PAR'THENON (Lat., front CI:. v:,', front :-.-apPEvoi., porth4 nos. virgin ? . A eelebrated temple of the virgin goddess Athena, on the Acropolis of Athens. The highest triumph of Greek Doric architecture, it was the work of the architect while the sculptures are gen erally believed to have been designed by Phidias. The building was a Doric octostyle peripteros with 17 columns on the long sides, It too by 225 Attie feet (about 101 by 225 English feet), and from the top of the stylobate to the gable about 59 feet. Baek of the outer row of columns, at either end of the temple. are 6 columns, forming the fronts of the promos and 0/4st/to/looms. The main hall of the tem ple, called the b, kn i on; pcdos, was 10)) Attic feet in length. and contained the great gold and ivory statue of Athena by Phidias. Back of this was another room. en tered front the opis thodt»UOS only. and called the pan/tenon. In the building the most delicate refine ments were introduced in order to correct op tical distortions. The lines of the stylobate, cornice, and column; were delicately curved, though with such nice ty that much can be detected only by the most careful measurement. That these refinements were carefully calculated from the start is shown by t he cutting of the rock on which the crepidoma rests to allow of the Proper curvature in the lines of the stylobate. The whole building was of care
fully selected white Pentelic marble, with the exception of the tiles of the roof. for which Pariah marble was employed. (See Colored Plate under AncurrEcrynE.) Begun about B.C. 447, the temple was sufficiently completed to permit the installation of the statue in MC. 435, It continued in use till the end of the fifth or po; silly the sixth century of our era, when it was transformed into is Christian church, dedicated at first to Saint Sophia and later to the Virgin. After the capture of Minus by the Turks 1455) it became a mosque, and a minaret was built in the southwest corner. It was. however, but little damaged, and in 1674 the sculptures were drawn by Jacques Carrey and other artists in the suite of the Marquis de Nointel. In 1697, during the siege of Athens hi' the Venetians, the Turks used it as a powder magazine, and on September 26th a Venetian bomb fi II throng,~ the roof, causing an explosion Nt hieh killed :MO I,cr,ma,-, :Ind voinplett ly 414-4 ro 4,1 t he central portion of the building,,. Early in tit • nineteenth century Lord Elgin seemed permission to re It I've the to Loi.doll.