The Parthenon was the Athenian state's most splendid monument - the last word in Doric architecture. Work on it started in 448/7 B.C.; it was officially opened in 438 B.C.; and its decorative sculptures were completed in 433/2 B.C.. The architects involved were, our sources tell us, Ictinus, Callicrates, and (probably, and with additional responsibility for the sculptures) Phidias himself. The project was finished in an astonishingly short time. This was, after all, the largest Doric temple of classical times, with platform base measurements of 31 by 70 metres. (Two other huge Doric temples, at Selinus and Acragas in Sicily, remained unfinished). The Parthenon was also the only Greek temple where no stone save marble was used; and the only Doric temple with relief sculpture on every one of its metope-panels. Many parts of its decorative sculpture, and its architraves and ceiling coffering, were painted. The colours used were red, blue and gold. The stone used was Pentelic marble, except for the platform base which was of limestone; a large number of teams of workmen worked simultaneously - quarrying the blocks, bringing them to the Acropolis, and hewing them into shape - and a high degree of labour organization was achieved. |
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