Myth, Art, War: The Acropolis Programme

Gillian Shepherd

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Gillian Shepherd

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Acropolis-‐Athens34.jpg  

The Acropolis, Athens

The Persians found Athens itself abandoned except for a few people in the Temple of Athena Polias… who had barricaded the Acropolis with planks and timbers. It was partly their poverty which prevented them from seeking shelter in Salamis with the rest, and partly their belief that they had discovered the real meaning of the Priestess’ oracle – “that the wooden wall should not be taken”… The Persians occupied the hill which the Athenians call the Areopagus, opposite the Acropolis, and began the siege. The method they used was to shoot into the barricade arrows with burning tow attached to them. Their wooden wall had betrayed them, but still the Athenians, though in imminent and deadly peril, refused to give in… The Persians who had got up [the Acropolis] first made straight for the gates, flung them open, and slaughtered those who were in the sanctuary. Having left not one of the alive, they stripped the temple of its treasures and burnt everything on the Acropolis. Xerxes, now absolute master of Athens, despatched a rider to Susa with news for Artabanus of his success.

Herod. 8. 50 ff.

Reconstruction of the Acropolis c. 480

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://www.trentu.ca/faculty/rfitzsimons/AHCL2200Y/LE%2009-‐03.htm  

I  will  not  place  life  above  freedom,  nor  will  I  desert  my  leadersWhether  they  live  or  die,  but  I  will  bury  all  those  of  our  allies  who  die  in  ba:le.  And  after  defeating  the  barbarians  in  the  war,  I  will  destroynone  of  the  cities  which  have  fought  for  Greece,  but  from  all  thosewho  have  chosen  to  support  the  barbarian  I  will  exact  the  tithe.  Andof  the  sacred  shrines  which  have  been  burnt  and  thrown  down  by  the  barbarians,  I  will  rebuild  none  at  all,  but  I  will  allow  them  to  be  left  as  a  memorial  to  future  generations  of  the  godlessness  of  the  barbarians

Lykourgos,  Leocratem  81

The  Oath  of  Plataea

The Acropolis building programme

•  Parthenon (447-32) •  Propylaea (437-2) •  Erechtheion (421-404) •  Temple of Athena Nike (421-404)  

NB Delian League; Perikles; Athena Parthenos = Athena the Virgin

ParthenonErechtheion

Propylaea Temple  of  Athena  Nike

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://www.absolutatenas.com/la-‐acropolis/  

The Athenian Acropolis

The Parthenon

•  469 talents (from building accounts) •  1 talent = 60 minae (Attic-Euboic

standard) •  1 mina = 100 drachmae •  I.E. 2,814,000 drachmae •  1 dr. = approx. 1 day’s wage •  $100 million? (probably not, but you get the idea)

The Parthenon (nb octastyle)

Photo  ©  Gillian  Shepherd  

Parthenon, plan

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Parthenon-‐top-‐view.svg  

Image  Source  Page:h0p://jRradu.free.fr/GRECEANTIQUE/GRECE%20CONTINENTALE/PAGES%20THEMATIQUES/restauraZon-‐acropole.php3?r1=0&r2=0&r3=0  

Bombardment of the Parthenon by Morosini (1687)

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://www.baroque-‐in-‐art.org/Study-‐of-‐a-‐pediment-‐from-‐the-‐Parthenon-‐large.html  

Parthenon, West Pediment (Jacques Carrey)

Parthenon, reconstruction of pediments

East pediment (British Museum) Hestia, Dione and Aphrodite?

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://www.sandrashaw.com/AH1L18.htm  

Image Source Page: http://heritage-key.com/greece/pediments-parthenon

The Parthenon Metopes

•  West: Amazonomachy (Greeks vs Amazons) •  North: Trojan War •  East: Gigantomachy (Greeks vs Giants) •  South: Centauromachy (Greeks vs Centaurs)

Centauromachy (south metopes), British Museum

Source  Page:  h0p://www.shafe.co.uk/art/Parthenon_Metope_27_South.asp  

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://www.greek-‐thesaurus.gr/new-‐acropolis-‐museum.html  

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://www.trentu.ca/faculty/rfitzsimons/AHCL2200Y/LE%2010-‐01.htm  

Temple of Zeus, West Pediment, Centauromachy (Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs; Theseus, Pethithoos (grandson of Zeus and king of Lapiths)

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Image  Source  Page:  h#p://www.ancient.eu.com/image/423/  

Image  source  page:  h0p://cultureconnectdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/frieze.jpg  

Image  source  page:  h0p://www.emersonkent.com/images/frieze_parthenon.jpg  

The Parthenon Frieze

Panathenaic Procession?

Problems: •  Non-mythological event on a temple? •  Discrepancies with literary sources

•  Why horsemen instead of foot soldiers? •  Males not females bearing water jars? •  No ship with the peplos hoisted like a sail?

•  Generalised rather than actual version? •  Numerous other interpretations, including mythological and historical

East frieze: peplos scene? Image  source  page:  h0p://nepalchildrenshome.org/wp-‐content/plugins/image-‐widget/parthenon-‐frieze-‐gods-‐i5.jpg  

Phidias  showing  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon  to  his  friends  (Sir  Lawrence  Alma-‐Tadema,  1868)  

Image  source  page:  h0p://www.wikipainZngs.org/en/sir-‐lawrence-‐alma-‐tadema/phidias-‐showing-‐the-‐frieze-‐of-‐the-‐parthenon-‐to-‐his-‐friends-‐1868  

Parthenon Frieze (position on Parthenon and British Museum)

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://www.visit-‐ancient-‐greece.com/elgin-‐marbles.html  

Image  source  page:  h0p://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Riders_in_the_procession-‐North_frieze-‐Parthenon-‐BriZsh_Museum.jpg  

Athena Parthenos? Reproduction based on evidence for the original of c. 440 by Pheidias

Cf. Thuc. 2. 13; Pausanias I.24.5; Pliny Natural History 36.18 ff.

Varvarkeion Athena (2nd cent. AD)

And:

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://www.williamhenry.net/conference08.html  

Nashville, Tennessee

Source  Page:  h0p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena_Parthenos  

Erechtheion

Photo  ©  Gillian  Shepherd  

The Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://travel.ezinemark.com/athena-‐nike-‐temple-‐of-‐victory-‐goddess-‐773661f44e51.html  

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth212/pagan_chrisZan.html  

Nike binding her sandal (parapet, Temple of Athena Nike)

Nikai conducting a bull to sacrifice (Temple of Athena Nike)

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://jRradu.free.fr/GRECEANTIQUE/GRECE%20CONTINENTALE/ATHENES/MUSEE%20ACROPOLE/musee-‐acropole-‐056.php3?r1=0&r2=0&r3=0  

Temple  of  Athena  Nike,  South  FriezeGreeks  and  Persians  (Marathon?)  c.  410  BC

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/ARTH209/late_fiih_century.htm  

The Propylaea

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Propylaea-‐athens.jpg  

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://www.fransite.net/Klassiek/Grieks/kunst/IKTINOS%20and%20KALLIKRATES,%20Parthenon,%20the%20Temple%20of%20Athena%20Parthenos%20(view%20from%20the%20northwest),%20Acropolis,%20Athens,%20Greece,%20447-‐438%20BCE_jpg_orig.html  

Suppose,  for  example,  that  the  city  of  Sparta  were  to  become  deserted  and  that  only  the  temples  and  foundations  of  buildings  remained,  I  think  that  future  generations  would,  as  time  passed,  find  it  very  difficult  to  believe  that  the  place  had  really  been  as  powerful  as  it  was  represented  to  be.  Yet  the  Spartans  occupy  two-‐‑fifths  of  the  Peloponnese  and  stand  at  the  head  not  only  of  the  whole  Peloponnese  itself  but  also  of  numerous  allies  beyond  its  frontiers.  Since,  however,  the  city  is  not  regularly  planned  and  contains  no  temples  or  monuments  of  great  magnificence,  but  is  simply  a  collection  of  villages  in  the  ancient  Hellenic  way,  its  appearance  would  not  come  up  to  expectation.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  same  thing  were  to  happen  to  Athens,  one  would  conjecture  from  what  met  the  eye  that  the  city  had  been  twice  as  powerful  as  in  fact  it  is.We  have  no  right,  therefore,  to  judge  cities  by  their  appearances  rather  than  by  their  actual  power…

Thucydides  I.  10.

?Was  Thucydides  right?  

Photo  ©  Gillian  Shepherd     Photo  ©  Gillian  Shepherd    

Image  Source  Page:  h0p://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acropolis-‐Athens34.jpg  

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Semester 2 The Roman World (MDS1TRW)