Athenian Architechture

Question 1

The Athenian Acropolis

Answer 1

• citadel (safe-haven)
• built of marble -> v. expensive - would originally be painted in primary colours
• 450-404 B.C.
• shows Erechtheion -> temple -> houses sacred olive-wood statue of Athena
• shows propylaia -> gateway
• shows Parthenon -> maiden Athena -> gold and ivory statue -> showpiece

Question 2

Plan of Acropolis

Answer 2

• Athene Promachos -> war-like Athena -> giant bronze statue -> first thing you see - symbolic
• House of Arrhephoroi -> a girl in the cult of Athena Polias (goddess of the city), two girls lived there every year, and completed a secret ritual
• Ruin of old Athene temple -> destroyed by the Persians in 480B.C.
• Parthenon -> replaces old Athene temple -> victory monument celebrating defeat of Persians
• Khalkotheke -> means ‘bronze stone’ -> stored weapons for times of crisis - treasury
• Artemis Brauronia -> sanctuary to Artemis -> early building (100yrs before)

Question 3

Plutarch gives an account of the building of the Athenian Acropolis

Plutarch, Pericles 12-13

Context

Answer 3

• not rebuilt as a reminder of the Persian invasion -> memorial

Limitations:
• biased?
• talks about glory, omits mention of allies providing money with no gain -> Delian League

Question 4

Plutarch gives an account of the building of the Athenian Acropolis

Plutarch, Pericles 12-13

Quotes

Answer 4

• ‘Athenians were not obliged to give the allies any account of how their money was spent, provided that they carried on the war for them and kept the Persians away’
• ‘all they supply is money’
• ‘apply the surplus to public works’
• ‘will bring her glory for all time’
• ‘all kinds of enterprises and demands will be created which will provide inspiration for every art, find employment for every hand, and transform the whole people into wage-earners’

Question 5

Plutarch gives an account of the building of the Athenian Acropolis

Plutarch, Pericles 12-13

Quotes 2

Answer 5

• ‘anxious that the unskilled masses, who had no military training, should not be debarred from benefitting from the national income, and yet should not be paid for sitting around and doing nothing.’
• ‘immense public works and plans for buildings, which would involve many different arts and industries and require long periods to complete’
• ‘stone, bronze, ivory, gold, ebony and cypress-wood’
• ‘carpenter, modeller, coppersmith, stone-mason, dyer, worker in gold and ivory, painter, embroiderer, and engraver’

Question 6

Plutarch gives an account of the building of the Athenian Acropolis

Plutarch, Pericles 12-13

Quotes 3

Answer 6

• ‘carriers and suppliers of the materials, merchants, sailors and pilots for sea-borne traffic, and waggon-makers, trainers of draught animals and drivers for everything that came by land.’
• ‘rope-makers, weaver’s, leather workers, road builders and miners…’
• ‘imposing in their sheer size as they were inimitable in the grace of their outlines’
• ‘the artists strove to excel themselves in the beauty of their workmanship’
• ‘the most wonderful thing about them was the speed with which they were completed’
• ‘they were created in so short a span, and yet for all time’