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{{Short description|Temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece}}
{{Redirect|Temple of Athena|other uses|Parthenon (disambiguation)|and|Temple of Athena (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|Pantheon, Rome}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox building
| name             = Parthenon
| native_name      = {{lang|el|Παρθενώνας|italic=no}}
| image            = The Parthenon in Athens.jpg
| image_size       = 300px
| caption          = The Parthenon in 1978
| building_type    = Temple
| architectural_style = [[Classical architecture|Classical]]
| location         = [[Athens]], Greece
| coordinates      = {{coord|37.9715|23.7266|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| start_date       = 447&nbsp;BC<ref name="academic.reed.edu">[http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110Tech/Parthenon.html Parthenon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305115918/http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110Tech/Parthenon.html |date=5 March 2011 }}. Academic.reed.edu. Retrieved on 4 September 2013.</ref><ref name="ancientgreece.com">[http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Parthenon/ The Parthenon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702195954/http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Parthenon/ |date=2 July 2017 }}. Ancientgreece.com. Retrieved on 4 September 2013.</ref>
| completion_date  = 432&nbsp;BC;<ref name="academic.reed.edu"/><ref name="ancientgreece.com"/> {{time interval|-432}} ago
| destruction_date = Partially in 1687
| height           = {{convert|13.72|m|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name="Penprase2010">{{cite book |last=Penprase |first=Bryan E. |title=The Power of Stars: How Celestial Observations Have Shaped Civilization |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XXOxGOpawuMC&pg=PA221 |access-date=8 March 2017 |year=2010 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-1-4419-6803-6 |page=221}}</ref>
| size             = {{convert|69.5|by|30.9|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| other_dimensions = [[Cella]]: {{convert|29.8|by|19.2|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| material         = [[Pentelic Marble]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sakoulas |first1=Thomas |title=The Parthenon |url=https://ancient-greece.org/architecture/parthenon.html |website=Ancient-Greece.org |access-date=15 December 2020 |archive-date=31 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231044650/https://ancient-greece.org/architecture/parthenon.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| floor_count      = 
| floor_area       = {{convert|73|by|34|m|abbr=on}}<ref name= ":JN">{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Benjamin Franklin |date=1920 |title=The Parthenon at Athens, Greece and at Nashville, Tennessee |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/58665/58665-h/58665-h.htm |location=Nashville, Tennessee |publisher=Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606130252/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/58665/58665-h/58665-h.htm |archive-date=6 June 2021 |access-date=11 November 2020 |url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref>
| main_contractor  = 
| architect        = [[Iktinos]], [[Callicrates]]
| structural_engineer = 
| services_engineer = 
| civil_engineer   = 
| other_designers  = [[Phidias]] (sculptor)
| quantity_surveyor = 
| awards           = 
}}
The '''Parthenon''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɑ:r|θ|ə|ˌ|n|ɒ|n|,_|-|n|ən}}; {{transl-grc|{{Wikt-lang|grc|Παρθενών}}|}} {{IPA|grc|par.tʰe.nɔ̌ːn|}}; {{langx|el|{{Wikt-lang|grc|Παρθενώνας}}|Parthenónas|}} {{IPA|el|parθeˈnonas|}}) is a former [[Ancient Greek temple|temple]]<ref name="Neils2005">{{cite book |last=Barletta |first=Barbara A. |author-link=Barbara Barletta |editor=Jenifer Neils |editor-link=Jenifer Neils |title=The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gA81kINAI9cC&pg=PA67 |year=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-82093-6 |page=67 |chapter=The Architecture and Architects of the Classical Parthenon |quote=The Parthenon (Plate 1, Fig. 17) is probably the most celebrated of all Greek temples.}}</ref><ref>Sacks, David. "Parthenon". ''Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World'', David Sacks, Facts On File, 3rd edition, 2015. Accessed 15 July 2022.</ref> on the [[Acropolis of Athens|Athenian Acropolis]], Greece, that was dedicated to the [[Greek gods|goddess]] [[Athena]]. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of classical [[Art in Ancient Greece|Greek art]], and the Parthenon is considered an enduring symbol of [[Ancient Greece]], democracy, and [[western culture|Western civilization]].<ref name="Beard2010">{{cite book |last=Beard |first=Mary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6MlnesZaRoC&pg=PA118 |title=The Parthenon |publisher=Profile Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84765-063-4 |page=118 |author-link=Mary Beard (classicist)}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> 

The Parthenon was built in the 5th century BC in thanksgiving for the Greek victory over the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] invaders during the [[Greco-Persian Wars]].<ref name=":0" /> Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon also served as the city [[treasury]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=Miriam |url=https://archive.org/details/shorterhistoryof0000robe |title=A Shorter History of Greek Art |date=1981 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-28084-6 |location=Cambridge |page=[https://archive.org/details/shorterhistoryof0000robe/page/90 90] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Davison |first1=Claire Cullen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qm5CAQAAIAAJ&q=Parthenon+used+primarily+as+a+treasury |title=Pheidias:The Sculptures and Ancient Sources |last2=Lundgreen |first2=Birte |date=2009 |publisher=Institute of Classical Studies, University of London |isbn=978-1-905670-21-5 |volume=105 |location=London |page=209 |access-date=10 September 2017}}</ref> Construction started in 447 BC when the [[Delian League]] was at the peak of its power. It was completed in 438 BC; work on the artwork and decorations continued until 432 BC. For a time, it served as the treasury of the Delian League, which later became the [[Athenian Empire]].

In the final decade of the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the [[Mary, the mother of Jesus|Virgin Mary]]. After the [[Ottoman Greece|Ottoman conquest]] in the mid-15th century, it became a [[Parthenon mosque|mosque]]. In the [[Morean War]], a Venetian bomb landed on the Parthenon, which the Ottomans had used as a munitions dump, during the 1687 [[Siege of the Acropolis (1687)|siege of the Acropolis]]. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon. From 1800 to 1803,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/l/lord_elgin_and_the_parthenon_s.aspx |title=Lord Elgin and the Parthenon Sculptures |publisher=British Museum |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203024816/https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/l/lord_elgin_and_the_parthenon_s.aspx |archive-date=3 February 2013}}</ref> [[Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin|the 7th Earl of Elgin]] controversially removed many of the surviving sculptures and subsequently shipped them to England where they are now known as the ''[[Elgin Marbles]]'' or Parthenon marbles.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/03-04/parthenon-sculptures-british-museum-controversy/ |title=How the Parthenon Lost Its Marbles |date=28 March 2017 |website=History Magazine |access-date=17 April 2019 |archive-date=17 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417040258/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/03-04/parthenon-sculptures-british-museum-controversy/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Since 1975, numerous large-scale restoration projects have been undertaken to preserve remaining artefacts and ensure its structural integrity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ysma.gr/en/restoration/reasons-of-interventions/ |title=Reasons of Interventions |website=ysma.gr |access-date=10 October 2021 |archive-date=10 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010210527/https://www.ysma.gr/en/restoration/reasons-of-interventions/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Smithsonian |title=Unlocking Mysteries of the Parthenon |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unlocking-mysteries-of-the-parthenon-16621015/ |access-date=23 July 2022 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en |archive-date=30 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630164336/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unlocking-mysteries-of-the-parthenon-16621015/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Etymology==
The origin of the word "Parthenon" comes from the Greek word {{Lang|grc-Latn|parthénos}} ({{lang|grc|παρθένος}}), meaning "maiden, girl" as well as "virgin, unmarried woman". The Liddell–Scott–Jones ''[[A Greek–English Lexicon|Greek–English Lexicon]]'' states that it may have referred to the "unmarried women's apartments" in a house, but that in the Parthenon it seems to have been used for a particular room of the temple.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, παρθεν-ών |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=parqenw/n |access-date=27 July 2022 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> There is some debate as to which room that was. The lexicon states that this room was the western [[cella]] of the Parthenon. This has also been suggested by J.B. Bury.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=A history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great, 3rd ed |last1=Bury |first1=J. B. |last2=Meiggs |first2=Russell |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1956 |location=Oxford |pages=367–369}}</ref> One theory is that the Parthenon was the room where the ''[[arrephoros|arrephoroi]]'', a group of four young girls chosen to serve Athena each year, wove a [[peplos]] that was presented to Athena during [[Panathenaic Festival]]s.<ref>Jeffrey M. Hurwit. The Athenian Acropolis. (2000 Cambridge University Press), 161–163.</ref> Christopher Pelling asserts that the name "Parthenon" means the "temple of the virgin goddess", referring to the cult of Athena Parthenos that was associated with the temple.<ref name="Br">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Parthenon |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}{{edition needed|date=December 2019}}</ref> It has also been suggested that the name of the temple alludes to the maidens ({{Lang|grc-Latn|parthénoi}}), whose supreme sacrifice guaranteed the safety of the city.<ref>Whitley, ''The Archaeology of Ancient Greece'', p. 352.</ref> In that case, the room originally known as the Parthenon could have been a part of the temple known today as the [[Erechtheion]].<ref>François Queyrel, Le Parthénon. Un monument dans l'Histoire, Paris, Éditions Bartillat, 2020, pp. 199–200.</ref>

In 5th-century BC accounts of the building, the structure is simply called {{Lang|grc|ὁ νᾱός}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|ho naos}}; <small>lit.</small> "the temple"). Douglas Frame writes that the name "Parthenon" was a nickname related to the statue of Athena Parthenos, and only appeared a century after construction. He contends that "Athena's temple was never officially called the Parthenon and she herself most likely never had the cult title ''parthénos''".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hélène |date=4 March 2021 |title=Everlasting Glory in Athens |url=https://kosmossociety.chs.harvard.edu/everlasting-glory-in-athens/ |access-date=10 July 2023 |website=The Kosmos Society |language=en-US |archive-date=27 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727175840/https://kosmossociety.chs.harvard.edu/everlasting-glory-in-athens/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> The ancient architects [[Iktinos]] and [[Callicrates]] appear to have called the building {{Lang|grc|Ἑκατόμπεδος}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|Hekatómpedos}}; <small>lit.</small> "the hundred footer") in their lost treatise on Athenian architecture.<ref name="Harpocration" /> [[Harpocration]] wrote that some people used to call the Parthenon the "[[Hekatompedon temple|Hekatompedos]]", not due to its size but because of its beauty and fine proportions.<ref name="Harpocration">{{Cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg1389.tlg001.perseus-grc1:e.hekatompedon |title=Harpocration, Valerius, Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos, λεττερ ε, ἙΚΑΤΟΜΠΕΔΟΝ |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=6 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306133213/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg1389.tlg001.perseus-grc1:e.hekatompedon |url-status=live }}</ref> The first instance in which Parthenon definitely refers to the entire building comes from the fourth century BC orator [[Demosthenes]].<ref>Demosthenes, ''Against Androtion 22.13''  οἱ τὰ προπύλαια καὶ τὸν παρθενῶν᾽.</ref> In the 4th century BC and later, the building was referred to as the ''{{Lang|grc-Latn|Hekatompedos|italic=yes}}'' or the {{Lang|grc-Latn|Hekatompedon}} as well as the ''Parthenon.'' [[Plutarch]] referred to the building during the first century AD as the ''{{Lang|grc-Latn|Hekatompedos Parthenon|italic=yes}}''.<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Pericles'' 13.4.</ref>

A 2020 study by Janric van Rookhuijzen supports the idea that the building known today as the Parthenon was originally called the [[Hekatompedon temple|Hekatompedon]]. Based on literary and historical research, he proposes that "the treasury called the Parthenon should be recognized as the west part of the building now conventionally known as the [[Erechtheion]]".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=van Rookhuijzen |first=Jan Z. |date=2020 |title=The Parthenon Treasury on the Acropolis of Athens |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.3764/aja.124.1.0003 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=124 |issue=1 |pages=3–35 |doi=10.3764/aja.124.1.0003 |hdl=1874/407955 |s2cid=213405037 |access-date=24 July 2022 |archive-date=24 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724195408/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.3764/aja.124.1.0003 |url-status=live |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kampouris |first=Nick |date=3 October 2021 |title=The Parthenon Has Had the Wrong Name for Centuries, Theory Claims |url=https://greekreporter.com/2021/10/03/the-parthenon-has-had-the-wrong-name-for-centuries-new-theory-claims/ |access-date=24 July 2022 |website=GreekReporter.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

Because the Parthenon was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena it has sometimes been referred to as the Temple of [[Minerva]], the Roman name for Athena, particularly during the 19th century.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, 1878.</ref>

{{Lang|grc-Latn|Parthénos}} was also applied to the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Virgin Mary]] (''Parthénos Maria'') when the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the final decade of the 6th century.<ref name="freely">[https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA69 Freely 2004, p. 69] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117082922/https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA69|date=17 November 2022}} "Some modern writers maintain that the Parthenon was converted into a Christian sanctuary during the reign of [[Justinian]] (527–565)...But there is no evidence to support this in the ancient sources. The existing evidence suggests that the Parthenon was converted into a Christian [[basilica]] in the last decade of the sixth century."</ref>

==Function==
[[File:DoricParthenon.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Doric order]] of the Parthenon]]

Although the Parthenon is architecturally a temple and is usually called so, some scholars have argued that it is not really a temple in the conventional sense of the word.<ref name="Deacy-11">[[Susan Deacy]], ''Athena'', Routledge, 2008, p. 111.</ref> A small [[shrine]] has been excavated within the building, on the site of an older [[sanctuary]] probably dedicated to Athena as a way to get closer to the goddess,<ref name="Deacy-11" /> but the Parthenon apparently never hosted the official cult of Athena Polias, patron of Athens. The [[cult image]] of Athena Polias, which was bathed in the sea and to which was presented the ''[[peplos]]'', was an olive-wood ''[[xoanon]]'', located in another temple on the northern side of the Acropolis, more closely associated with the Great Altar of Athena.<ref name="Burkert-143">Burkert, ''Greek Religion'', Blackwell, 1985, p. 143.</ref> The [[High Priestess of Athena Polias]] supervised the city cult of Athena based in the [[Acropolis]], and was the chief of the lesser officials, such as the [[plyntrides]], [[arrephoroi]] and [[kanephoroi]].<ref>Joan Breton Connelly, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=sAspxHK-T1UC&dq=priestess+of+athena&pg=PA143 Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806122840/https://books.google.com/books?id=sAspxHK-T1UC&dq=priestess+of+athena&pg=PA143 |date=6 August 2023 }}''</ref>

The colossal statue of Athena by [[Phidias]] was not specifically related to any cult attested by ancient authors<ref>MC. Hellmann, ''L'Architecture grecque. Architecture religieuse et funéraire'', Picard, 2006, p. 118.</ref> and is not known to have inspired any religious fervour.<ref name="Burkert-143" /> Preserved ancient sources do not associate it with any priestess, altar or cult name.<ref name="Nagy-55">B. Nagy, "Athenian Officials on the Parthenon Frieze", ''AJA'', Vol. 96, No. 1 (January 1992), p. 55.</ref>

According to [[Thucydides]], during the [[Peloponnesian War]] when Sparta's forces were first preparing to invade Attica, [[Pericles]], in an address to the Athenian people, said that the statue could be used as a gold reserve if that was necessary to preserve Athens, stressing that it "contained forty talents of pure gold and it was all removable", but adding that the gold would afterward have to be restored.<ref>Thucydides 2.13.5. Retrieved 3 August 2020.</ref> The Athenian statesman thus implies that the metal, obtained from contemporary coinage,<ref>S. Eddy, "The Gold in the Athena Parthenos", ''AJA'', Vol. 81, No. 1 (Winter, 1977), pp. 107–111.</ref> could be used again if absolutely necessary without any impiety.<ref name="Nagy-55" /> According to Aristotle, the building also contained golden figures that he described as "Victories".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, chapter 47 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0046:chapter=47&highlight=parthenon |access-date=21 July 2022 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu |archive-date=21 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721202334/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0046:chapter=47&highlight=parthenon |url-status=live }}</ref> The classicist Harris Rackham noted that eight of those figures were melted down for coinage during the Peloponnesian War.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, chapter 47 (Note 1) |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0046:chapter=47&highlight=parthenon |access-date=21 July 2022 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Other Greek writers have claimed that treasures such as Persian swords were also stored inside the temple.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} Some scholars, therefore, argue that the Parthenon should be viewed as a grand setting for a monumental votive statue rather than as a cult site.<ref>B. Holtzmann and A. Pasquier, ''Histoire de l'art antique : l'art grec'', École du Louvre, Réunion des musées nationaux, and Documentation française, 1998, p. 177.</ref>

Archaeologist [[Joan Breton Connelly]] has argued for the coherency of the Parthenon's sculptural programme in presenting a succession of genealogical narratives that track Athenian identity through the ages: from the birth of Athena, through [[wikt:Special:Search/cosmic|cosmic]] and epic battles, to the final great event of the [[Athenian Bronze Age]], the war of [[Erechtheus]] and [[Eumolpos]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Parthenon Enigma: a New Understanding of the West's Most Iconic Building and the People Who Made It |publisher=Vintage |date=2014 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-307-47659-3 |first=Joan Breton |last=Connelly}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome to Joan Breton Connelly |url=http://www.joanbretonconnelly.com/ |website=Welcome to Joan Breton Connelly |access-date=18 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921094655/http://www.joanbretonconnelly.com/ |archive-date=21 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She argues a pedagogical function for the Parthenon's sculptured decoration, one that establishes and perpetuates Athenian foundation myth, memory, values and identity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Connelly |first=Joan Breton |title=The Parthenon Enigma |date=28 January 2014 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-307-59338-2 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=35 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Mendelsohn |first=Daniel |date=7 April 2014 |title=Deep Frieze |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/04/14/deep-frieze |access-date=10 July 2023 |issn=0028-792X |archive-date=10 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230710195758/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/04/14/deep-frieze |url-status=live }}</ref> While some classicists, including [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]], [[Peter Green (historian)|Peter Green]], and [[Garry Wills]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Beard |first=Mary |title=The Latest Scheme for the Parthenon {{!}} Mary Beard |language=en |work=The New York Review of Books |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/03/06/latest-scheme-parthenon/ |access-date=10 July 2023 |issn=0028-7504 |archive-date=10 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230710194255/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/03/06/latest-scheme-parthenon/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Beard |first1=Mary |last2=Hammond |first2=Norman |last3=Wuletich-Brinberg |first3=Sybil |last4=Wills |first4=Garry |last5=Green |first5=Peter |title='The Parthenon Enigma'—An Exchange {{!}} Peter Green |language=en |work=The New York Review of Books |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/05/22/parthenon-enigma-exchange/ |access-date=10 July 2023 |issn=0028-7504 |archive-date=10 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230710194256/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/05/22/parthenon-enigma-exchange/ |url-status=live }}</ref> have doubted or rejected Connelly's thesis, an increasing number of historians, archaeologists, and classical scholars support her work. They include: J.J. Pollitt,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Decoding the Parthenon by J.J. Pollitt |url=http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Decoding-the-Parthenon-7857 |magazine=The New Criterion |access-date=18 August 2015 |archive-date=3 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150803034940/http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Decoding-the-Parthenon-7857 |url-status=live }}</ref> Brunilde Ridgway,<ref>{{cite periodical |title=Rethinking the West's Most Iconic Building |url=http://bulletin.brynmawr.edu/features/rethinking-the-wests-most-iconic-building/ |periodical=Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin |access-date=18 August 2015 |archive-date=8 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908034047/http://bulletin.brynmawr.edu/features/rethinking-the-wests-most-iconic-building/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nigel Spivey,<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://media.wix.com/ugd/2b5cdc_ea1cd7caf3404a2f8e9e7ebfec55b4bb.pdf |title=Art and Archaeology |last=Spivey |first=Nigel |date=October 2014 |journal=Greece & Rome |doi=10.1017/S0017383514000138 |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=287–290 |s2cid=232181203 |access-date=20 August 2015 |archive-date=19 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919050305/http://media.wix.com/ugd/2b5cdc_ea1cd7caf3404a2f8e9e7ebfec55b4bb.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Caroline Alexander,<ref>{{Cite news |title=If It Pleases the Gods |type=Review |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/books/review/the-parthenon-enigma-by-joan-breton-connelly.html |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The New York Times |date=23 January 2014 |access-date=18 August 2015 |issn=0362-4331 |first=Caroline |last=Alexander |archive-date=11 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230711073514/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/books/review/the-parthenon-enigma-by-joan-breton-connelly.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[A. E. Stallings]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Deep Frieze Meaning |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/deep-frieze-meaning_803982.html |magazine=The Weekly Standard |access-date=18 August 2015 |archive-date=24 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150624171950/http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/deep-frieze-meaning_803982.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Older Parthenon===
{{Main|Older Parthenon}}
[[File:Parthenon ancient & Pericles, Maxime Collignon.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Older Parthenon]] (in black) was destroyed by the Achaemenids during the [[Destruction of Athens]] in 480–479 BC, and then rebuilt by [[Pericles]] (in grey).]]
The first endeavour to build a sanctuary for [[Athena#Athena Parthenos: Virgin Athena|Athena Parthenos]] on the site of the present Parthenon was begun shortly after the [[Battle of Marathon]] ({{circa|490}}–488&nbsp;BC) upon a solid [[limestone]] foundation that extended and levelled the southern part of the [[Acropolis]] summit. This building replaced a [[Hekatompedon temple]] ("hundred-footer") and would have stood beside the [[Old Temple of Athena|archaic temple dedicated to ''Athena Polias'']] ("of the city"). The [[Older Parthenon|Older or Pre-Parthenon]], as it is frequently referred to, was still under construction when the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]] sacked the city in 480&nbsp;BC razing the Acropolis.<ref name="venieri-acropolis">{{cite web |url=http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2384 |title=Acropolis of Athens |author=Ioanna Venieri |publisher=Hellenic Ministry of Culture |access-date=4 May 2007 |archive-date=24 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024154934/http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2384 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Hurwit 2005, p. 135.</ref>

The existence of both the proto-Parthenon and its destruction were known from [[Herodotus]],<ref>Herodotus Histories, 8.53.</ref> and the drums of its columns were visibly built into the curtain wall north of the [[Erechtheion]]. Further physical evidence of this structure was revealed with the excavations of [[Panagiotis Kavvadias]] of 1885–1890. The findings of this dig allowed [[Wilhelm Dörpfeld]], then director of the [[German Archaeological Institute]], to assert that there existed a distinct substructure to the original Parthenon, called Parthenon I by Dörpfeld, not immediately below the present edifice as previously assumed.<ref>W. Dörpfeld, "Der aeltere Parthenon", ''Ath. Mitteilungen'', XVII, 1892, pp. 158–189 and W. Dörpfeld, "Die Zeit des alteren Parthenon", ''AM'' '''27''', 1902, pp. 379–416.</ref> Dörpfeld's observation was that the three steps of the first Parthenon consisted of two steps of Poros limestone, the same as the foundations, and a top step of Karrha limestone that was covered by the lowest step of the Periclean Parthenon. This platform was smaller and slightly to the north of the final Parthenon, indicating that it was built for a different building, now completely covered over. This picture was somewhat complicated by the publication of the final report on the 1885–1890 excavations, indicating that the substructure was contemporary with the Kimonian walls, and implying a later date for the first temple.<ref>P. Kavvadis, G. Kawerau, ''Die Ausgabung der Acropolis vom Jahre 1885 bis zum Jahre 1890'', 1906.</ref>

[[File:Perserschutt.gif|thumb|upright|Part of the archaeological remains called ''[[Perserschutt]]'', or "Persian rubble": remnants of the destruction of Athens by the armies of [[Xerxes I]]. Photographed in 1866, just after excavation.]]
If the original Parthenon was indeed destroyed in 480, it invites the question of why the site was left as a ruin for thirty-three years. One argument involves the oath sworn by the Greek allies before the [[Battle of Plataea]] in 479&nbsp;BC<ref>NM Tod, ''A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions II'', 1948, no. 204, lines 46–51, The authenticity of this is disputed, however; see also P. Siewert, Der Eid von Plataia (Munich 1972), pp. 98–102.</ref> declaring that the sanctuaries destroyed by the Persians would not be rebuilt, an oath from which the Athenians were only absolved with the [[Peace of Callias]] in 450.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kerr |first=Minott |url=http://people.reed.edu/~mkerr/papers/Parth95.html |title='The Sole Witness': The Periclean Parthenon |publisher=Reed College Portland, Oregon, US |date=23 October 1995 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608024611/http://people.reed.edu/~mkerr/papers/Parth95.html |archive-date=8 June 2007}}</ref> The cost of reconstructing Athens after the Persian sack is at least as likely a cause. The excavations of [[Bert Hodge Hill]] led him to propose the existence of a second Parthenon, begun in the period of [[Cimon|Kimon]] after 468.<ref>B. H. Hill, "The Older Parthenon", ''AJA'', XVI, 1912, pp. 535–558.</ref> Hill claimed that the Karrha limestone step Dörpfeld thought was the highest of Parthenon I was the lowest of the three steps of Parthenon II, whose stylobate dimensions Hill calculated at {{convert|23.51|x|66.888|m|2|lk=on}}.

One difficulty in dating the proto-Parthenon is that at the time of the 1885 excavation, the archaeological method of [[seriation (archaeology)|seriation]] was not fully developed; the careless digging and refilling of the site led to a loss of much valuable information. An attempt to make sense of the potsherds found on the Acropolis came with the two-volume study by Graef and Langlotz published in 1925–1933.<ref>B. Graef, E. Langlotz, ''Die Antiken Vasen von der Akropolis zu Athen'', Berlin 1925–1933.</ref> This inspired American archaeologist [[William Bell Dinsmoor]] to give limiting dates for the temple platform and the five walls hidden under the re-terracing of the Acropolis. Dinsmoor concluded that the latest possible date for Parthenon I was no earlier than 495&nbsp;BC, contradicting the early date given by Dörpfeld.<ref>W. Dinsmoor, "The Date of the Older Parthenon", ''AJA'', XXXVIII, 1934, pp. 408–448.</ref> He denied that there were two proto-Parthenons, and held that the only pre-Periclean temple was what Dörpfeld referred to as Parthenon II. Dinsmoor and Dörpfeld exchanged views in the ''American Journal of Archaeology'' in 1935.<ref>W. Dörpfeld, "Parthenon I, II, III", ''AJA'', XXXIX, 1935, 497–507, and W. Dinsmoor, ''AJA'', XXXIX, 1935, 508–509</ref>

===Present building===
[[File:Parthenon restoration.gif|thumb|left|Animation showing the Parthenon in 2011 and how it looked originally]]
In the mid-5th century BC, when the Athenian Acropolis became the seat of the [[Delian League]], [[Pericles]] initiated the building project that lasted the entire second half of the century. The most important buildings visible on the Acropolis today – the Parthenon, the [[Propylaia (Acropolis of Athens)|Propylaia]], the [[Erechtheion]] and the temple of [[Athena Nike]] – were erected during this period. The Parthenon was built under the general supervision of [[Phidias]], who also had charge of the sculptural decoration. The architects [[Ictinos]] and [[Callicrates]] began their work in 447, and the building was substantially completed by 432. Work on the decorations continued until at least 431.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herman |first=Alexander |author-link= |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/parthenon-marbles-dispute-9781509967179/ |title=The Parthenon Marbles Dispute |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-1509967179 |edition= |place=London |pages=12–13}}</ref>

The Parthenon was built primarily by men who knew how to work marble. These quarrymen had exceptional skills and were able to cut the blocks of marble to very specific measurements. The quarrymen also knew how to avoid the faults, which were numerous in the [[Pentelic marble]]. If the marble blocks were not up to standard, the architects would reject them. The marble was worked with iron tools – picks, points, punches, chisels, and drills. The quarrymen would hold their tools against the marble block and firmly tap the surface of the rock.<ref name="auto">Woodford, S. (2008). The Parthenon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref>

A big project like the Parthenon attracted stonemasons from far and wide who travelled to Athens to assist in the project. Slaves and foreigners worked together with the Athenian citizens in the building of the Parthenon, doing the same jobs for the same pay. Temple building was a specialized craft, and there were not many men in Greece qualified to build temples like the Parthenon, so these men would travel and work where they were needed.<ref name="auto"/>

Other craftsmen were necessary for the building of the Parthenon, specifically carpenters and metalworkers. Unskilled labourers also had key roles in the building of the Parthenon. They loaded and unloaded the marble blocks and moved the blocks from place to place. In order to complete a project like the Parthenon, many different labourers were needed.<ref name="auto"/>

==Architecture==
[[File:Parthenon plan.png|thumb|right|Floor plan of the Parthenon]]

The Parthenon is a [[peripteral]] [[octastyle]] [[Doric order|Doric]] temple with [[Ionic order|Ionic]] architectural features. It stands on a platform or [[stylobate]] of three steps. In common with other Greek temples, it is of [[post and lintel]] construction and is surrounded by columns ('peripteral') carrying an [[entablature]]. There are eight columns at either end ('octastyle') and seventeen on the sides. There is a double row of columns at either end. The colonnade surrounds an inner masonry structure, the ''[[cella]],'' which is divided into two compartments. The ''[[opisthodomos]]'' (the back room of the cella) contained the monetary contributions of the Delian League. At either end of the building, the [[gable]] is finished with a triangular [[pediment]] originally occupied by sculpted figures.

The Parthenon has been described as "the culmination of the development of the Doric order".<ref>"Parthenon". ''Britannica Library'', Encyclopædia Britannica, 10 September 2021. Accessed 16 July 2022.</ref> The Doric columns, for example, have simple capitals, fluted shafts, and no bases. Above the architrave of the entablature is a [[frieze]] of carved pictorial panels ([[Metope (architecture)|metopes]]), separated by formal architectural [[triglyph]]s, also typical of the Doric order. The continuous [[frieze]] in low relief around the cella and across the lintels of the inner columns, in contrast, reflects the Ionic order. Architectural historian John R. Senseney suggests that this unexpected switch between orders was due to an aesthetic choice on the part of builders during construction, and was likely not part of the original plan of the Parthenon.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Senseney |first=John R. |date=2021 |title=The Architectural Origins of the Parthenon Frieze |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/jsah/article/80/1/12/116120/The-Architectural-Origins-of-the-Parthenon-Frieze |journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians |publisher=University of California Press |volume=80 |issue=1 |pages=12–29 |doi=10.1525/jsah.2021.80.1.12 |s2cid=233818539 |doi-access=free |access-date=17 July 2022 |archive-date=17 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717183120/https://online.ucpress.edu/jsah/article/80/1/12/116120/The-Architectural-Origins-of-the-Parthenon-Frieze |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Measured at the stylobate, the dimensions of the base of the Parthenon are {{convert|69.5|by|30.9|m|ft}}. The cella was 29.8&nbsp;metres long by 19.2&nbsp;metres wide (97.8&nbsp;×&nbsp;63.0&nbsp;ft). On the exterior, the Doric columns measure {{convert|1.9|m|ft}} in diameter and are {{convert|10.4|m|ft}} high. The corner columns are slightly larger in diameter. The Parthenon had 46 outer columns and 23 inner columns in total, each column having 20 flutes. (A flute is the [[wikt:concave|concave]] shaft carved into the column form.) The roof was covered with large overlapping marble tiles known as [[imbrex and tegula|imbrices and tegulae]].<ref>{{cite book |title=American Architect and Architecture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vIdMAAAAYAAJ |year=1892 |publisher=American Architect}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=LacusCurtius • Roman Architecture – Roof Tiles (Smith's Dictionary, 1875) |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Tegula.html |access-date=8 February 2018 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu |language=en}}</ref>

The Parthenon is regarded as the finest example of Greek architecture. [[John Julius Cooper]] wrote that "even in antiquity, its architectural refinements were legendary, especially the subtle correspondence between the curvature of the stylobate, the taper of the [[naos (architecture)|naos]] walls, and the [[entasis]] of the columns".<ref>John Julius Norwich, ''Great Architecture of the World'', 2001, p. 63.</ref> Entasis refers to the slight swelling, of {{convert|4|cm}}, in the center of the columns to counteract the appearance of columns having a waist, as the swelling makes them look straight from a distance. The stylobate is the platform on which the columns stand. As in many other classical Greek temples,<ref>And in the surviving foundations of the preceding Older Parthenon (Penrose, ''Principles of Athenian Architecture'' 2nd ed. ch. II.3, plate 9).</ref> it has a slight parabolic upward curvature intended to shed rainwater and reinforce the building against earthquakes. The columns might therefore be supposed to lean outward, but they actually lean slightly inward so that if they carried on, they would meet almost exactly {{convert|2400|m|mi}} above the centre of the Parthenon.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.architecturerevived.com/how-greek-temples-correct-visual-distortion/ |title=How Greek Temples Correct Visual Distortion – Architecture Revived |date=15 October 2015 |access-date=26 September 2019 |archive-date=26 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926042450/https://www.architecturerevived.com/how-greek-temples-correct-visual-distortion/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Since they are all the same height, the curvature of the outer stylobate edge is transmitted to the [[architrave]] and roof above: "All follow the rule of being built to delicate curves", Gorham Stevens observed when pointing out that, in addition, the west front was built at a slightly higher level than that of the east front.<ref>Penrose ''op. cit.'' pp. 32–34, found the difference motivated by economies of labour; Gorham P. Stevens, "Concerning the Impressiveness of the Parthenon" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''66'''.3 (July 1962: 337–338).</ref>

[[File:The East Facade of the Parthenon on March 22, 2021.jpg|thumb|left|The east facade in March 2021|upright=1.2]]
It is not universally agreed what the intended effect of these "optical refinements" was. They may serve as a sort of "reverse optical illusion".<ref>Archaeologists discuss similarly curved architecture and offer the theory. ''Nova'', "Secrets of the Parthenon", PBS. http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1849622/6070405{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=Balon Greyjoy |fix-attempted=yes }}.</ref> As the Greeks may have been aware, two [[parallel (geometry)|parallel]] lines appear to bow, or curve outward, when intersected by converging lines. In this case, the ceiling and floor of the temple may seem to bow in the presence of the surrounding angles of the building. Striving for perfection, the designers might have added these curves, compensating for the illusion by creating their own curves, thus negating this effect and allowing the temple to be seen as they intended. It is also suggested that it was to enliven what might have appeared an inert mass in the case of a building without curves. But the comparison ought to be, according to Smithsonian historian Evan Hadingham, with the Parthenon's more obviously curved predecessors than with a notional rectilinear temple.<ref name="SmithMag">{{Citation |last=Hadingham |first=Evan |title=Unlocking Mysteries of the Parthenon |date=February 2008 |page=42 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine}}.</ref>

Some studies of the Acropolis, including of the Parthenon and its facade, have conjectured that many of its proportions approximate the [[golden ratio]].<ref>Van Mersbergen, Audrey M., "Rhetorical Prototypes in Architecture: Measuring the Acropolis", ''Philosophical Polemic Communication Quarterly'', Vol. 46, 1998.</ref> More recent studies have shown that the proportions of the Parthenon do not match the golden proportion.<ref>{{cite journal |author=George Markowsky |url=http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/teaching/maa/markowsky.pdf |title=Misconceptions about the Golden Ratio |journal=The College Mathematics Journal |volume=23 |issue=1 |date=January 1992 |access-date=4 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408200850/http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/teaching/maa/markowsky.pdf |archive-date=8 April 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Livio |first=Mario |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUARfgWRH14C |title=The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number |publisher=[[Random House|Broadway Books]] |year=2003 |isbn=0-7679-0816-3 |edition=First trade paperback |location=New York City |pages=74–75 |author-link=Mario Livio |orig-date=2002 |access-date=4 December 2018 |archive-date=13 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313121951/https://books.google.com/books?id=bUARfgWRH14C |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Sculpture==
{{redirect|Parthenon Marbles|the works housed at the British Museum|Elgin Marbles}}
[[File:British Museum, London (2014) - 07.JPG|thumb|Group from the east pediment, [[British Museum]]|upright=1.2]]
The cella of the Parthenon housed the [[Athena Parthenos|chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos]] sculpted by [[Phidias]] and dedicated in 439 or 438&nbsp;BC. The appearance of this is known from other images. The decorative stonework was originally highly coloured.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/history-of-ancient-greek-art-12.asp |title=Tarbell, F.B. ''A History of Ancient Greek Art''. (online book) |publisher=Ellopos.net |access-date=18 April 2009 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225091050/https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/history-of-ancient-greek-art-12.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> The temple was dedicated to Athena at that time, though construction continued until almost the beginning of the [[Peloponnesian War]] in 432. By the year 438, the Doric metopes on the [[frieze]] above the exterior colonnade and the Ionic frieze around the upper portion of the walls of the [[cella]] had been completed.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Only a small number of the original sculptures remain ''[[in situ]].'' Most of the surviving sculptures are at the [[Acropolis Museum]] in Athens and at the [[British Museum]] in London (see [[Elgin Marbles]]). Additional pieces are at the [[Louvre]], the [[National Museum of Denmark]], and the [[Kunsthistoriches Museum]] in Vienna.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sideris |first=Athanasios |date=1 January 2004 |title=The Parthenon |url=https://www.academia.edu/2543561 |journal=Strolling Through Athens |pages=112–119 |access-date=20 January 2015 |archive-date=6 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231006212756/https://www.academia.edu/2543561 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In March 2022, the Acropolis Museum launched a new website with "photographs of all the frieze blocks preserved today in the Acropolis Museum, the British Museum and the Louvre".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Parthenon Frieze |url=https://www.parthenonfrieze.gr/en/?sn=2 |access-date=26 July 2022 |publisher=Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports, Acropolis Museum, Acropolis Restoration Service |archive-date=7 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007011357/https://parthenonfrieze.gr/en/?sn=2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Metopes===
{{Main|Metopes of the Parthenon}}
[[File:Parthenon XL.jpg|thumb|left|Detail of the West metopes|upright=1.2]]

The frieze of the Parthenon's entablature contained 92 [[Metope (architecture)|metopes]], 14 each on the east and west sides, 32 each on the north and south sides. They were carved in high relief, a practice employed until then only in treasuries (buildings used to keep votive gifts to the gods).<ref name="Parthenon">{{cite web |last1=Harris |first1=Beth |last2=Zucker |first2=Steven |title=Parthenon (Acropolis) |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/ancient-mediterranean-ap/greece-etruria-rome/v/parthenon |website=Khan Academy |access-date=27 January 2020 |archive-date=27 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127173505/https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/ancient-mediterranean-ap/greece-etruria-rome/v/parthenon |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the building records, the metope sculptures date to the years 446–440. The metopes of the east side of the Parthenon, above the main entrance, depict the [[Gigantomachy]] (the mythical battle between the Olympian gods and the [[Gigantes|Giants]]). The metopes of the west end show the [[Amazonomachy]] (the mythical battle of the Athenians against the [[Amazons]]). The metopes of the south side show the Thessalian [[Centauromachy]] (battle of the [[Lapiths]] aided by [[Theseus]] against the half-man, half-horse [[Centaur]]s). Metopes 13–21 are missing, but drawings from 1674 attributed to Jaques Carrey indicate a series of humans; these have been variously interpreted as scenes from the [[Lapith]] wedding, scenes from the early history of Athens, and various myths.<ref name=Barringer2008 >{{Cite book |last=Barringer |first=Judith M |year=2008 |title=Art, myth, and ritual in classical Greece |publisher=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-64647-5 |page=78 |oclc=174134120}}</ref> On the north side of the Parthenon, the metopes are poorly preserved, but the subject seems to be the [[Iliou persis|sack of Troy]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Titi |first=Catharine |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-26357-6 |title=The Parthenon Marbles and International Law |date=2023 |isbn=978-3-031-26356-9 |pages=42, 45 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-26357-6 |s2cid=258846977 |access-date=30 May 2023 |archive-date=29 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529083331/https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-26357-6 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The mythological figures of the metopes of the East, North, and West sides of the Parthenon had been deliberately mutilated by [[Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire|Christian iconoclasts]] in late antiquity.<ref>Pollini 2007, pp. 212–216; Brommer 1979, pp. 23, 30, pl. 41.</ref>

The metopes present examples of the [[Severe Style]] in the anatomy of the figures' heads, in the limitation of the corporal movements to the contours and not to the muscles, and in the presence of pronounced veins in the figures of the [[Centauromachy]]. Several of the metopes still remain on the building, but, with the exception of those on the northern side, they are severely damaged. Some of them are located at the [[Acropolis Museum]], others are in the [[British Museum]], and one is at the [[Louvre]] museum.<ref>{{Citation |title=Tenth metope from the south façade of the Parthenon |url=https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/tenth-metope-south-facade-parthenon |access-date=30 January 2018 |archive-date=31 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131140847/https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/tenth-metope-south-facade-parthenon |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In March 2011, archaeologists announced that they had discovered five [[Metope (architecture)|metopes]] of the Parthenon in the south wall of the Acropolis, which had been extended when the Acropolis was used as a fortress. According to ''Eleftherotypia'' daily, the archaeologists claimed the metopes had been placed there in the 18th century when the Acropolis wall was being repaired. The experts discovered the metopes while processing 2,250 photos with modern photographic methods, as the white [[Pentelic marble]] they are made of differed from the other stone of the wall. It was previously presumed that the missing metopes were destroyed during the Morosini explosion of the Parthenon in 1687.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://greece.greekreporter.com/2011/03/04/archaeologists-discover-new-metopes-of-parthenon/Discovery |title=Discovery Reveals Ancient Greek Theaters Used Moveable Stages Over 2,000 Years Ago |website=greece.greekreporter.com |access-date=14 August 2011 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728071035/https://greece.greekreporter.com/2017/07/12/discovery-reveals-ancient-greek-theaters-used-moveable-stages-over-2000-years-ago/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Frieze===
{{Main|Parthenon Frieze}}
[[File:1868 Lawrence Alma-Tadema - Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to his Friends.jpg|thumb|''[[Phidias]] Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to his Friends'', 1868 painting by [[Lawrence Alma-Tadema]]|upright=1.2]]

The most characteristic feature in the architecture and decoration of the temple is the Ionic [[frieze]] running around the exterior of the cella walls. The [[Relief#Bas-relief or low relief|bas-relief]] frieze was carved in situ and is dated from {{Circa|443}}–438.<ref>438 was the year of the dedication of the Parthenon and is usually taken as an upper limit for completion of the frieze, see I Jenkins, ''The Parthenon Frieze and Perikles' cavalry of 1000'', p149–150, in Hurwit, 2005, for a discussion of the dating problem.</ref>

One interpretation is that it depicts an idealized version of the [[Panathenaic Festival|Panathenaic procession]] from the [[Dipylon Gate]] in the [[Kerameikos]] to the [[Acropolis]]. In this procession held every year, with a special procession taking place every four years, Athenians and foreigners participated in honouring the goddess [[Athena]] by offering her sacrifices and a new [[peplos]] dress, woven by selected noble Athenian girls called {{Lang|grc-Latn|ergastines}}. The procession is more crowded (appearing to slow in pace) as it nears the gods on the eastern side of the temple.<ref>{{cite book |last1=De la Croix |first1=Horst |last2=Tansey |first2=Richard G. |last3=Kirkpatrick |first3=Diane |title=Gardner's Art Through the Ages |date=1991 |publisher=Thomson/Wadsworth |isbn=0-15-503769-2 |edition=9th |pages=[https://archive.org/details/gardnersartthrou00gard/page/158 158–59] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gardnersartthrou00gard/page/158}}</ref>

[[Joan Breton Connelly]] offers a mythological interpretation for the frieze, one that is in harmony with the rest of the temple's sculptural programme which shows Athenian genealogy through a series of succession myths set in the remote past. She identifies the central panel above the door of the Parthenon as the pre-battle sacrifice of the daughter of the king [[Erechtheus]], a sacrifice that ensured Athenian victory over [[Eumolpos]] and his Thracian army. The great procession marching toward the east end of the Parthenon shows the post-battle thanksgiving sacrifice of cattle and sheep, honey and water, followed by the triumphant army of Erechtheus returning from their victory. This represents the first Panathenaia set in mythical times, the model on which historic Panathenaic processions were based.<ref>Connelly, ''Parthenon and Parthenoi'', pp. 53–80.</ref><ref>Connelly, ''The Parthenon Enigma'', chapters 4, 5, and 7.</ref> This interpretation has been rejected by [[William St Clair]], who considers that the frieze shows the celebration of the birth of Ion, who was a descendant of [[Erechtheus]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=St Clair |first=William |editor-first1=Lucy |editor-first2=David |editor-last1=Barnes |editor-last2=St Clair |title=The Classical Parthenon: Recovering the Strangeness of the Ancient World |date=24 August 2022 |publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=978-1-80064-344-4 |language=English |doi=10.11647/obp.0279 |s2cid=251787123 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This interpretation has been rejected by [[Catharine Titi]], who agrees with St Clair that the mood is one of celebration (rather than sacrifice) but argues that the celebration of the birth of Ion requires the presence of an infant but there is no infant on the frieze.<ref name=":2" />

===Pediments===
{{Main|Pediments of the Parthenon}}
[[File:Athens Acropolis Parthenon Metope and pediment 03.jpg|thumb|Part of the east pediment still found on the Parthenon (although part of it, like Dionysus, is a copy)|upright=1.2]]
Two pediments rise above the portals of the Parthenon, one on the east front, one on the west. The triangular sections once contained massive sculptures that, according to the second-century geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], recounted the birth of Athena and the mythological battle between Athena and [[Poseidon]] for control of Athens.<ref>{{Cite web |title=PAUSANIAS, DESCRIPTION OF GREECE 1.17–29 – Theoi Classical Texts Library |url=https://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias1B.html |access-date=21 July 2022 |website=www.theoi.com |archive-date=21 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721184032/https://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias1B.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

====East pediment====

The east pediment originally contained 10 to 12 sculptures depicting the Birth of Athena. Most of those pieces were removed and lost during renovations in either the eighth or the twelfth century.<ref>Jeffrey M. Hurwit. "Helios Rising: The Sun, the Moon, and the Sea in the Sculptures of the Parthenon". ''American Journal of Archaeology'', vol. 121, no. 4, 2017, pp. 527–558. ''JSTOR'', {{doi|10.3764/aja.121.4.0527}}. Accessed 22 July 2022.</ref> Only two corners remain today with figures depicting the passage of time over the course of a full day. [[Chariot racing|Tethrippa]] of [[Helios]] is in the left corner and [[Selene]] is on the right. The horses of Helios's chariot are shown with livid expressions as they ascend into the sky at the start of the day. Selene's horses struggle to stay on the pediment scene as the day comes to an end.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/780/ |encyclopedia=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |title=The Parthenon Sculptures by Mark Cartwright 2014 |access-date=23 April 2021 |archive-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024003306/https://www.worldhistory.org/article/780/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=1325893001&objectid=461663 |title=The British Museum: The Parthenon sculptures |access-date=19 December 2017 |archive-date=29 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829122957/http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=1325893001&objectid=461663 |url-status=live }}</ref>

====West pediment====
The supporters of Athena are extensively illustrated at the back of the left chariot, while the defenders of Poseidon are shown trailing behind the right chariot. It is believed that the corners of the pediment are filled by Athenian water deities, such as the [[Cephissus (mythology)|Kephisos]] river, the [[Ilissos]] river, and nymph [[Callirhoe (Greek mythology)|Kallirhoe]]. This belief emerges from the fluid character of the sculptures' body position which represents the effort of the artist to give the impression of a flowing river.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/hesperia/148069.pdf |title=Athenians and Eleusinians in the West Pediment of the Parthenon |access-date=19 December 2017 |archive-date=9 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809032712/http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/hesperia/148069.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="britishmuseum.org">{{Cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1816-0610-99 |title=statue; pediment &#124; British Museum |website=The British Museum |access-date=15 December 2021 |archive-date=15 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215231207/https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1816-0610-99 |url-status=live }}</ref> Next to the left river god, there are the sculptures of the mythical king of Athens ([[Cecrops I|Cecrops or Kekrops]]) with his daughters ([[Aglaurus, daughter of Cecrops|Aglaurus]], [[Pandrosos]], [[Herse of Athens|Herse]]). The statue of Poseidon was the largest sculpture in the pediment until it broke into pieces during [[Francesco Morosini]]'s effort to remove it in 1688. The posterior piece of the torso was found by Lusieri in the groundwork of a Turkish house in 1801 and is currently held in the [[British Museum]]. The anterior portion was revealed by Ross in 1835 and is now held in the [[Acropolis Museum]] of Athens.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&q=poseidon+torso+morosini&pg=PA47 |title=The Pediments of the Parthenon by Olga Palagia |isbn=978-90-04-11198-1 |last1=Palagia |first1=Olga |year=1998 |publisher=BRILL |access-date=18 November 2020 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091750/https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&q=poseidon+torso+morosini&pg=PA47#v=snippet&q=poseidon%20torso%20morosini&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

Every statue on the west pediment has a fully completed back, which would have been impossible to see when the sculpture was on the temple; this indicates that the sculptors put great effort into accurately portraying the human body.<ref name="britishmuseum.org"/>

===Athena Parthenos===
{{Main|Athena Parthenos}}

The only piece of sculpture from the Parthenon known to be from the hand of Phidias<ref>{{cite book |title=Chryselephantine Statuary in the Ancient Mediterranean World |last=Lapatin |first=Kenneth D.S. |year=2001 |publisher=OUP |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-815311-5 |page=63}}</ref> was the statue of Athena housed in the ''naos''. This massive [[chryselephantine sculpture]] is now lost and known only from copies, vase painting, gems, literary descriptions, and coins.<ref>N. Leipen, Athena Parthenos: a huge reconstruction, 1972.</ref>

==Later history==
===Late antiquity===
[[File:Attica 06-13 Athens 50 View from Philopappos - Acropolis Hill.jpg|thumb|The Parthenon's position on the Acropolis dominates the city skyline of Athens.|upright=1.2]]
A major fire broke out in the Parthenon shortly after the middle of the third century AD.<ref>{{cite web |title=Introduction to the Parthenon Frieze |publisher=[[National Documentation Centre (Greece)|National Documentation Centre]] (Greek Ministry of Culture) |url=http://www.ekt.gr/parthenonfrieze_text_version/introduction/history.jsp?lang=en |access-date=14 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028205240/http://www.ekt.gr/parthenonfrieze_text_version/introduction/history.jsp?lang=en |archive-date=28 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Freely |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA69 |title=Strolling Through Athens: Fourteen Unforgettable Walks Through Europe's Oldest City |date=23 July 2004 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-85043-595-2 |pages=69 |language=en |quote=According to one authority, John Travlos, this occurred when Athens was sacked by the Heruli in AD 267, at which time the two-tiered colonnade in the cella was destroyed. |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091648/https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA69 |url-status=live }}</ref> which destroyed the roof and much of the sanctuary's interior.<ref name = "Chatziaslani">{{cite web |last=Chatziaslani |first=Kornilia |title=Morosini in Athens |publisher=Archaeology of the City of Athens |url=http://www.eie.gr/archaeologia/En/chapter_more_8.aspx |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927091215/http://www.eie.gr/archaeologia/En/chapter_more_8.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Heruli]] pirates sacked Athens in 276, and destroyed most of the public buildings there, including the Parthenon.<ref name = "O'Donovan">{{cite web |last=O'Donovan |first=Connell |title=Pirates, marauders, and homos, oh my! |url=http://www.connellodonovan.com/heruli.html |access-date=10 December 2015 |archive-date=22 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222154148/http://www.connellodonovan.com/heruli.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Repairs were made in the fourth century AD, possibly during the reign of [[Julian the Apostate]].<ref name = "AcropolisRestoration">{{cite web |title=The Parthenon |publisher=Acropolis Restoration Service |url=http://www.ysma.gr/en/parthenon |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828211740/http://www.ysma.gr/en/parthenon |archive-date=28 August 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> A new wooden roof overlaid with clay tiles was installed to cover the sanctuary. It sloped at a greater angle than the original roof and left the building's wings exposed.<ref name = "Chatziaslani"/>

The Parthenon survived as a temple dedicated to Athena for nearly 1,000 years until [[Theodosius II]], during the [[Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire]], decreed in 435 that all [[pagan]] temples in the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]] be closed.<ref name="Freely69">{{Cite book |last=Freely |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA69 |title=Strolling Through Athens: Fourteen Unforgettable Walks Through Europe's Oldest City |date=23 July 2004 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-85043-595-2 |pages=69 |language=en |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091648/https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA69 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is debated exactly when during the 5th century that the closure of the Parthenon as a temple was put into practice. It is suggested to have occurred in {{circa|481}}–484, on the order of [[Zeno (emperor)|Emperor Zeno]], because the temple had been the focus of Pagan Hellenic opposition against Zeno in Athens in support of [[Illus]], who had promised to restore Hellenic rites to the temples that were still standing.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trombley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZefAwAAQBAJ&dq=statue+allat-athena&pg=PA145 |title=Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370–529, Volume I |date=1 May 2014 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-27677-2 |language=en |access-date=14 March 2023 |archive-date=17 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117082923/https://books.google.se/books?id=HZefAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145&dq=statue+allat-athena&source=bl&ots=J8DvCAWQZN&sig=6CwrxUq7hCUokhhLY5j60U_yebU&hl=sv&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi11Zq2o6fbAhXkIJoKHU-fB3EQ6AEITTAM |url-status=live }}</ref>

At some point in the fifth century, Athena's great [[cult image]] was looted by one of the emperors and taken to [[Constantinople]], where it was later destroyed, possibly during the [[Sack of Constantinople (1204)|siege and sack of Constantinople]] during the [[Fourth Crusade]] in 1204 AD.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cremin |first=Aedeen |title=Archaeologica |publisher=Frances Lincoln Ltd. |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0llBlzF6UgC&pg=PA170 |page=170 |isbn=978-0-7112-2822-1}}</ref>

===Christian church===
The Parthenon was converted into a Christian church in the final decades of the fifth century<ref name="Stephenson">{{cite book |last1=Stephenson |first1=Paul |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674659629 |title=New Rome: Empire in the East |date=2022 |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674659629 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=177 |access-date=30 June 2022 |archive-date=22 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022183745/https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674659629 |url-status=dead}}</ref> to become the Church of the Parthenos Maria (Virgin Mary) or the Church of the [[Theotokos]] ([[Mary, the mother of Jesus|Mother of God]]). The orientation of the building was changed to face towards the east; the main entrance was placed at the building's western end, and the Christian altar and [[iconostasis]] were situated towards the building's eastern side adjacent to an [[apse]] built where the temple's [[pronaos]] was formerly located.<ref name="Freely70">{{Cite book |last=Freely |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA70 |title=Strolling Through Athens: Fourteen Unforgettable Walks Through Europe's Oldest City |date=23 July 2004 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-85043-595-2 |pages=70 |language=en |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091752/https://books.google.com/books?id=QME9WXUnookC&pg=PA70 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hurwit293">{{Cite book |last=Hollis |first=Edward |url=http://archive.org/details/secretlivesofbui0000holl |title=The secret lives of buildings: from the ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in thirteen stories |date=2009 |publisher=Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8050-8785-7 |location=New York, New York |page=21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hurwit |first=Jeffrey M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA293 |title=The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present |date=13 January 2000 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-42834-7 |pages=293 |language=en |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091726/https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA293#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> A large central portal with surrounding side-doors was made in the wall dividing the cella, which became the church's [[nave]], and from the rear chamber, the church's [[narthex]].<ref name=Freely70/> The spaces between the columns of the {{Lang|grc-Latn|opisthodomos}} and the [[peristyle]] were walled up, though a number of doorways still permitted access.<ref name=Freely70/> [[Icon]]s were painted on the walls, and many Christian inscriptions were carved into the Parthenon's columns.<ref name = "AcropolisRestoration"/> These renovations inevitably led to the removal and dispersal of some of the sculptures. Sometime after the Parthenon was converted to a Christian church, the metopes of the north, west and east facades of the Parthenon were defaced by Christians in order to remove images of pagan deities. The damage was so extensive that the images on the affected metopes often can't be confidently identified.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwab |first=Katherine A |title=The Parthenon, from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-82093-6 |editor-last=Neils |editor-first=Jennifer |location=New York |pages=165 |chapter=Celebrations of Victory: The Metopes of the Parthenon}}</ref><ref>Robert Ousterhout (2005) "'Bestride the Very Peak of Heaven': The Parthenon after Antiquity." In Neils (ed). ''The Parthenon, from Antiquity to the Present.'' pp. 306–307</ref>

The Parthenon became the fourth most important Christian pilgrimage destination in the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] after [[Constantinople]], [[Ephesos]], and [[Thessaloniki]].<ref name=Kaldelis>{{cite web |first=Anthony |last=Kaldellis |url=http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/modgreek/Home/_TOPNAV_WTGC/Lectures%20at%20U-M/ParthenonKaldellis.pdf |title=A Heretical (Orthodox) History of the Parthenon |publisher=University of Michigan |date=2007 |page=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090824170528/http://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/modgreek/Home/_TOPNAV_WTGC/Lectures%20at%20U-M/ParthenonKaldellis.pdf |archive-date=24 August 2009 |access-date=26 August 2008}}</ref> In 1018, the emperor [[Basil II]] went on a pilgrimage to Athens after his final victory over the [[First Bulgarian Empire]] for the sole purpose of worshipping at the Parthenon.<ref name=Kaldelis/> In medieval Greek accounts it is called the Temple of Theotokos Atheniotissa and often indirectly referred to as famous without explaining exactly which temple they were referring to, thus establishing that it was indeed well known.<ref name=Kaldelis/>

At the time of the [[Latin occupation]], it became for about 250&nbsp;years a [[Roman Catholic]] church of [[Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)|Our Lady]]. During this period a tower, used either as a watchtower or [[bell tower]] and containing a spiral staircase, was constructed at the southwest corner of the cella, and vaulted tombs were built beneath the Parthenon's floor.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA295 |title=The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present |first=Jeffrey M. |last=Hurwit |date=19 November 1999 |publisher=CUP Archive |via=Google Books |isbn=9780521417860 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628091649/https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA295#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

The rediscovery of the Parthenon as an ancient monument dates back to the period of [[Humanism]]; [[Cyriacus of Ancona]] was the first after antiquity to describe the Parthenon, of which he had read many times in ancient texts. Thanks to him, Western Europe was able to have the first design of the monument, which Ciriaco called "temple of the goddess Athena", unlike previous travellers, who had called it "church of Virgin Mary":<ref>E.W. Bodnar, ''Cyriacus of Ancona and Athens'', Brussels-Berchem, 1960.</ref>

''...mirabile Palladis Divae marmoreum templum, divum quippe opus Phidiae'' ("...the wonderful temple of the goddess Athena, a divine work of Phidias").

===Islamic mosque===
[[File:Parthenon – 28 May 1838 – Skene James - 1838.jpg|thumb|Drawing of the Parthenon by [[James Skene]], 1838|upright=1.2]]
In 1456, [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] Turkish forces invaded Athens and laid siege to a [[Florence|Florentine]] army defending the Acropolis until June 1458, when it surrendered to the Turks.<ref>{{cite book |last=Babinger |first=Franz |title=Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1992 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PPxC6rO7vvsC&pg=PA159 |pages=159–160 |isbn=978-0-691-01078-6 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628092247/https://books.google.com/books?id=PPxC6rO7vvsC&pg=PA159#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The Turks may have briefly restored the Parthenon to the [[Greek Orthodox]] Christians for continued use as a church.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tomkinson |first=John L. |title=Ottoman Athens I: Early Ottoman Athens (1456–1689) |publisher=Anagnosis Books |url=http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=216 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=29 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729151054/http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?pageID=216&la=eng |url-status=dead}} "In 1466 the Parthenon was referred to as a church, so it seems likely that for some time at least, it continued to function as a cathedral, being restored to the use of the Greek archbishop."</ref> Some time before the end of the fifteenth century, the Parthenon became a [[Parthenon mosque|mosque]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Tomkinson |first=John L. |title=Ottoman Athens I: Early Ottoman Athens (1456–1689) |publisher=Anagnosis Books |url=http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=216 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=29 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729151054/http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?pageID=216&la=eng |url-status=dead}} "Some time later – we do not know exactly when – the Parthenon was itself converted into a mosque."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=D'Ooge |first=Martin Luther |url=http://archive.org/details/acropolisofathen00dooguoft |title=The acropolis of Athens |date=1909 |publisher=New York: Macmillan |others=Robarts – University of Toronto |pages=317 |quote=The conversion of the Parthenon into a mosque is first mentioned by another anonymous writer, the ''Paris Anonymous'', whose manuscript dating from the latter half of the fifteenth century was discovered in the library of Paris in 1862.}}</ref>

The precise circumstances under which the Turks appropriated it for use as a mosque are unclear; one account states that [[Mehmed II]] ordered its conversion as punishment for an Athenian plot against Ottoman rule.<ref name = "Miller">{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Walter |title=A History of the Akropolis of Athens |journal=The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts |volume=8 |issue=4 |year=1893 |pages=546–547 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3aMrAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA547 |doi=10.2307/495887 |jstor=495887 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628092248/https://books.google.com/books?id=3aMrAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA547#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The apse was repurposed into a [[mihrab]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hollis |first=Edward |url=http://archive.org/details/secretlivesofbui0000holl |title=The secret lives of buildings: from the ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in thirteen stories |date=2009 |publisher=Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8050-8785-7 |location=New York, New York |page=33}}</ref> the tower previously constructed during the Roman Catholic occupation of the Parthenon was extended upwards to become a minaret,<ref>{{cite book |last=Bruno |first=Vincent J. |title=The Parthenon |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |year=1974 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNItkhYRrc0C&pg=PA172 |isbn=978-0-393-31440-3 |page=172 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628093156/https://books.google.com/books?id=kNItkhYRrc0C&pg=PA172#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> a [[minbar]] was installed,<ref name=Freely70/> the Christian altar and iconostasis were removed, and the walls were whitewashed to cover icons of Christian saints and other Christian imagery.<ref>{{Cite book |last=D'Ooge |first=Martin Luther |url=http://archive.org/details/acropolisofathen00dooguoft |title=The acropolis of Athens |date=1909 |publisher=New York: Macmillan |others=Robarts – University of Toronto |page=317}}</ref>

Despite the alterations accompanying the Parthenon's conversion into a church and subsequently a mosque, its structure had remained basically intact.<ref name = "Rathus">{{cite book |last=Fichner-Rathus |first=Lois |title=Understanding Art |publisher=Cengage Learning |edition=10 |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JPlYOG52w2UC&pg=PT324 |page=305 |isbn=978-1-111-83695-5 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628093157/https://books.google.com/books?id=JPlYOG52w2UC&pg=PT324 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1667, the Turkish traveller [[Evliya Çelebi]] expressed marvel at the Parthenon's sculptures and figuratively described the building as "like some impregnable fortress not made by human agency".<ref>{{cite book |last=Stoneman |first=Richard |title=A Traveller's History of Athens |publisher=Interlink Books |year=2004 |url=https://archive.org/details/travellershistor00ston |url-access=registration |isbn=978-1-56656-533-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/travellershistor00ston/page/209 209]}}</ref> He composed a poetic supplication stating that, as "a work less of human hands than of Heaven itself, [it] should remain standing for all time".<ref name="Holt">{{cite journal |last=Holt |first=Frank L. |title=I, Marble Maiden |journal=[[Saudi Aramco World]] |volume=59 |number=6 |date=November–December 2008 |pages=36–41 |url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200806/i.marble.maiden.htm |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801063702/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200806/i.marble.maiden.htm |archive-date=1 August 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The French artist [[Jacques Carrey]] in 1674 visited the Acropolis and sketched the Parthenon's sculptural decorations.<ref name="Bowie">T. Bowie, D. Thimme, ''The Carrey Drawings of the Parthenon Sculptures'', 1971.</ref> Early in 1687, an engineer named Plantier sketched the Parthenon for the Frenchman Graviers d'Ortières.<ref name = "Chatziaslani"/> These depictions, particularly Carrey's, provide important, and sometimes the only, evidence of the condition of the Parthenon and its various sculptures prior to the devastation it suffered in late 1687 and the subsequent looting of its art objects.<ref name="Bowie"/>

===Partial destruction===
[[File:MotarFragmentFromParthenon-BritishMuseum-August21-08.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Fragment of an exploded shell found on top of a wall in the Parthenon, thought to originate from the time of the Venetian siege]]
As part of the [[Morean War|Morean War (1684–1699)]], the [[Republic of Venice|Venetians]] sent an expedition led by [[Francesco Morosini]] to [[Siege of the Acropolis (1687)|attack Athens]] and capture the Acropolis. The Ottomans fortified the Acropolis and used the Parthenon as a [[gunpowder magazine]] – despite having been forewarned of the dangers of this use by the 1656 explosion that severely damaged the [[Propylaea (Acropolis of Athens)|Propylaea]] – and as a shelter for members of the local Turkish community.<ref name="Tomkinson2">{{cite web |last=Tomkinson |first=John L. |title=Venetian Athens: Venetian Interlude (1684–1689) |publisher=Anagnosis Books |url=http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=217 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004221546/http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=217 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

On 26 September 1687 a Venetian mortar round, fired from the [[Philopappos Monument|Hill of Philopappos]], blew up the magazine.<ref name="AcropolisRestoration" /><ref>Theodor E. Mommsen, ''The Venetians in Athens and the Destruction of the Parthenon in 1687'', American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 45, No. 4 (October–December 1941), pp. 544–556.</ref> The explosion blew out the building's central portion and caused the cella's walls to crumble into rubble.<ref name="Rathus" /> According to Greek architect and archaeologist Kornilia Chatziaslani:<ref name="Chatziaslani" />

{{Blockquote|text=...three of the sanctuary's four walls nearly collapsed and three-fifths of the sculptures from the frieze fell. Nothing of the roof apparently remained in place. Six columns from the south side fell, eight from the north, as well as whatever remained from the eastern porch, except for one column. The columns brought down with them the enormous marble architraves, triglyphs, and metopes.}}

About three hundred people were killed in the explosion, which showered marble fragments over nearby Turkish defenders<ref name="Tomkinson2" /> and sparked fires that destroyed many homes.<ref name="Chatziaslani" />

[[File:Parthenon (3388138127).jpg|thumb|The southern side of the Parthenon, which sustained considerable damage in the 1687 explosion (photo taken in 2009)|upright=1.2]]
Accounts written at the time conflict over whether this destruction was deliberate or accidental; one such account, written by the German officer Sobievolski, states that a Turkish deserter revealed to Morosini the use to which the Turks had put the Parthenon; expecting that the Venetians would not target a building of such historic importance. Morosini was said to have responded by directing his artillery to aim at the Parthenon.<ref name="Chatziaslani" /><ref name="Tomkinson2" /> Subsequently, Morosini sought to loot sculptures from the ruin and caused further damage in the process. Sculptures of [[Poseidon]] and Athena's horses fell to the ground and smashed as his soldiers tried to detach them from the building's west pediment.<ref name="Hurwit293" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Palagia |first=Olga |title=The Pediments of the Parthenon |edition=2 |publisher=Brill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&pg=PA10 |isbn=978-90-04-11198-1 |year=1998 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628093213/https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1688 the Venetians abandoned Athens to avoid a confrontation with a large force the Turks had assembled at [[Chalcis]]; at that time, the Venetians had considered blowing up what remained of the Parthenon along with the rest of the Acropolis to deny its further use as a fortification to the Turks, but that idea was not pursued.<ref name="Tomkinson2" />

Once the Turks had recaptured the Acropolis, they used some of the rubble produced by this explosion to erect a smaller mosque within the shell of the ruined Parthenon.<ref name="Tomkinson3">{{cite web |last=Tomkinson |first=John L. |title=Ottoman Athens II: Later Ottoman Athens (1689–1821) |publisher=Anagnosis Books |url=http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?la=eng&pageID=218 |access-date=14 August 2012 |archive-date=6 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806130324/http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?pageID=218&la=eng |url-status=live }}</ref> For the next century and a half, parts of the remaining structure were looted for building material and especially valuable objects.<ref name="Grafton">{{cite book |last1=Grafton |first1=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbqF8z2bq3sC&pg=PA693 |title=The Classical Tradition |last2=Most |first2=Glenn W. |last3=Settis |first3=Salvatore |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-674-03572-0 |page=693 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628093157/https://books.google.com/books?id=LbqF8z2bq3sC&pg=PA693#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=28 June 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The 18th century was a period of [[Sick man of Europe|Ottoman stagnation]]—so that many more Europeans found access to Athens, and the picturesque ruins of the Parthenon were much drawn and painted, spurring a rise in [[philhellenism]] and helping to arouse sympathy in Britain and France for Greek independence. Amongst those early travellers and archaeologists were [[James Stuart (1713–1788)|James Stuart]] and [[Nicholas Revett]], who were commissioned by the [[Society of Dilettanti]] to survey the ruins of classical Athens. They produced the first measured drawings of the Parthenon, published in 1787 in the second volume of ''Antiquities of Athens Measured and Delineated''.

From 1801 to 1812, agents of [[Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin]], removed about half the surviving Parthenon sculptures, sending them to Britain in efforts to establish a private museum. Elgin stated he removed the sculptures with permission of the Ottoman officials who exercised authority in Athens at the time.<ref name=":8">{{cite book |last=Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on the Earl of Elgin's Collection of Sculptured Marbles. |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008272383 |title=Report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Earl of Elgin's collection of sculptured marbles |date=1816 |publisher=Printed for J. Murray, by W. Bulmer and Co. |place=London}}</ref> The legality of Elgin's actions has been disputed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herman |first=Alexander |author-link= |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/parthenon-marbles-dispute-9781509967179/ |title=The Parthenon Marbles Dispute |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-1509967179 |edition= |place=London |pages=1–3}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

=== War of Independence ===
During the [[Greek War of Independence]] (1821–1833) which ended the 355-year Ottoman rule of Athens, the Acropolis was besieged twice, first [[Siege of the Acropolis (1821–22)|by the Greeks]] in 1821–22 and then [[Siege of the Acropolis (1826–27)|by the Ottoman forces]] in 1826–27. During the first siege, the besieged Ottoman forces attempted to melt the lead in the columns of the Parthenon to cast bullets. During the second siege, the Parthenon was significantly damaged by Ottoman artillery fire.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herman |first=Alexander |url= |title=The Parthenon Marbles Dispute |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-1509967179 |edition= |place=London |pages=66}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Eldem |first=Edhem |title=Scramble for the Past. A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1753–1914 |date=2011 |publisher=Istanbul, SALT |isbn= |editor-last1=Barani |editor-first1=Zainab |pages=281–328 |chapter=From Blissful Indifference to Anguished Concern: Ottoman Perceptions of Antiquities, 1799–1869 |editor-last2=Celik |editor-first2=Zeynep |editor-last3=Eldem |editor-first3=Edhem}}</ref>

===Independent Greece===
When independent Greece gained control of Athens in 1832, the visible section of the minaret was demolished; only its base and spiral staircase up to the level of the [[architrave]] remain intact.<ref>{{cite book |last=Murray |first=John |title=Handbook for travellers in Greece, Volume 2 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1884 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ac4GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA317 |page=317}}</ref> Soon all the medieval and Ottoman buildings on the Acropolis were destroyed. The image of the small mosque within the Parthenon's cella has been preserved in [[Pierre-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière|Joly de Lotbinière]]'s photograph, published in Lerebours's ''Excursions Daguerriennes'' in 1842: the first photograph of the Acropolis.<ref>Neils, ''The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present'', p. 336 – the picture was taken in October 1839.</ref> The area became a historical precinct controlled by the Greek government. In the later 19th century, the Parthenon was widely considered by Americans and Europeans to be the pinnacle of human architectural achievement, and became a popular destination and subject of artists, including [[Frederic Edwin Church]] and [[Sanford Robinson Gifford]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carr |first=Gerald L. |title=Frederic Edwin Church: Catalogue Raisonne of Works at Olana State Historic Site, Volume I |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0521385404 |location=Cambridge, England |pages=342–343}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection: Ruins of the Parthenon |url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.121547.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728071050/https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.121547.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 July 2020 |website=National Gallery of Art |access-date=28 May 2020}}</ref> Today it attracts millions of tourists every year, who travel up the path at the western end of the Acropolis, through the restored [[Propylaea (Acropolis of Athens)|Propylaea]], and up the Panathenaic Way to the Parthenon, which is surrounded by a low fence to prevent damage.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}
[[File:Flickr - Nic's events - London - 14-15 Dec 2007 - 067.jpg|thumb|Life-size pediment sculptures from the Parthenon in the British Museum]]

===Dispute over the marbles===
{{Main|Elgin Marbles}}
The dispute centres around those of the Parthenon Marbles removed by Elgin, which are in the [[British Museum]].<ref name=":1" /> A few sculptures from the Parthenon are also in the [[Louvre]] in Paris, in [[Copenhagen]], and elsewhere, while more than half are in the [[Acropolis Museum]] in Athens.<ref name="Br" /><ref name="BrIT">[http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/09/europe/EU_GEN_Greece_Acropolis_Museum.php Greek Premier Says New Acropolis Museum to Boost Bid for Parthenon Sculptures], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221053500/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/09/europe/EU_GEN_Greece_Acropolis_Museum.php|date=21 February 2007}}, International Herald Tribune.</ref> A few can still be seen on the building itself.  In 1983, the [[Greek government]] formally asked the UK government to return the sculptures in the British Museum to Greece, and subsequently listed the dispute with [[UNESCO]]. The British Museum has consistently refused to return the sculptures,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Parthenon sculptures: The Trustees' statement |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/parthenon-sculptures-trustees-statement |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191122014500/https://www.britishmuseum.org/parthenon-sculptures-trustees-statement |archive-date=22 November 2019 |access-date=24 January 2020 |publisher=The British Museum}}</ref> and successive British governments have been unwilling to force the museum to do so (which would require legislation). In 2021, UNESCO called upon the UK government to resolve the issue at the intergovernmental level.<ref name=":202">{{Cite web |date=September 2021 |title=Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation Twenty-Second SessionParis, UNESCO Headquarters, Room XI27-29 September 2021DECISIONS |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379856/PDF/379856eng.pdf.multi |access-date=8 January 2023 |website=UNESCO}}</ref> Discussions between UK and Greek officials are ongoing.<ref name=":172">{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Helena |date=3 December 2022 |title=Greece in 'preliminary' talks with British Museum about Parthenon marbles |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/dec/03/greece-in-preliminary-talks-with-british-museum-about-parthenon-marbles |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208001447/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/dec/03/greece-in-preliminary-talks-with-british-museum-about-parthenon-marbles |archive-date=8 December 2023 |access-date=4 December 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref name=":212">{{cite news |date=4 January 2023 |title=British Museum says in 'constructive' discussions over Parthenon marbles |url=https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/british-museum-says-constructive-discussions-over-parthenon-marbles-2023-01-04/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201112458/https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/british-museum-says-constructive-discussions-over-parthenon-marbles-2023-01-04/ |archive-date=1 December 2023 |access-date=10 July 2024 |work=[[Reuters]]}}</ref>

Four pieces of the sculptures have been repatriated to Greece: 3 from the Vatican, and 1 from a museum in Sicily.<ref>{{Cite web |agency=Associated Press |date=16 December 2022 |title=Pope returns Greece's Parthenon Sculptures in ecumenical nod |url=https://ictnews.org/outside/pope-returns-greeces-parthenon-sculptures-in-ecumenical-nod |access-date=10 July 2023 |website=ICT News |language=en |archive-date=10 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230710201544/https://ictnews.org/outside/pope-returns-greeces-parthenon-sculptures-in-ecumenical-nod |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Restoration==
[[File:Parthenon. Photo taken in 2023.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.2|Parthenon in January 2023]]
In 1981, an [[earthquake]] caused damage to the east façade.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Parthenon at Athens |url=http://www.goddess-athena.org/Museum/Temples/Parthenon/index.htm |access-date=29 December 2008 |publisher=www.goddess-athena.org}}</ref> Air pollution and [[acid rain]] have damaged the marble and stonework.<ref name="contemporary review">{{cite news |year=2001 |title=The Parthenon Marbles&nbsp;– Past And Future, Contemporary Review |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_1629_279/ai_80194454/pg_6 |work=Contemporary Review}}</ref>

An organized effort to preserve and restore buildings on the Acropolis began in 1975, when the Greek government established the Committee for the Conservation of the Acropolis Monuments (ESMA). That group of interdisciplinary specialist scholars oversees the academic understanding of the site to guide restoration efforts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Acropolis Restoration Service |url=https://www.ysma.gr/en/the-service/organizational-structure/ysma/ |access-date=18 July 2022 |website=YSMA |language=en-US}}</ref> The project later attracted funding and technical assistance from the [[European Union]]. An archaeological committee thoroughly documented every [[artifact (archaeology)|artefact]] remaining on the site, and architects assisted with [[computer model]]s to determine their original locations. Particularly important and fragile sculptures were transferred to the [[Acropolis Museum]].

A crane was installed for moving marble blocks; the crane was designed to fold away beneath the roofline when not in use.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Crane Shifts Masonry of Ancient Parthenon in Restoration Program |url=https://apnews.com/article/1f1d2e199842a47b79d9b7ceed29e624 |access-date=14 May 2022 |website=AP NEWS |language=en |archive-date=14 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220514072231/https://apnews.com/article/1f1d2e199842a47b79d9b7ceed29e624 |url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> In some cases, prior re-constructions were found to be incorrect. These were dismantled, and a careful process of restoration began.<ref>[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20081003065234/http://cipa.icomos.org/fileadmin/papers/Athens2007/FP111.pdf "The Surface Conservation Project"] (pdf file). Once they had been conserved, the West Frieze blocks were moved to the museum, and copies cast in artificial stone were reinstalled in their places.</ref>

Originally, various blocks were held together by elongated iron '''H''' pins that were completely coated in lead, which protected the iron from corrosion. Stabilizing pins added in the 19th century were not lead-coated, and corroded. Since the corrosion product (rust) is expansive, the expansion caused further damage by cracking the marble.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Unlocking the Mysteries of the Parthenon |author=Hadingham, Evan |magazine=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |year=2008 |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/parthenon.html |access-date=22 February 2008 |archive-date=14 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090514030520/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/parthenon.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The last remaining slabs from the western section of the Parthenon frieze were removed from the monument in 1993 for fear of further damage.<ref>[http://www.ekt.gr/parthenonfrieze/index.jsp?lang=en National Documentation Centre&nbsp;– Ministry of Culture] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905052605/http://www.ekt.gr/parthenonfrieze/index.jsp?lang=en|date=5 September 2009}}, see History of the Frieze</ref> They have now been transported to the new [[Acropolis Museum]].<ref name="contemporary review" /> Until cleaning of the remaining sculptures was completed in 2005,<ref>{{cite web |date=7 November 2005 |title=Springer Proceedings in Physics |url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/nlv83719nh172g71/ |access-date=20 January 2009 |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]]}} {{dead link|date=February 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> black crusts and coatings were present on the marble surface.<ref>{{cite web |date=14 August 2007 |title=Preserving And Protecting Monuments |url=http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/projects/SW_corrosion/teachers-pupils/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618114315/http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/projects/SW_corrosion/teachers-pupils/index.html |archive-date=18 June 2009 |access-date=25 June 2009 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg}}</ref> Between 20 January and the end of March 2008, 4200 items (sculptures, inscriptions small [[terracotta]] objects), including some 80 artefacts dismantled from the monuments in recent years, were removed from the old museum on the Acropolis to the new Acropolis Museum.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Outdoor transfer of artefacts from the old to the new acropolis museum |url=https://www.culture.gr/war/NMA%20FINAL1t.ppt |access-date=29 December 2008}} {{dead link|date=December 2016|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=News |url=http://www.newacropolismuseum.gr/webnews/newslist.asp?offset=0&nid=64&lid=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221134430/http://www.newacropolismuseum.gr/webnews/newslist.asp?offset=0&nid=64&lid=2 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |access-date=29 December 2008 |publisher=New Acropolis Museum}}</ref> 

In 2019, Greece's Central Archaeological Council approved a restoration of the interior cella's north wall (along with parts of others). The project will reinstate as many as 360 ancient stones, and install 90 new pieces of [[Pentelic marble]], minimizing the use of new material as much as possible. The eventual result of these restorations will be a partial restoration of some or most of each wall of the interior cella.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sakis |first=Ioannidis |date=5 May 2019 |title=Parthenon's Inner Sanctum to be Restored |work=Greece Is |url=https://www.greece-is.com/news/parthenons-inner-sanctum-restored/ |access-date=31 January 2022 |archive-date=31 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131211337/https://www.greece-is.com/news/parthenons-inner-sanctum-restored/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Ancient Greek architecture]]
* [[Knossos]]
* [[List of Ancient Greek temples]]
* [[National Monument of Scotland]], Edinburgh
* [[Palermo Fragment]]
* [[Parthenon (Nashville)|Parthenon]], [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] – Full-scale replica
* [[Stripped Classicism]]
* [[Temple of Hephaestus]]
* [[Walhalla temple]] [[Regensburg]] – Exterior modelled on the Parthenon, but the interior is a hall of fame for distinguished Germans

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
===Printed sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Burkert |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Burkert |title=Greek Religion |year=1985 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-36281-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk}}
* {{cite journal |last=Connelly |first=Joan Breton |author-link=Joan Breton Connelly |date=1 January 1996 |title=Parthenon and Parthenoi: A Mythological Interpretation of the Parthenon Frieze |journal=[[American Journal of Archaeology]] |volume=100 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/506297 |jstor=506297 |pages=53–80 |s2cid=41120274 |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ed67/f6cacd1b7d89e8aa82ecf24ff665f295f922.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819223523/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ed67/f6cacd1b7d89e8aa82ecf24ff665f295f922.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 August 2018}}
* {{cite book |last=Connelly |first=Joan Breton |title=The Parthenon Enigma: A New Understanding of the West's Most Iconic Building and the People who Made It |publisher=Random House |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-307-47659-3 |author-link=Joan Breton Connelly |url=https://archive.org/details/parthenonenigma0000conn |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=D'Ooge |first=Martin Luther |title=The Acropolis of Athens |url=https://archive.org/details/acropolisofathen00dooguoft |publisher=Macmillan |year=1909}}
* {{cite book |last=Frazer |first=Sir James George |title=The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=The King of the Woods |isbn=978-0-19-283541-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Freely |first=John |title=Strolling Through Athens: Fourteen Unforgettable Walks through Europe's Oldest City |publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks |year=2004 |edition=2 |isbn=978-1-85043-595-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Hollis |first=Edward |title=The Secret Lives of Buildings: From the Ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in Thirteen Stories |publisher=Macmillan |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8050-8785-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/secretlivesofbui0000holl}}
* {{cite book |last=Hurwit |first=Jeffrey M. |title=The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present |year=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-42834-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Hurwit |first=Jeffrey M. |title=Periklean Athens and Its Legacy: Problems and Perspectives |year=2005 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-70622-4 |editor=Judith M. Barringer |editor2=Jeffrey M. Hurwit |editor3=Jerome Jordan Pollitt |chapter=The Parthenon and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia |url=https://archive.org/details/perikleanathensi0000unse}}
* {{cite book |last=Neils |first=Jenifer |title=The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present |year=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-82093-6}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Parthenon |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |year=2002}}
* {{cite book |last=Pelling |first=Christopher |title=Greek Tragedy and the Historian |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Tragedy and Religion: Constructs and Readings |isbn=978-0-19-814987-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Tarbell |first=F. B. |title=A History of Ancient Greek Art |url=http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/history-of-ancient-greek-art-12.asp |access-date=4 August 2007 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225091050/https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/history-of-ancient-greek-art-12.asp |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Whitley |first=James |title=The Archaeology of Ancient Greece |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |chapter=The Archaeology of Democracy: Classical Athens |isbn=978-0-521-62733-7}}
{{refend}}

===Online sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite news |title=Greek Premier Says New Acropolis Museum to Boost Bid for Parthenon Sculptures |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/09/europe/EU_GEN_Greece_Acropolis_Museum.php |work=International Herald Tribune |date=9 October 2006 |access-date=23 April 2007 |archive-date=21 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221053500/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/09/europe/EU_GEN_Greece_Acropolis_Museum.php |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Parthenon |title=Parthenon |access-date=5 May 2007 |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |archive-date=2 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702142021/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Parthenon |url-status=live}}
* {{cite web |url=http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2384 |title=Acropolis of Athens – History |author=Ioanna Venieri |publisher=Οδυσσεύς |website=Acropolis of Athens |access-date=4 May 2007 |archive-date=24 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024154934/http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2384 |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLCW0zKR4xk |title=Secrets of the Parthenon – History |author=Nova – PBS |publisher=PBS |website=Acropolis of Athens |access-date=14 October 2010 |archive-date=9 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101109065429/http://www.youtube.com//watch?v=MLCW0zKR4xk |url-status=live}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Beard, Mary.]] ''The Parthenon''. Harvard University: 2003. {{ISBN|0-674-01085-X}}.
* [[Vinzenz Brinkmann]] (ed.): ''Athen. Triumph der Bilder.'' Exhibition catalogue [[Liebieghaus]] Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt, Germany, 2016, {{ISBN|978-3-7319-0300-0}}.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150921094655/http://www.joanbretonconnelly.com/ Connelly, Joan Breton Connelly.] [https://www.amazon.com/Parthenon-Enigma-Understanding-Iconic-Building/dp/0307476596/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1439926583&sr=1-1&keywords=the+parthenon+enigma "The Parthenon Enigma: A New Understanding of the West's Most Iconic Building and the People Who Made It."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728071037/https://www.amazon.com/Parthenon-Enigma-Understanding-Iconic-Building/dp/0307476596/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1439926583&sr=1-1&keywords=the+parthenon+enigma |date=28 July 2020 }} Knopf: 2014. {{ISBN|0-307-47659-6}}.
* Cosmopoulos, Michael (editor). ''The Parthenon and its Sculptures''. Cambridge University: 2004. {{ISBN|0-521-83673-5}}.
* {{cite book |last=Holtzman |first=Bernard |title=L'Acropole d'Athènes : Monuments, Cultes et Histoire du sanctuaire d'Athèna Polias |year=2003 |publisher=Picard |location=Paris, France |language=fr |isbn=978-2-7084-0687-2}}
* King, Dorothy "The Elgin Marbles" Hutchinson / Random House, 2006. {{ISBN|0-09-180013-7}}
* Osada, T. (ed.) ''The Parthenon Frieze. The Ritual Communication between the Goddess and the Polis. Parthenon Project Japan 2011–2014'' Phoibos Verlag, Wien, Austria 2016, {{ISBN|978-3-85161-124-3}}.
* {{cite book |last=Queyrel |first=François |title=Le Parthénon: un monument dans l'histoire |year=2008 |publisher=Bartillat |isbn=978-2-84100-435-5 |language=fr}}.
* Papachatzis, Nikolaos D. ''Pausaniou Ellados Periegesis – Attika'' Athens, 1974.
* Tournikio, Panayotis. ''Parthenon''. Abrams: 1996. {{ISBN|0-8109-6314-0}}.
* Traulos, Ioannis N. '' I Poleodomike ekselikses ton Athinon'' Athens, 1960.{{ISBN|960-7254-01-5}}
* Woodford, Susan. ''The Parthenon''. Cambridge University, 1981. {{ISBN|0-521-22629-5}} 
* Catharine Titi, The Parthenon Marbles and International Law, Springer, 2023, {{ISBN|978-3-031-26356-9}}. 
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons|Parthenon}}
{{Wiktionary}}
{{EB1911 poster|Parthenon}}
{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Parthenon
  |viaf= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* [http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=912 The Acropolis of Athens: The Parthenon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130918073307/http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=912 |date=18 September 2013 }} (official site with a schedule of its opening hours, tickets, and contact information)
* [http://www.yppo.gr/4/e40.jsp?obj_id=123 (Hellenic Ministry of Culture) The Acropolis Restoration Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131124083019/http://www.yppo.gr/4/e40.jsp?obj_id=123 |date=24 November 2013 }}
* [http://www.parthenonfrieze.gr (Hellenic Ministry of Culture) The Parthenon Frieze] {{in lang|el}}
* [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/404 UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Acropolis, Athens]
* [http://www.nashville.gov/parthenon/index.htm Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County – The Parthenon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128110846/http://www.nashville.gov/Parthenon/index.htm |date=28 January 2013 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160622161447/http://www.metrum.org/key/athens/index.htm The Athenian Acropolis by Livio C. Stecchini] (Takes the heterodox view of the date of the proto-Parthenon, but a useful summary of the scholarship) (archived)
* [http://www.acropolisfriends.gr/index.php?lang=en The Friends of the Acropolis]
* [http://people.hsc.edu/drjclassics/lectures/ParthenonMarbles/marbles.shtm Illustrated Parthenon Marbles] – Janice Siegel, Department of Classics, [[Hampden–Sydney College]], Virginia
* [http://travels.co.ua/engl/greece/athens/acropolis/parthenon/index.html Parthenon:description, photo album]
* View a digital reconstruction of the Parthenon [https://sketchfab.com/models/4552d90409924583b1fadfc9953134cb in virtual reality from Sketchfab]

===Videos===
* [[:File:Athens Acropolis Parthenon day.ogg|A Wikimedia video of the main sights of the Athenian Acropolis]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLCW0zKR4xk ''Secrets of the Parthenon''] video by [[Public Broadcasting Service]], on YouTube
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGitmYl6U90 ''Parthenon'' by Costas Gavras]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyzTAG9V-_o The history of Acropolis and Parthenon from the Greek tv show ''Η Μηχανή του Χρόνου'' (''Time machine'')] {{in lang|el}}, on YouTube
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN44e3jmDSA ''The Acropolis of Athens in ancient Greece – Dimensions and proportions of Parthenon'' on Youtube]
* [https://video.ias.edu/amiaslecture-connelly Institute for Advanced Study: The Parthenon Sculptures]

{{Phidias}}
{{Acropolis of Athens}}
{{Ancient Greece topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Parthenon| ]]
[[Category:438 BC]]
[[Category:5th-century BC religious buildings and structures]]
[[Category:Temples of Athena]]
[[Category:Acropolis of Athens]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek buildings and structures in Athens]]
[[Category:Landmarks in Athens]]
[[Category:Destroyed Greek temples]]
[[Category:Temples in ancient Athens]]
[[Category:Sculptures by Phidias]]
[[Category:Greek temples]]
[[Category:Conversion of non-Christian religious buildings and structures into churches]]
[[Category:Former churches in Greece]]
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[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Greece]]
[[Category:Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire]]