THE PARTHENON

The Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Its construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power.

It was completed in 438 BC, although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art.

The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy, western civilization and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments.

MATHEMATICS OF THE PARTHENON

Built by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias, the temple is generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order, the simplest of the three classical Greek architectural styles.

The ancient Greeks assigned various attributes to the Platonic solids and to certain geometrically-derived ratios, investing them with "meaning."

 For example, the cube symbolized kingship and earthly foundations, while the Golden Section was seen as a dynamic principle embodying philosophy and wisdom. 

Thus a building dedicated to a god-king might bear traces of cubic geometry, while one dedicated to a heavenly god might have been constructed using Golden Section proportions.

Phi = 1.618… 

Phi is the Golden Section of the Greeks. It was said to be the first section in which the One became many.

It was not until about 300 BC that the Greek’s knowledge of the Golden Ratio was first documented in the written historical record by Euclid in “Elements.”  It states, “a straight line is said to have been cut in extreme and mean ratio when, as the whole line is to the greater segment, so is the greater to the less.”

SACRED GEOMETRY

The Parthenon was built to extremely precise dimensions according to the mathematical ratios of sacred geometry. 

The rectangular building (measured at the top step of its base to be 101.34 feet wide by 228.14 feet long) was constructed of brilliant white marble, surrounded by 46 great columns, roofed with tiles, and housed a nearly 40 foot tall statue of the goddess Athena. The statue, known as Athena Promachos, Athena the Champion, was made of wood, gold and ivory and could be seen from a distance of many miles.

• HEIGHT OF THE COLUMNS 

o The structural beam on top of the columns is in a golden ratio proportion to the height of the columns.  Note that each of the grid lines is a golden ratio proportion of the one below it, so the third golden ratio grid line from the bottom to the top at the base of the support beam represents a length that is phi cubed, 0.236, from the top of the beam to the base of the column. 

• DIVIDING LINE OF THE ROOT SUPPORT BEAM 

o The structural beam on top of the columns has a horizontal dividing line that is in golden ratio proportion to the height of the support beam. 

• WIDTH OF THE COLUMNS 

o The width of the columns is in a golden ratio proportion formed by the distance from the center line of the columns to the outside of the columns.  

o The golden ratio proportions that appear in the height of the roof support beam and in the decorative rectangular sections that run horizontally across it.  The gold colored grids below are golden rectangles, with a width to height ratio of exactly 1.618 to 1.  

THE METOPES

The metopes of the Parthenon all represented various instances of the struggle between the forces of order and justice, on the one hand, and criminal chaos on the other. On the west side, the mythical battle against the Amazons (Amazonomachy); on the south, the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs (Centauromachy); on the east, the battle between the gods and the giants (Gigantomachy); on the north, the Greeks versus the Trojans. 

THE PEDIMENTAL SCULPTURES

These relief sculptures, larger than those of the metopes, occupied the triangular space above the triglyphs and metopes. Those at the west end of the temple depicted the contest between Poseidon and Athena for the right to be the patron deity of Athens (Athena's gift of the olive tree was preferred over Poseidon's spring). The eastern pedimental group showed the birth of Athena from Zeus' head. This reclining god (probably Dionysus) from the east pediment gives some sense of the quality of the sculpture.

 

THE FRIEZE

 

The Parthenon frieze runs around the upper edge of the temple wall. Its relatively small size (3 feet 5 inches tall) and placement (inside from the triglyphs and metopes) made it fairly hard to see from the ground. Unlike the metopes, the frieze has a single subject on all four sides. On three sides (north, west, and south) it depicts a procession of horsemen, musicians, sacrificial animals, and other figures with various ritual functions. On the east side there is a scene centered on a child handing a folded cloth to an older man. On one side of them seated gods and goddess are in attendance; on the other, two girls are carrying something. 

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