Ancient Greece and Rome: Politics, Society, and the Parthenon
**The World’s Classical Civilizations: Polis and Empire**
**1. Greece**
Features:
- Creation of the political system of democracy in Athens.
- Slave-based economic system.
- Political category of citizens: people with full rights.
- Cultural extension from the Mediterranean through settlements.
- Philosophy as a system of thought.
- Greek art based on an ideal of beauty.
- Polytheistic religion based on the trilogy of Zeus, Hera, and Athena.
Historical Stages:
- Early Greek Civilization: Minoan and Mycenaean cultures.
- Archaic Greece: Alphabet, city-states, and the democratic system in Athens, including the Assembly, Boule, and Areopagus. Principles of equality and representation, with the Assembly as a critical organ.
- Classical Greece: Peloponnesian and Medical Wars.
- Hellenistic Greece: Alexander’s Empire, 4th century BC.
**2. Rome (8th Century BC – 5th Century AD)**
Stages:
- Period of the Monarchy (750-510 BC): Social structure of patricians and plebeians. Formation of the Roman religion.
- Period of the Republic (510-27 BC): Conquest of territory outside of Italy. Power of the Senate, benches, and Assembly. Wars against Carthage, Macedonia, and civil wars (triumvirates).
- Period of the Empire (27 BC – 476 AD):
- Concentration of power in the emperor as consul, tribune, and Pontifex Maximus for life.
- Division into Upper and Lower Empire.
Contributions of Rome:
- Language: Latin.
- Roman law.
- City: Urbanized society.
- Division into provinces.
**Analysis and Commentary on the Parthenon**
**Analysis of Material**
The material used in this architectural masterpiece is marble. Given that this work was intended to express the splendor of Athens, a very high-quality marble, Pentelic marble, was chosen. All the sculptural decoration was also carried out with this material.
**Formal Analysis**
The work we observe corresponds to a building with lintels and a roof line that originally would have had a gabled roof to shed rainwater. The supporting and crowning elements indicate that the building is Doric, with columns without bases and with a molding as a capital, and an entablature divided into triglyphs and metopes. The eight columns in front indicate that it is an octastyle temple. The fact that it possesses two porches characterizes it as amphiprostyle, and having columns around it makes it peripteral. In the form of the temple, the salient features are proportionality and formal balance. Proportionality is achieved by using a unit, the overall diameter of the column, which is repeated several times in different parts of the temple, seeking harmony. Balance is achieved through a series of corrections aimed at reducing the distortions produced by the eye when viewing things from afar. This is done through a slightly curved entablature, widening the central part of the temple, and distributing the space between the columns unequally.
**Meaningful Analysis**
The Parthenon is a temple that was visible from the sea, being situated on the hill of the Acropolis. From boats, one could see the perfect structure of this temple, a symbol of Athens. Thanks to its formal perfection, the Parthenon became a model of architectural balance in the history of art. It also represents the power of Athens in the 5th century BC and is a symbol of the cultural complexity that was achieved. Philosophy and the invention of the democratic system are among the contributions of ancient Greece to the history of Western Europe.
**Commentary**
Built on top of the walled city of Athens, the Acropolis, the Parthenon temple was constructed between 447 and 432 BC, thanks to the prominence of the city of Athens in the Delian League. The war of Greek cities against the Persians destroyed the buildings of the Acropolis of Athens, and the Parthenon rose on the site of an earlier temple with the same dedication. Although it was initially believed that the ruins of the ancient temple should be left as a statement of the cruelty done in the war, the prevailing view of the strategist of Athens, Pericles, led to the order for the construction of a new temple.
The Parthenon temple was built by Ictinus and Callicrates. Phidias carved the decorative repertoire of the temple and oversaw all the work. The sculptural decoration that Phidias made for the Parthenon refers to the dedication of the temple: the birth of Athena. He also used themes relating this goddess to the history and city of Athens, which gave her its name. In one of the pediments, Phidias represented the scene of the birth of Athena, born from the head of her father, Zeus. In the other pediment, the chosen theme is the competition between Poseidon and Athena for the protection of Athens, where Poseidon’s trident spear sent up a fountain in the Acropolis, and Athena, the winner, made an olive tree sprout from her javelin. In the decorated spaces of the Doric frieze (the metopes), the decorations depicted the Trojan War, the Gigantomachy (fight against the giants), the Amazonomachy (fight against the Amazons), and the Centauromachy (fight against the centaurs). Within the inner wall of the temple, Phidias carved a continuous frieze known as the “Panathenaic Procession.” This procession was held in Athens, where the city’s virgin women wove a dress, a robe, for the statue of the goddess. To present her with this gift, a procession of horsemen and foot soldiers from Athens, bearing offerings, went up to the Parthenon to deliver the garment. These themes were related to the goddess Athena, patron goddess of Athens and protector in war.
Today, most of these sculptures are in the British Museum in London. The Parthenon has become a symbol in art history, representing the classical architectural model that contains the values of Greek culture from antiquity: rationality, harmony, proportionality, and the anthropocentric view (the concept of the human being as the measure of all things). These principles are also reflected in other temples, like that of the Erechtheion and Athena Nike on the Acropolis, or in sculptural works from the classical period. Phidias not only made the reliefs from the Parthenon but also made the sculpture of the goddess Athena for this temple. It was made in gold and ivory and has since disappeared. Subsequently, Phidias went to Olympia, where he directed the work of the temple dedicated to Zeus, now lost, and the representation of the father of the gods, also in gold and ivory, which has also disappeared.