Interesting facts about the acropolis. Ancient wonders of the world
Acropolis of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The buildings, the ruins of which can now be seen on the Acropolis, were erected in the middle of the 5th century. BC e. However, even before the 5th century. The Athenian Acropolis was not a deserted rock. Life has flowed here since the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The Acropolis was already a refuge for the inhabitants of the surrounding plains when attacked by enemies. Powerful fortress walls up to 10 meters high and 6 meters wide protected the Acropolis and made it an impregnable stronghold. It was possible to penetrate the hill from the west and north. The entrance from the western, less reliable side was fortified especially carefully. On the northern side, it was apparently hidden by thickets of bushes and the steps of a narrow staircase carved into the rock led to it. Subsequently, when only the sanctuaries of the gods remained on the Acropolis, the staircase on the northern slope became unnecessary and the northern entrance was blocked. Only one main entrance to the Acropolis was preserved - on the western side.
In the XVI-XII centuries. BC e. Athens did not stand out among other cities in Greece. They were inferior to Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos and other powerful Hellenic centers. The advance of Athens began after the fall of the Cretan power. The poetic legend about the ancient hero Theseus, who brought victory to Athens, still lives. The legend tells of the terrible tribute that the Athenians had to send annually to Crete. Seven young men and seven girls became the prey of a terrible monster, half-man, half-bull - the minotaur, who lived in a labyrinth in Crete. Once, as the myth tells, the brave and handsome Theseus, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, was among the young men. With the help of the daughter of the Cretan king Ariadne, who fell in love with him, he defeated the monster and returned to Athens, bringing them freedom and glory.
The ancient Acropolis of Athens may have been similar to the acropolises of Mycenae and Tiryns. The buildings of this time were poorly preserved, since later many structures were erected on the Athenian Acropolis in different eras.
Excavations have shown that in the 2nd millennium BC. e. meetings of rulers, trials, and religious festivals took place here. In the northern part of the Acropolis, archaeologists found a site, apparently, for sacred ceremonies of the Athenians. To the west royal palace, at the northern gate, a well was discovered that provided good drinking water to people who found protection from enemies behind the walls. Data from archaeological excavations indicate that even in these years the social, religious, and cultural life of the Athenians was focused on the Acropolis.
Orders of Greek temples. By the 6th century BC e. In Greek architecture, the main types of temples had already fully developed, the most common of which was the peripterus. It was most often a rectangular building, surrounded on all sides by a colonnade and covered with a gable roof. In the Greek temple, the architectural elements of the building were brought into a certain system. There was an order of their location depending on the nature of the structure. This order was called order(ill. 8, 9, 10).
Some temples were built in the Doric order, others in the Ionic order, and others later, starting in the 4th century. BC e., - in Corinthian. Each order was expressive in its own way. The Doric order is the most strict in terms of forms; the buildings built in it can give an impression of strict, even sometimes severe. The Ionic order is distinguished by the grace of forms and proportions, and the lightness of its elements. It is noteworthy that the Roman architect Vitruvius saw in the Doric order an expression of masculine strength; the forms of the Ionic reminded him of refined feminine beauty, complemented by decorations. The Corinthian order differed from these two orders in its special elegance and luxury.
On the diagrams you can see an image of three orders and the names of their parts. All parts of the order can be divided into groups: supporting elements - stylobate, columns and carried - entablature, roof. The relationship between the main parts - the strength or weakness of the load-bearing elements, the heaviness or lightness of those carried - gives the building a stern and tense character, or a naturally harmonious, or light one.
Buildings on the Acropolis in the 6th century. BC e. In the VI century. BC e. On the Acropolis there was a temple of Athena, called Hekatompedon 1. It was located directly opposite the Propylaea and amazed the person who entered the Acropolis with its beauty. This effect was facilitated by the measured gradual ascent along the hillside and the passage through the small gate decorated with columns - the Propylaea.
The placement of the Propylaea and Hekatompedon on the ancient Acropolis was dominated by symmetry, which was often followed by archaic masters. The principle of symmetry was also considered important by sculptors, especially the creators of sculptures on the pediments of temples. Symmetry was also the basis of the statues that adorned the Acropolis at that time. The frontal image, strictly in front, which seemed especially expressive and beautiful, also appeared in the layout of buildings of this time. That is why the architects placed the Hekatompedon temple right in front of the Propylaea, so that a person entering the Acropolis would see this main temple of the sacred hill not from the side, but from the front, from the richly decorated facade 2.
From buildings of the 6th century. BC e. On the Acropolis, only the foundations have survived, and even then not all of them. This is explained by the fact that most of the buildings were destroyed during the Greco-Persian wars, and by the fact that on the Acropolis in the 5th century. BC e. new buildings were erected. Archaic temples were better preserved where in subsequent eras there was no such rapid construction and where, as on the Acropolis, every piece of land was not dear. That is why the temples of the 6th century. can be seen not on the Acropolis, but in other areas of Greece: the temple of Apollo in Corinth, Hera in Olympia, Demetrge in Paestum (ill. 11). The temples of the Acropolis in the 6th century were undoubtedly similar to them. BC e.
The architectural forms of archaic temples are ponderous and severe. The columns seem to swell under the weight of the roof pressing on them. The severity was softened only by sculptural decorations. Some pediment compositions of the archaic temples of the Acropolis have been preserved, although, unfortunately, it is not always precisely determined which temple this or that sculptural group belonged to, and their reconstructions are not always indisputable.
Pediment - the fight of Hercules with the hydra. On the Acropolis, slabs with reliefs were found depicting the feat of Hercules - the fight against the Hydra 3. The small size of the flat relief makes one think that it belonged to a small temple or treasury. The relief material is soft limestone (the so-called grown up). The sculptures made from it were brightly painted. The coloring covered the rough surface of the stone.
Unfortunately, only the torso and legs of the figure of Hercules have survived. The Hydra was depicted with many heads on writhing serpentine bodies 4 . There is still no clarity in the composition, which will appear later: the main thing is not highlighted, the particulars are not relegated to the background. The struggle saturates both this and other monuments. The mobility of the figures is typical for such compositions of archaic art. Everything in them is subordinated to the disclosure of the theme of the victory of the human hero over an evil force.
Pediments of the Hecatompedon. Other sculptures decorating temples were also found on the Athenian Acropolis. One of the groups shows Hercules fighting Triton, the other shows a fantastic monster with three bodies and three heads - Tritopator. There is reason to believe that they decorated the most ancient temple - Hekatomnedon 5. The statues are made of limestone and brightly painted. The master filled the low side parts of the gables with flexible snake tails intertwining with each other, becoming thinner towards the corners.
The ancient sculptor depicted Hercules defeating the sea monster Triton (ill. 12). Triton is shown as a man with a fish tail 6. The hero pins the enemy to the ground 7. The intense, more voluminous forms than in the previous pediment and the beauty of their outlines attract attention.
Three human torsos of Tritopator - a good ancient Attic deity (ill. 13) - turn into long tails, filling the low side part of the pediment. Tritopator's faces are peaceful and good-natured (ill. 14). In the hands of one there is a wavy ribbon representing water, in another there is a tongue of flame, a sign of fire, in the third there is a bird, a symbol of air, and in the back there is something like a wing. Tritopator personified the elements of water, fire and air. This sculptural group already has more volume and richness. The sculptures are not as flat as in the relief of Hercules with the Hydra. The composition is more complex. Three faces are presented from different points of view: the first head is from the front, the other two are rotated. The tritopator is shown emerging from the corner of the pediment. And although he moves to the side, his faces and torsos turn towards the viewer.
These sculptures were painted, and the paint was preserved quite well. The hair on the head and beard was blue, the eyes were green, the ears, lips and cheeks were red. The bodies are covered with pale pink paint. Snake tails are painted with red and blue stripes.
One of the heads of the Tritopator, kept in the Museum of the Acropolis of Athens, entered the history of art under the code name “Bluebeard” (ill. 15).
The bright color attracted ancient artists. The paint brought the images to life. She deprived the mythological scene of horror and introduced an element of play into it. In Greek art, evil creatures - sphinxes, gorgons, tritons - do not look terrible and omnipotent; the superiority of the human mind over them is always felt. This demonstrated the humanism of the Greeks - a great achievement of human culture.
Pediment - Athena with a giant. Around 530 BC e. The Hecatompedon was rebuilt. On one of the pediments of the new temple (it is called Hekatompedon II, in contrast to the old one), a battle between the Olympian gods and giants was depicted (ill. 16). A statue of Athena fighting a giant has been preserved (ill. 17). In all likelihood, it was placed in the center of the pediment, and other figures were located on the sides. The victorious Athena is shown in impetuous movement, the giant is defeated at her feet. The master emphasizes the victory of the goddess, elevating her figure above the losing strength of the giant. The triumph of the patroness of the city is perceived already from a distant approach to the temple. The theme of struggle sounds here without a hint of cruelty, not like in the scene of the fight between Hercules and Triton, where the hero, in the heat of battle, strained all his strength and pressed the monster to the ground. The sculptor does not show Athena tense, but rather demonstrates the superiority of the noble goddess. This scene, presented in monumental forms, is worthy of the great temple of the Acropolis, worthy of Athens.
It is noteworthy that at the end of the 6th century BC. e. for sculptures, marble, rather than limestone, is often used. The faithful Greeks began to use this beautiful stone to depict the human figure. Slightly translucent from the surface, it conveyed the tenderness of the skin well and, better than other breeds, responded to the desire of Hellenic sculptors to show a person as beautiful and perfect.
The meaning of pediment compositions. The subjects of the pediment compositions of archaic temples were never accidental. Sculptors did not make them just for decoration. They always contained a deep meaning, a kind of metaphorical image of existence perceived by the artist. In the minds of the Hellenes of the harsh archaic era, the world was in a constant, cruel struggle. In Greek legends and myths, it took on the character of a victory of light, sublime forces over dark, base creatures. Giants fought with the titans, the inhabitants of Olympus - the gods - with the giants, courageous human heroes entered into an unequal battle with terrible monsters - tritons, hydras, gorgons.
In images of architecture, in sculptures, in drawings on vases, the physical strength of man was glorified and his victories were shown. The universal idea of the triumph of a perfect human hero, both physically and spiritually, found expression in art.
Potters of the 6th century BC e. loved to emphasize the massive forms and wide bodies of vases, architects created powerful columns of temples, swelling in the middle and narrow at the top, sculptors showed broad shoulders and narrow waists in statues of young men - winners in competitions. The enormous spiritual tension of man was expressed in archaic monuments. A similar interpretation of artistic forms and plot depictions of the struggle and victory of light forces over dark ones appear during the period of a decisive break in the old worldview. During these centuries, a new, Hellenic culture was born, which contrasted the dogmas of Eastern civilization with new principles. The significance of the turning point was enormous for the future fate of the European peoples.
Statues cor. In 1886, fourteen marble statues of Athenian girls were discovered on the Athenian Acropolis between Erechtheion and the northern wall of the hill. Subsequently, several more of the same sculptures were found. During the time when Athens was ruled by the sons of the tyrant Peisistratus, there were many sculptures on the Acropolis, including statues of girls, or, in Greek, kors (ill. 7). These statues had high pedestals of different types - round, square, some in the form of columns with Doric or Ionic capitals 8. They were made for the most part made of marble brought from the islands of the Aegean Sea. Only a few are made from local Attic Pentellian marble.
Greek sculptors showed kors in long, festive robes. The girls do not look alike, although they stand in the same pose - strictly frontally, holding straight, maintaining solemnity. It is still unknown exactly who these statues depict. Some want to see them as goddesses, others as priestesses, and still others as noble girls with gifts to the goddess. The kor statues convince of the love of the late archaic society of the end of the 6th century. BC e. for decorations, patterns. Particularly beautiful and varied are the complex hair styling and carefully curled curls of the hairstyle. Sculptors depict them with great skill.
The proximity of the countries of the East makes itself felt in the details of these monuments of archaic art. Elegant clothes cor. Most of them are wearing chiton shirts. Some barks hold them with their left hand at the hip, and the fabric folds beautifully. A cloak is thrown over the top - a himation, often luxurious, falling in picturesque folds (ill. 18).
Faces reveal little about the mood of the core. Only the corners of the mouth are slightly raised and the lips are folded into a restrained smile, which is still far from a living feeling of joy (ill. 19). Their clothes speak more about the character of girls. In some, the folds of chitons form complex patterns, cheerfully interrupting each other, in others, they calmly flow down, in others, they are shown as restrained and sparse. The clothes seem to correspond to the different characters and moods of the girls - sometimes cheerful and lively, sometimes calm, sometimes strict and focused. This demonstrates the ability of ancient sculpture of the archaic era to convey feelings not through facial expressions, but through the plasticity of forms and expressiveness of lines.
Before the discovery of the Acropolis cores antique sculpture presented as white marble, colorless. The barks surprised the world by the fact that they retained paint, while most others greek statues she came down. The paint lies in a dense layer on the marble, even covering it in some places. But the statues do not lose because of this in their artistic expressiveness. Extreme generalization is combined with specificity, emphasized by the coloring of the pupils, scarlet lips, and dark hair. Paint, bringing the image closer to reality, affirms with even greater force the character and idea of the work - the glorification of beauty.
Much later, the images of Roman sculptors of the 3rd - 4th centuries. n. e. - individual, specific - would no longer withstand such coloring. It would make them too close to reality, naturalistic, and the work would lose the ability to express the general idea. The later monumental sculpture therefore also abandons coloring. The Greeks, in their statues and other works, were not afraid of this, so strong was the character of generalization in their plastic forms.
The statues of the girls are beautiful. Contemplating them, a person receives great pleasure. Before him, it’s as if the feelings of ancient sculptors, who managed to convey the serene beauty of youth, come to life. During the Greco-Persian Wars, these beautiful sculptures were broken and lay in a pile of so-called Persian rubbish until they were used as simple stones during the construction of new temples. Possibly archaic statues from the 6th century. BC e. lost to the Greeks of the 5th century. BC e. the charm that their fathers and grandfathers felt. It is also possible that the heavily damaged statues have already lost their religious significance. After all, it is known that the Hellenes often treated the statues as living beings: sometimes they dressed them, anointed them with fragrant oils, brought food, and once even tied the legs and arms of some statues, because they were afraid that they might leave.
The archaic buildings and sculptures of the Acropolis are full of great original beauty. They will not be replaced by any stories about the feelings and moods of people of this time. Works of the Greek archaic do not lose their value, even when placed next to the creations of the masters classical era. So, often a person deeply experiences the feelings of the heroes of books written many decades or centuries ago. The music of past centuries is also no less exciting than the works of modern composers. Likewise, the archaic monuments of the Athenian Acropolis, pediment compositions and sculptures, imbued with a special charm that has never been repeated subsequently, stop a person’s gaze, although they are inferior in the perfection of execution to the works created on the Acropolis in the middle of the 5th century. BC e.
Victory for democracy in Greek cities. At the end of the 6th century. BC e. in Athens, the aristocracy lost many of the advantages it had previously enjoyed. The social structure was now based on democratic principles. Series life forms Greek cities became more progressive; The democratic system contributed to the development of sciences and arts.
At the end of the 6th century. BC e. The free Greek cities were opposed by the huge Persian power of the Achaemenids, which was experiencing a constant bitter struggle between various dynasties. The unlimited power of the king, the complex bureaucratic apparatus characteristic of ancient Eastern states with a mass of powerless subjects seemed to the Hellenes a manifestation of barbarism.
Revolt of Miletus. Greek cities, located in Asia Minor on the coast of the Aegean Sea, were under the rule of the Persians for a long time. Exorbitantly high taxes, the arbitrariness of the Persian rulers - satraps, and their constant interference in the economic affairs of the Greeks placed a heavy burden on the shoulders of the residents of the cities of Asia Minor. The large city of Miletus rebelled and overthrew the Persian protege. The Milesians were supported by other cities in Asia Minor, and the uprising flared up. The Persians suppressed it, but realized that the cities of the Balkan Peninsula were setting an example of love of freedom for the Greeks of Asia Minor, and decided to destroy the foundations of the democratic system in the cities of mainland Greece.
The beginning of the Greco-Persian wars. In 492 BC. e. The son-in-law of the Persian king Darius I, Mardonius, went on a campaign to Greece. However, after the death of three hundred ships during a storm, he returned ingloriously. Second campaign of the Persians in 490 BC. e. was also unsuccessful. At the historic Battle of Marathon, the Greeks utterly defeated the Persian army. A more severe test befell the Hellenes in 480 BC. e., when the Persian army was led by a new king, Xerxes. Hordes of barbarians moved from the north and stopped at the Thermopylae Gorge. Greek warriors showed an example of courage and perseverance. Only with the help of a traitor did the Persian troops manage to win. 300 valiant Spartans, covering the retreat of the main troops, fell along with their leader, King Leonidas. At the site of their death, a monument was erected - a marble statue of a lion with the inscription: “Traveler! Go tell our citizens in Lacedaemon that, keeping their covenants, here we died with our bones!” The Persian army, breaking through the Thermopylae gorge, moved towards Athens and captured it.
Destruction of the monuments of the Acropolis. Athens was destroyed. The Acropolis was especially badly damaged. The temples were destroyed and lay in ruins, their treasures were plundered, their sanctuaries were desecrated. Numerous statues, including kor statues, were thrown off their pedestals and broken. Here is what the famous Greek historian Herodotus writes about the Persian capture of the Acropolis:
“The Persians settled on that hill opposite the Acropolis, which the Athenians call the Areopagus, and began to besiege the Acropolis in the following way: they wrapped arrows in tow, lit them and then shot them from bows at the fortification. The besieged Athenians, although they were brought to the last extreme and the fortification collapsed, continued However, to resist. The proposal of the Pisistratids 9 regarding surrender was rejected by the Athenians; for the purpose of defense they used various means, among other things, throwing huge stones at the barbarians every time they approached the gates. As a result of this, Xerxes, not being able to take the Athenians, for a long time I didn't know what to do for a while.
Finally, after such difficulties, access to the Acropolis was opened to the barbarians: the fact is that, according to the saying of the oracle, all of Attica was destined to fall under the rule of the Persians. So, in front of the Acropolis, but behind the gate and the rise, where there were no guards and where, as it seemed to everyone, no one could ascend, in the same place with a steep descent near the sanctuary of the Kecronian daughter Aglavra, several people ascended, When the Athenians They saw these barbarians entering the Acropolis, some of them rushed from the wall and died, while others fled inside the sanctuary; The barbarians who entered the wall rushed first of all to the gate, opened it and killed those asking for protection; After killing them all, the barbarians plundered the temple and set the entire Acropolis on fire."
Greek victory. The Hellenes, despite the capture of Athens by the Persians, emerged from the ordeal with honor. At the Battle of Salamis, the resistance of the Persian fleet was broken, and at the Battle of Plataea, the enemy's land army was defeated. Having defeated their enemies, the Greeks showed the superiority of the democratic system over the moribund social system of the Persians. The Greek cities won a victory, the significance of which was extremely great. Not only the well-being of the Greek state itself depended on the outcome of the Greco-Persian wars. It is difficult to imagine what Hellenic culture would have been like if the Persians had won. It is unlikely that the Acropolis would then be crowned with the majestic Parthenon. Probably, there would not have been the genius of Phidias, Scopas, Lysippos. And without classical Greek culture, the character of Roman civilization, and at the same time further European civilization, would have been completely different.
The victory of the Greeks over the Persians meant the triumph of new, progressive principles of democracy and freedom in the political and social system. The victory led to the emergence of new fruitful impulses in Greek art. The system of archaic artistic thinking, which had some common features with the ancient Eastern one, turned out to be untenable. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the transition from archaic art to classical art coincides in time with the successful outcome of this war for the Greeks.
The word “acropolis” translated from Greek means “upper city,” and in Rus' such fortified upper cities called Kremlins. Once upon a time, the Athenian Acropolis really was a fortress, and it seemed that nature itself made sure that the hill platform, rising several tens of meters with its steep slopes, was impregnable to enemies. The Athenian plain is open on the sea side, and surrounded by mountain peaks on the rest.
Thus, the Acropolis was accessible only from the western side, but, having all the geographical advantages, it did not even need protection. In addition, the hill was so densely covered with olive trees that they themselves could serve as an excellent means of defense.
On the ruins of the Acropolis you can read the history of Greece from the era of the legendary King Cecrops to Turkish rule. The beginning of the Greek capital is lost in times so ancient that they seem fabulous. In the middle of the 19th century BC, as the ancient Greek historian Herodotus writes, King Kekrop, born of the earth and having the body of a snake, arrived in Attica. He built a fortress with a royal palace on the Acropolis, and the city founded by the king began to be called Cecropia, and its inhabitants - Cecropidae. At first the Acropolis was owned by Zeus the Thunderer, but when he appeared on the land of Attica new town, the god Poseidon and the goddess Athena argued for its ownership. Under King Kekropos this famous dispute for the possession of Attica took place.
The Olympian gods, led by Zeus, acted as judges in this dispute, when Athena and Poseidon brought their gifts to the city. With a blow of his trident, Poseidon cut the rock, and a salty spring gushed out of the stone. Athena thrust her spear deep into the ground, and an olive tree grew in this place. All the gods supported Poseidon, and the goddesses and King Cecrops considered the olive a more useful gift for Attica. Angry at the loss, the god Poseidon sent huge waves onto the plain surrounding the city, from which it was possible to hide only in the fortress of the Acropolis. The thunderer Zeus stood up for the residents, and the townspeople themselves appeased Poseidon, promising to erect a temple in his honor on Cape Souniyon, which they subsequently did.
Despite its natural security, the Acropolis was fortified in ancient times with a wall called Pelasgian. According to some scientists, this happened around 1100 BC, when the Pelasgians, famous for their art of building walls, arrived here from Boeotia (according to other sources - from Sicily). The Persian king Xerxes, having captured Athens in 480 BC, ordered the destruction of these walls, but their remains have survived to this day.
The tyrant ruler Peisistratus was the first to transform the Acropolis from a fortress into a sanctuary. Under him, on the site of the royal palace, the Hekatompedon (one hundred steps, one hundred feet high), dedicated to the goddess Athena, was erected. The Greeks revered their patroness so highly that they set free all the slaves who participated in the construction of this temple. In 479 BC, the Hekatompedon was destroyed by the Persians during the brief occupation of Athens, but the remains of the foundations of this temple are still visible next to the Erechtheion.
After the expulsion of the Peisistratos, there were no longer any residential buildings on the Acropolis, only temples, altars and statues. Priests and priestesses lived at the temples with their assistants and servants.
The Persian capture of the Acropolis, which was considered impregnable, greatly worried the Greeks, and after their expulsion they began extensive work to strengthen it. The Athenians had to not only restore the fortifications, but also rebuild almost all the temples. The platform on the top of the hill was expanded, and during the restoration of the Pelasgian wall its former line was significantly extended, especially to the north and north-west, so that part of the valley stretching between the hills was added to the ancient fortress. The space between the old and new walls was filled with ruins of temples, remains of buildings and broken sculptures. At the same time, the ancient authors noted that fragments of old temples and fragments of statues dedicated to the gods were buried “with the greatest care, respect and honor,” so that never again would an enemy hand violate the ancient shrines.
Probably around 460 BC the allied treasury was transferred from Delos to Athens, and before that the city did not have its own treasure. Initially, the wealth from the allied coffers was most likely stored in the sanctuary of Athena, built at the northern end of the Acropolis. At first, the sacred objects of the dispute between Poseidon and Athena - the olive and the trident - were kept in the temple, thus uniting the cults of both deities and marking the reconciliation between them that followed the dispute. But the temple was badly damaged by the Persians and could no longer be a reliable place to store the treasury. Athens by this time had already achieved such power that it was possible to take care not only of military savings: art monuments also required their share of attention. Therefore, the Greeks began to use the allied treasury not only to build a fleet, but also to decorate the Acropolis. The people chose Pericles as the chairman of the construction commission, who, together with the brilliant artist and sculptor Phidias, drew up a plan for the grandiose reconstruction of the Acropolis.
Now, in the era of its prosperity, standing at the pinnacle of power and glory, Athens, more than ever, had to express to its goddess a sense of gratitude for the gifts with which she showered them. Therefore, Pericles’ idea of turning the Acropolis into the sacred fence of Athena, and the former fortress into a single architectural ensemble, was truly majestic. The people willingly agreed to the considerable expense of the new construction and for many years supported the implementation of this plan. Plutarch in his work “Pericles” wrote that majestic buildings, inimitable in beauty and grace, began to rise on the Acropolis. All artisans tried to bring their craft to the highest degree of perfection in front of each other.
Actually high place The Parthenon rises on the Acropolis, which seems to be a continuation of the rock, the completion of everything around it. It is known that it was difficult and expensive to build, but there are no traces of human effort in it: the temple appeared as if by itself, there was no forced invasion of the landscape, on the contrary, there was complete unity of the “intentions” of nature and the architect.
The Parthenon was built on the site of an ancient sanctuary destroyed by the Persians. Each pediment of the Parthenon contained a group of sculptures united by a specific plot. For example, the eastern frieze depicts the birth of the goddess Athena, the western frieze depicts her dispute with Poseidon, and the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was completed by a frieze that depicted a solemn procession during the festival of the Great Panathenaia (that is, “all-Athensian”).
Panathenaea was at first a rural harvest festival: according to legend, Theseus introduced it for all the inhabitants of Attica, united into one state. The first day of the holiday was dedicated to musical competitions, which were held in the Odeon, a theater specially built by Pericles. This was followed by gymnastic games, choirs, running with torches and a trireme competition. The winners received an olive wreath or a beautiful clay vessel filled with olive oil.
Inside the Parthenon, in the eastern section of the temple, stood the goddess Athena, surrounded by a two-tier colonnade shaped like the letter “P”. Pausanias in his “Description of Hellas” reports that the statue of Athena depicts her at full length in a chiton, right down to her feet; on her chest is the head of Medusa made of ivory, in her hand she holds an image of Nike approximately four cubits long, and in the other hand a spear. At her feet lies a shield, and near her spear is a snake... In the middle of her helmet is an image of a sphinx... on both sides of the helmet are images of griffins. The pedestal of the statue depicts the birth of Pandora, the first woman.
All parts of the statue were covered with reliefs: on the goddess’s sandals the battle between the Lapiths and the centaurs is shown, on the front side of the shield there is a battle with the Amazons, on the inside there is a battle between the Olympian gods and the Titans. A small pool was built in front of the statue of Athena to prevent the evaporation of water from drying out the ivory.
After the completion of the Parthenon, the Greeks began building the Propylaea, which in width occupies the entire western slope of the hill. Even today, the Acropolis can only be reached along a winding, wide path carved into the rocks. The stepped road leads first to the solemn monumental portal - the famous Propylaea with columns in the Doric style. They were built entirely from white Pentelic and purple Eleusinian marble by the architect Mnesicles in 437–432 BC.
The Propylaea was one of the most famous and beloved monuments of ancient Athens. Orators of the 6th century BC pointed out to the people the Propylaea as the symbol and glory of Athenian greatness, and some ancient authors placed their architecture even higher than that of the Parthenon. The construction of these majestic gates required enormous funds, but due to a series of defeats in the Peloponnesian War and the beginning of the decline of the Athenian state, the Propylaea remained unfinished.
But before entering these majestic marble gates, everyone involuntarily turns to the right. There, on the high pedestal of the bastion that once guarded the Acropolis, stands a small elegant temple of the goddess of victory Nike Apteros, decorated with low bas-reliefs on the themes of the Greco-Persian wars. On a massive ledge of the Acropolis rock, the light, airy temple is placed so that with its whiteness it stands out not against the background of other architectural structures, but against the background of the blue sky. This fragile building, similar to an elegant marble toy, erected by the architect Callicrates in the second half of the 5th century BC, seems to smile itself and makes numerous visitors to the Acropolis smile.
A gilded wooden statue of the goddess was installed inside the temple, and the Greeks liked it so much that they innocently begged the sculptor not to make wings for it, because victory is fickle and flies from one enemy to another. The Athenians depicted Nike as wingless so that she could not leave their beautiful city, which had recently won a great victory over the Persians.
After the Propylaea, the Athenians went to the main square of the Acropolis, where there was a bronze statue of Athena Promachos (Warrior) 8.5 meters high. The statue of the goddess was built using a tenth of the booty captured by the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon. The inscription on the stone pedestal said the same thing: “The Athenians dedicated from the victory over the Persians.” The sculptor Phidias performed it in full armor: in a helmet, with a spear, a shield and with an aegis on the chest. The pedestal was high, and the gilded tip of the goddess’s spear, sparkling in the sun, was visible far from the sea and served as a kind of beacon for sailors.
The most sacred, most mysterious and enigmatic temple of the Acropolis is considered the Erechtheion, associated with the hidden events of the mythological history of Athens and Attica. Its construction was carried out with long interruptions, in free time from wars: the Erechtheion was founded in 421 BC and completed after the victories of Alcibiades in 409–408 BC.
An ancient Greek myth tells that Erechtheus (or Erichthonius) was the son of the goddess Gaia and the god Hephaestus and had a half-snake-half-human body. As a baby, the goddess Athena took him in and gave him to the daughters of Cecrops in a closed casket, strictly forbidding him to open it. But two of the sisters - Gersa and Aglavra - were very curious and looked into the chest. Seeing there a baby guarded by two snakes, they were very frightened and, overwhelmed by the madness sent to them, they threw themselves from the cliff of the Acropolis and crashed. The third sister, Pandora, was obedient to the will of Athena and subsequently received her sanctuary on the Acropolis.
The Erechtheion stands in the part of the Acropolis where the royal palace was located in pre-Homeric times. History has not preserved the names of the creators of this temple, since it was erected after Pericles and Phidias. Those who constructed this remarkable building faced extremely difficult construction problems. First of all, the Erechtheion had to connect together several sanctuaries that had long existed in their ritually sacred places, moreover, located at different levels. The builders had to practically leave this untouchable topography of the site and build the temple from parts constructed at different heights. The result was a very complex building with four porticoes, which has no analogues in Greek architecture. For example, the eastern part of its south side The Erechtheion connects to the northeast corner of the Hekatompedon's foundation; it also invisibly retains a connection with the stones of the royal palace of Mycenaean times.
The frieze that encircled the Erechtheion was a continuous band of dark blue Eleusinian marble, decorated with a sculpted relief of yellowish Parian marble. Between the central door of the northern portico and the door of the portico of the caryatids there was an oblong room. On the inside of its western wall there was a well-cleft through which one could see the “Sea of Erechtheus” - a source of salt water. Near the western wall of the temple is the sanctuary of Pandora, in which the sacred olive tree, donated by Athena, grows. The tree always remained the same size as it first appeared after the blow of the goddess’s spear. Tradition tells that the next morning, after the sacred olive was burned by the Persians in 479 BC, it gave a powerful shoot and grew 45 centimeters overnight.
In the Erechtheion there were chapels that had special purpose, and side corridors that were used for religious ceremonies. In a niche in one of the corridors there was a secluded place for the sacred serpent - Athena’s favorite, which the priests fed with honey gingerbread.
Unlike the Parthenon, which was the reception hall of the goddess, the Erechtheion is the holy of holies of Athena, her home. Here Athena lived in a small temple located near the tomb of the first Greek king Cecrops. This one ancient statue was surrounded by secrets and legends, and it was believed that it was not made by the hands of a sculptor, but “her image fell straight from the sky.” The olive statue of Athena was washed in the sea and dressed in clothes woven with special care. Plutarch reports that when the priests removed all the attire from the goddess and wrapped her in a special veil, the Athenians tried to spend that day in inaction, since the beneficent power of Athena seemed to be disconnected from them at that moment.
The olive statue of Athena was called “Palaeon”; in front of it there was always a fire burning in a golden lamp made by the famous jeweler Callimachus. The lamp was filled with oil once a year, and its wick was made of asbestos. The smoke from the lamp was directed to the ceiling through a bronze pipe made in the shape of a palm tree trunk. In front of this statue, the most mysterious sacred rites of the priests and arrefors were held, carefully hidden from the uninitiated.
Two girls, appointed annually, lived in a small house near the Erechtheion. These were the arrefors (bearers of the secret), who one day after sowing were faced with a test that required considerable courage. The priestess of the goddess Athena gave them something closed that no one should see. The Arrefor girls descended with this burden underground and through a secret passage penetrated into the depths of the Acropolis rock - into the hiding place of the naughty Aglavra. There you had to leave what you brought and take another, also closed and not seen by anyone, and then rise to the surface again.
But in 426, Emperor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all pagan temples, and the Parthenon turned into Christian Church Hagia Sophia. During the renovation of the building, the sculptural group of its eastern pediment was severely damaged. All metopes (except for the southern ones) are destroyed, and a window is cut in the eastern pediment. A bell tower is erected over the southwestern part of the Parthenon, an apse is added to the eastern part, and almost all the decoration of the eastern facade is destroyed. The statue of Phidias was transported to Constantinople, where it was destroyed in a fire.
In 1460, after the conquest of Athens by the Turks, the Parthenon became a mosque. But the most terrible blow was dealt to him in 1687 during the war between the Turks and Venice. The Parthenon was turned into a gunpowder magazine, and during the shelling it was hit by a bomb. The middle part of the structure collapsed from a strong explosion, and many sculptures were damaged. After the victory over the Turks, F. Morosini decided to bring horses from the chariot of Athena (western pediment) to Venice as trophies. However, they were lowered to the ground so carelessly and ineptly that the magnificent sculptures fell and were broken.
But even now, you can stay among the divine ruins of the Acropolis for hours and days, wander among them early in the morning, and in the bright light of the midday sun, and in the deceptive moonlight - you still will not exhaust the comprehensive beauty of everything that surrounds you. Here you stand face to face with Athens of the 5th–4th centuries BC, and the Acropolis appears to you almost the same as the great men of Ancient Greece saw it. The nature surrounding it has not changed over the centuries, only the villages lined with olive trees and vineyards have disappeared. The Acropolis has stood for centuries under the scorching rays of the sun, and its marble seems to be acquiring a more and more golden color every day.
Only when you see Attica spread out at your feet from the Acropolis, you can understand that only here the Hellenic genius could flourish, only among this nature and environment will the completed form of the ideal clearly appear before you. Because the most beautiful ancient Greek buildings, even in remains and ruins, represent the full power of the Hellenic spirit and the greatest human creativity.
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Ministry of Railways of the RUSSIAN FEDERATION
ROSTOV STATE UNIVERSITY OF COMMUNICATIONS
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
COURSE WORK
Subject: “world culture”
Topic: “Ancient Greece. Acropolis. Sculpture: Phidias, Polykleitos, Myron”
Completed by: 2nd year student of the correspondence department, groups
GTS-2-
Kolabina Tatyana Alexandrovna
Rostov-on-Don 2002
1.1. History of creation
1.2. Propylaea and Temple of Nike Apteros
1.3. Erechtheion
1.4. Parthenon
1.5. Acropolis Ensemble
1.6. Acropolis in subsequent eras
2.2. Parthenon
2.3. Propylaea.
2.4. Temple of Athena Nike.
2.5. Monuments on the Acropolis.
Conclusion.
1. The Acropolis of Athens is a pearl of ancient culture.
Acropolis-(Greek akropolis, from akros - upper and polis - city), elevated and fortified part ancient greek city, fortress, refuge in case of war. Temples were usually built on the Acropolis in honor of the patron deities of a given city. The most famous is Akrpolis in Athens.
His buildings are exquisite in proportion and harmoniously connected with the landscape. This ensemble, created under the general direction of Phidias, consists of the main entrance of the Propylaea (437–432 BC, architect Mnesicles), the temple of Athena Nike (449–420 BC, architect Kallikrates), the main temple of the Acropolis and Athens Parthenon (447–438 BC, architects Ictinus and Kallikrates), Erechtheion Temple (421–406 BC).
The ACROPOLIS in Athens, the fortified part of ancient Athens, where the main shrines of the city were located, is famous for its cult buildings of the classical period.
1.1. History of creation
Athens Acropolis, which is a 156-meter rocky hill with a gentle peak (approx. 300 m long and 170 m wide), the site of the oldest settlement in Attica. During the Mycenaean period (15-13 centuries BC) it was a fortified royal residence. In the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. There was a lot of construction going on on the Acropolis. Under the tyrant Pisistarates (560-527), on the site of the royal palace, the temple of the goddess Athena Hekatompedon was built (that is, a temple one hundred steps long; fragments of pediment sculptures have been preserved, and the foundation has been identified). In 480, during the Greco-Persian Wars, the temples of the Acropolis were destroyed by the Persians. The inhabitants of Athens swore an oath to restore the shrines only after the expulsion of enemies from Hellas.
In 447, on the initiative of Pericles, new construction began on the Acropolis; management of all work was entrusted famous sculptor Phidias, who, apparently, was the author of the artistic program that formed the basis of the entire complex, its architectural and sculptural appearance.
1.2. Propylaea and Temple of Nike Apteros.
The sacred road, along which the procession of Athenians moved from the agora to the temple of the patron goddess during the main festival of the Great Panathenaia, leads to the Propylaea, which has 5 passages and in ancient times was flanked by two equestrian statues of the Dioscuri. In the left, protruding wing, there was a Pinakothek (a collection of pinak paintings donated to the goddess Athena), in the right there was a storage room for manuscripts and a room for the gatekeeper and guards. To the right of the Propylaea, on a pyrgos (an outcrop of a fortified rock), stands a small, light and graceful temple of the Ionic order, dedicated to Athena Nike, known as the temple of Nike Apteros (Wingless Victory; 443-420, architect Kallicrates).
1.3. Erechtheion
After the participants of the procession passed the Propylaea and entered the sacred territory, a panorama of the central part of the complex opened before them. In the foreground, just to the left of the road, stood a colossal bronze statue of Athena Promachos (Warrior), cast by Phidias. Behind it in the distance was the Erechtheion (architect unknown), the temple of Athena and Poseidon at the site of the dispute between these gods for the possession of Attica. The temple has an asymmetrical plan unique in Greek architecture; its three porticos are located at different levels: on the western side the portico leading to the temple of Athena Polyada (City), on the northern side the entrance to the sanctuary of Poseidon-Erechtheus, on the southern wall of the temple is the famous portico of the caryatids; the entire building was surrounded by a frieze with overhead white figures (not preserved). In the Erechtheion, the oldest sanctuary of Athens, there was the sacred xoan of Athena (a wooden statue), which according to legend fell from the sky, the altars of Hephaestus and the hero But, the tomb of the legendary Athenian king Kekrops, and the sanctuary of the Attic dew goddess Pandrosa adjoined to the west. In the courtyard of the Erechtheion there grew a sacred olive tree, donated to the city by Athena, and a salt spring flowed, which Poseidon carved with his trident.
1.4. Parthenon
The lightness of its forms, the special sophistication of decorative decoration and the complexity of the composition of the small Erechtheion contrasts with the strict and majestic, emphatically monumental Parthenon (Temple of the Virgin Athena; 69.5 m in length and 30.9 m in width, column height 10.5 m; 447 consecrated in 438; architect Ictinus with the participation of Callicrates), representing a Doric peripter. The building is perceived from the Propylaea in three quarters; viewers saw not one of its facades, but the entire volume of the structure, got an idea of its appearance as a whole, and before seeing the main, eastern facade, they had to walk around the temple from the outside.
In the temple itself, in the naos, there was a chrysoelephantine statue of Athena Parthenos (Virgin) by Phidias; the sacred money of the goddess and the treasury of the Athenian Maritime League were kept in the opisthodome. In the pediments there were sculptural groups depicting the most significant events in the cult of Athena - her birth and the dispute with the sea god Poseidon for the possession of Attica. The metope reliefs along the perimeter of the building depicted scenes of mythological battles. Architectural details, sculpture and reliefs were brightly painted. The plan and order of the Parthenon also differ from the traditional ones in a number of features: in front of the naos there was a hall of the maiden's chamber (the Parthenon, which gave the name to the entire temple), along the wall of the naos there was an Ionic frieze depicting the Panathenaic procession.
In front of the Parthenon, on the right side of the Propylaea, there were also the sanctuaries of Artemis Brauronia and Athena Ergana (Craftswoman), a repository of weapons and sacred armor of Chalkotek (450). The open area of the Acropolis was occupied by numerous altars and gifts to the gods, statues and steles.
The temple and theater of Dionysus (6th century BC, rebuilt in 326), the Odeon of Pericles (an indoor round building for musical competitions) (2nd half of the 5th century BC) adjoined the northwestern slope of the Acropolis. , theater of Herodes Atticus (2nd century AD), sanctuary of Asclepius, Stoa (Porticus) of Eumenes.
1.5. Acropolis Ensemble
The Acropolis towers over all of Athens, its silhouette shaping the skyline of the city. In ancient times, the Parthenon rising above the hill could be seen from any part of Attica and even from the islands of Salamis and Aegina; The sailors approaching the shore could already see from afar the shine of the spear and helmet of Athena the Warrior. In ancient times, the sanctuary was known not only as a famous cult center, but also as a monument of great art, confirming the glory of Athens as the “school of Hellas” and the most beautiful city. The thoughtful composition of the entire ensemble, perfectly found general proportions, a flexible combination of various orders, the finest modeling of architectural details and their unusually accurate drawing, the close relationship between architecture and sculptural decoration make the buildings of the Acropolis the highest achievement of ancient Greek architecture and one of the most outstanding monuments of world art.
1.6. Acropolis in subsequent eras.
In the 5th century The Parthenon became the Church of Our Lady, the statue of Athena Parthenos was transported to Constantinople. After the conquest of Greece by the Turks (in the 15th century), the temple was turned into a mosque, to which minarets were added, then into an arsenal; The Erechtheion became the harem of the Turkish pasha, the temple of Nike Apteros was dismantled, and the bastion wall was built from its blocks. In 1687, after a cannonball hit a Venetian ship, an explosion destroyed almost the entire central part of the Temple of Athena the Virgin; during an unsuccessful attempt by the Venetians to remove the Parthenon sculptures, several statues were broken. At the beginning of the 19th century. The Englishman Lord Elgin tore out a number of metopes, tens of meters of frieze and almost all the surviving sculptures of the Parthenon pediments, a caryatid from the portico of the Erechtheion.
After the declaration of independence of Greece, during restoration work (mainly in the late 19th century), the ancient appearance of the Acropolis was restored as far as possible: all late buildings on its territory were eliminated, the temple of Nike Apteros was rebuilt, etc. Reliefs and sculptures of the temples of the Acropolis are located in the British Museum (London), the Louvre (Paris) and the Acropolis Museum. Remaining under open air the sculptures have now been replaced by copies.
2. Athens Acropolis in ancient times.
2.1. Foundation and construction of the Acropolis.
In the Late Helladic period, the territory of Athens coincided mainly with the territory of the Acropolis; neighboring hills, including the Areopagus Hill, served as burial places. The area of the future agora also served as a necropolis for the local population of Attica, and at this time was not yet unified.
In the 2nd millennium, the Acropolis was a powerful fortification. Its upper winding platform was surrounded by a wall 10 m high and 6 m thick. The wall consisted of two parallel walls, located at a distance of several meters from each other, dry-built from large limestone blocks, and the cracks between the blocks were carefully filled with small stones and rubble. The gap between the walls was filled with torn stone. All this created such a powerful fortification that seemed impenetrable.
For centuries, this wall served as reliable protection for the population of ancient Athens. Only after the double invasion of Attica by the Persians in 480 and 479. it was partially destroyed, its northern side was especially badly damaged.
Two entrances (western and northern) provided access to the Acropolis. On the western, single flat side of the Acropolis, the fortifications were especially powerful. During this period there was a fortified entrance here.
During the restoration work of the Temple of Athena Nike in 1936, it became possible to explore more ancient cultural layers. On one of the lower rocky spurs protruding to the southwest from the Acropolis Hill, a bastion rose, also built on the principle of the Pelasgian wall of the Acropolis, filling the internal space between the walls with stone. This powerful fortification was, moreover, surrounded by a wall in such a way that between the wall and the bastion there was a passage opening to the southwest of the bastion. Inside, the passage in many places was blocked by locked gates, and when turning to the entrance, there was probably a guard room near the wall. It is quite possible that there was a second similar bastion on the northwestern side. These were probably the famous “Enneapylon” and the 9 gates of the Pelargic fortifications. G. Werther dates the fortification to around 1200 BC. e., i.e. considers it the last act of the Athenian kings, who expanded the fortified area of the Acropolis before the Dorian invasion by including Pelargic.
On the northern side of the Acropolis, the foundations of the towers that guarded the second entrance to the Acropolis, which led directly to the palace of the Athenian kings, have been preserved. There was a path leading to this entrance with traces of steps cut out in particularly steep places. Ancient Palace in Homer's poems it is called the “palace of Erechtheus”.
The magnificent city of Athens,
Region of King Erechtheus,
Whom in ancient times Mother Earth gave birth to,
Raised by Pallas Athena,
And she brought her to Athens, and installed her in her brilliant temple.
(Iliad, II, v. 546-544)
Having reached Marathon and the wide streets of Athens,
The goddess (Athena) entered the strong house of Erechtheus
(Odyssey, VII, v. 80-81)
The foundations of the palace of the Athenian kings were preserved in the buildings subsequently erected here in the area of the Erechtheion (in the sacred district of Kekropos) and the old temple of Athena. Inside the eastern room of the temple, two stone bases of wooden columns of the megaron of the royal palace were discovered.
The transformation of the megaron into a sanctuary is confirmed by the very shape of the megaron, the prototype of the Greek temple. The sanctuary of Athena was located in the palace of Erechtheus. Therefore, it is quite natural that after the fall of royal power, the megaron of the palace became the place of worship of Athena. Later, the “Hundred-Foot” Temple (Hekatompedon) was erected here. According to its plan, the megaron of the Athenian palace, which overlooked the courtyard, was 12 similar to the eastern cella of the Hekatompedon. The internal appearance of the megaron was probably somewhat reminiscent of the megaron of King Alcinous, described by Homer.
In the center of the hall there was a large round fireplace, similar to the fireplaces in Mycenae. Near such a hearth, Odysseus begged for protection to Alcinous’s wife, Queen Aretha, and at the same hearth in the 5th century. The exile Themistocles begged for the hospitality of the king of the Molossian tribe.
Meetings of the basileus of Attica were held in the palace megaron, similar to the meetings of the Phaeacian basileus in the palace of Alcinous. According to Thucydides, “under Cecrops and the first kings before Theseus, the population of Attica lived constantly in cities that had their own prytaneia and their own rulers. When no danger was felt, the rulers did not confer with the king, but each ruled and conferred separately. And some of them even fought with each other, such as the Eleusinians with Eumolpus against Erechtheus” (Thucydides, II, 15, 1).
Undoubtedly, the cult of Zeus, accompanied by the killing of a bull, goes back to the most ancient cults of Athens - a ritual whose origin in legend is associated with Erechtheus. Barley mixed with wheat or pies made from barley and wheat flour were placed on the altar of Zeus on the Acropolis. They led bulls around the altar and killed the one who first started eating piita on the altar. The ax and knife prepared for the sacrifice were first washed with clean water by the hydrophore priestesses. One of the priests hit the bull with an ax, and the other cut its throat. Both the ax and the knife were immediately thrown away, and those who struck the blow quickly ran away. The skin of the bull was carefully removed, the meat was distributed to everyone present, then the skin was stuffed with straw and sewn together. A stuffed bull was harnessed to a plow as if for plowing. The king was on trial for the murder of a bull. At the same time, all participants in the sacrifice were called and asked to defend themselves. “Of them, the hydrophore girls declared that they were not so much guilty as those who sharpened the ax; the grinders blamed the one who gave the ax, and this one blamed the one who killed; the one who did this blamed the knife, and the knife (silent) was found guilty of murder” (Theophrastus in Porphyry (III-IV centuries AD), On abstinence from eating animals, II, 28 f.) .
To explain this strange custom, a legend was told that a certain farmer Sopater (according to another version, Diome), having sacrificed fruits and a honey cake, saw that part of his offerings had been eaten, and part trampled by a plowman's bull, who had returned from work to the Acropolis.
The trial undoubtedly took place on the Acropolis. According to tradition, the trial passed to the basileus-priest, who was then included in the college of archons, and took place in the Basileion near Bucolius. Probably the residence of the basileus during this period was in or near the palace. The idea of bulls on the Acropolis is reflected in the name “Bucolia”; i.e. “a place for corralling bulls.”
The cult of Zeus, like other cults of that time, is associated with agriculture, which was still very primitive in nature. The story reflects the cult of the bull-plowman, who plows the sacred arable land located on the northern slope of the Acropolis. The prohibition against sacrificing a bull on the Acropolis, attributed by Plutarch to Solon, testifies to the widespread custom of sacrificing bulls even during the period of Eupatride rule. The altar and the statue of Zeus the Highest (later Zeus Polney) were located near the Hekatompedon, on the northern slope of the Acropolis, i.e. within the palace buildings.
The veneration of the palladium of Athena (an ancient wooden image of the goddess), which according to legend fell from the sky, took place during interior spaces palace In the sanctuary of Demeter there was an ancient image of a bull, which was fed from her hands by Athena, who put her helmet aside. Undoubtedly, the cult of the snake was associated with palace cults, since later in the Erechtheion, built on the site of the ancient shrines of the Acropolis, there lived a snake that received daily food from the priests. The site located next to the northern portico of the Erechtheion is also connected with the complex of palace buildings. This area, framed on three sides by steps, reminded L.B. Holland of similar areas of Knossos and Festus, where games with bulls apparently took place.
Researchers suggest that in Athens this site served for ritual games and sacred dances, probably also associated with the magical cult of fertility and prosperity of the country. Pausanias also saw on the Acropolis a statue of a bull, which the Council of the Areopagus erected in memory of the bull-plowman (I, 29, 2), an image of Gaia, half emerging from the ground and begging for rain, since after the murder of the first bull-ploughman, the angry gods were at the altar they dried up the land of Attica with heat (I, 24, 3); he saw the statue of Athena with the sprout of an olive tree, and Poseidon causing a wave of the source to surface (I, 24, 3), and, finally, the statue of Zeus Polneus (I, 24, 4), in connection with which Pausanias tells the legend of bull-plowman.
The antiquity of these cults is also indicated by the poems of Homer. In the Iliad (II, 550), the poet says that in the palace of Erechtheus, born of arable land that gives bread, Athena is annually appeased with “bulls and rams.” The story of the bull sacrifice to Zeus mentions a table on which bloodless harvest sacrifices were placed. Along with the expression “bull in the city” (“copper bull dedicated by the Council”). G.V. Elderkin draws attention to the fact that in the Odyssey, in the story of Aegisthus’ treacherous murder of Agamemnon, it is said: he killed him “as if someone had killed a bull at the table” (IV, 535). Most likely, this idea of a table is associated with the long-known killing of a bull in Athens at the bronze sacrificial table of Zeus, especially since such a bronze table can be identified with the table (fatne), listed in the official inventory of the treasury in the temple of Athena: “four silver vials na fatne.” Judging by the images. bull sacrifices on a sarcophagus from Agia Triada (Crete), silver vials could have been used for the blood of the sacrificial bull.
Thus, the palace of the Athenian basileus of that period was the center of shrines associated with agricultural cults and the security of the country. The priestly functions of the ancient basileus quite naturally passed later into the hands of the basileus, a member of the college of archons.
Although the partially preserved foundations of the royal palace do not allow us to completely restore the plan of the palace, it can be assumed that the overall complex of palace buildings with its internal and external courtyards, a large megaron, a cult platform and living quarters connected to each other by corridors was quite extensive. G. F. Stevens, who specially examined the remains of the palace buildings, believes that the trench preserved in the rock was the base of the wall forming the western border of the palace buildings.
Traces of two construction periods are visible on the Acropolis: the earlier of them dates back, apparently, to the 16th-15th centuries, to the time of the existence of the northern entrance to the palace. Later, maybe in the 13th century. in view of the growing threat of Dorian invasion, the northern entrance to the Acropolis was blocked by a wall, and the staircase, carved into the rock, was closed by small houses built here.
The most remarkable building of this time is the well, the entrance to which came directly from the fortress. In the western part of the northern side of the Acropolis there were four caves. In one of them (the easternmost), archaeologists discovered an underground passage 35 m long and 1 to 3 m wide. Using a deep crack in the northern slope of the Acropolis, ancient engineers cut a shaft to a depth of about 36.5 m from the level of the Acropolis and wide enough to build a staircase in it. The upper rows of steps were wooden, the rest were stone. Deep in the rock, 40 steps made of grayish marble mounted on yellow clay led to the reservoir itself. The staircase ended in a reservoir about 4 m in diameter with a deep well in the center.
Water was drawn from it in jugs. This building amazes with the amazing knowledge of the ancient builders of the geological features of the rock; they had a clear idea of the water level in the Acropolis area. During periods of rain, the water level rose significantly, filling the reservoir; in summer, the amount of water in the well should also have been enough to supply water to the residents who had taken refuge on the Acropolis. The construction of such a well was extremely difficult, and only extreme necessity could force the Athenians to undertake it. IN Peaceful time population of Athens
Hecatompedon and reconstruction of the palace megaron (L. Hollapd). Existing foundations painted black
used the water of the Empedo spring (later Clepsydra), access to which was easy from the Acropolis.
A ladder with wooden fastenings indicates the haste with which the well was built. Obviously, this source of water was prepared in case of a siege of the Acropolis. The population of the fortress used it for no more than 25 years, since it was later abandoned and never restored. Therefore, there is every reason to assume that the well was built during the period of preparation for the fight against the Dorians. This dating is confirmed by pottery found at the well and on the sides of the stairs, which dates back to the end of this period. Fragments of ceramics of the same type were found in Mycenaean houses on the northern slope of the Acropolis and in Pelargika near the bastion of the temple of Athena Nike. At the same time, powerful fortifications of the western entrance to the Acropolis were erected, including Pelargic.
Athens as a city did not yet exist at that time. The areas between the Areopagus and the Hill of the Muses, the Market Column and the agora, as well as the northern slopes of the Areopagus were occupied by ancient necropolises. The main population lived partly on the plain and partly on the slopes of the Acropolis, where traces of small dwellings on earthen terraces remain. Apparently, these buildings arose near the ring wall of the Acropolis in the late period (at the end of the 14th-13th centuries), when the civilian population of the plain was under the threat of military attack.
Under Cleisthenes, construction began on a new temple of Athena on the Acropolis, different from the temple of Athena, rebuilt and restored by the Peisistratids.
A difficult and still unresolved problem remains the determination of the location and purpose of the buildings known from the inscriptions of the 5th century - the Hekatompedon (i.e., the Hundred-Foot Temple) and the Opistodomus. Some scientists tried to see the eastern cella in Hecatompedon ancient temple Athens; however, in the inscription the temple of Athena is simply called a “temple”, therefore Hekatompedon was some other building. At the same time, to designate the Periclean Parthenon, the official name Hekatompedon was often used both for the eastern cella of Athena and for the entire temple. At the same time, however, neither the dimensions of the cella, nor even the temple, correspond to one hundred feet. Therefore, it was assumed that the name “Hekatompedon” was inherited from a more ancient temple (Old Parthenon), on the site of which the temple of Athena under Pericles was built. But since the discovered foundations of this early temple do not correspond to the scale of the “hundred-foot” building, V.B. Dinsmoor suggested that this temple also inherited its name from an even earlier one, which he figuratively called the “grandfather” of the Parthenon (the so-called “Proto-Parthenon”) . Since there was no room on the top of the Acropolis for other buildings than the ancient temple of Athena to the north and the area occupied by the Parthenon to the south, it is possible that the original Hekatompedon was a sanctuary predating the Parthenon, although no remains of it remain on the Acropolis. However, some think that Hekatompedon was not the name of the temple, but of the sacred site that united on its territory the main shrines and altars of the Acropolis.
The opisthodomos was the name given to the room located behind the main cella of the temple; This was probably the name given to either the western half of the ancient Temple of Athena or the western room of the Parthenon. This term first appears in the decree of Callias (439/438 or 434/433) in connection with the storage of the temple treasury of Athena and other gods.
According to the decree, the treasury of Athena was to be placed on the right side, and the treasury of other gods - on the left. It is possible that the Opisthodomus began to be called two rooms of the western part of the ancient temple of Athena or two sides of the wide western room of the Parthenon or its
open portico fenced with bars.
The latter, however, is hardly consistent with the need for reliable protection of the treasury of Athena and the treasury of the gods.
Both assumptions encounter difficulties: the first because the ancient temple of Athena was destroyed by the Persians in 480/479; the second - due to the fact that the name “Opisthodom” occurs for the last time in 353/352 (cf. Demosthenes, Speeches, XXIV, 136); after this year it apparently ceased to exist, and therefore it cannot refer to the Parthenon Opisthodomos.
Many scholars are inclined to believe that the Opisthodom of the ancient temple of Athena, which consisted of two rooms with separate entrances, was convenient for placing a double treasury here, which was under the supervision of two treasurers. In addition, the entrance to these rooms was not directly from the portico, but through a large hall - the first room of the temple. Therefore, it is assumed with a high degree of probability that only this western part of the temple was subsequently restored, which, according to tradition, continued to be called the Opistodomus, although in fact it already existed as a separate building intended for storing the treasury. This guess seems to find indirect confirmation in the fact that after the destruction of the ancient temple of Athena by the Persians, it was no longer restored as a temple.
From the time of Cleisthenes, another monument has been preserved on the Acropolis, associated with the events of 506. After the fall of tyranny, the Spartan king Cleomenes captured the Acropolis and, having created the Council of 300 from the nobility, put his protege Eupatrid Isagoras in power. In connection with the establishment of the power of the tribal oligarchy, expulsions began, including the “wicked”, i.e., the Alcmaeonids and Cleisthenes, who were expelled. However, the Athenian people besieged the Acropolis and, after a three-day siege, forced Cleomenes and the Spartans to leave Attica. Isagoras fled with them. In 506, Cleomenes and his army invaded Eleusis. Sparta's allies, the Boeotians and Chalcidians (from the island of Euboea), counting on the possibility of easy reprisals against Athens, joined the Spartans. However, the strengthened and patriotic Athenian democracy emerged victorious in this war. Cleomenes' campaign ended unsuccessfully due to a split in his troops; and over the Boeotians and Chalcidians, Athens won two victories, which Herodotus calls brilliant. The Athenians put the captured Boeotians and Chalcidians in chains and only then, having received a large ransom for them, returned them to their homeland. “The chains in which they were chained they hung on the Acropolis; they survived to my time, hanging from the walls burned by the Persian fire, opposite the megaron, facing the west. A tenth of the ransom was given a dedication in the form of a bronze quadriga. It stands on the left, immediately at the entrance to the Propylaea on the Acropolis. The following is written on it:
Citizens of the Athenian sons, having defeated the Boeotians in the war
And the Chalcidian tribes, oppressed by iron chains
Insolence calmed the enemies
Like a tenth of the spoils
Pallas received these horses as a gift from them.
(Herodotus, V, 77)
The dedication to Athena of four horses (possibly driven by Nika) on the western slope of the Acropolis, at the Propylaea, as well as the chains in which the prisoners were chained at the megaron (maybe at the ancient temple of Athena) is the first dedication known to us to the victorious democracy, placed on The Acropolis was not built by a single individual, but by the whole people. The victory over the Boeotians and Chalcidians was of great importance for the Athenian people, since it was the first serious test of the new military organization of the people, a national militia recruited from territorial phyles. Therefore, the pride that finds vivid expression in the short inscription on the dedication pedestal is understandable.
In the history of Athens in the 6th century. is a turning point associated with the most important events in the life of the Athenian people. At this time, the Athenian poor and hired farmers from slaves turned not only into free and independent people from the nobility, but also into citizens of the Athenian community, freely expressing their opinions on the most important state issues both in private conversations in the agora and during meetings on the Pnyx. After the creation (under Peisistratus and under Cleisthenes) of the first cleruchia, the democratic polis took upon itself the responsibility of maintaining the economic well-being of citizens at the expense of the growing slavery of foreigners and territories subject to Athens. The Athenian poor, the Athenian clerics, were brought to these lands, receiving land plots at the expense of the conquered population. The slave-owning character of ancient democracy found its clear expression in the increase in the number of imported slaves and in the system of cleruchia. The welfare of the urban working population of Athens (craftsmen, artists, sculptors and architects) also increased. Their products were in constant and increasing demand.
The artists and syuuloptors of this century created not statues of gods, but the gods themselves - young and beautiful, friendly to people. A semi-mysterious smile plays on their lips, that “archaic” smile of sculptures that always illuminates the faces of gods and heroes. The gods must be perceived as alive, so the marble was painted. The whiteness of marble, rubbed with a mixture of wax and olive oil or a mixture of saffron and milk, gave a vibrant tone to human skin. Hair, lips, eyes and eyelashes were dyed. The rich clothing of marble crusts conveys the richness of patterns, embroidery or designs woven in bright colors. And the temple of Athena, which received a new design under the tyrants, was striking from afar by the brightness of its painting. The Greeks painted with encaustic paints, using mineral paints, directly on marble. They colored architectural and sculptural details with blue, yellow on columns, green on clothes, red on the background of metopes, friezes and pediments. Many archaic kor statues found on the Acropolis still retain their original, already faded coloring.
During the period of tyranny, marble sculptures first appeared in Athens. Almost transparent marble, translucent in the sun, delivered from the islands, gave extraordinary charm to these sculptures, since earlier in Athens statues were usually created from limestone or poros. A new type of kor, which emerged in Ionia and the islands (Chios, Paros), emphasizing the slenderness of a girl’s figure, deliberately stylized and refined, with the rich drapery of fine clothing, finds a warm welcome in Athens. 56 more or less well-preserved kora found on the Acropolis testify to the strength of the artistic influence of Ionian masters on Athens. These renowned masters flocked to the court of the tyrants. But sometimes, if they did not come themselves, a special order was sent to them. For example, the famous Chios sculptor Arhermus received such an order from Athens, who first created the image of the winged Victory (Nike).
In the middle of the 6th century. Along with sculptures from imported island marble, the first works of Athenian sculptors from Pentelicon marble appear. But the main quarries of Pentelikon have not yet been discovered, and such statues are rare.
In Athens in the 6th century. A tunic made of thin transparent fabric and a cloak carelessly thrown on top, falling in vertical folds, come into fashion. In the sculptures of Ionian artists, the figure of a girl (kora), her clothes, her hairstyle, curls intercepted on her head by a tiara and falling in long strands onto her chest, her elongated bulging eyes, slightly tinted with carmine, her spiritual face, illuminated by a soft, sometimes sly smile, are interpreted with great skill. .
However, Athenian artists did not become simple imitators of the Ionians; they retained their original style, their artistic traditions. Borrowing from the Ionian cors the shape of the eyes, the turn of the figure, and the details of the drapery, the Athenian craftsmen tried to reproduce not the statues placed at the foot of the temple on the Acropolis, but real living girls, their Athenian contemporaries. This imbued the work of the Athenian masters with that originality, which now allows us to immediately distinguish their work from the work of the Ionians
At the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries. artists in Athens, who already had extensive experience in making both marble and bronze statues, and who had achieved high skill in red-figure painting, came close to one of the greatest discoveries in the history of art - the discovery of perspective. The first attempts to show the movement of the human figure, abandoning the obligatory symmetry of its parts, date back to the end of the 6th century. They testify to a persistent desire to achieve such truthfulness of the image that it becomes bright and convincing.
There is no doubt that the development of the democratic system in Athens increased the interest of both artists and poets in depicting the human citizen.
At this time, after the reforms of Cleisthenes, the Athenian agora won a victory over the Acropolis and the center of the political, socio-economic and spiritual life of the Athenians now became the district of potters and metallurgists. Monuments created by the tyrant are increasingly being replaced by monuments created by the people. The orchestra of the agora, where Pisistratus staged the first theatrical games, which at one time aroused the indignation of Solon, is abandoned. A new orchestra with the Temple of Dionysus appears on the southern slope of the Acropolis. Competitions between poets, playwrights, and later comedians now take place here. The holidays, unlike performances at the agora orchestra, are organized and conducted by the people themselves. The Athenian folk theater is born. The long and persistent struggle of the people with the tribal nobility ended in the complete victory of the people; but we should not forget that the people could win only under the conditions of the creation of a civil community, the basis of which was the labor of slaves and the exploitation of politically disadvantaged or powerless people.
In the history of Greek art 490 BC. e. seems to be the date from which the increase in cultural development begins, reaching its culmination during the reign of Pericles. A milestone in the development of Greek art was the marathon victory of the Athenians. Its moral significance was extremely great. The retreat of the Persian troops in front of a small army of hoplites was both a triumph of the Athenian democratic system, stopped on the ruins of tyranny, and a guarantee of further success in the fight against the enemy. The Athenians' pride and self-confidence was also explained by the fact that the victory was won without outside help; the Spartan allies, perhaps counting on the defeat of the Athenians, were given the opportunity to look at the rich trophies captured from the enemy. Another event is connected with the time of the marathon victory - the discovery of the rich marble quarries of Pentelikon near Athens. Previously, there had been very little marble development in Athens, and marble was usually brought from the islands, especially Paros. Importing marble was associated with significant costs, so all architectural buildings were created from soft limestone (poros), and marble was used very carefully. The discovery of rich deposits of marble brought priceless stone into the hands of Athenian architects and sculptors.
The coincidence of these two events made it possible, immediately after Marathon, to think about decorating the Acropolis with a new marble temple in honor of Athena Polias, Athena the protector of the city.
The Poros temple of Athena Polias irritated the Athenian democracy with the obsessive memory of the hated tyranny. The plan to build a new temple probably belonged to Aristides; this seems all the more plausible since it was Aristides and his supporters who considered the war with the Persians to be over forever. The site for the temple was chosen on the southern side of the hill, which required additional work to level and expand the southern terrace of the Acropolis with retaining walls. The temple was founded in 488 on the first day of Panathenaia, as shown by the orientation of the axis of the temple, with the direction of sunrise on this day (taking into account the lunar calendar of the Athenians). At the time of the Persian invasion of Athens, the temple was not yet completed, and later in its place The Parthenon was erected.
The capture of Athens by the troops of Xerxes (480) was accompanied by the destruction of both the city and the Acropolis. After the victory at Fr. Salamis, especially in connection with the second invasion of Athens by the troops of Mardonius (479), the expulsion of the enemy from Greek territory was considered an urgent task
Before the Battle of Plataea (479), the Athenians took a great oath that “the sanctuaries burned and destroyed by the barbarians” should remain in the same form in order to forever serve as a monument to the “lawlessness of the barbarians.” Keeping this oath, the Athenians preserved many of the ruins on the Acropolis, in the city itself and in other parts of Attica, as not only Herodotus, but also Strabo and Pausanias testify. The temple and cella of Athens were left in ruins.
The ancient statue of Athena, taken to Salakta, was returned to the Acropolis in a marble temple built especially for her on the site of the future Erechtheion. The metopes and parts of the colonnade of the “old” Parthenon were later placed within the walls of the Acropolis so that they were clearly visible from the lower city - from Athens.
The victory at Plataea and the creation of the Athenian Maritime League led Athens to economic and political prosperity. In the 70s of the 5th century, when Cimon's victory over the Persians and his role in organizing the Athenian Maritime League made him the most influential person in Athens, despite a popular decree prohibiting the installation of herms on the agora by private individuals, three herms dedicated to three victories of Cimon (at Eurymedon, in Cyprus and Thrace).
Cimon sought to perpetuate the memory of his father, Miltiades, the winner of Marathon. There is no doubt that it was not without his influence that the Motley Portico was built in the northern part of the agora (the work of Cimon's brother-in-law, the architect Plistoanakt). The “Motley” portico got its name from the frescoes on the front wall, sheltered from the rain by a colonnade facing the agora. This portico was painted by famous artists of that time. Next to Polygnotus’s painting “The Destruction of Troy” was placed a painting by Micon or, according to another version, Panenus, the brother of Phidias. depicting the battle of Marathon. This historical painting, the only one among the paintings painted on the subjects of the Trojan cycle, likens Miltiades to immortal gods and heroes.
Under Cimon, in 470, somewhat earlier than the construction of the Motley Portico, the Athenians, using a tenth of the spoils captured at Marathon, erected a monument in honor of this victory at Delphi. The Delphic dedication to the Athenians depicts Athena and Apollo along with the legendary heroes and kings of Attica. Next to Athena and Apollo stood a statue of Miltiades; according to Pausanias, these statues were the work of Phidias. The exaltation of Miltiades and his inclusion among the heroes. communicating with the gods could not go unnoticed.
Cimon's unsuccessful expedition with 3,000 Athenian hoplites to Sparta, engulfed in a helot uprising, which ended in an inglorious return to Athens in 462, was used by the democrats to expel Cimon in 461 by ostracism and to finally break the alliance with Sparta.
The expulsion of Cimon, a supporter of an alliance with Sparta, a friend of the Athenian oligarchs, again strengthened the influence of the leader of the Athenian democracy Ephialtes, and after his tragic death - Pericles.
In 456, Pericles proposed convening representatives of all Greek cities in Athens for a pan-Greek congress to discuss the issue of building new Greek temples instead of those destroyed by the Persians. The opposition of Sparta prevented the implementation of this plan on a pan-Greek scale. Two years later, in 454 BC, after the transfer of the union treasury from the island. Delos to Athens, on the initiative of Pericles, it was decided to annually put aside 1/10 of the allied foros into the treasury of the goddess Athena. Finally, in 449, the year of peace with Persia, despite the opposition of the oligarchs, a plan was adopted for new buildings on the Acropolis, buildings worthy of the goddess and ancient shrines of the sacred citadel of the Athenians.
The greatest of the architects of Greece, Ictinus, developed the plan for the Parthenon. He dedicated a special book to the Parthenon, mentioned by Vitruvius in his essay “On Architecture”. Ictinus built the Telesterium, a hall for the Eleusinian mysteries, and created the plan for the beautiful temple of Apollo at Bassae near Phigalia. His assistant was the talented architect Callicrates, who later built the Ionic temple of Athena Nike and the temple on the river. Illise; Mnesicles, the creator of Propiades, worked with them on the Acropolis. In addition to these names preserved by tradition, there were other talented architects in Athens, whose names remained unknown. These are those who built Hephaestion and the temple of Ares on the Athenian agora, the temple of Poseidon on Cape Sunia and the temple of Nemesis a Ramnach, on east coast Attica.
The main assistant and friend of Pericles, the inspirer and leader of all works was the brilliant sculptor Phidias, son of Charmides. , famous even before the construction of the Parthenon for creating a gilded wooden statue of Athena for the Temple of Plataea and a huge bronze statue of Athena the Warrior on the Acropolis. Along with Phidias, his students also worked on decorating the Parthenon, among whom were Agorakritos, who later worked in the temple of Nemesis in Romny, Alkamen, who decorated Hephaistion and the temple of Ares in the Athenian agora, and Kelomon, the creator of the Corinthian order. Along with the galaxy of talented architects and sculptors of the time of Pericles, famous painters in Greece lived and worked - Polykleitos, Myron and brother Phidias Panen. The classics of Greek culture of that time were such works of these great masters as “Boy with a Spear”, “Discus Thrower”, etc.
This new period of cultural development in Athens marked the beginning of the development of classical art. The artistic flowering of the mid-5th century, coinciding with the reign of Pericles, would, however, have been impossible without the creation of that artistic tradition, which was prepared by the long development of art both in Greece and in Asia Minor, primarily in Ionia. Athens was influenced by both the Doric and Ionic orders. Both the Parthenon and Propylene go back to the Doric style, but unlike other cities of the Greek world, elements of the Ionic and Doric styles in Athens are harmoniously combined into a single whole, mutually enriching each other.
2.2. Parthenon.
The ruins of the ancient Parthenon, still decorating the Acropolis, have become in our time a symbol of human culture and creative genius. The columns of the Parthenon, which once shone with the whiteness of Pentelicon marble, now acquired the color of Pentelicon rocks. Painted in brownish-golden tones, they stand out in relief against the blue background of the sky. In summer, early morning and early evening are the only times when you can look at ancient ruins with impunity. In the middle of the day, bright light floods the Parthenon, lengthening the black shadows of the capitals and column ceilings. At this hour the sun burns like molten metal, blinding the eyes. And on those rare days in Athens, when the sky darkens, as before a storm, the temple becomes dull and gray, as if covered in the ashes of bygone eras.
In 449, the year of peace with Persia on terms favorable to Athens, Pericles submitted a project for the reconstruction of the Acropolis to the National Assembly for discussion. According to the project, the Acropolis was to be turned into a sacred site worthy of the splendor of Athens - the hegemon of the maritime alliance, the conqueror of the Persians.
In his biography of Pericles, Plutarch tells us some details of the construction that began. First of all, the ancient biographer points to the almost fabulous speed of buildings, “exceptional in their grandeur and incomparable in beauty and charm of outline,” which arose as a result of the competition of artists. What Pericles' contemporaries considered a task of many generations was accomplished in the shortest possible time. This miracle was caused by Pericles. “As for beauty, it was already original then, but if anyone asks about the time (of the buildings), then they are still as fresh as if they had just been created. Their blooming youth, completely untouched by time, catches the eye, as if a living breath of warm blood and a never-changing soul were mixed into these works of art.” This characteristic brings to mind the writer and another famous name - the name of Phidias. “Pericles’ assistant was Phidias, who managed everything and oversaw everything, although special architects and artists worked on each of the buildings.”
Then Plutarch lists the most important buildings of this time, occasionally making separate notes and general explanations. First of all, Plutarch talks about the Parthenon, mentions the Telesteria of Eleusis, Long walls, Odeon, Propylaea An accident that occurred during the construction of the Propylaea with one of the skilled artisans gives him a reason to report the interest of the goddess Athena in the successful completion of the works of Pericles. The story about the installation of the bronze statue of Athena the Healer by the grateful Pericles allows us to move on to the description cult statues, but Plutarch mentions only the chrysoelephantine statue of Athena the Virgin. The writer emphasizes that this statue was created by Phidias himself, while other works were carried out under his leadership “Almost everything lay on him, and, as we have already said, he led all the artists on the basis of his connections with Pericles."
The following phrase directly translates into the third and last part of Plutarch’s account: “And then envy and insult arose, because Phidias was in the habit, to please Pericles, of receiving (in his workshop) women from good families who visited the construction site.” Then various gossip about the private life of Pericles, gleaned from Aristophanes and Stesimbrotus, is conveyed. The writer further condemns his hero’s contemporaries and moves on to general considerations about the complexity of historiography, which is complicated by the fabrications of later generations and the subjective prejudice of historians contemporary to Pericles.
The main character of all three sections of the chapter is, without a doubt, Pericles. In the first of them, Pericles appears as the owner of majestic buildings, in the second - the Parthenon Plan
as a caring father of artisans, in the third - together with Phidias, as a victim of hatred and envy.
The Parthenon was the temple of Athena Polias (City Guardian) and was usually called simply “Temple” or “Great Temple”. Initially, the western premises of the temple were called Parthenon, and only later - the entire building. We first encounter this name in the 4th century. in one of Demosthenes' speeches. The location for the new temple was chosen on a high platform, previously prepared for the old Parthenon. The Parthenon, crowning the Athenian citadel, was not only visible from the south and west, but the Acropolis itself offered a wonderful view of the magnificent building. The perfection of construction and the subtlety of execution of its friezes and pediments immediately caught the eye of even a not very experienced connoisseur.
The design of the temple was carefully thought out. The work of Ictinus and his assistant Callicrates, described in a special book by Ictinus (and later by a certain Carpion), unfortunately, has been lost. But its very existence indicates the great preliminary theoretical work of the architect. This largely explains the speed of construction, which bordered on a miracle, according to Plutarch. The temple was built in 447-438, in 9 years. Finishing work continued until 432, i.e. until the Peloponnesian War.
When building the new Parthenon, the foundation of the old Parthenon was used, the construction of which began after the victory at Marathon, but was not completed. However, the foundation had to be significantly expanded, since the old temple was longer and narrower than the new one. For this purpose, they used all the secondary material prepared for the construction of the old Parthenon.
The Parthenon building was crowned with bas-reliefs and a frieze. The relief of the Ionic frieze is designed for the viewer approaching the temple. As the Panathenaic procession passed from the western façade along the northern side of the Parthenon towards the cella of Athens, the frieze was clearly visible between the columns of the peristyle. The white marble cladding of the temple reflected the light. The frieze is made in bas-relief, because it is always looked at from below and only at a close distance, and the bas-relief would be too sharp and rough. The outlines of the figures and clothes in the lower part of the frieze are stronger and sharper than in the upper, each figure is slightly inclined towards the background from foreground to background. This created the illusion of depth, especially due to the weaker contour lines of the upper half of the frieze.
We do not know whether Phidias was the creator of the model for this frieze, but the unity of the entire composition indicates that the sculptors who created the frieze worked according to a single plan and, most likely, according to the model. From the inscriptions of Epidaurus it is known that outstanding artists and sculptors were commissioned not only for individual sculptures, but also for models of compositions. There is no consensus regarding the role of Phidias in the creation of the frieze. Some scholars deny the role of Phidias in the creation of the Ionian frieze, others, proving the architectural and sculptural unity of the Parthenon, attribute to Phidias the compilation of the general plot composition of the friezes and pediments and admit his personal participation in the creation of the frieze. Most often, the theme of the plot was taken from gigantomachy.
G. Schrader considered the sculptures of the western pediment to be the work of Paeonius, and the eastern and frieze of the processions - Alkamen, an Ionian, a student of Phidias B. Schweitzer in the articles “Phidias the Creator of the Parthenon”, dedicated to the sculptors of the Parthenon, analyzing the monuments, proves the unity of their sculptural, architectural and artistic design , considering Phidias the organizer and inspirer of all works. In 1957, K. Blumel in his work “The Reliefs of Phidias and the Parthenon Frieze” comes to the conclusion that between the Piraeus copies of the relief of Phidias on the shield of Athena and the Ionic frieze of the Parthenon there lies an internal gap in the stages of development of Greek art of the 5th century. In his work on the Panathenaic procession, Phidias could not fully master, like the Ionian, all the techniques of perspective and artistic means, knowing nothing about them in his work on images in strict relief, without the use of perspective (in the scenes of the fight with the Amazons) on the shield of Athena. Sculptors of a new generation worked on the frieze with new means of expressiveness for the picturesque sculptural display on the Parthenon frieze. Of course, thorough comparative analysis Blumel is convincing, if one does not assume, however, that Phidias may have stylized his art in his work on the statue of Athena, but was not bound by any framework of religious traditions in the ideal depiction of his fellow citizens.
Be that as it may, we are first of all amazed not only by the amazing art of the creators of the Ionian frieze, where throughout its entire length (approx. 160 m) there is not a single repetition, but by the very boldness of the plan - the transfer of images of Athenian citizens to the walls of the temple, an event that unprecedented in the history of temple architecture. How close this was to Phidias himself is evidenced by his daring attempt at that time to put his self-portrait and a portrait of Pericles in the images of Daedalus and Theseus on the shield of Athena.
The statue of Athena was completed and installed in the temple in the second year of the 85th Olympiad, that is, in 438 during the days of the great Panathenaea. Work to complete the details and final decoration of the temple lasted until 432. Plutarch reports: “The sculptor Phidias, as they say, undertook to build the famous statue; He was a friend of Pericles and enjoyed the greatest influence with him, so he had enemies, some envied him for personal reasons, while others wanted to make an experiment on him - what the people would be like when they had to judge Pericles. They won over Meno, one of Phidias's collaborators, and persuaded him to sit on the agora as a suppliant at the altar of the (twelve) gods; he asked to be given the right to make a statement with impunity about the crime committed by Phidias. The people granted Menon's request. However, the theft was not discovered: Phidias, on the advice of Pericles, had already fitted the golden robe to the statue in such a way that it was quite possible to remove it and check its weight, which Pericles suggested that the judges do. Nevertheless, Phidias continued to be haunted by envy, since thanks to his famous works he gained great fame. He was accused first of all of the fact that, having depicted a battle with Amazons on a shield, he gave the bald old man, who raised a stone above his head with both hands, his own facial features and that he made a convex image of Pericles fighting with an Amazon of remarkable beauty; the hand holding the spear in front of the face of Pericles was made in such a way that it made the resemblance to the face of Pericles less striking, which, however, is clearly visible in the remaining uncovered parts of the face above and below the spear. Phidias was imprisoned and died there of illness. Some, however, say that he was poisoned; This was allegedly done by the enemies of Pericles in order to blame Pericles himself for this. To the informer Meno, according to the proposal made by Glaucon, “the people granted exemption from all taxes and ordered the generals to take care of the safety of this man” (Plutarch, Pericles, 31).”
Philochorus (IV century BC) in a note to the archonship of Theodorus (438/437) writes: “And a golden statue of Athena was placed in a large temple with a weight of gold of 44 talents. Pericles was an epistatist, Phidias a master. And Phidias, the master, aroused suspicion that he had incorrectly counted the ivory for the plates and was brought to trial. They say that he allegedly fled to Elis, took [there] to make a statue of Zeus in Olympia and, after he completed it, was allegedly killed by the Eleans.” Judging by Philochorus' account, the trial of Phidias must have taken place immediately during or shortly after the installation of the statue in the Parthenon and the verification of the sculptor's report.
Diodorus' message contains only some additional information. “Several people, trained by the enemies of Pericles, sat down at the altar of the gods as prayers. The accusation against Phidias was that he allegedly appropriated a significant amount of sacred sums to himself.” The people, at the instigation of Pericles’ enemies, arrested Phidias, and accused Pericles himself of sacrilege” (Diodorus, XII, 38). The trial of Phidias was undoubtedly of a political nature. This is confirmed by the difference in the versions of the prosecution - Phidias was accused of either concealing ivory, then concealing gold, or embezzling money allocated for the construction of the Parthenon. Apparently, the artist’s self-portrait and the image of Theseus with the face of Pericles played a significant role in the accusation of Phidias. And although Diodorus does not cite this accusation, his conclusion about accusing Pericles of blasphemy is connected precisely with these images. Phidias, also, regardless of other types of accusations, was accused of blasphemy, and this was the main point on which he could not justify himself in the eyes of his contemporaries. The public indignation of the Athenians was skillfully fueled, moreover, by the enemies of Pericles.
The version about the invitation of Phidias, who was thrown into prison, to Olympia by the Eleans to create a statue of Zeus in the temple already built for this purpose is hardly true. Art critics and art historians are increasingly convinced of the idea, once stubbornly defended by G. Schrader in his work on Phidias, that the statue of Zeus is both in technique and in craftsmanship an earlier work than the statue of Athena Virgin in the Parthenon. The very version that Phidias first created a statue of Zeus in Olympia, and then was killed by the Eleans as a blasphemer, is absurd. It was apparently invented to clear Athens of blame for the tragic death of the artist. Plutarch's report about the death of Phidias in an Athenian prison is most likely. Phidias died in Athens. A. his family, as C. G. Morgan suggests, fled to Olympia, where they could count on protection and a favorable reception from the priests of Olympia and the magistrates of Elis.
2.3. Propylaea.
In 434/3, the Athenian National Assembly adopted a resolution on expenses intended for the planning of the Acropolis - the decree of Callias. “The council and the people decided. Prytania phyla Kekropida, the secretary was Mnesitheus, Eupiphus presided, Callias made a proposal: to build stone statues, golden Nike and Propylaea; until everything is completely finished, spend on expenses from the treasury of Athena according to the decrees adopted earlier; plan the Acropolis, except for what is prohibited, and restore it, spending ten talents daily on this until everything is planned and restored in the best possible way; let the treasurers and epistats direct the work, and let the architect carry out the plan as in the Propylaea; let him take care, together with the epistati, to carry out the layout of the Acropolis in the best possible way and as cheaply as possible and the restoration of everything that is necessary; Do not use the other money of the goddess Athena, currently available in the city, and all that will come in the future, and do not spend it on anything else, and do not take more than 10,000 drachmas for this...”
The issue of reconstructing the Acropolis and establishing boundaries between the territories of its sanctuaries was discussed just at the time when the construction of the Parthenon was being completed. The temple of the goddess, created by the best architects and sculptors of the Athenian state, needed an entrance worthy of it. The aim of the layout was to allow visitors to approach the Parthenon and the sacred site with the Olive Tree of Athena and the Spring of Poseidon from the side most advantageous for viewing the monuments.
The reconstruction plan was entrusted to a special commission of treasurers and epistats, which included Mnesicles as the chief architect.
The irregularly shaped courtyard opened from the east onto a staircase that went up to the Parthenon terrace. The base of the staircase was nine steps carved into the rock. Further up to the level of the western terrace of the temple there were already raised steps. The architecturally designed Propylene opened from the north side the entrance to the courtyard, from where the visitor first saw the entire ensemble of the Parthenon. On the stairs and on the steps of the temple there were hundreds of dedicatory statues placed here in different time by different people. The Parthenon itself shone with the beauty of its impeccable lines, sculptural decorations, the brightness and freshness of the colors, emphasizing the capitals of the columns, architraves and cornices. In some places the colors were framed with gilding.
Festive processions headed to the Acropolis along the Panathenaic road. Rising in smooth curves along the western slope of the hill, the road passed through the Propylaea and, turning slightly to the south, went between the fenced sacred areas of the Parthenon (on the right) and the ancient temple of Athena and Erechtheus (on the left), where the Propylon of the Parthenon overlooked this road. The road then went uphill until it gradually rose at the northeast corner to the level of the Parthenon stylobate. The surface of the rock between the Propylaea and the Parthenon was leveled. In the ancient district of Artemis Bravronia, elegant porticos were built, with colonnades overlooking the central courtyard.
At the same time, the northern section was also redeveloped. where the temple of Athena, rebuilt by the Peisistratids, once stood. Rebuilt after the war with the Persians by the opisthodome of this temple, which served as a treasury, it was probably dismantled, and the treasury of Athena and other gods was transferred to the opisthodome of the Parthenon.
These planning works were carried out at the end of the construction period, after the construction of the main part of the Propylaea was almost completed.
Unlike the orientation of the old entrance to the Acropolis, which was dismantled during the new construction work, the Propylaea of Mnesicles was supposed to be oriented in its direction to the Parthenon.
The Propylaea project presented by Mnesicles was simple and grandiose. Until now, it is considered one of the most successful plans for the main entrance. According to the architect's original plan, the entrance was supposed to occupy the entire width of the western slope of the Acropolis, from its northern to southern walls.
The Propylaea was a complex portico, consisting of three main parts: a central one, through which five gates cut into the marble wall led to the Acropolis, and two side ones, protruding somewhat forward to the west and flanking the path.
The central portico opened to the west with a colonnade of six Doric columns and was cut across towards the central gate by a passage that ran between two rows of tall slender Ionic columns, reaching up to 10 m in height. Huge marble beams, thrown from the architrave of these columns to the side walls of the portico, reached up to 6 m in length. They had a luxurious coffered ceiling. The side porticos opened with colonnades towards the central one on the eastern side, facing the Acropolis; a Doric portico was also adjacent to the wall through which the gates were cut, but much smaller and lower than the western one, since it was built at a higher level. This upper portico should have been adjacent to two more (on the northwestern and southwestern sides), also facing the Acropolis. According to Mnesicles' plan, there should have been fountains and benches for visitors to rest, who, enjoying the shade and coolness, could see the Parthenon in front of them, opening not only from the western facade, but also from the northern longitudinal colonnade.
However, Mnesikles was not able to fully implement his planned project. The southwestern and southeastern porticos were supposed to occupy part of the sacred areas of the gods: the southeastern one - Artemis Brauronia, and the southwestern one - Athena Nike, which, naturally, met resistance from the priests.
The construction of the Propylaea lasted five years (437-432) and cost more than 2,000 talents by the beginning of the war. The war interrupted construction work, and Mnesicles' project remained forever unfinished. The eastern porticoes of the entrance to the Acropolis were not built at all; the southwestern portico remained asymmetrical in relation to the northwestern one
During the construction of the Propylaea, Mnesicles, for the first time in architecture, began to combine marble with two types of Eleusinian stone, grayish blue and dark purple. Previously, the contrast of dark stone and snow-white marble was used only for statues (dark pedestal and marble statue). Combining Eleusinian stone and Pentelicon marble, Mnesicles brilliantly solved difficult architectural problems.
The lower western entrance to the Acropolis opened with six Doric columns, while the projecting colonnades of the side porticos were much smaller. This created an almost insurmountable difficulty, since it was necessary to achieve a unified architectural ensemble of the entrance. The central colonnade was placed on a four-stage base made of Pentelicon marble, harmoniously proportional to the height of the columns. However, this base was not applicable for the columns of the side porticoes, since they required a three-stage base proportional to their height. Mnesicles brilliantly solved this problem by placing in the side porticos three upper steps made of white marble on a lower step made of dark Eleusinian stone. Thus, the proportion was not violated, since four marble steps were preserved in the center and three on the sides. The dark stripes of the lower step of the side wings emphasized only the direction of the entrance, effectively highlighting the central six-column facade of the Propylaea. The columns of this facade parted in the center to the width of the sacred Panathenaic road that rose to the Acropolis. A road carved into the rock ran between Ionic columns along the central nave, 4 m wide. Inside the Propylaea, the road was closed by double gates. The gates were opened only on solemn days of the procession. Usually they were closed, and visitors to the Acropolis passed through the side entrances.
Further, the gentle slope of the Acropolis rose sharply, thus creating two different levels of a single building. At this higher level, Mnesicles built a transverse wall, cut through by five entrances, one central and two side on each side. On either side of the sacred road, to the side entrances, stairs rose in five steps, the top step of which was of dark Eleusinian stone, and the gradually rising panels of the side walls of the passage were of grayish-blue marble.
When visitors, leaving the sunlit Acropolis, entered the Propylaea, the dark purple, almost black stone of the upper step immediately stood out among the white marble of the shadowed Propylaea. This sharply marked the beginning of the descent down the steps. It is no coincidence that Mnesicles is sometimes called the first architect who cared about the safety of people. It was impossible not to notice the beginning of the stairs. In addition, the beauty of the combination of dark stone with the whiteness of shining marble was not violated, but only emphasized. Thus, the entrance was skillfully combined into a single building, opening a wide passage to the Athenian Olympus - the Acropolis.
The Doric frieze of the Propylaea facades and the Ionic frieze above the columns flanking the lower (inner) part of the passage were not decorated with sculptures. Nothing should have distracted the viewer from his upcoming contemplation of the Parthenon. The beauty of the building was supposed to amaze with its immaculate purity of lines, careful finishing of details, and the sophistication of Ionian columns. Only the ceiling coffers were painted blue, symbolizing the sky with golden stars shining on it. The two wings of the Propylaea (southern and northern) were asymmetrical. Through the portico of the northern wing (5.055 m deep) one could enter a room separated from it by a wall with two windows and a door between them. The east window was located closer to the door. than Western. This room is usually called the Pinakothek, since Pausanias describes the paintings located here in his time. Many scientists and artists (including the Russian artist S. Ivanov) carefully examined the walls of the Pinakothek, but they were unable to find any traces of plaster that would indicate wall painting. On the contrary, it seems that the walls of the Pinakothek had not yet been thoroughly processed during the period of urgent curtailment of work. On the other hand, there are no nail marks in the walls. It is possible that the paintings were simply placed against the wall or, as some suggest, hung on ropes directly to the cornice. Most likely, they were paintings on wood, as can be judged by the title of the treatise by the ancient antiquarian Polemon, dedicated to the description of these paintings.
“To the left of the Propylaea,” writes Pausanias, “there is a building with paintings; on those that time has not yet destined to become unrecognizable, Diomedes and Odysseus are depicted; the latter steals the bow of Philoctetes on Lemnos, and the former takes away the image of Athena from Ilion. Here (in the picture) Orestes is depicted killing Aegisthus, and Pylades killing the sons of Nauplius, who came to the aid of Aegisthus. There is also a picture depicting how, next to the grave of Achilles, Polyxenes is preparing for the slaughter... There are other pictures there, by the way, Alivnad; this painting was a depiction of the victory of his horses at the Nemean Games. There is also Perseus returning to Serif, carrying the head of Medusa to Polydectes. .. If you skip the paintings “Boy Carrying a Jug of Water” and “Wrestler”, which Temenet painted, then there is “Museus”” (Pausanias).
Judging by the description, the paintings of various artists collected in the Pinakothek were very varied in content. Along with mythological paintings (Odysseus and Diomedes: Orestes killing Aegisthus; Polyxena, over whom) Achilles’s son Neoptolemus brings a knife to the grave of Achilles:
Perseus, who killed Medusa on the orders of King Serif Polydectes) and the image of Musaeus, the legendary singer who, according to legend, was a student of Orpheus, were paintings from life (a boy with a jug, a wrestler). There was also a painting depicting Alcibiades sitting on the lap of Nemea, the goddess of the city of the same name in Argolid, where the famous Nemean Games took place. This painting, placed here at the end of the Peloponnesian War, caused quite a stir. Firstly, a hetaera posed for the image of the goddess, and secondly, Alcibiades’ placement of his own image in the Propylaea was considered by his contemporaries as an action worthy only of a tyrant.
Judging by the variety of subject matter of the paintings placed here, it is most likely to assume that these were isolated and random gifts from individuals, and not orders from the state. Since the interior decoration of the room, which later became the Pinakothek, was not completed (and we know nothing about its original purpose), it was used to store paintings that were not organically connected with the cults of the Acropolis, but were placed as dedications. Therefore, it is most likely that this northern wing was never called an “art gallery” - a name that is now, thanks to Pausanias, firmly held in science.
The facade of the southern wing of the Propylaea is strictly symmetrical to the facade of the Pinakothek, however, as mentioned above, this southern wing was half the size of the northern one and faced the sacred site of Nike not with a wall, but with an open small portico.
The significantly smaller size of the outbuilding is explained by the fact that the ancient sanctuary of Charit adjoined it from the south, and the sanctuary of Nike from the west. The impossibility of fulfilling the original construction plan forced Mnesikles to violate the previously assumed symmetry of the two western wings of the Propylaea. As the traces of a marble bench near the wall of this portico show, it served as a resting place, and there was also a passage to the site of the Temple of Nike.
Even in this unfinished form, the Propylaea is a most beautiful monument of art. “There is only one entrance to the Acropolis,” wrote Pausanias, “there is no other, because the entire Acropolis is a sheer rock, and it is surrounded by a strong wall. The Propylaea has a roof of white marble, and in terms of the beauty and size of the stone there is still nothing better” (Pausanias, I, 22, 4). The Propylaea was the pride of the Athenians, and when it was necessary to remember the past deeds of their ancestors, they remembered, along with Marathon and Salamis, the Propylaea and the Parthenon.
2.4. Temple of Athena Nike.
In 448, on the occasion of the Peace of Callias in 449, which ended the war with the Persians, a decision was made to build a temple to Athena the Victorious (Nike), or, as it was otherwise called, the temple of “Wingless Victory” (Niki Apteros) on the Acropolis.
The proposal was made by Hipponicus, the son of Callias, and the construction of the temple was entrusted to Callicrates, later the architect of the Acropolis. Back in the 6th century, during the time of tyranny, there was a sanctuary of Nike here, destroyed by the Persians and rebuilt again after the Battle of Plataea. The cladding of the Mycenaean bastion with slabs, which gave it its finished shape, was carried out by decision of the People's Assembly (probably at the suggestion of Pericles). For a long time, the dating of the temple remained controversial. New research suggests that its construction by Callicrates most likely dates back to 427-424.60
The plan of the temple is very simple. The small oblong cella is framed by two porticoes. It is placed on a marble three-stage stylobate. The porticoes of the temple open with four Ionic columns. Parallel to the columns, on a raised and architecturally emphasized Ionic base, stood the cella. In its outer wall, facing the eastern portico with two antes, there was a door between two narrow columns placed closely. The space between the columns and antas is intercepted by a metal lattice. The antas and the inner walls of the cella were covered with bright and rich ornaments. Traces of it have been preserved in some places, but the colors of the paints are no longer distinguishable. The western wall of the temple was blank.
In its final form, this graceful Ionian-Attic temple crowned the ancient Mycenaean bastion on the south side of the Propylaea, on the very spot where the altar of Athena Nike once stood, now covered by the stylobate of the temple.
The entire reconstruction and redevelopment of the Acropolis was undoubtedly connected with the decision made under Pericles to turn the Acropolis into a monument to the victory over the Persians. From this point of view, the sculptural Ionic frieze (0.448 m in height), protected from rain by a protruding cornice, is interesting in its theme. The frieze depicts scenes from the Battle of Plataea in 479. A significant part of the frieze has survived; on its eastern side is a collection of gods. Among them, Athena and Zeus probably stand out, but the figures are so damaged that their exact identification is impossible. On the northern and southern sides of the frieze there are scenes of the struggle of the Greeks with the Persians, on the western - the struggle of the Greeks, perhaps the Athenians, with the Thebans who fought at Plataea on the side of the Persians. The temple was crowned with pediments, which have not survived.
An interesting anecdote about Phidias is preserved by the late poet and grammarian Johannes Tsetsa (12th century AD) in his Book of History, usually known as the Chiliad. Phidias and Alkamenes argued with each other about which of them would create the best statue of Athena to place on a high column. While both statues stood below, the statue of Alcamenes seemed the best; but as soon as they were placed on the columns, the statue of Phidias sparkled with beauty, and the statue of Alkamenes faded. Phidias foresaw in advance that the upper parts of the figure would appear shortened to the viewer looking from below. This anecdote demonstrates the skill of Phidias; here, undoubtedly, Athena Lemnia is meant, standing on a high marble column.
At a distance of 40 m from the Propylaea, looking directly east, on a wide platform leveled in the rock stood the second statue of Phidias - Athena Promachos. The inscription on the massive pedestal, of which only a few stone blocks remain, has survived to this day: “The Athenians dedicated to the victory over the Persians.” Some idea of the statue is given by the description of Pausanias: “.,. bronze image of Athena from booty taken from the Medes who landed at Marathon, the creation of Phidias. The image on the shield of the battle between the Lapiths and the centaurs and everything else that was made there was minted, as they say, by Mys, and to Mys, both for this and for all his other works, Parrhasius, the son of Evenor, gave drawings. The tip of the spear and the crest of the helmet of this Athena are visible floating to Athens from Sunium” (Pausanias, 1.28, 2).
Demosthenes, in his speech “On the Criminal Embassy,” mentions this statue: “You hear, citizens of Athens, the inscription says that Arfmios, the son of Pythonact, is declared an enemy and enemy of the Athenian people and allies - himself and his entire family. For what? - Because he brought gold from the barbarians to Greece. From this you can, it seems, see how your ancestors were concerned that not a single person from strangers, flattered by money, could cause any harm to Greece... But, by Zeus, perhaps someone will say -, - this pillar with the inscription was placed here by accident. “No, although this entire Acropolis, a sacred place, occupies a wide area, this pillar is placed on the right next to the large bronze Athena, which the state erected in memory of the victory over the barbarians with funds given by the Greeks.” (Demosthenes, XIX, 271-272).
The latest and most probable dating is given by W.B. Dinsmoor, who believes that work on the statue began after 465 (i.e., after Cimon’s victory over the Persians at the Eurymedon River), and was completed, perhaps, by 455 According to some indirect data. Dinsmoor suggests that the statue of Athena cost at least 83 talents. The medieval historian Niketas Choniates determined the height of the statue at 9 m.
Based on some rather meager ancient evidence, many scientists tried to find a prototype of Athena among the marble Roman copies or restore, at least mentally, her appearance. However, all these attempts remain controversial.
2.5. Monuments on the Acropolis.
In the 5th century BC. the great sculptors Myron, Phidias and Polykleitos, each in their own way, updated the art of sculpture and brought it closer to reality. Young naked athletes of Polykleitos, for example his "Doriphoros", rest on only one leg, the other is left freely. In this way it was possible to rotate the figure and create a sense of movement. But standing marble figures could not be given more expressive gestures or complex poses: the statue could lose its balance, and the fragile marble could break. These dangers could be avoided if the figures were cast in bronze. The first master of complex bronze castings was Myron, the creator of the famous “Discobolus”.
Many artistic achievements are associated with the glorious name of Phidias: he supervised the work of decorating the Parthenon with friezes and pediment groups. His bronze statue of Athena on the Acropolis and the 12-meter high gold and ivory statue of Athena in the Parthenon, which later disappeared without a trace, are magnificent. A similar fate befell a huge statue of Zeus seated on a throne, made from the same materials, for the temple at Olympia - another of the seven wonders ancient world.
As much as we admire the sculptures created by the Greeks in their heyday, they can seem a little cold these days. True, the coloring that enlivened them at one time is missing; but their indifferent and similar faces are even more alien to us. Really, greek sculptors At that time, they did not try to express any feelings or experiences on the faces of the statues. Their goal was to show perfect bodily beauty. That's why we admire even those statues - and there are many of them - that have been badly damaged over the centuries: some have even lost their heads.
The main road for all visitors to the Acropolis began from the Propylaea. Framed by low stone walls of the sacred areas of the various gods, it ran along the north-eastern corner of the Parthenon temple towards the entrance to its eastern cella. On both sides of the road there were numerous dedicatory gifts. The area near the northeastern corner of the Acropolis was especially rich in dedications. The American scholar G. F. Stevens made an interesting attempt to verify the evidence of Pausanias with archaeological data in the area.
Pausanias begins his description of the monuments of the Acropolis from the entrance to the Propylaea. “Already at the very entrance to the Acropolis there is Hermes, who is called “Propylaean,” and the Charites, which they say were created by Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus, about whom the Pythia testified that he was the wisest of people...” (Pausanias, I, 22 , 8). To the group of these statues should also be added the statue of the three-faced “Hecate at the Tower.” Pausanias mentioned it elsewhere: “It seems to me that for the first time Alkamen created Hecate in the form of three statues connected to each other: the Athenians call Hecate, guardian of the fortress" (Epipyrgidia); it stands at the temple of “Wingless Victory”” (Pausanias, II, 30, 2). To the right of the Propylaea, near the southwestern wing, there was a niche in which, apparently, stood a statue of Hermes, guarding the central entrance to the Propylaea.
Pausanias talks in more detail about the charites, the creation of which was attributed to Socrates, who was a sculptor in his youth. “In Athens, in front of the entrance to the Acropolis, there are charites, and there are also three of them, and in front of them they perform sacraments, which not everyone is allowed to be present at... Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus, sculpted statues of charites. All these harits are the same - everyone is dressed. But later artists, I don’t know why, changed their appearance, and in my time both in sculpture and in painting the Charites were depicted naked” (Pausanias, IX, 35, 3 and 7).
The Greeks revered the Charites as goddesses who dispensed all kinds of favors. In one of his elegies, Theocritus wrote:
What could please people?
If Harit is not with us?
I will always be with the Harites.
(Theocritus, Idylls, XVI, 108-109)
These goddesses brought joy to people, gave them wisdom, courage and beauty. They loved to attend the merry feasts of the gods; Without harits, the gods themselves do not begin either dancing or feasting. Therefore, it was the custom to raise the first cup for the charit. Bloodless sacrifices were brought to the Charites as gifts: grain, wine, oil and wool. The secret cult with which the three Charites were honored at the Propylaea was associated with the Charites as agricultural deities who contributed to the fertility of the earth.
The creation of the sculptural group of three Charites is attributed to Socrates due to a misunderstanding. On the Athenian tetradrachm, three dancing charites were the sign of the Athenian magistrate named Socrates. Later it was not difficult to identify this Socrates with the famous philosopher.
The sculptural group of Hecate Epipyrgidia (“Guarding the Tower”) consisted of three figures. One of them held two long torches, the other a phial and a torch, the third a vessel for wine (enochoi) and a torch. Torches and jugs of wine are common attributes of this goddess. Groups of Charites and Hecates, placed at the Mycenaean bastion, indicate, perhaps, their joint cult, which probably dates back to ancient times.
In the area between the Propylaea and the site of Artemis Brauronia, Pausanias first of all saw the statue of Leena (“lioness”). Regarding this monument, he tells a well-known legend in Attica: “When Hipparchus was killed. . . Hippias subjected her (Leena) to all sorts of abuse until she died, since he knew that she was a friend of Aristogeiton, and believed that she could not possibly have been ignorant of his plan. For this, when the Peisistratids lost their power, the Athenians erected a copper lioness in memory of this woman, and next to her stands an image of Aphrodite, as they say, the gift of Callias, the creation of the hands of Calamis” (Pausanias, I, 23, 1-2).
Legends arose about Lehena's heroic behavior. Plutarch believes that Leena was privy to the conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, which is why she was brought in for interrogation after their execution. “During the interrogation and the demand to name the names of the conspirators, who were not yet known, she remained silent with amazing firmness. She showed that men, loving such a woman, did not do anything unworthy of them. The Athenians wanted to create a bronze lioness without a tongue to place at the door of the Acropolis. The proud courage of the beast spoke of Lehena’s unshakable firmness, and the absence of language spoke of her silence and modesty” (Plutarch, Moralia, On Loquacity, 8, p. 505 f.).73
The statue of Aphrodite, standing next to the statue of a bronze lioness, is identified by many with the famous statue of Sosandra Kalamis, suggesting that the name “Sosandra” (saving people) was a nickname for Aphrodite. A pedestal with the inscription “Dedicated Callias” has been preserved from this statue. Created by Kalamid.” This is probably the same Callias, after whom the peace with the Persians of 449 is named.
Lucian, in his dialogue “Images,” includes Sosandra Calamis among the best monuments of the Acropolis. He notes Sosandra’s modesty and her smile, calm and barely noticeable, as well as the simple and orderly folds of her veil (Lucian, Images.
Next to the statue of Aphrodite stood a bronze statue of Diitrephes, pierced by arrows. On the pedestal there is an inscription: “Hermolycus, son of Diitrephes, dedicated the first fruits. Cresilade made it.” Pausanias believed that Diitrephes, an Athenian commander during the Peloponnesian War, is depicted here (cf. Thucydides, VII, 23).
Among the works of Cresilada, Pliny names the bronze statues of “The Wounded Warrior” and “Pericles”. Pliny notes the amazing vitality of the figure of the wounded warrior. Hermolycus of the deme of Scambonida dedicated the statue in honor of his father, who probably died during the Athenian campaign in Egypt. Images of a wounded warrior are common in both sculpture and vase painting; Perhaps this was influenced by the images of warriors on the pediment of the Aegina Temple of Athena.
Pausanias was probably mistaken in identifying the figure of the wounded warrior with the commander of the 5th century. Diitrefom. The death of Diitrephes in battle from the arrows of the Egyptians, usually armed with bows, is clearly shown by the sculptor. Pausanias' mistake could have occurred for two reasons: firstly, the name Diitrephes was known to him from a report by Thucydides, who served as his main source; secondly, the general mentioned by Thucydides also had a son, Hermolycus. Therefore, Pausanias could not understand why Diitrephes was pierced by arrows, since the Greeks with whom he fought did not use bows. Apparently Hermolikos (also the son of Diitrephes), who dedicated the statue, was the father of the general Diitrephes and the grandfather of Hermolikos the Younger. Hermolycus, the dedicator of the statue, was the brother of the Athenian commander Nicostratus from the deme of Scambonida.
Not far from Diitrephes, according to Pausanias (I, 23, 4), there was a statue of Athena the Healer (Hygiene). Plutarch talks about the erection of this statue by Pericles as evidence that Athena herself not only did not resist the construction of the Propylaea, but also helped to complete the work. “The most energetic and most zealous of the masters,” wrote Plutarch, “slipped and fell from a height. He was in the most serious condition, and the doctors considered his situation hopeless. Pericles lost heart, but the goddess, appearing to him in a dream, gave him instructions on how to treat the victim. Using this treatment, Pericles quickly and easily cured him. In honor of this cure, he erected a copper statue of Athena the Healer on the Acropolis near the altar, which is said to have existed there before” (Plutarch, Pericles, 13). Pliny also conveys the same story with minor variations (Natural History, XXII, 44). At the same time, he adds that the medicine was a herb, named after the healing in honor of the goddess “parthenium”. The pedestal of this statue has been preserved with a dedicatory inscription: “Athenians to Athena the Healer. Made by Pyrrhus, an Athenian.”
The reports of Plutarch and Pliny about the reason for the construction of this statue (an accident during the construction of the Propylaea) are not confirmed. The statue could not be placed here until the completion of the Propylaea. The nature of the inscription also allows us to date it only to the twenties of the 5th century. Probably here back in the 6th century. there was a sanctuary of Athena Hygieia. Since during the construction of the Propylaea, the existing structures here were dismantled to make room, it is quite possible that after the completion of the work by Mnesiklos, the Athenians restored the sanctuary. There is another opinion that the Athenians dedicated the statue to Athena Hygiene as a sign of the end of the plague epidemic in Athens.
On the way to the crown of Artemis Bravronia, Pausanias mentions a bronze statue of the “Boy”, in whose hands a vessel with sacred water, the work of Lycius, the son of Myron, and about “Perseus” of Myron himself. Nothing more is known about these two statues.
In the area of Artemis Bravronia, Pausanias saw a statue of the so-called “wooden horse” made of bronze. “... Since, as they say, the best of the Hellenes hid inside this horse, there is a hint of this in this bronze image, and Menestheus and Teucer look out of it, in addition, the sons of Theseus” (Pausanias, I, 23 , 10).
Aristophanes in the comedy “The Birds” mentions horses as huge as a “wooden horse” (verse 1128). To this verse the scholiast makes the following remark: “Aristophanes, of course, is not speaking generally about a wooden horse, but about his bronze statue on the Acropolis. For on the Acropolis a wooden horse was erected with the inscription: “Haredem, the son of the Evangel from the deme of Koile, dedicated.” A bronze horse was erected on the Acropolis in imitation of the Trojan.” The scholiast’s message was confirmed by the discovery on the Acropolis of the two upper blocks of the pedestal of a statue with the same inscription that he cited scholiast. However, he omitted the name of the master, which stood on the pedestal: “Made Strongylius.”
We know nothing about Haredem, the son of the Gospel. Pausanias characterizes Strongylius as an artist who had no equal in the depiction of bulls and horses (Pausanias, IX, 30, 1). Strongylius, apparently, was an Athenian who left Athens after the collapse of the Athenian state.
In 414, Aristophanes’ “The Birds” was staged. The dedication of the Trojan Horse on the Acropolis may be dated somewhat earlier. Since the monument was erected shortly before the production of Aristophanes' comedy and was still a novelty for the Athenians, its mention in the play is not accidental. In Pausanias, it belonged to a whole group of dedications representing mythological scenes. “Of the statues that stand after the horse,” continues Pausanias, “the statue of Epicharinus, practicing running in full armor, was made by Critias, and Enobius is known for his glorious act in relation to Thucydides, son of Olor: he successfully carried out a decree on the return of Thucydides to Athens . I omit the statues of Hermolikos the wrestler and Phormion, the son of Asopichus, since others have written about them” (Pavsanpi, I, 23:11-12).
The marble base of the first dedicatory statue was found in the area between the Propylaea and the Parthenon with the inscription: “Dedicated Epicharinus the son of Opholonidas. Made by Critias and Nesiot.”
The name Ofolonidas is restored, since the names Harina, Eiihara and Charisiya are found in the family of Ofolonidas. The dedication of Opholonidas himself may be dated to about 490; approximately 15 years after this, his son Epicharinus won a victory in the hoplite competition. If Epicharinus really won the famous competitions established in honor of the victory at Plataea, then it becomes clear that the order to make his honorary statue to the famous masters Critias and Nesiotus, who had previously created the statue of the tyrannicides, and that this monument was reproduced on the coins of Cyzicus. The bronze statuette in Tübingen may be a copy of this statue.
We know nothing about the statue of Oenobius, as well as about the statue of Hermolycus, the son of Eufinus (or Euphoinus), a participant in the battles with the Persians and a winner in pankratia. Whether he was the father of Diitref the Elder also cannot be said with certainty. Herodotus speaks of this Hermolicus as the Athenian who most distinguished himself in the battle of Cape Mycale. He calls him skilled in wrestling and fist fighting. Hermolik died in the battle of Kirn on the island. Euboea.
Pausanias goes on to describe a group of statues associated with mythological subjects. “Here further on Athena is depicted beating the strong Marsyas because he picked up the flutes, although the goddess wanted to throw them away. Opposite these images, which I spoke about, is the legendary battle of Theseus against the “bull of Minos” (Minotaur) ... There stands Phrixus, the son of Athamas, carried to Colchis by a ram. Having sacrificed this ram to the disobedient deity ... he, cutting off his thighs, according to Hellenic custom, watches how they are burned. There are other images nearby, including Hercules; he strangles, as the legend says, the serpent; there is also Athena emerging from the head of Zeus. There is also a bull, a donation of the council Areopagus” (Pausanias, I, 24, 1-2).
The exact location of the sculptural group of Athena and Marsyas is unknown. Legend has it that Athena invented the double flute. While playing the flute in the forests of Mount Ida, she accidentally saw her reflection in a stream and threw the flute away in disgust. The flute was found by the satyr Marsyas and achieved such high perfection in playing it that he later entered into a competition with Apollo, for which he paid with his life. It is possible that this group was sculpted by Myron, the famous Athenian sculptor, originally from Eleuthera. It is mentioned by Athenaeus with reference to Polemon's book on the Acropolis (Athenaeus, XI, p. 486(1). The statues of Marsyas and Athena, as well as the “Discobolus” by Myron, are known to us from Roman copies and can be dated no earlier than the last decade before the middle of the 5th century. Pliny also speaks about this statue: “Myron created a statue of a satyr admiring a flute and Athena” (Pliny, Natural History, XXXIV, 57). The image of this scene on an Athenian coin is most interesting for us. Despite the poor preservation image, one can discern that Athena is throwing away the flute, and the satyr is numb with amazement.
A fragment from the comedy of the poet Melanippides, preserved by Athenaeus, may have been inspired by this group of Myron: “And Athena, throwing away the instrument with her sacred hand, said: “Perish, shameful, shame of my body, for by this I make myself ugly”” (Athenaeus, XIV , 616e-f).
The history of the dispute between Athena and Marsyas was a favorite topic among the Athenians, which symbolized the superiority of the lyre over the flute, and, consequently, of the Hellene over the non-Hellenic.
The scene of Theseus's fight with the Minotaur is presented on the coins of Athens in three different versions: 1) naked Theseus, holding a club in his right hand, tramples a bull that has fallen on his left knee; 2) Theseus, straightening up, with a raised club in his right hand and a lion skin in his left, rushes at the falling Minotaur; 3) Theseus and the Minotaur are depicted standing: Theseus holds a club in his right hand, raising it high to strike, while simultaneously grabbing the Minotaur’s right horn with his left hand. On all three lunettes the Minotaur is depicted as a man with the head of a bull, just as in the vase painting.
The statue of Phrixus sacrificing a ram may be identical with the statue of the sculptor Nausidas. He owned a sculptural group with a similar theme (cf. Pliny, XXXIV, 80). Legends about Phrixus, alien to Attica, were widespread in Boeotia, where Athamas, according to legend, was going to sacrifice his children, Phrixus and Helle (cf. Pausanias, IX, 34, 5).
The idyll of Theocritus “Infant Hercules” tells about the feat of ten-month-old Hercules, who strangled two poisonous snakes sent by Hera in the cradle (Theocritus, XXIV, 1 f.; Pindar, Nemean Odes, 1, 50 f.; Apollodorus, II, 4, 8 ). Sculptural image of Hercules with snakes, stored in the Hermitage ( Saint Petersburg), is a Roman copy from a Greek original. It is difficult to say whether it represents exactly the statue that Pausanias saw.
After mentioning the statue by Cleaetes and continuing further along the road along the Parthenon, Pausanias describes a statue of the earth goddess Gaia begging Zeus for rain “either when the Athenians themselves needed rain or when there was a drought throughout Hellas” (I, 24, 3). The location of the statue of Gaia is known from the inscription preserved on the rock: “Image of fruit-bearing Gaia according to the oracle.”
Following the statue of Gaia, Pausanias noted the statue of Conon and his son Timothy. The Athenians originally erected an image of the father; Trophies received by Konon in battles could be placed on the pedestal. Later it was decided to erect a statue of Timothy, son of Conon. If we assume that the statues of father and son were erected shortly after the death of each of them, then, according to Stevens, the statue of Conon can be dated to the first quarter of the 4th century, and the statue of Timothy, placed on a common pedestal with his father, to the middle of the 4th century. The faces of the statues of Conon and Timothy were turned towards the Propylaea, so that they could be seen immediately at the entrance to the Acropolis.
Then Pausanias names the group of Probna, “who plotted to kill his son Itys, and (the image of) Itys himself, which Alkamen dedicated” (I, 24, 3). The Acropolis Museum houses a similar group on the topic.
The naked boy pressed himself against Procne’s legs, as if wanting to hide in the folds of her clothes. The mother's posture is calm. True, the figure of Procne was preserved very poorly (the head, right arm and left arm below the elbow were broken off).
Attic myth considered Procne to be the daughter of the Athenian king Pandius, the sister of Philomela and Butes. Married to the Thracian king Tereus, son of Ares, she gave birth to his son Itis. Tereus, having removed Procne from the house, committed violence against her sister Philomela and tore out her tongue so that she could not talk about it. But Fnlomela, weaving words on her clothes, let Procne know about the crime. The sisters, wanting to take revenge on Tereus, killed Itis and served his body to Tereus during the meal. Pursued by the enraged Tereus, they asked the gods to turn them into birds. The gods had mercy on them. According to one version of the legend, Procne became a nightingale, Philomela a swallow, Tereus a hoopoe; by Monuments of Konon and Konon-Timothy
to another, Procne turned into a swallow, Philomela into a nightingale, Tereus into a hawk.
The surviving sculptural image of Procne, who decided to kill her son, is, according to scientists, a weak work in artistic terms. It could not belong to such a talented sculptor as Alkamen was. However, the group was found on the Acropolis. Therefore, Stevens, trying to find an explanation for this, puts forward the following hypothesis. The group of Procne and Itis by Alcamenes was broken up or taken away and later replaced by a new one, executed much less skillfully. It is also possible that the dedicator Alkamen, except for the name, has nothing in common with the sculptor Alkamen, a student of Phidias. It should be noted that Pausanias speaks of the dedication of the statue, and not of its creation by Alcamenes. However, it is difficult to even imagine that in the most honorable place of the Acropolis a famous artist could place a mediocre work, even if not his own. Perhaps the sculpture (V-IV centuries) found near the western bastion did not belong to the Acropolis at all and was only a poor copy of the sculptural Alcamene group.
Thematically, the placement of this statue on the Acropolis is quite explainable by the Athenian legend, which spoke of the family ties of Procne with Butes and Erechtheus. It is interesting that the plot of the found group follows not the Athenian, but another version of the myth. Procne must kill her son alone, without
with the help of her sister Having planned a murder, Procne has not yet decided to commit it, but Itis stands trustingly next to her mother.
Near Procne there was a sculpture dedicated to a very popular topic in Athens - the dispute between Athena and Poseidon. This sculpture was also depicted on Athenian coins. Athena and Poseidon are calmly talking to each other. The snake of Athena is wrapped around the roots of an olive tree, an owl sits on the shoulder of the goddess, Poseidon stands to the side of the tree, holding in his right raised hand a tripod, resting its end on the ground, with its a cloak hangs from his left hand, a dolphin is at his feet, the usual conventional image of a source. On the other side of the tree stands Athena, with her right hand extended forward and her left hand supporting a spear and shield. The dispute between them has already been resolved by Zeus in favor of Athena.
The location of the statue is unclear. Statues of Athena and Poseidon may have stood next to or opposite the group of Procne and Itys. In any case, both groups were somewhere in the north of the eastern corner of the Parthenon, near the sacred site of Zeus Polnaeus.
At the very entrance to the eastern cella of the Parthenon, slightly to the south, stood a bronze statue of Iphicrates, the famous Athenian commander, the son of a shoemaker, who, thanks to his abilities, rose to high state magistrates, waged wars with the Thracians and won several victories over the Spartans during the Corinthian War. Taking care of creating an army that was more durable and mobile in expeditions designed for a long time, he changed the weapons of the mercenaries. His wife was the daughter of the Thracian king Kotis. According to Eskhnn (Speeches, III, 243), the erection of a statue of Iphicrates during his life was a reward for the victory over the Spartans in 392 (see Xenophon, Greek history IV, 5 10 ate) From the excerpt of Iphicrates’ speech that has come down to us, it is clear that he himself sought this honor from the Athenians (Aristotle).
Conclusion.
Culture ancient Greece had a huge influence on the development of European culture. It was first adopted by Rome and then developed. It is important to note that the Roman nobility very highly valued art objects of Greek origin, and they were exported from Greece in huge quantities.
After the fall of the Roman Empire and the times of decline of European culture, the era of renaissance began, which is so named because the development of culture continued on the basis of the achievements of ancient culture, the main layer of which was the culture of ancient Greece.
Bibliography.
1. 1: André Bonnard, Greek Civilization, ed. "Art" 1992, books I-III;
2. 2. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. 2nd edition, volume 18.
3. N.A. Dmitrieva " Short story Arts", publishing house "Art", M 1988
4. 3. I.M. Dyakova “History of the Ancient World”, Ed. "Science", M., 1989
DE, "From the history of human society", vol. 8, Ed. "Pedagogy", M., 1975
5. DE, "Art", vol. 12, Ed. "Pedagogy", M., 1977
6. Kolobova K. M. Ancient city Athens and its monuments. L., 1961.
7. Myths of the peoples of the world, vol. I, II, Ed. "Soviet Encyclopedia", M., 1982
8. Sokolov G.I. Acropolis in Athens. M., 1968.
9. Pausanias. Description of Hellas. St. Petersburg, 1996.
10. "History of Europe", ed. "Science", 1988, vol. 1 "Ancient Europe";
When the Greeks rebelled against Ottoman Empire, during one of the battles they managed to surround the Athenian Acropolis, on whose territory the Turks were staying. When the besieged began to run out of shells, they began to destroy the columns of the Parthenon in order to make ammunition from the parts that held them together. The Greeks could not allow this to happen, and therefore the enemies ancient monument they left the architecture alone and sent them a shipment of lead.
The Acropolis is located in the capital of Greece, Athens, on a rocky hill with a flat top at an altitude of 156 meters above sea level. m. and the area it occupies is about three hectares (300 meters long, 170 meters wide). You can find the new Acropolis at: Dionysiou Areopagitou 15, Athens 117 42, and at geographical map– found at the following coordinates: 37° 58′ 17.12″ N. latitude, 23° 43′ 34.2″ e. d.
The Athenian Acropolis is a complex of buildings, most of which were built in the 5th century. BC. the best architects of Hellas. Initially, it was intended not so much for the defense of the city, but for holding pagan services. A huge number of temples dedicated to Athena (the most famous), as well as Poseidon and Nike, were erected on its territory.
They began to actively build up the Acropolis in Athens in the 7th-6th centuries. BC. and one of the significant buildings of that time was the Hekatompedon, the temple of the most revered goddess ancient Greece, Athens. True, a century later, during the Greco-Persian War, the Persians destroyed most of the sanctuaries, and having driven out the enemies from their territory, the Greeks began to build the New Acropolis.
It was entrusted to supervise the construction work famous sculptor of that time, Phidias (the author of one of the wonders of the world, in Olympia), who, judging by the descriptions of contemporaries, developed a plan for the architectural complex. And the most eminent architects of those times helped him create the new Acropolis - Callicrates, Mnesicles, Ictinus, Archilochus, etc. The new Acropolis in Greece, erected by ancient masters, speaks with its entire appearance about the high level of architecture of the ancient Hellenes.
What does the Acropolis look like?
It was possible to climb to the top of the rock of the Acropolis of Athens only from the western side along a zigzag road; from other sides it was inaccessible. Below, at the foot, there were two theaters - Dionysus, built by the Greeks, and the Odeon of Herod Atticus, built by the Romans in the 2nd century. AD If you look at the map, you will notice that the monuments of the Acropolis in Greece number about fifteen buildings (together with theaters), plus a museum is currently open on its territory in a separate building.
Promachos
It is interesting that the first monument that the New Acropolis saw was not a building, but a statue of Athena-Promachos, created by Phidias himself. The goddess was wearing a helmet, resting on a spear with her right hand, and in her left she had a shield (the helmet and the tip of the spear were made of gold). Promakhos was made of bronze, had a height of about 7 meters and was installed so that it could not only be seen from anywhere in the city, but also from the sea - the sailors saw the golden helmet and the tip of the spear shining in the sun from a great distance.
Propylaea (437 – 432 BC)
Athena Promachos was located opposite the main entrance to the Acropolis of Athens. It was made by the architect Mnesiklos from white Pentelic and gray Eleuskin marble. The Propylaea consists of three parts: the central one, which contained six Doric columns, and two wings adjacent to it. It is interesting that Ionic columns were installed on both sides of the main passage - apparently, this principle of combining two different types of columns was used here for the first time.
Parthenon (447 – 438 BC)
The Greeks are convinced that the Acropolis and the Parthenon are two inseparable concepts, since it is impossible to imagine them without each other. The Parthenon was erected by Callicrates and Ictinus from Pentelic marble on top of a rock and was dedicated to the patron goddess of the city, Athena.
The Parthenon is a rectangular building 30.8 x 69.5 m with columns located around the perimeter, about ten meters high: seventeen were installed on the south and north sides of the sanctuary, eight on the west and east (the entrances to the temple were also located here).
The Parthenon was decorated with sculptural bas-reliefs from the life of the city: a procession to the Acropolis of selected maidens with a gift for the goddess (held once every four years), about a hundred bas-reliefs depicting various battles. The eastern side of the Parthenon told the legend of the birth of Athena, the western - about her dispute with the god of the seas, Poseidon, about who would be the patron of Athens.
The main hall of the Parthenon was divided into three parts using two rows of columns. In the depths of this architectural monument there was a twelve-meter sculpture of Athena. The goddess had Nike in her right hand, and on her left side was a spear. The face and hands of the statue were carved from ivory, weapons and clothes were cast from gold, and precious stones shone in the eyes.
Unfortunately, in the V Art. The sculpture was taken to Constantinople, where it burned down in a fire.
At the western entrance there is a square parthenon hall, which housed the archives and treasury of the city maritime union. Presumably, the name of the Greek temple came from this hall, which translated means “house for girls,” since it was here that the priestesses made peplos (sleeveless women's outerwear, sewn from light material, which was presented to the goddess during the ceremonial procession.
Temple of Athena the Victorious (449 – 421 BC)
A small marble temple is located (the dimensions of its base are 5.4 x 8.14 m, the height of the columns is 4 m) in the southwest of the Propylaea, on a small ledge of rock, which was previously reinforced with a retaining wall. The author of this original architectural monument was the author of the Parthenon, Callicrates. The sanctuary was surrounded by columns, while the building was surrounded by walls on three sides, while on the eastern side, where the entrance to the temple was located, there was no wall, instead there were two pillars.
Interestingly, another name for this small marble temple is Nike Apteros, which means Wingless. According to legend, the wooden statue of the Goddess of Victory that was in this temple did not have wings: the Athenians categorically did not want it to leave the city.
Temple of Erechtheinon (421-407 BC)
Erechtion is considered the last architectural monument of the Acropolis; it was dedicated to two gods at once, Athena and Poseidon, and received its name because of the remains of the tomb of ruler Erechtheus found on its territory.
The shrine is located behind Promachos and was erected in the place where, according to legend, Athena argued with Poseidon. According to the description of eyewitnesses, an olive tree grew near the temple and there was a mark left in the floor from the blow of Poseidon’s staff. The story goes that the olive tree burned when ancient Acropolis The Persians set fire to it, but after its liberation it was revived.
Despite the fact that the temple is smaller in size than the Parthenon (11.63 x 23.5 m), its architecture has a more complex plan.
The eastern portico of the building is supported by six Ionic columns, the northern one by four. The frieze of the shrine was made of marble-like limestone, into which white marble sculptures were inserted. On the southern side of Erechtheinon there is a portico, which, instead of traditional columns, was supported by statues of girls. Currently, all the original sculptures have been replaced with copies and are located in the Louvre, the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum.
Acropolis today
Unfortunately, history has not been kind to the Athenian Acropolis: people first made the Church of Our Lady from the Parthenon, then a mosque, the Erechtheion became the harem of the Turkish Pasha, the Temple of the Wingless Nike was dismantled and a fortress wall was erected from it, and during the war with Turkey in the 19th century. he was significantly damaged by a shell fired by the Turks. The strongest earthquake in Greece in 1894 contributed to the destruction of the unique complex.
As soon as the Greeks regained power over the city, they began restoring their landmark. After Greece proclaimed at the end of the 19th century. independence, they took up this issue more seriously, as a result of which they were able to achieve significant successes, thanks to which museum visitors now have the opportunity not only to see the new Acropolis, but also to more clearly imagine what it looked like in ancient times.
They eliminated all the later structures of the Acropolis, rebuilt the Temple of Nike, created copies of the sculptures and replaced the originals with them, taking them for storage to museums, one of which was placed at the foot of the rock. The new Athens Acropolis Museum was opened in 2009. It is interesting that it was the third in a row, since as a result of numerous archaeological excavations, the first two museums did not contain all the finds and were replaced by a larger building, ten times larger in area than its predecessor.