The Parthenon, or "House of the Virgin."

The Parthenon, or Temple of Pallas Athene, the virgin patron of Athens, crowns the highest platform of the Acropolis. It belongs to the stirring times which followed the Persian Wars, when Athens, from the spoils of the Persian hosts and from tribute money, became one of the richest cities in the world. Perhaps never again can come such a combination of circumstances as attended the building of the Parthenon: a people fired to enthusiasm by success in war, with such poets, architects and sculptors to call upon to adorn a site of incomparable natural beauty, as a home for their gods; almost boundless wealth to draw upon, and close to them the mountain Pentelicum, containing the most beautiful marble the world can show. Pericles, surnamed the Olympian, was ruler of Athens; Phidias, the greatest sculptor of any age, his intimate counsellor; while Kalikrates and Iktinos, the most perfect architects, were employed to make the Parthenon their masterpiece. It was commenced about the eighty-third Olympiad, or about 454 B. C., and was completed and opened at the Panathenaic Festival, B. C. 438. Sixteen years sufficed the Greeks to complete a temple of the most durable marble, two hundred and twenty-seven feet long, one hundred feet broad and sixty-five feet high, comprising eleven hundred feet of sculpture; sixty-two large and thirty-six small columns; six hundred statues, fifty life-size; a sculptured frieze; ninety-two sculptured metopes; a chryselephantine colossal statue of the goddess Athene, with all its gorgeous adornments; the whole enriched by painting and ornament. Sir William Gell says: "It is, without exception, the most magnificent ruin in the world. Though an entire museum has been transported to England from the spoils of this temple, it still remains without a rival." By most historians of ancient art the Parthenon is classed hypaethral, that is the cella open to the sky. But this theory is now generally abandoned, Furgeson leading the way. His theory about lighting the temple through openings in the roof, admitting light through the clearstory, has not been controverted. Until lately it was denied that Greek temples were painted; it cannot now be questioned. The unmistakable remains of color that have been discovered, and the greater knowledge of its use, has changed public opinion. Generally speaking, all the parts which, from their position, were protected from the rain, were colored; those particularly exposed were left plain. There is but little doubt that the walls of the cella, or naos, were colored throughout and covered with paintings illustrative of the legends and attributes of the goddess Athene. Externally, too, it is generally admitted that the sculpture was painted and relieved by strongly-colored backgrounds. The color, it is inferred, nowhere interfered with the beauty of form, but gave it richness and added ornamentation. The architrave was left white, ornamented only by metal shields; the shafts of the columns bear no trace of color, but may have been tinted. Another long-disputed question has been as to the secret of the perfection of Greek architecture. Modern buildings erected upon the exact plans of the Parthenon fail to please, and seem dull and lifeless. The secret has been lately solved by the most exact measurements, even in the smallest details, of the remains of the Parthenon, and it is now an established fact that the Greeks used no straight lines. Every line in the stretch of the platform, in the taper of the columns, in the sweep of the entablature, is a parabolic curve. The center of the platform on the sides of the temple is elevated twenty inches above the level of the ends of the range. The effect is to give to the eye, as it courses over the curved surface, the impression of greater extent. Each column is made up of twelve separate blocks whose outward side is one inch thicker than the inner side, thus giving not only the graceful taper of the column, but also causing them to slant inward. No cement was used in the construction, but every portion was perfectly adjusted and held together by iron clamps.

The Panathenaic Festival, which was celebrated at Athens every five years, was concluded with a solemn ceremonial in the Parthenon. All the festivals of the Greeks were religious. This festival was in honor of Athene, and consisted of a magnificent procession, cavalcades of horsemen, gymnastic games, military dances, recitations of Homeric poems, and competitions in music. On the frieze of the Parthenon, on the outside of the cella and inside of the peristyle or colonnade, was represented the procession of the Peplos. The peplos was a new dress; a handsomely embroidered saffron-colored robe, consecrated as the ancient garb of Athene. This new dress was made for their patron deity by seven young girls between the ages of seven and eleven years. These maidens were selected at a special ceremony; they lived for a year on the Acropolis engaged in their sacred work, and were fed on a special diet. Captives were liberated on this occasion that all might share in the festival, and the victors in the games received their wreaths amid the acclamations of the multitude. The scene at the east end of the frieze represents the presentation of the peplos to the goddess. The sculptures in the pediments of the temple are the most important. Those of the east front represent the birth of Athene; those of the west front the strife between Athene and Poseidon for the possession of Athens. Nearly all of the extant figures are in the British Museum. Those now in situ are the heads of the two horse of the chariot of Helios, the sun, and the head of a horse of the chariot of Selene, the moon. The exterior metopes represented the contest between the gods and the heroes in high relief. Of ninety-two, fifty-six are extant, and twenty-eight are still in their original position. The interior of the Parthenon was divided into two parts: the cella, ninety-six feet long and sixty-three wide, and the posticum or treasury, forty-four feet in depth. The cella was magnificently adorned with sculptures and votive offerings. A priestess kept incense burning before the altar. But the crowning glory of the Parthenon was the cryselephantine statue of the virgin goddess. Works of this kind consist of a carved wooden figure covered with plates of gold and ivory--the face, neck and arms of ivory, the drapery of gold (the gold has been estimated at $70,000). The eyes were of precious stones. The splendid Parthenon of Pericles remained sacred to the virgin goddess for over six centuries. It was converted into a Christian church in the fifth century of our era, and was consecrated to the Virgin Mary. The walls were adorned with Christian paintings, of which some traces remain. In 1204 the great church of Athens was handed over by the Franks to the Roman Church. In 1460 the Parthenon became a Turkish mosque. Two men of Western Europe who saw the temple before its destruction were Spon and Wheeler, in 1675. In 1687 the Venetians, under Morisini, seized Athens; the Turks fled to the Acropolis, and concealed their powder in the Parthenon. On Friday, September 26, at 7 P. M., a German lieutenant fired the bomb which fell through the roof, ignited the powder that shattered the stately building, and killed three hundred men. Morisini endeavored to take the figure of Poseidon and the horse of Athene from the pediment to Venice; but, owing to the awkwardness of his workmen, they fell to the ground and were lost. In 1801 the British Ambassador, Lord Elgin, obtained permission to remove a few of the precious marbles to London. Employing three hundred men, he as quickly as possible despatched the greater part of the pediments, also of the metopes and friezes, at a cost to himself of pound 36,000. In 1816 these marbles were purchased by the British Government, and now, under the name of the Elgin Marbles, they form the most valuable possession of the British Museum.