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godse,speciallyAthenaw, hohadhelpedtheGreeksdefeatthe Persians.Perikles intended to create a visual expression of Athenian valuesandcivicpridethatwouldbolsterthecity sstatusasthe capital of the empire he was instrumental in building.He placed his close friend Pheidias,a renowned sculptor,in charge of the rebuild- ing and assembled under him the most talented artists in Athens. Thecostandlaborinvolvedinthisundertakingwere staggering.Large quantities of gold,ivory,and exotic woods had to be imported.Some 22,000 tons of marble had to be transported 10 milesfrommountainquarriestocityworkshopsP. erikleswas severely criticized by his political opponents for this extravagance, but it never cost him popular support.In fact,many working-class Athenians laborers,carpenters,masons,sculptors,and the farmers and merchants who kept them supplied and fed benefited from his expenditures. Work on the ACROPOLIS continued after Perikles death and was completed by the end of the fifth century BCE (FIG5. 29). Visitors to the Acropolis in 400 BCE would have climbed a steep ramp on the west side of the hill (in the foreground of FIG.5 29) tothesanctuaryentrancep,erhapspausingtoadmirethesmall temple dedicated to Athena Nike (Athena as goddess of victory in war),poised on a projection of rock above the ramp.After passing THE PARTHENON Sometimearound490 BCEA, thenianshadbegunworkona templeto AthenaParthenosthatwasstillunfinishedwhenthe PersianssackedtheAcropolisadecadelaterI.n447 BCE Perikles commissionedthearchitectsKallikratesandIktinostodesigna larger temple using the existing foundation and stone elements.The finestwhitemarblewasusedthroughout evenontheroofi,n placeofthemoreusualterra-cottatiles (FIG.5 31).Theplanning and execution of the Parthenon (dedicated in 438 BCE) required extraordinary mathematical and mechanical skills and would have beenimpossiblewithoutalargecontingentofdistinguished architects and builders,as well as talented sculptors and painters.The result is as much a testament to the administrative skills as to the artistic vision of Pheidias,who supervised the entire project. One key to the Parthenons sense of harmony and balance is an attentiontoproportions especiallytheratioof4:9,expressingthe relationship of breadth to length and also the relationship of column diametertospacebetweencolumnsA. lsoimportantaresubtle refinements of design,deviations from absolute regularity to create a harmoniouseffectwhenthebuildingwasactuallyviewedF. or example,since long,straight horizontal lines seem to sag when seen from a distance,base and entablature curve slightly upward to cor- rectthisopticaldistortionT. hecolumnshaveasubtleswelling (entasis) and tilt inward slightly from bottom to top;the corners are strengthened visually by reducing the space between columns at thosepointsT. hesesubtlerefinementsinthearrangementof seeminglyregularelementsgivetheParthenonabuoyantorganic appearance and assure that it will not look like a heavy,lifeless stone box.The significance of their achievement was clear to its builders Iktinos even wrote a book on the proportions of this masterpiece. The sculptural decoration of the Parthenon reflects Pheidias unifying aesthetic vision.At the same time,it conveys a number of politicalandideologicalthemest:hetriumphofthedemocratic Greek city-states over imperial Persia,the preeminence of Athens thanks to the favor of Athena,and the triumph of an enlightened Greek civilization over despotism and barbarism. THE PEDIMENTS. As with most temples,sculpture in the round filled both pediments of the Parthenon,set on the deep shelf of the corniceandsecuredtothewallwithmetalpinsU. nfortunately, much has been damaged or lost over the centuries (also see Who Owns the Art? page 135).Using the locations of the pinholes and weatheringmarksonthecornices,cholarshavebeenableto determine the placement of surviving statues and infer the poses of missing ones.The west pediment sculpture,facing the entrance to the Acropolis,illustrated the contest Athena won over the sea god Poseidon for rule over the Athenians.The east pediment figures, above the entrance to the cella,illustrated the birth of Athena,fully grown and clad in armor,from the brow of her father,Zeus. The statues from the east pediment are the bestpreserved of probably Zeus seated on a throne with the newborn adult Athena standing at his side were groups of three goddesses followed by single reclining male figuresI.n the left corner was the sun god Helios in his horse-drawn chariot rising from the sea,while at the right the moon goddess Selene descends in her chariot to the sea, theheadofhertiredhorsehangingoverthe cornice.The reclining male nude,who fits so easily into the left pediment,has been iden tified as either Herakles with his lion s skin or Dionysos (god of wine) lyingonapantherskinH. iseasypose conforms to the slope of the pediment without a hint of awkwardness.The two seated women may betheearthandgraingoddessesDemeterand Persephone.The running female figure just to the left of center is Iris,messenger of the gods,already spreading the news of Athenas birth. Thethreefemalefiguresontherightside, two sitting upright and one reclining,are probably Hestia (a sister of Zeus and the goddess of the hearth),Dione(oneofZeus smanyconsorts),and h e rd a u g h t e rA, p h r o d i t eT. h e s em o n u m e n t a l interlocked figures seem to be awakening from a deepsleepT. hesculptorw, hetherPheidiasor someone working in his stylee, xpertly rendered he female form beneath the fall of draperiesw, hich both cover and reveal their bodies.The clinging fabric also creates circular patterns rippling with a life of their own and uniting the three figures into a single mass. THE DORIC FRIEZE . Theall-marbleParthenonhadtwo sculptured friezes,one above the outer peristyle and another atop thecellawallinsideT. heDoricfriezeontheexteriorhad92 metope reliefs depicting legendary battless,ymbolized by combat between two representative figures:a centaur against a Lapith ( endary people of pre-Hellenic times);a god against a Titan;a Greek againsta Trojan;a Greek against an Amazon (members of the myth- ical tribe of female warriors sometimes said to be the daughters of the war god Ares).Each of these mythic struggles represented for the Greeks the triumph of reason over unbridled animal passion. Among the best-preserved metope reliefs are several depicting the battle between Lapiths and centaurs from the south side of the Parthenon.Thepanelshownhere (FIG5. 33) presentsapause within the fluid struggle,a timeless image standing for an extende historical episodeF. orms are reduced to their most characteristic essentials,and so dramatic is the chiasmic (X-shaped) composition that we easily accept its visual contradictions.The Lapith is caught at an instant of total equilibrium.What could be a grueling tug-of- war between a man and a man-beast has been transformed into an THE PROCESSIONAL FRIEZE. EnclosedwithintheParthenon s Doric peristyle,a continuous,525-foot-long Ionic frieze ran along the exterior wall of the cella.The subject is a procession celebrating the festival that took place in Athens every four yearsw, hen the women of the city wove a new wool peplos and carried it to the Acropolis to clothe an ancient wooden cult statue of Athena. In Pheidias portrayal of this major event,the figures ridersmanagingpowerfulsteedsf,orexample (FIG5. graceful but physically sturdy young walkers(FIG.5 35) be representative types,ideal inhabitants of a successful city-state. Theunderlyingmessageofthefriezeasawholeisthatthe Athenians are a healthyv, igorous peopleu, nited in a democratic civic body looked upon with favor by the gods.The people are inseparablefromandsymbolicofthecityitself. As with the metope relief of the Lapith Fighting a Centaur(SEE FIG5. 33)v,iewersoftheprocessionalfriezeeasilyacceptits disproportions,patialcompressionandincongruitiesa,ndsuch implausible compositional features as men and women standing asrearinghorseCs.arefullyplannedrhythmicvariations indicating changes in the speed of the participants in the procession as it winds around the walls contribute to the effectiveness of the friezeH. orsesplungeaheadatfullgallopw; omenproceedwitha slow ,stately step;parade marshals pause to look back at the progress of those behind them;and human-looking deities rest on convenient In executing the friezet,he sculptors took into account the spectators low viewpoint and the dim lighting inside the peristyle. They carved the top of the frieze band in higher relief than the lower part,thus tilting the figures out to catch the reflected light fromthepavement,permittingaclearerreadingoftheaction.The subtleties in the sculpture may not have been as evident to Athenians in the fifth century BCE as they are now,because the frieze,seen at thetopofahighwallandbetweencolumnsw, asoriginally completely painted.Figures in red and ocher,accented with glit- teringgoldandrealmetaldetailsw, eresetagainstacontrasting background of dark blue.