Read Ebook: The Parthenon at Athens Greece and at Nashville Tennessee by Wilson Benjamin Franklin

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The age of Pericles has been known through the centuries as the "Golden Age of Greece," but the judgment of time has forced us to the conclusion that it was also the golden age of the world as far as the beauty of architecture and sculptural art is concerned.

There is no more intriguing part of the whole narrative of the Parthenon than this story of the subtlety of the Greeks in overcoming optical illusions and neutralizing differences in distance.

Perhaps the most important, certainly the most prominent, of the refinements of the Parthenon is the curvature of the horizontal lines. It is not true, as some textbooks have it, that there is no straight line in the Parthenon. There are a number of them, but all of these straight lines are vertical. What should be said is that there are no straight horizontal lines in the Parthenon.

Another refinement used by the Greeks in adding to the beauty of the Parthenon relates to the columns. The visitor is certain to be impressed by the softness of the Doric columns. This is especially true of those of the Naos where their proximity to each other emphasizes their beauty as they are caught banked against each other. When thus seen all other columns fail by comparison and seem as stiff as pokers. This quality of softness is given them by the fact that all columns, both in the Naos and on the exterior of the building, are different in diameter from those beside them and all are also spaced differently.

Still another refinement pertaining to the columns is technically known as entasis, which is that quality which gives to them their beautiful symmetry.

In discussing the columns in relation to their softness it was suggested that they be seen banked against each other. In the discovery of their symmetrical beauty, however, they should be seen singly. The column apparently rises from the floor at its largest diameter and gradually diminishes in a beautifully fluted shaft, having the very breath of symmetry in every line to the top. That is the way it appears; but, as a matter of fact, if the column had been constructed as it actually looks, then, instead of seeming beautifully symmetrical, because of an optical illusion, it would have appeared concave at a point just below the center of the column. Knowing this from experience, the Greeks filled in just enough to correct the results of the optical illusion and the column in reality is bulged near the center.

It has been noted that the first sight of the Parthenon usually inspires the visitor with a sense of its strength and stability. This effect is produced by another of the subtleties of the Greeks in approaching perfection in the Parthenon. Only one with technical knowledge would ever suspect that its columns and walls are other than perpendicular; yet, with the exception of the transverse wall which divides the cella into its two rooms, all of them are inclined toward the center. If all were projected on their axes, they would meet in a cluster five thousand, eight hundred and fifty-six feet above the base of the temple.

One of the major problems that confronted the builders of the Parthenon at Nashville related to the arrangement of the columns of the Naos. Prior to the research work in connection with the Nashville reproduction, the preponderance of authority favored the theory that the Doric columns of the Naos were monoliths. This matter was settled definitely by the work done by Mr. William Bell Dinsmoor, of New York, who represented the builders in the archaeological end of the work.

As has been said, nothing remained of the interior of the original Parthenon after the explosion of 1687 except the floor and fragments of the walls. One of these fragments happened to be in the end of the building in the southeast corner of the Naos. Sticking in it, Mr. Dinsmoor discovered a small piece of the architrave and a discoloration of the wall revealing where the remainder had been. This discovery fixed the fact of an architrave and, following very closely, the further fact that there were columns superimposed on each other with an architrave between.

The architecture of the Parthenon will always carry with it elements of the mystical and the mysterious to modern minds, accustomed as they are to the solution of engineering problems by rule. The more the Parthenon is considered, the more interesting it seems.

The Sculptures of the Parthenon

The sculptures of the Parthenon occur in four groups: the Ionic or inner frieze, the Doric or outer frieze, the east pediment, and the west pediment.

As the subtlety of the builders of the Parthenon emphasized their intellect, so the sculptures emphasized their religion. The Greeks were not idolaters in the sense that they bowed down to gold and ivory. They loved to chisel in marble the beautiful forms that represented to them their gods who dwelt on Mount Olympus. A characteristic of the Greeks of this period was that, in their art, they always presented their goddesses fully clothed and, almost always, their gods in the nude.

While the origin of the Parthenon has the most of its roots firmly fixed in Egypt, many of the sculptures were derived from the Assyrians. Particularly is this true of the smaller figures, winged mythical creatures, as well as lions and horses, typical of the Assyrian bas-reliefs. The heavier figures, notably those of the pediments, are essentially Greek.

In the life and times of Phidias, a love for the beautiful was so general that it was comparable to the air which they breathed. It was not difficult, therefore, for him to find men, almost as accomplished as himself, upon whose shoulders he could lay the greater part of the work.

It is a matter of keen regret that so few of the sculptures of the Parthenon have been preserved. For this reason, the most difficult problem in the task of the reproduction of the Parthenon at Nashville was the reproduction of the sculptures.

When the Parthenon was destroyed in 1687 the sculptures were blown off the temple and, to a great extent, broken up by the explosion. As already noted, only two of the pedimental groups remain on the ruin, one on each pediment. Plaster casts of these are now in the British Museum. A much larger proportion of the figures of the friezes remain on the ruin but they are so badly damaged that identification is practically impossible; this is especially true of the Doric frieze.

In 1801, after the fragments of the sculptures had lain in the debris around the temple for approximately one hundred and fifteen years, Lord Elgin, Minister to Turkey from England, persuaded the Turks, who had again conquered the Greeks, to let him go to Athens and dig up all the sculptures that he could find around the ruins. He sold these fragments to the British government, and they are now the most highly prized possessions of the British Museum, known as the Elgin Marbles.

It is popular in some quarters to criticize Lord Elgin for his action in taking the fragments from the Parthenon to England. Some have gone so far as to say that he actually robbed the temple of its sculptures. Unquestionably, the correct view of the matter is that Lord Elgin did the world a great service in salvaging the fragments from the earth in which they had deteriorated for many years and, but for him, might have suffered greater injury.

In the west room of the Parthenon at Nashville and along the corridors of the east room may be seen casts which form the only complete set of the pedimental sculptures outside of the British Museum. Many isolated groups of these may be found in America and in Europe, but all of them may be seen only at Nashville. Here they are mounted on wooden bases forming a most interesting exhibit and were obtained through the courtesy of the British Museum.

In the east room of the Parthenon at the west end of the south corridor is the head of one of Selene's steeds, considered by many as the finest example of a horse's head in the world. Just beyond, through the door at the end of the corridor, is seen in the west room the figure of Heracles. It is interesting to note that in the report of the artists who passed on the value of the Elgin marbles a statement was incorporated to the effect that the back muscles of the Heracles represented the finest example of physiological art known to the world of that day. Another most interesting group of sculptures, the three Fates, is seen near by in the west end of the east room. This group, thought to be the work of Phidias, is generally regarded as one of the most beautiful examples of sculptural art existing today.

The casts of the Elgin marbles in the Parthenon at Nashville, which were made by the British Government, were not obtained primarily as an exhibit but as a study for the reproduction of those sculptures now on the building. However, it was not thought inappropriate to mount the fragments and use them as an exhibit so as to permit visitors to compare the completed figures with them. The comparison can only cover approximately half the figures on the pediments as the remainder have been lost beyond recovery. Quite naturally, the question arises in the mind of the reader as to how it was possible for the artists to reproduce all of them.

In 1674, just thirteen years before the explosion which destroyed the Parthenon, young Jacques Carrey, a French artist attached to the French embassay to Turkey, on a voyage from Paris to Constantinople with the ambassador stopped off at Athens and sketched the temple sculptures. These sketches are preserved in the National Library at Paris and were made available for the artists. From a study of the Elgin marbles and the Carrey drawings, supplemented by further study of Greek contemporary art and Greek history, the artists at Nashville succeeded in making a wonderful reproduction of the Parthenon's sculptures.

The Ionic and Doric Friezes

In the Ionic frieze is found most of the atmosphere of ancient Assyria that is associated with the Parthenon. This frieze was low in relief, forty inches in height; and of necessity the figures of the men and women and animals which went to make up the frieze were small, typical of the Assyrian bas-relief.

The Ionic frieze was located along the outer walls of the Parthenon, extending forty inches down from the top of the wall, and rested on a blue fret running all around the building, a distance of five hundred and twenty-four feet. It was a marvelous piece of sculptural art. Although there were approximately six hundred figures in the frieze, men, women, and animals, no two of them were alike--no two men, no two women, and no two animals; yet all were graceful, dignified, and beautiful.

The Ionic frieze of the Parthenon depicted the Panathenaic Procession which occurred every four years in Athens. It was an established part of the Panathenaic Festival and coincident also with the athletic contests held in honor of Athena. On this occasion the Greeks assembled in the downtown streets of Athens; men and women of high and low degree with their slaves, various kinds of animals, chariots with their horsemen, men at arms, wild horses led by Barbarians, dignitaries of state, and maidens. These formed a procession which wound its way up through the streets of Athens leading to the Acropolis, on to that sacred hill, and into the Parthenon, where they invested the figure of Athena with a peplos, or robe, which had been woven by the women of Athens during the previous four-year period. It was at once a gala and a solemn occasion for the Greeks.

Unfortunately, for lack of funds the Ionic frieze has been left off the Parthenon at Nashville, which lacks that much of being completed. It is available, however, as the greater part of it is in the British Museum, some in the Louvre, and the remainder, twenty-four feet in all, is still on the ruin at Athens. There is no doubt that the Ionic frieze will eventually find its place on the temple at Nashville.

The Doric, or outer frieze, is located on the outside of the Parthenon above the architrave that rests on the great Doric columns of the peristyle. It extends along both sides of the building and underneath the pedimental sculptures at each end. It consists of a repeating conventional design called a triglyph which divides the frieze into ninety-two panels, each panel containing a group of sculptures. The panels with their sculptures are known as the metopes and are approximately four feet square.

There were no repetitions in the sculptures of the Doric frieze. They told legendary and mythological stories that were dear to the heart of the Greeks. That part of the frieze on the eastern end of the building pictured scenes from the struggle between the gods and the giants. The war between the Greeks and the Amazons was shown by the figures of the frieze on the western end. On the north side of the building the figures depicted incidents of the Trojan War, while those along the south side told the story of the Lapiths, a tribe of the Greeks, and the Centaurs. The story is that of a princess of this tribe who was to be married. She sent invitations to the Centaurs, mythological creatures part man and part horse, to come to the wedding feast. They came, drank wine, became drunken, and insulted the bride, which brought on a war in which the Centaurs were defeated.

The figures of the Doric frieze are archaic and stiff by comparison with those of the pedimental sculptures or of the Ionic frieze and are therefore thought not to be the work of Phidias and his associates but rather a transfer from one of the earlier temples to the Parthenon. They play their part well in the harmonious whole and reflect the ability and genius of Phidias, who adapted them.

The West Pediment

The figures of the west pediment were more easily reproduced than those of the east pediment, as they were more completely authenticated by the Elgin marbles and the Carrey drawings.

It should be understood that the explosion that destroyed the Parthenon did its greatest damage to the figures themselves rather than to the base on which they rested, and as a consequence less difficulty was encountered by the artists in placing the sculptures in their proper settings on the west than on the east pediment. In considering the sculptures of the two pediments it must also be borne in mind that the force of the explosion was greatest in the eastern portion of the building, as evidenced by the condition of the ruin, and for that reason also the greatest damage was to the east pediment.

The sculptures of the west pediment tell the story of the struggle between Poseidon, the powerful god of the sea, and his niece Athena, the goddess of wisdom, for the possession of Attica, or ancient Greece.

In the center of the pediment, to the right, is the heroic figure of Poseidon with his three-pronged weapon or trident in his hand, his friends and supporters to the right. Opposing him, and to the left, is the equally heroic figure of Athena with her great spear in her hand, her supporters to the left. Both of these gods coveted the fair land of Attica and desired the worship of its people. They were unable to agree and appealed to the gods for a decision. The gods held their convocation on the Acropolis, the site of the Parthenon, and this assembly is shown by the figures of the west pediment.

As a result of the convocation the gods decreed that the contestant who should most bless Greece would be given the control of Athens and have the worship of the Greeks. It was to be a battle of blessing, rather than blood.

Poseidon, in granting his blessing, struck the solid rock of the Acropolis with his trident, and as he was the god of the sea it obeyed him and came up in a rushing, gushing spring of salt water, symbolic of his promise that if the Greeks would make him their god he would make of them a mighty maritime nation--their glory should be on the sea. When it became Athena's turn to grant her blessing, she struck her great spear in the earth and withdrew it and from the place sprang an olive tree, the parent of all those which have so greatly blessed Greece from that day to this. The gods, acting wisely, decreed that Athena's gift was of far greater advantage to the Greeks than any promise of the glory of war as made by Poseidon, and made her the patron goddess of Athens.

The East Pediment

It would be very difficult for a visitor to Nashville to decide which group of sculptures on the Parthenon is the loveliest. Each general group fits so harmoniously into its own particular place that a choice of one could not avoid being unfair to the others. Viewing the west pediment first, one essaying judgment might exclaim, "What could be more beautiful!" Yet on leaving it and looking at the east pediment he might easily be found saying, "Here is the answer." The presence on the east pediment of the three Fates, the Heracles, and the steeds of Selene probably gives the east pediment the advantage over the other groups, especially in the eyes of the artists.

The story of the east pediment is very beautiful and tells of the birth of Athena and of her reign. In the beginning Zeus, the father of the gods, the king of the gods, had a very severe headache and could find no relief. He had long wanted a child born of the intellect. It is said that he was so disappointed at having a son, Hephaestus, born maimed that he threw him out of Heaven and it took a whole day for him to fall to the earth. Hephaestus was the god of fire, the god of metals, the blacksmith of the gods, and he forged the thunderbolts that Zeus used in his battles of Heaven. Hephaestus sent word to his father that if he would restore him to his rightful position among the gods, he would cure him of his headache. Thereupon Zeus assembled the gods on Mount Olympus and from somewhere, in a thundercloud, came Hephaestus. He struck his father in the back of the head with an axe and from the wound, giving Zeus his wish, sprang Athena, fully grown, clothed, and armed. She was announced and crowned goddess of wisdom by Nike, goddess of victory. It is said that at this event the earth groaned, Mount Olympus trembled, and the gods stood in amazement at the miracle that had been performed. These four figures form the highest pinnacle of the east pediment of the Parthenon.

At the extreme south end of the pediment, representing the beginning of the reign of Athena, in the morning is seen Helios, the god of the sun, the god of the morning, coming up out of the sea driving his four steeds representing the four seasons. As the horses come bounding out of the sea, Helios can scarcely restrain them, so eager are they to mount the skies.

Heracles, the next figure on the pediment, is shown with his club on his shoulder, nonchalantly looking at the horses, paying no attention to what is taking place on Mount Olympus. He is looking at the sun as it rises. Heracles was known as the favorite of the gods. In his early manhood they had permitted him to choose between virtue on the one hand, and vice on the other, both very attractively arrayed. He chose virtue rather than vice, and thus became their favorite. He did many heroic deeds in Grecian history, and was the national hero of Greece. Heracles was himself made a god; Zeus was his father, his mother was a mortal.

Next, on the pediment, may be seen the figures of Demeter, the sister of Zeus, and her daughter Persephone. Demeter was the goddess of the seasons. Ceres was her Roman name, and her daughter, Persephone, was the goddess of the underworld. She became the goddess of the underworld in this wise: One day when Persephone was in the fields plucking violets with her maidens, suddenly the earth opened and through it, in a chariot, came Pluto, the god of Hades. He saw her, fell in love with her, seized her, took her back to Hades, and made her his queen. Her mother grieved sorely and would not be comforted. She had powerful influence with the gods. She sent plagues on the earth and worried the gods, until Zeus was forced to compel Pluto to bring Persephone back to her mother. Thereafter, it is said, under a compromise agreement, Persephone spent six months of each year with her mother among the gods, and six months with her husband, Pluto, in Hades.

The next figure on the pediment is that of Iris, the female messenger of the gods, the rainbow goddess. She is represented on the pediment as being poised, ready to go at a moment's notice, to tell the story of the birth of Athena to the world. This is the first figure seen among the fragments as the visitor enters the Parthenon door, and is often confused with the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The confusion arises from the fact that in the fragment of the Parthenon figure of Iris, located in the west room, she is holding her scarf at arm's length in her hands and the fragment is broken through the scarf and through the arms, causing it to look as if it might be a wing, when, as a matter of fact, it is the fragment of a scarf and not a wing; and the figure is not the Winged Victory, but is Iris, the female messenger of the gods, the rainbow goddess.

Next is seen on the pediment the figure of Poseidon, the god of the sea; Neptune was his Roman name. Poseidon was the brother of Zeus, one of the chief deities of the Greeks, and is represented on the east pediment as sitting calmly by, looking on at what is taking place.

The next figure beyond Poseidon is that of Aphrodite, or Venus, the goddess of beauty, the goddess of love. She seems shocked at what she sees, and shrinks a little; but is comforting Hebe, the goddess of youth, who is reclining at her feet, by placing her hand on her head.

Then comes the central group, Hephaestus, Zeus, Nike, and Athena, or Minerva as the Romans called her, illustrating the story of the birth of Athena.

Next is seen Ares, or Mars, the god of war. He is represented on the pediment as looking rather sternly past Athena as though he does not welcome this additional warlike member to the family of the gods.

The next figure is that of Artemis, the twin sister of Apollo. Artemis is the goddess of the fields, the goddess of hunting; Diana is her Roman name. She is represented on the pediment as shading her eyes with her hand from the resplendent glory of the newborn goddess.

Just beyond Artemis is seen Hera, queen of Heaven, also known as Juno, the jealous wife of Zeus. In addition to her jealousy, it is said that she was vain and the peacock, seen near by, was sacred to her. Hera was also the goddess of maternity, and very fittingly was present at the birth of Athena.

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