation française, 1998, p. 177.
^Connelly, Joan Breton (2014).The Parthenon Enigma: a New Understanding of the West's Most Iconic Building and the People Who Made It. New York: Vintage.ISBN978-0-307-47659-3.
^W. Dörpfeld, "Der aeltere Parthenon",Ath. Mitteilungen, XVII, 1892, pp. 158–189 and W. Dörpfeld, "Die Zeit des alteren Parthenon",AM27, 1902, pp. 379–416.
^P. Kavvadis, G. Kawerau,Die Ausgabung der Acropolis vom Jahre 1885 bis zum Jahre 1890, 1906.
^NM Tod,A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions II, 1948, no. 204, lines 46–51, The authenticity of this is disputed, however; see also P. Siewert, Der Eid von Plataia (Munich 1972), pp. 98–102.
^Yeroulanou, M. (1998). "Metopes and architecture: the Hephaisteion and the Parthenon".The Annual of the British School at Athens.93:401–425.doi:10.1017/S0068245400003543.
^Kappraff, J.; McClain, E. G. (2005). "The System of Proportions of the Parthenon: A Work of Musically Inspired Architecture".Music in Art.30 (1):5–16.
^Hambidge, J., (1924), The Parthenon and Other Greek Temples; Their Dynamic Symmetry, Yale, p.37.
^Hambidge, J. (1919), The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry, Yale. And Hambidge, J., (1924), The Parthenon and other Greek temples: their dynamic symmetry, Yale.
^McWhinnie, H.J. (1989). "Influences of the ideas of Jay Hambidge on art and design".Computers & Mathematics with Applications.17 (4):1001–1008.doi:10.1016/0898-1221(89)90272-1.
^Raeburn, M., Wilson, V., (1987), Le Corbusier: Architect of the Century, Arts Council of Great Britain, p.245.
^Bulckens, A., (2001), “The Parthenon’s Main Design Proportion and its Meaning,” PhD thesis, Deakin University.
^Kappraff, J., (2002), Beyond Measure: A Guided Tour Through Nature, Myth, and Number, World Scientific.
^McClain, E.G., (1977), The Pythagorean Plato: Prelude to the Song Itself, Nicolas-Hays.
^Sideris, Athanasios (1 January 2004)."The Parthenon".Strolling Through Athens:112–119.Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved20 January 2015.
^"The Parthenon Frieze". Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports, Acropolis Museum, Acropolis Restoration Service.Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved26 July 2022.
^Harris, Beth; Zucker, Steven."Parthenon (Acropolis)".Khan Academy.Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved27 January 2020.
^438 was the year of the dedication of the Parthenon and is usually taken as an upper limit for completion of the frieze, see I Jenkins,The Parthenon Frieze and Perikles' cavalry of 1000, p149–150, in Hurwit, 2005, for a discussion of the dating problem.
^Connelly,The Parthenon Enigma, chapters 4, 5, and 7.
^St Clair, William (24 August 2022). Barnes, Lucy; St Clair, David (eds.).The Classical Parthenon: Recovering the Strangeness of the Ancient World. Open Book Publishers.doi:10.11647/obp.0279.ISBN978-1-80064-344-4.S2CID251787123.
^Jeffrey M. Hurwit. "Helios Rising: The Sun, the Moon, and the Sea in the Sculptures of the Parthenon".American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 121, no. 4, 2017, pp. 527–558.JSTOR,doi:10.3764/aja.121.4.0527. Accessed 22 July 2022.
^abcdefChatziaslani, Kornilia."Morosini in Athens". Archaeology of the City of Athens.Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved14 August 2012.
^Schwab, Katherine A (2005). "Celebrations of Victory: The Metopes of the Parthenon". In Neils, Jennifer (ed.).The Parthenon, from Antiquity to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 165.ISBN978-0-521-82093-6.
^Robert Ousterhout (2005) "'Bestride the Very Peak of Heaven': The Parthenon after Antiquity." In Neils (ed).The Parthenon, from Antiquity to the Present. pp. 306–307
^Tomkinson, John L."Ottoman Athens I: Early Ottoman Athens (1456–1689)". Anagnosis Books. Archived fromthe original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved14 August 2012. "In 1466 the Parthenon was referred to as a church, so it seems likely that for some time at least, it continued to function as a cathedral, being restored to the use of the Greek archbishop."
^D'Ooge, Martin Luther (1909).The acropolis of Athens. Robarts – University of Toronto. New York: Macmillan. p. 317.The conversion of the Parthenon into a mosque is first mentioned by another anonymous writer, theParis Anonymous, whose manuscript dating from the latter half of the fifteenth century was discovered in the library of Paris in 1862.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
^D'Ooge, Martin Luther (1909).The acropolis of Athens. Robarts – University of Toronto. New York: Macmillan. p. 317.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
^Theodor E. Mommsen,The Venetians in Athens and the Destruction of the Parthenon in 1687, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 45, No. 4 (October–December 1941), pp. 544–556.
^Eldem, Edhem (2011). "From Blissful Indifference to Anguished Concern: Ottoman Perceptions of Antiquities, 1799–1869". In Barani, Zainab; Celik, Zeynep; Eldem, Edhem (eds.).Scramble for the Past. A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914. Istanbul, SALT. pp. 281–328.
^Neils,The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present, p. 336 – the picture was taken in October 1839.
^Carr, Gerald L. (1994).Frederic Edwin Church: Catalogue Raisonne of Works at Olana State Historic Site, Volume I. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 342–343.ISBN978-0521385404.
^"The Surface Conservation Project" (pdf file). Once they had been conserved, the West Frieze blocks were moved to the museum, and copies cast in artificial stone were reinstalled in their places.
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