Parthenon

The Parthenon in Athens Greece was built from 447 BCE- 438 BCE, the sculptures continuing to be worked on for an additional six years after. The building of the Parthenon was possible because of the embezzlement of Delos, a small city that allied with Athens during the war. After the war was ended, Athens had control of Delo’s treasury, and choose to use it to rebuild the temple that the Persians had burnt down. They had vowed to not rebuild the temple until after the Persians had been defeated, making the construction of this massive building after the signing of the Peace Treaty in 449 significant. The construction of the Parthenon, and the analytical choice of specific stories and their placement on the building, perpetuate three main
non- Athenians is a prevalent message made though utilizing many victorious battles that parallel their victory in the Persian war. In the depiction of the battle of Troy the Athenians simultaneously show Greek vs. Barbarian, and then go further to depict Athenian vs. non Athenian greeks. The metope that is on the opposite side of this battle is Centauromachy, which also depicts a battle of greeks vs. barbarians, these barbarians being Centaurs. The moral of Centauromachy illuminates how men must fight against animalistic impulses, the centaurs being a literal personification of barbarians being animalistic. The use of Gigantomachy on the east metope relates the victorious Greek Athenians to the victorious gods, as well as tells the story of another incident of greek vs. barbarian, these barbarians being the giants. The use of this specific story also relates to the Pediment and piece of the frieze that depict the gods in family scenes, so a scene that perpetuated the idea of the gods as a large family, plus one that works together to battle “others,” creates the idea of the Athenians being a unanimous, working group, like a family. This strengthens the unity of Athens as a powerful united city. The frieze perpetuates this through the use of every member’s face being similar, showing that despite differences in class, the people of Athens were a solid unit. However, in the procession there are examples of Greeks who are made to carry water, a demeaning woman’s job. This notes upon how Athenians believed greeks were best, but Athenian Greeks are better. The fact that non-Athenian greeks were given the job of carrying water, instead of women, as it was a woman’s job, illuminates on the chain of social standing that even non-Attic men were better than Attic women. The message of women as inferior is also depicted in the last metopes that has Amazonomachy. Amazonomachy ties the two concepts of Athenians vs. non Athenians and women as